11/15/2000

CS510 & CS577a Student procedures for submitting suggested book and CD errors

Following are procedures for submitting possible errors identified in the text of Software Cost Estimation with COCOMO II as well as in its accompanying CD. We are also looking for non-trivial suggestions for clarifications or improvements in both the text and CD (for the purposes of point awarding, it will be at the discretion of the class professor as to whether or not something is considered non-trivial).

Benefit: one point will be added to the total points earned at the end of a semester (up to a maximum of 20 points) by a student in a class for each unique error or suggestion submitted and subsequently taken under consideration by the professor, subject to the conditions outlined below.

A maximum of 20 points for submissions can be earned in a class. If a student is enrolled in both cs510 and cs577a, the student can earn a total of 40 extra points for the submissions over the semester, limited to a maximum of 20 points in each class.

However, if a student chooses to help us improve the text and CD by continuing to make valid error and suggestion submissions after having already earned the maximum points possible for such submissions, that student will be acknowledged at the end of the semester by the professor in an appropriate and commensurate fashion in an expression of our appreciation for that student's assistance. (This acknowledgement will not influence the student's final grade beyond the 20 points he or she may have earned already for this effort, but to encourage further submissions, it will certainly be worth the student's while, so we encourage you to continue making submissions even if you have earned the maximum number of points!)

Procedure

1. Check working lists at URLs indicated below (also accessible through links on the class home pages). If not already posted, submit email USING YOUR OFFICIAL USC EMAIL ACCOUNT describing error or suggestion to one of the following addresses depending on which class student is enrolled in and if the error or suggestion being reported pertains to the book or to the CD:

§ Book - bkerr510@sunset.usc.edu or bkerr577@sunset.usc.edu

§ CD - cderr510@sunset.usc.edu or cderr577@sunset.usc.edu

2. Benefit - one point added to total earned points at end of semester for each unique error identified (i.e., 3 typos or misspellings identified in one sentence = 3 points), on a FIRST-COME-FIRST-SERVE basis. In other words, if two students submit the same error before it has been posted to the working lists, the point for identifying that error will be awarded to the student who's email was sent first, according to the time stamp on the email. Thus it is to your advantage to submit identified errors or suggestions as soon as possible.

3. Email description of submitted error MUST include the page number, paragraph number, and line number where error is located or points will NOT be earned. For figures and tables, the page number and figure or table number MUST be included or points will NOT be earned. The description of the error must be precise enough for us to easily and swiftly understand or points will NOT be earned. You MUST make the submission using your official USC email account or points will NOT be earned.

4. The student will receive an email reply within a week of his submission ONLY if it is decided that the submission will NOT be taken into consideration and no points will be awarded. Reasons for a submission not to be considered include the following:

§ Email did not include all the locating information as specified

§ Email was not submitted using your official USC account

§ We could not decipher or interpret your description of the error or suggestion

§ Someone else submitted the same error or suggestion before you

§ The error or suggestion had already been posted to the working lists

§ The suggestion for improvement was trivial (e.g., a statement such as "Change all figure labels to bold face type.")

5. A student enrolled in both CS510 and CS577 will be awarded points for the same submitted error or suggestion in only ONE of the two classes. The student decides to which class he or she wants the points allocated by the email account the student uses to make the submission.

6. Points will be awarded ONLY if the date and time stamp of the submitted email PRECEDES the date of a posting describing that same error, AND precedes all other submissions from other students describing that same. Again, points will be awarded on a first-come-first-serve basis.

7. We are not responsible for technical problems. If you make a submission and due to computer or network failure we never receive it, or it arrives after the same error or suggestion has been posted or received from someone else, sorry, but there is no recourse. Points will not be awarded for your submission in this case.

8. Points will be awarded regardless if the suggested error is ultimately accepted or rejected for inclusion in the book or CD. What counts is that you go to the effort of submitting a suggested error or suggestion for improvement that has not already been posted.

9. Last day for submitting errata reports is midnight PST on the evening of Friday, December 15, 2000.

http://sunset.usc.edu/research/COCOMOII/working_list_book_errata/working_book_errata.html

http://sunset.usc.edu/research/COCOMOII/working_list_cd_errata/working_cd_errata.html