MATH 217 Project-Paper Checklist
Title
- Does the title give an
accurate preview of what the paper is about (is it informative, specific,
and precise)?
Abstract
- Are the main points of the
paper described clearly and succinctly?
Introduction
- Does the Introduction have a
logical organization? Does it move from general to specific?
- Has sufficient background
been provided to understand the paper? How does this work relate to other
literature? (Be sure to cite relevant other literature on the topic.)
- Has a reasonable explanation
been given for why the research was done? (Why is the work important? What
is its relevance?)
Methods/Data Collection
- Could the study be repeated
based on the information given in the Methods section?
- Are all important parts of
the data collection mentioned?
- If there are limitations to
the methods, have these been mentioned?
Results
- Is the Results section
broken into two sub-sections (e.g., “Main Research Questions” and
“Additional Findings”)?
- Are the main research
questions described in detail?
- Is there comparison of the
sample data to the census data Mary provided? Does this indicate the
sample well-represents the population? Or are there limitations to the
inference (e.g., in some or all demographics the sample is far from the
population, so inference to the whole population is not possible—only
inference to the sub-population which the sample represents)?
- Are the statistical methods
described accurately and in as non-technical of language as possible?
- Are the results accurately
analyzed and displayed? Are these results summarized in an appropriate way
(making use of an Appendix for any extraneous material)? Are graphs and
tables well-labeled and easy to understand?
- Do the results thoroughly
answer the main research questions?
- Are adjustments made
appropriately for multiple comparisons with the tests for the main
research questions? Is this method described accurately and in as non-technical
of language as possible?
- Are the additional findings
minimized to only the most interesting results?
- Are the results written
about in an accurate yet concise way?
Discussion
- Based on the results, what
are the answers to the main research questions? Are these conclusive
answers or is there some ambiguity (or some limitations to the
interpretations)?
- What makes the “additional
findings” so interesting? How might these be used?
- For each interpretation, was
there an appropriate statistical result mentioned in the previous section?
- Do the results lead to more
potential research questions? Should an additional study be done, and, if
so, how would you suggest the study be done (e.g., what questions should
be asked of whom)?
Appendix (if needed)
- Are all the results in the
Appendix referenced at some point in the paper?
- Are the results summarized
in an appropriate way? Are graphs and tables well-labeled and easy to
understand?
References
- Are the references
appropriate?
- Are the references cited
properly (both within the text and within this section)?
General Quality of the Writing
- Is the paper an appropriate
length (thorough and complete, yet not rambling and nor including
unnecessary analysis or words)?
- Is the paper well organized
(e.g., paragraphs organized in a logical manner)?
- Is the paper generally
written well (attention to use of language, sentence structure, grammar,
etc.)?