General Junior Papers Information
Junior Independent Work - Academic Year 2008-2009
Overview:
Junior papers present physics concentrators the opportunity to work closely with professors on important topics in physics and related fields.. The phrase "junior independent work" is a bit of a misnomer, as the work involves frequent one-on-one interaction with a member of the physics faculty. Typically, faculty members suggest topics (often from their own research area), although student-inspired topics are also more than welcome. For many of you, this will be your first chance to participate in working with a faculty member on a subject of mutual interest. Make the most of it!
Also, by "independent research" we mean that you explore a topic and write about it in your own words, it does not imply that your JP, especially the Fall JP, must represent ORIGINAL work. It is quite possible to get an excellent grade by writing a very clear, lucid and understandable JP on a well-understood topic! A great JP is one that one of your classmates can read and say: NOW I understand what this topic is all about!
Students who do not have too intense a schedule might find it useful to take concurrently an elective course on the topic of their JP. This might help them build a good background on the chosen JP topic and facilitate the JP writing experience. A partial list of electives is here.
The Junior Committee:
The "Junior Committee" is Prof. Robert Austin. He can be contacted at
austin@princeton.edu
or x8-4353. His office is 122 Jadwin.
Junior Paper Deadlines
All independent work is due on the date set by the physics department.
Students are strongly encouraged to respect the deadline. Those who are
unable to complete independent work by the department deadline because
of illness or another compelling reason essentially outside their control must apply for postponement to their residential
college dean. The application must include an endorsement of the
adviser. The residential college dean will consult with the department
representative and with the JP Committee before granting the extension.
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FALL 2008 |
SPRING 2009 |
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First day of Classes |
TBD |
TBD |
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Topic and Adviser |
TBD |
TBD |
| Outline |
TBD |
TBD |
| Draft JP |
TBD |
TBD |
| Final JP |
TBD
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TBD |
The JP papers should be turned in to the department office (208 Jadwin).
General:
Each student pursuing a physics degree at Princeton must complete a Junior
Paper ("JP") in each semester of the junior year. The goals of the JP are
to gain experience doing independent research, to become familiar with the
physics literature, and to learn to present information in a clear, concise,
scientific style. Students are expected to work closely with
faculty advisers throughout the JP process.
Topics:
The spectrum of possible JP topics is very broad; the only rule is that the
topic must involve physics. Specific topics must be agreed upon by student
and adviser, and approved by the Junior Committee, Prof. Austin. A common course is to
study a specific topic of current research interest, but this is by no means all you can do.
A JP might describe background of the
work, details of a specific research topic, and implications for future work.
Occasionally JPs cover topics of a philosophical or historical bent. In such
cases, care must be taken to ensure that such JPs incorporate reasonably
rigorous, physics-related independent research.
The JP is not intended to be an original contribution to the field (although
in some cases it might be). However, it must be independent work, that is, it must be written
in your own words. Reading a
book and summarizing it is not acceptable, nor is it acceptable to dodge things you don't undertand by saying "it can be shown that".
If it can be shown, then do it.
Many JPs are written about current research within the department, but care must be taken with level and scope of such projects. For
example, it is difficult to gain an in-depth understanding of the latest
innovations in string theory within the JP time scale.
Sometimes students suggest doing "an overview" or "some reading"
in a current field. Experience has shown this to be a bad idea---the end
result is too superficial to be of much value. Pick a specific topic and go into some depth on it.
While it is possible to do an actual experiment,
measurement or similar work as part of a JP, experience has shown
that you will run out of time because experiment is harder than you think and sucks time up. Wait till your Senior Thesis before diving
into a serious experiment. The strict time limit must be kept in mind. JP
extensions are not granted due to equipment failure!
Computer simulations as part of the JP are possible but not especially encouraged, especially if the time spent on the
computer simulation serves to bypass time spent gaining a deeper intuitive understanding of the subject. Computers cannot do
your thinking for you.
Final Hint: limit the scope of the project! The JP deadline comes quickly
and with great force. It is better to cover a narrow topic well than
to give superficial treatment to a larger one.
Advisers:
Lists of faculty and their research interests can be found on the
department website in the "research" section. A good way to find an adviser is to look over
the research statements, find someone who is doing something that
sounds interesting to you, and drop by his/her office to ask if
he/she has any good JP ideas.
There is also a list of faculty JP ideas
distributed on the web.
Some suggested JP topics are included here, but most faculty
members will also have many ideas for JP
topics not explicitly included on the web lists. Students may also come up with
JP topics on their own and suggest them to faculty members.
Advisers may come from outside
of the physics department (but see ``Advisers outside the physics
department,'' below).
The role of the adviser is to advise, but not to micromanage, JP
research. The interaction with a faculty member is one of the
most beneficial aspects of writing a JP. Students and advisers should
meet several times through the semester.
It is the student's
responsibility to arrange meetings with the adviser.
Because faculty
members often travel during the academic year, it is important to check
schedules early to avoid end-of-semester surprises.
In order to gain some breadth in physics research experience,
each student's fall and spring JPs must be supervised by
different faculty members. It is recommended (but not absolutely
required) that the two JPs be in different research areas.
Juniors in certificate programs (e.g., biophysics) should choose JP
advisors and topics appropriate to the programs for 1 of the 2 JPs.
