BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
Electrical Engineering Department
Standards for Daily Assignments with Suggestions for
Effective Study
I. THINKING
One purpose of college education is to educate
students in the art of thinking! The
art of thinking is called logic. It is
not possible, however, to learn to think by studying logic. Similarly, it is not possible to develop
muscles by reading books on weight lifting.
To develop "mental muscles," they must be exercised in
vigorous mental activity. The mind can
never be trained to solve difficult problems working on easy problems. Reasoning by analogy with physical training,
it would appear that during the training period, in college, the mind must be
disciplined by mental effort to equal to that which will be required in the
future.
II. EFFICIENT STUDY
Studying requires a great deal of intensive
effort. In order to conserve time, the
effort should be concentrated and free from distractions. Efficient study can be made a habit which
will be useful throughout a professional career. The fact that the student is actually self-employed provides an
incentive for improvement in work habits.
Reading is not study, and going through the motions will not produce
results. Efficiency will be increased
if the student periodically asks: "Why am I doing this?", "What
is the best method?", "What should I be learning from this?".
III. ORDERLY WORK
It is absolutely essential that
an engineer think and work in an orderly fashion. Since the ability to do so is developed by habit, students of
engineering must make every effort to work problems, perform experiments, and
write reports in a manner which is lucid and orderly. A sequence of steps which will be helpful in doing work in the desired
fashion is:
(1) stating
the problem
(2) planning
the manner of solution
(3) executing
the solution
(4) checking
(5) interpreting
the conclusions
In interpreting the conclusions for a particular
problem, one should endeavor to recognize the relationship of the specific case
to the general class which it represents.
One thinks, learns, and works best in the framework of general and
fundamental principles. If one follows
these in thinking, and if one presents work in corresponding fashion, there
will be no doubt on one's part or anyone else's as to what the work represents.
It will be helpful to think of each assignment as
engineering work for a client (perhaps yourself) who truly wants to know
certain things. Consider that you are
hired to find answers and to convince your client of their validity and
importance.
IV. PROBLEM SOLVING AND PRESENTATION OF YOUR SOLUTION
As an aid in the solution of problems, it is advisable to follow a standard form. The purpose of the standard form is not to make all student papers look alike (although this is a great help for the readers), but to ensure that the student's thinking is organized during the process of organizing the work sheet.
A standard form for all daily assignments in the
Electrical Engineering Department is to be used except in those cases where
individual instructors explicitly authorize limited, stipulated deviations.
(1)
Use of engineering problem paper ruled with five lines per inch for the bulk of
calculations. The unruled side of the
sheet is to be used even for graphs. (The lines show through well enough for
most purposes.) Do not write on both
sides of the sheets. On occasion, other
forms of graph paper or charts or curves may be appropriate.
(2)
Use a relatively hard pencil, well pointed. This can be erased and does not smudge excessively. Colored pencils for part of the work
sometimes are helpful where contrasts between two or more conditions in the
problem are displayed. However, it is
well to avoid using red because this is the color graders normally use, and
colors ordinarily do not differentiate on copy machines.
(3)
The written part should be neatly lettered. Some instructors may permit longhand if it is exceptionally neat
and legible.
(4)
Do not crowd work. Leave one or more blank lines
above and below equations.
A sample or a problem in the standard form follows.
(This particular sample is from an elementary circuits course in which the
student is learning to use Ohm's law and Kirchhoff's laws. Many of the steps shown here could be omitted
by an advanced student, but one should still include explicitly the new
concepts and principles illustrated by a new problem.)
The numbered comments below correspond to circled
numbers on the sample. These numbers may be used by
the grader to point out items needing more attention. It will be noted that the student is allowed considerable freedom
to select details of format and presentation.
The guiding principles are neatness, orderliness, completeness, and
precision. Proper attention should be
paid to spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.
(1)
Course
number and section.
(2)
Student
name (A rubber stamp may be used to make a whole pad of paper quickly.)
(3)
Date
work is turned in
(4)
Page
numbering. The top number is that of
the individual page; the bottom number is the total number of pages in the problem
or assignment.
(5)
Problem
number from textbook or other source in the left margin.
(6)
Statement
of the problem. Normally this will not
be worded the same as in the textbook.
(7)
Circuit
diagram or other sketch illustrating the problem as appropriate. This is part of the statement of the
problem. Note that polarities of
voltages and directions of currents (even for unknown quantities) are indicated
along with component values. This is
important. Show as much given data as
possible and also show how the answers you are seeking relate to the
circuit. Often input waveforms or
signal conditions form part of the statement of the problem and should be shown
on the sketch.
(8)
A
brief indication of the method of solution is normally helpful at the
beginning. In the sample problem, other
methods could have been used for solution such as superposition, Thevenin's
theorem, nodal method, etc.
(9)
Important
equations are numbered for reference when they are used again.
(10)
Left
margin may be used for scratch work. If
extensive scratchwork is required, a part of the center of the page may be
blocked off for this purpose.. Many mistakes are made in scratchwork so it is
important to preserve all such calculations for orderly checking.
(11)
Repeat
headings on each page.
(12)
Repeat
problem number on each page.
(13)
Box
or heavily underline requested answers.
Always indicate the units of the answers.
(14)
Show
answers on a sketch. The answers may be
shown on the original sketch (Item 7 above if this can be done clearly.) In the
illustrated problem, it seemed better to re-draw the circuit because the
original diagram was getting cluttered and because the assumed current Is
and voltage Vs turned out to be negative. The circuit with the answers shown should be studied to see if it
is reasonable. Quick checks on this
circuit show that the voltages in each loop add up correctly and that the
currents add up properly. Also, the
current through the larger voltage source is in the direction expected for that
source as must usually be the case in a dc resistive circuit. These checks need not be written out, but it
is very important to take a minute or two to make them.
(15)
New
problem number or part.
(16)
Comment
or generalization or interpretation or something the problem illustrates is
often called for here.
(17)
Draw
a long double line at the end of every problem and especially if there are
several on the same page. Use the
double line even if the problem ends at the bottom of a page. This is a signal that it is not continued on
the next page. Usually on long
problems, you will receive more personal satisfaction if you start each one on
a new page. Sometimes you will get off
to a bad start and want to begin again; this is hard to do if part of another
problem is on the same page.
(18)
For
handing in assignments, fold them inward neatly once vertically and put name,
date, course number and section on the outside top as shown along with any
other information the instructor may require.
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