Term Paper Assignment

Topic

The project has to be about a social topic. Either you can create the model from scratch or you can “remake” an already existing, published model.

Project memo (due May 18)

Describe your project plan in no more than one page. This page should

(1) describe the substantive topic that you would like to model (try to tell a “story” that captures the logic of the model and the expected results)

(2) present the model architecture (who are the main actors? the interaction topology? the main time steps?)

Before you go ahead with the modeling, you need the instructors’ approval of your memo. You will be able to modify the model later on, but major changes will require resubmission of the project memo clearly indicating the changes.

Final project report (due July 6)

The final project report should include the following parts:

(1) Description of the substantive topic

Describe the research problem briefly in a few paragraphs. If the model builds on existing literature, this should be indicated with complete references.

(2) Specification of the model

The model should be clearly described such that it would (almost) be possible to recreate it without having the source code. Verbal description is important, but you will want to use “pseudo-code” as well.

(3) Presentation of the results

Illustrate how the model works with one or two sample runs. Include pictures, graphs, statistics, or other types of output, but there should be a verbal description. In addition, you are expected to present some type of systematic findings generated in batch mode using the parameter mechanism. Comment on the results briefly.

(4) Source code

Attach the zipped model with commented source code.

Please make submissions electronically directly to Luc Girardin using the subject lines “Project memo” and “Project report” respectively. The papers can be written in English, German, or French and formatted in PDF, Postcript, Word, or Framemaker.