Outline:
A brief outline of the JP (a few sentences of summary plus
roughly half a page of outline) must be submitted after
settling on a topic and adviser. This is done to ensure that topics are of
reasonable scope, and to normalize the amount of effort across the students.
Outlines should be prepared in consultation with
advisers. Advisers must sign outlines before they are submitted.
Style, Length, Etc.:
As a rough guideline, a JP should be around 15 pages long,
including pictures tables, graphs, etc. It should be clear, concise,
and written at a level which can be understood by other junior
physics majors at Princeton. (It follows that a good way to
test the level of a JP is to have classmates read draft versions.) Articles in such
magazines as Physics Today, Science, and
Nature give
an idea of acceptable scientific writing style. The JP must be well
organized, logically persuasive, and properly documented (citations,
bibliography). It should include tables and figures as necessary to
clearly present the topic.
You will notice that the journals and technical books you use
vary in their bibliographic layouts. Choose one system that seems
most readable to you, and stick to it scrupulously.
We are not
sticklers for details of style - we don't prescribe margin
widths, type faces, bibliography layouts, etc. - but clarity,
readability, and internal consistency are all important.
The JP is an excellent opportunity to learn to use LaTeX, THE typesetting language
for hard-science papers! Use M$oft Word at your own risk, it makes a mess out of mathematics.
Draft:
A draft
JP must be submitted by the deadline listed above. One copy should
be deposited at the Physics department office and a second copy
given directly to the adviser. The second reader must be a physics
department faculty member, i.e., a professor with an office in
Jadwin Hall (no exceptions). The adviser will read the paper and
return it within a few days. (These dates may be changed by mutual
agreement of the student, the adviser, and Prof. Austin.) The
draft will not be graded. However, failure to submit a substantially
complete draft will result in a lower JP grade at the end of the
semester. Hint: have your friends read through your draft.
Endgame:
As the semester ends, each student must find a faculty member to agree
to be the ``second reader'' of the JP.
An excellent time to arrange a second reader would be just after
the draft is due, in the last two weeks of classes.
The adviser and second
reader are the primary sources of the grade (see Grading, below).
Three copies of the JP must be submitted to the undergraduate office.
One copy will be kept of file by the department. The other copies
will be given to the adviser and second reader. Often they will make
comments on the paper itself as they read it---in which case their
copies will be returned to the student after grading.
In addition to paper copies, we would appreciate receiving electronic
(pdf) versions of JPs, so that they can be posted
on the web. However, electronic submission is not required but highly encouraged. See the comment about LaTeX above.
Advisers Outside the Physics Department:
Students may work with outside advisers, subject to three conditions:
- The JP must cover a physics topic.
- The choice adviser and topic must be
approved by the Junior Committee (i.e., Prof. Austin) before the
deadline for selecting advisers and topics. NOTE that cultures
in other Departments are different, and you may find that your outside advisor
is not working out. PLEASE tell Prof. Austin ASAP if there is trouble afoot so we can do damage
control quickly!
- In some cases a faculty member from within
the physics department must be chosen as co-adviser. The main responsibility
of the co-adviser is to enforce rule 1. The co-adviser will ultimately
become the second reader.
JPs based on Summer Work:
Students who have worked in the department (or elsewhere) on summer research
projects may want to base JPs on that work. While this is acceptable, it is
important that the JP go beyond "what I did on my summer vacation.'' It must
represent new research done outside of paid lab work. Indeed, writing a JP
can be a good opportunity to move beyond the details of day-to-day work and
think about the underlying physics. In order to separate JPs from other work,
some guidelines should be observed: (1) While a JP can be inspired by summer
work or work-study, and can draw on the results thereof, it should involve a
significant amount of work done during the semester. (2) An important goal of
the JP is to gain experience using the physics literature. Like any JP, then,
a paper based on lab work should include some work with traditional reference
sources. (3) The final grade is to be based solely on the
JP itself,
not on the the adviser's impression of the student as a research assistant.
Web page:
There is a "Junior Matters" web page,
accessible from the department server.
Some JPs from previous years are available.
Grading:
Advisers and second readers will both read a JP, discuss it, and agree on a
grade. All advisers will then attend a ``normalization meeting'' to check for
consistency of grading across all students. Both presentation and content are
important in determining the grade. A list of grading criteria (distributed
to the faculty) is given below. Note that scientific content and
quality of presentation are given roughly equal weight in the
final grade.
Grading Criteria for Junior Papers:
- Is the paper correct?
- Does the paper indicate a clear understanding of the subject?
- Is the paper written at a level that another Junior could understand?
- Is the paper well written? In particular:
- Is the writing clear and concise?
- Is the paper well organized?
- Are the grammar and spelling correct?
- Are the figures clear and readable? Do they have useful captions?
- Was the paper carefully proofread?
- Are the references clearly cited in the text?
- Is the length of the paper appropriate (15--20 pages) ?
- Is there an attempt to apply undergraduate physics to the problem?
(This might involve deriving equations, checking magnitudes, etc.)
- Does the paper have some depth as well as breadth?
- Does the paper indicate an ability to use the scientific literature
effectively?
Past and Present Individual Junior Papers
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