COURSE POLICY

  • GENERAL
    • Student participation is encouraged in lectures.

    • Class attandence is accounted by classwork participation throughout the semester.

    • Cellular phones should be switched into the silent mode during the lecture hours. Phone conversation or any type of text messaging is not allowed in the classroom.

    • Each student is required to have an entry in the AE database with a current picture and a valid E-mail address.

  • GRADING
    • Classwork 10%
      Homework 20%
      Midterm Exam30%
      Final Exam40%

    • In final grading, Transformed Standart Scores, which are based on the mean and the standart deviation of the grade distributions, are considered.

  • HOMEWORKS

    • There will be about 5 homework assignments following each major topic covered. Assignments require computer programming in Fortran and graphical data analysis.

    • Homework assignments are announced in class, and posted on "ODTUClass - All Sections" with supplements.

    • Incomplete Fortran codes are provided for some assignments, and should be used without any major modification.

    • You are strongly advised to install gfortran to compile the codes and run them without trouble.

    • Homework assignments are done as a team work. A team consists of 3 team members. 

    • Homework copying is not tolerated at all. Your code files and reports will be checked for similarities. Copy givers and takers lose 50% of the total HW weight in their first attempt and the other %50 in their second attempt. See the Academic Integrity Guide.

    • Your report and code writing quality will dramatically affect your score:
      • Write your team number and contributing group members on the first page.
      • Use 12pt and single line spacing.
      • A homework report should have the following 3 main sections: "Introduction", "Method" and "Results and Discussion". This document explains each section quite well. We do not expect everything mentioned there, but you will get a good idea about what and how to write within this course's context.
      • Remember, we will be looking for some key results/figures/conclusions and some key points in your approach and coding. Do not stretch out just to submit a long report. Be brief, concise, and to the point. Answer everything you are asked and explain as much as possible with the minimum number of pages possible.
      • Figures must be compact and easily readable without zooming (text in the figures should be the same size as the document text). Every figure must be numbered, captioned, and referenced in the report where the content of the figure is explained and discussed. Non-captioned, non-explained figures will be disregarded. If there is nothing to discuss and no lead to a conclusion in a figure, do not put it.
      • Use the paper space efficiently. 
      • If you have multiple data to be compared, plot them on the same figure if possible, or put related figures adjacent to each other so that it is easier to notice the differences and make a comparison. 
      • A good plot vs a bad one with common mistakes. 
      • To recap everything mentioned above, check this paper as an example of a well-written report. It includes fine examples of equation writing, tabulation, data plotting, creating legends, explaining a chunk of code, illustrating a problem, figure placement, captioning and referencing them; everything you will be doing (we do not expect such a detailed and lengthy paper, just use it as a reference).
      • Complete code(s) will be submitted as separate code file(s) as instructed per HW. Do not put the whole code in you report. However, we expect you to explain what your code is doing by adding in-place comments to the code file or showing important portions of the code in the report and explaining them. Do not hesitate to write few sentences for a line. Show the equation or method you are applying explicitly.
      • The incomplete codes you are given mostly require some minimal interference: primarily editing subroutines/functions and minimal modifications to the main code to accommodate those primary edits. If you find yourself lost in the code or changing the whole code structure, you are probably doing something wrong. That would also be difficult for you to explain, hence avoid such practice.

    • Use video conferencing to discuss with your teammates. Everyone is expected to contribute equally.

    • You may use the report templates provided in LaTeX and Word/Google Document formats. (Suggestion: multiple people can work on the same document simultaneously in Google Docs.)

    • Homework submissions are made on ODTUCLASS. Reports should be in .pdf format. Codes are submitted in a separate plain text file. Extension of the code file should be the same as the Fortran version (i.e. .f90).

    • Late submissions via e-mail will not be accepted. Please do not leave the submission to the last minute.

  • EXAMS
    • The exams are of closed-book but you are allowed to bring two page (both sides of a single A4 sheet) of your own notes. Photocopies are not allowed. Verbal definitions, derivations and solutions are not allowed in your notes. Your note sheet is collected at the end of the exam with your answer sheets.

    • Only non-programmable, simple hand calculators without any type of media storage are allowed in the exams.

    • Cellular phones must be turned off and should not be placed on the desk/table.

    • Solutions without proper explanations and with sloppy handwriting lose points.

    • A completely wrong answer may receive a negative score.

    • The exam questions and their solutions are discussed in the first class hour following the exam.

    • There is only one comprehensive make-up exam at the end of the semester in the week following the final exams.