342 The UMAP Journal 22.3(2001) Complete the analysis circle: Are your recommendations practical in the problem context? Before the final judging of the MCM papers, a first(or triage)round of judging is held. During triage judging, each paper is skimmed by two or three judges, who spend between 5 and 10 minutes each reading the paper. Typically, when you send your paper off to COMAP, you have about a 43% chance of being ranked higher than Successful Participant. If, however, you survive the triage round, you have about an 80% chance of being ranked higher than Successful Participant. Head triage judge Paul Boisen offers the following advice to help you survive triage riage Judge Tips Your summary is a key component of the paper; it needs to be clear and contain results. A long list of techniques can obscure your results it is better to provide only a quick overview of your approach. The Lawrence Technical University paper is a good example of a clear and concIse summary. Your paper needs to be well organized--can a triage judge understand the significance of your paper in 6 to 10 minutes? Triage Judge Pet Peeves Tables with columns headed by greek letters or acronyms that cannot diately understood Definitions and notation buried in the middle of paragraphs of text. A bullet form is easier for the frantic triage judge! Equations without variables defined Elaborate derivations of formulas taken directly from a text. Itis better to cite the book and perhaps briefly explain how the formula is derived. It is most important to demonstrate that you know how to use the formulas properly Reference Garber, Nicholas J, and Lester A. Hoel. 1999. Traffic and Highway Engineering Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.342 The UMAP Journal 22.3 (2001) • Complete the analysis circle: Are your recommendations practical in the problem context? Before the final judging of the MCM papers, a first (or triage) round of judging is held. During triage judging, each paper is skimmed by two or three judges, who spend between 5 and 10 minutes each reading the paper. Typically, when you send your paper off to COMAP, you have about a 43% chance of being ranked higher than Successful Participant. If, however, you survive the triage round, you have about an 80% chance of being ranked higher than Successful Participant. Head triage judge Paul Boisen offers the following advice to help you survive triage. Triage Judge Tips • Your summary is a key component of the paper; it needs to be clear and contain results. A long list of techniques can obscure your results; it is better to provide only a quick overview of your approach. The Lawrence Technical University paper is a good example of a clear and concise summary. • Your paper needs to be well organizedócan a triage judge understand the significance of your paper in 6 to 10 minutes? Triage Judge Pet Peeves • Tables with columns headed by Greek letters or acronyms that cannot be immediately understood. • Definitions and notation buried in the middle of paragraphs of text. A bullet form is easier for the frantic triage judge! • Equations without variables defined. • Elaborate derivations of formulas taken directly from a text. It is better to cite the book and perhaps briefly explain how the formula is derived. It is most important to demonstrate that you know how to use the formulas properly. Reference Garber, Nicholas J., and Lester A. Hoel. 1999. Traffic and Highway Engineering. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company