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.)?