CSE347 eHomework Guide


This guide describes how to format your assignments for electronic submission, how to submit it through Gradescope, and how to retrieve it after grading. For advice on tools to compose assignments electronically, see the accompanying composing tips document.

Contents


Formatting Standards for Assignments

You must prepare your assignments using a word processor, editor, or other software that can produce typeset results, including math. Hand-written solutions are not acceptable, and a penalty may be assessed for homework that is hand-written. Please do not use plain text with "ASCII math" (i.e. simulated displayed formulas produced using creative spacing and underline/dash characters) or "ASCII art" in place of figures.

We strongly recommend using LaTeX to prepare your solutions, since it is the de facto standard method for typesetting published work in computer science, and it is especially well-suited to typesetting mathematics. However, other tools, such as Word and compatible WYSIWYG word processors, can also be used; see the composing tips for more information.

Your assignment document must have a header, which must appear at the top of each of its pages, that includes your full name and 6-digit student ID (not your WUSTL Key ID) and the assignment number. Page numbers at the bottom of each page are optional but recommended.

Your assignment should use a page size of 8.5x11 inches ("letter" size; A4 is also OK). Most text should be in a proportionally-spaced font with a size of at least 11 points. (However, you might find that a fixed-width font such as Courier is better for writing pseudocode with consistent indenting.) You should use black text on a white background everywhere except possibly in figures. Your figures may be in color if desired, but your grader might be red-green colorblind, so choose your palette appropriately.

Figures may be drawn using the tool of your choice, or even hand-drawn and scanned as images, so long as they are legible in your final submission. Vector graphics (i.e. those stored as a set of shapes and lines) are preferred to bitmapped images such as GIF, PNG, or JPEG, but either is acceptable. Place your figures, scaled appropriately, inline at the point where they are first referenced in your document, or use your editor's "float" facility (if any) to have them appear at the top or bottom of a page with suitable captions and corresponding references in the text. Please do not just put all figures at the end of the document.

Assignment Templates

To help you follow these formatting standards, we have created this LaTeX template and this MS Word template (which can be converted by other editors, such as LibreOffice or Google Docs, to their native formats) as a starting point for your document.


How To Turn In Your Assignment

Important Facts

  1. You must upload assignments to Gradescope yourself. Do not send us your assignment by email or bring it in on a USB stick for us to upload on your behalf. We reserve the right to reject (and give no credit for) assignments given to us in ways other than the official turn-in procedure.
  2. Assignments must be turned in on time. If you turn in an assignment after the assigned due date and time, Gradescope will mark it late. Please leave yourself sufficient time to upload your work.
  3. You must upload a single PDF, then select pages for each problem's solution. Your grader for a given problem will see only the pages you select for that problem. We reserve the right to deduct points or give no credit for assignments with incorrect or absent page selection. Please note that time spent selecting pages does not count against the turn-in deadline; the assignment is considered turned in as soon as the PDF is uploaded. Hence, there is no benefit to skipping page selection.
  4. Because a grader will not be able to see your solutions to problems other than the one they are grading, please ensure that your solutions are self-contained unless otherwise directed.
  5. You may submit modified versions of an assignment as often as desired, but only the last version submitted will be graded. Versions other than the last will not be visible to the graders or instructor. If your last version is submitted after the turn-in deadline, it will be considered late.

Submission Procedure

Below is a summary of the key steps in the Gradescope submission process, which you must complete to turn in your homework. You can also watch a video tutorial of the turn-in process, but remember that, unlike in this tutorial, you must typeset your homework and may not turn in hand-written text.


Getting Your Assignment Back

Assignments will be graded in Gradescope and will then be available for you to read and download with raw scores and comments. Grades will eventually be computed from these raw scores as described elsewhere and will be recorded in the Canvas grade book.

If you disagree with the grading of a particular problem, please use Gradescope to submit a regrade request. This request will go to the TA who graded the problem. If you are still unhappy after receiving the grader's response, please contact the instructor via private Piazza post to the folder corresponding to the homework being regraded.


Last update: 8/22/2022