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{\it MATH 376 -- Groundrules for Collaboration on Problem Sets and Labs -- 2/15/2012}
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After grading the first problem set and the first labs (and after some
general departmental discussions on these issues), I think we have to 
clarify some ``do's'' and ``don't's'' regarding the practice of 
collaboration on the problem sets and labs for this course.  The underlying
goal of these rules is to ensure you are all putting in the
individual effort needed to master the material for this course {\it in
addition to} the group ``brainstorming'' that can be a fun and
productive way to work on generating ideas.  
I have come to realize that there are a number of practices going
on in many of our upper-level classes  that really undermine this goal.
After all, our problem sets are designed to be vehicles for learning; they are 
not annoyances to be ``gotten out of the way'' with as little
time and effort as possible.  
%(If you do feel that way, why are you a Mathematics major??)
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\item{0.}  If you feel that working on the problem sets is taking
too much time, you may omit copying out the problem statements.  
However, your solutions should still have enough explanation that you can
go back later and understand what you
were doing.
\item{1.}  {\it Do not} divide up the problems on an assignment
among members of the group and then compile the solutions for the group
members to submit by copying work supplied by your group-mates (i.e. 
{\it even with} proper citation of who is in your working group).
({\it Reason:}  This may seem
like a good labor-saving device.  But in practice, it means that if 
you have not really worked through some of the problems yourself, then 
you may not have really understood what is going on in them.  You 
may also be turning in work that contains errors you have not caught 
because you have not thought and worked through the solution individually!)
\item{2.}  {\it Do} include notes giving credit for office hours
help you have received directly (individually or with others).  
\item{3.}  {\it Do not} delegate members from your group to 
come to office hours to ask about specific questions, and then
compile help I gave to those individuals into solutions that
are submitted by all members of the group.  {\it Do not} credit office 
hours or incorporate ideas I shared there in your solutions if you 
have not been there yourself.  
{\it In other words, collaboration on a problem must cease when some members
of a group have been to office hours asking about a problem 
and others have not been there.}  ({\it Reason:}  
I try to make office hours as interactive as possible, so that
I am pointing you in the right direction to solving a problem
rather than showing you the whole solution myself.  I try to 
get you to supply many or most of the key 
ideas and many technical details.  
If you copy work that relies on the interaction with
me and other students without having been there, you have not
gone through that process yourself and you don't have any right
to present that work as your own.)
\item{4.}  If anyone asks you to do something that violates
these groundrules, {\it don't comply} with that request.  
If you have a question about whether something you 
want to do is OK or violates these groundrules, ask Prof.  Little.
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I have read and understood these rules and intend to follow them for the remainder of MATH 376:
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Signed: $\underline{\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad\qquad}$
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