Intro to Chaos and Fractals

Short Exploratory/Analytical Papers

The first paper will be due Monday 21 January, 2008.


Here are some guidelines for the short papers. This description is based on Karen Waldron's description of response papers. With her permission, I've taken several sentences verbatim from one of her syllabi.


Response papers for this class give you the opportunity to capture your ideas and go beneath the surface by asking you to write about some ideas from the class that have captured your imagination. While they should be typed and coherent (and spell-checked), response papers do not need to be as structured as formal essays. Your paper should reflect both deep analytic thought and intellectual risk-taking. Find something that really interests you to explore. Push the idea as far as you can and push yourself. Make a discovery and ensure that your reader will not be bored by what you see and say. Defend your perspective. Above all, the response paper should be intellectually and emotionally satisfying. In approaching the response paper, plan to sit down at your computer or journal and address something you can really develop passion and concern about. Choose a question, word, phrase, issue, image, equation, person, quotation, or idea from the readings or discussion and dig deeply.