Written communication skills are vital to the software engineer.  In the workplace you will find you must communicate technical ideas to other developers, managers, and customers in clear, understandable language.  For this class your written work must be consistent with standards for professional technical writing.

MECHANICS

• Unless otherwise specified, all written work is to be typed and submitted on standard 8.5" by 11" white paper.
• Use double spacing between lines, and leave adequate blank spaces so the instructor can write comments.
• Use at least 12 point font.
• A submission with multiple pages must be stapled. Do not fold corners. 
• At the top of the front page include your name, course and section number, and assignment number (or name).
  
• Work submitted on ragged edge pages torn from a spiral binder will receive no credit.

    Printouts

• Inkjet or laser jet output must be clear and legible, not streaked or blurred.
• Printouts of computer source code must use at least 10 point non-proportional ( monospaced) font such as courier.

GRADING SYMBOLS
The instructor uses the following shorthand symbols for marking grades and noting problems in your written work. More than 3 errors per page will get an automatic R.  This includes e-mail correspondence.

Star - really good, outstanding
Plus sign - good, proficient
Check mark - acceptable (or "passing")
Minus sign - poor or flawed
weak - lacking depth, needs development
X - incorrect
inc - incomplete
R - resubmit.  The work is inadequate and must be resubmitted within one week. Attach the original deliverable to the back of the complete new deliverable.  Failure to resubmit will earn a zero.
NC - no credit. The work is not at an acceptable level of quality.
FWG - Follow Writing Guidelines. The work must follow the "mechanics" guidelines above.

sp - spelling error
gr - grammar problems
awk - awkward usage
vague - unclear, lacks specifics, wanders, too vague
? - confusing, unclear, I can't figure it out.
punc - punctuation
ww - wrong word. Could be similar words such as "your" instead of "you're", or simply using a word whose meaning is not what you intended.
colloq - colloquial, slang, too informal.  E.g. "look-over", "sorta", "stuff".
circ - Circular definition
No " - write your answers in your own words; quotes are not appropriate
nm - not measurable
nf - not feasible
peeve - you violated one of the instructor's pet peeves.