Due Dates
- The week before class: Read the material well in advance. If you have signed up to help lead discussion, then the week before, send me an email suggesting an activity for class discussion. This can be a prompt, a debate, or a news article, whatever you want to talk about with your classmates.
- The day before class: Problem sets and/or reading questions are due by midnight (11:59 pm).
- Session 16: Paper proposal: one-page single-spaced proposal maximum for your final paper (see below). The topic is not binding, but I want you to think about the topic and area early so you can look out for, and suggest to each other, material for your papers.
- Session 17: The midterm exam will follow a similar format as the problem sets. I will give some additional problems for practice beforehand.
- Sessions 24–26: Short presentations, schedule TBD based on student interests (and numbers). One slide maximum, 16 point font minimum, must be circulated to your classmates and me in PDF format one full day beforehand.
- Friday after session 26: Final paper due 5 pm, no extensions. This will describe a strategic plan to meet one specific energy challenge for a specific city. This paper will include a description of your plan and/or intervention, with an assessment of its prospects for success (strengths, weaknesses, other contributing factors necessary), an assessment of the capability of proposed or existing institutions to carry out the plan, and an analysis of its likely environmental, economic, and social effects. You should also turn in basic calculations as needed (not included in the paper page limit), which shows how you derived the key calculations that are the foundation of your paper analysis.
Paper Criteria
In general, papers will be evaluated based on the degree to which they present a clear and coherent argument, introduce appropriate supporting evidence, and develop the argument to a logical conclusion. You should develop your writing and thoughts through multiple written drafts. Other considerations:
- Format: Avoid overly fancy graphic layouts for your paper. Please use black text, white paper, 1.5 or double-spacing, a font with serifs, minimum font size 11.
- Bibliographies: You should include a full bibliography in a common citation format (for example, University of Chicago, Harvard, MLA). This will not count towards the total pages of the paper. Zotero is a great free tool that can help you organize your citations, materials, and writing process.
- Tables and graphics: You are encouraged to use any tools that you need to communicate, such as maps, figures, or tables, but these exhibits may not exceed 20% of the pages. Captions and references help to integrate graphics and text. These exhibits will also be graded for clarity, cogency, and the degree to which they support, inform, or extend the argument presented in the text.
