Statistics Paper General Guidelines and Format Suggestions
Your Final Paper is Due Friday May 2nd, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Overview (from the syllabus)

The use of statistics shows up in newspapers and news magazines all the time. 
Most of the time, the statistics are used correctly and carefully, but sometimes statistical analyses are on shaky ground
due to ignorance or naiveté on the author’s part, and in a few (hopefully rare) cases, statistical presentations are used
in an incomplete fashion or tangential context so as to purposely deceive the reader and buttress the author’s agenda. 
Over the first half of the semester, you are encouraged to keep a sharp eye out for the use of statistics in your reading
of current events, such as newspapers, news magazines, or journals in your chosen discipline.  Near the end of the
semester, you will write a short paper on one article that uses statistics.  More specific instructions and requirements
will be forthcoming as the assignment nears, but generally you will address such items as:  what tools and techniques
from this course were used in the article, were the methods used appropriately, and are validating assumptions satisfied? 
In essence, you will critique the article in light of your knowledge of this course.

More Specifics

--- choose an article from a newspaper, news magazine, or journal in a field that interests you
--- the article should involve a statistical analysis procedure, preferably one that we covered in this class
--- describe in your paper the statistical tools and techniques that are used in the article
--- what are the relevant statistical assumptions made in the article ?
--- what are the conclusions of the article?
--- critique the statistical methods used; were they appropriate?  were they used correctly? explain why or why not
--- do you think the statistical assumptions were valid?
--- is some other analysis more appropriate?
--- do you have suggestions for improvement of the article's design or analysis?

General format

--- your paper should be typed
--- "the best length of the paper is the shortest length that meets the requirements"
--- I hate to give a length requirement, but I'm guessing around 3 to 4 pages would be a good length
--- you'll be graded on statistical content as well as presentation