Preparing scribe notes
Because there is no perfect textbook covering all of the material for this
course, students will be asked to take turns preparing "scribe notes" for
posting on the course web site. Each class, one student will be the
designated "scribe," taking careful notes
during class, writing them up, and sending them to me for posting on the web.
Here is how to be a scribe:
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During class, take careful notes.
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Prepare your notes into a document that is written out in complete prose
sentences that would be understandable even by a student who might have
missed class, not merely a transcription of the telegraphic notes that you
jotted down during class.
You should write the notes yourself in your own words.
It is okay to refer to the readings for this class, or, if you must,
to the scribe notes from previous years; however, directly copying
from these or any other sources is a form of plagiarism and
should be avoided.
Do not include administrative information
(such as due dates for homeworks) in your scribe notes.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about anything
covered.
Prepare the notes into a latex document (including figures, if
appropriate) using this
latex template. If you are new to latex, you can look at the
raw latex
that was used to
generate the scribe notes for lecture #1
(and here is a figure called
generic-ml.eps
that gets included by that file).
Also, there is online documentation and other information at
www.latex-project.org.
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Email me both the latex and the pdf of your scribe notes, as
well as any figures included in your latex file,
preferably within 2-3 days (not counting Saturdays) after the class for
which you were scribe.
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I will immediately post your scribe notes on the website, marked at the top as a
"draft" to indicate that I have not yet reviewed them. Once they have been
reviewed, in most cases, you will be asked to make revisions to your notes.
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Once completed, send everything back to me and I will post it on the
web site.
I will not grade the scribe notes, but will give you credit for doing
them (about equal to one problem set).
You can sign up to reserve a date to be the scribe by catching me
after class or by sending me email. Or, you can wait and volunteer at the beginning of class on a day when
no one has signed up.