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.