Extra Credit Projects:

Special extra credit projects are possible upon prior request.  Any
extra credit is added to the class grade. All projects must be original
work by the individual student.  Projects cannot be material used in
another class or copied from the other sources (such as the web). We are
required to report any evidence of plagiarism to the Extension School
authorities.  So be sure to properly cite all references you use.  Just
to be clear - a cut and paste from Wikipedia will not get any credit
and, if it is done without citations, it is plagiarism.

We have pretty loose guidelines for the extra credit project.  It is
usually a paper between 5 and 25 pages, but length isn't really a major
consideration for us -- quality and originality are.  We don't really
want to see a light summary "report" on something -- we want to see some
analysis of your own.  There are not really any topic guidelines other
than it be related to the course.

You don't need prior "approval" from us, but if you would like some
initial feedback on a topic you're interested in, we'd be happy to
comment on your choice so that you don't get started in the wrong
direction or with too broad or narrow a scope.  It's best if you have
some topic that really interests you, or just something you want to know
more about, or maybe something related to your work at your job.  We
want you to learn by doing an extra credit project, and to apply the
analysis techniques and knowledge from the course on your own.

We need to receive the paper by the time we hand out the final exam.
In other words, we need to have your paper a week BEFORE the final exam
is due.  That way we can read the papers while you are doing your exams.
And you also won't be struggling with finish your paper and do the exam
at the same time.

Note that we cannot guarantee to protect confidential information 
and we need to keep a copy of your submission for at least a few years 
as part of the record of the class so please do not include any 
confidential information in your submission or any information that 
you would not want us to retain.