Assignment 2

Assignment Due: 11:59pm Wednesday July 23 on Blackboard if you are registered (emailed to me otherwise)

Your task

Critique and then improve either one of your plots from assignment 1 or another plot you find and can replicate.

Your should critique comment on:

Produce an improved version of your plot that addresses your criticisms. This plot should be in a polished form ready for publication.

Your submission will again consist of two files:

a two page .pdf file with the original plot and your critique as well as your improved plot. I recommend keeping your original plot and critique to one page, and devoting the entire second page to your improved plot (you can include a caption).
an R script that documents your work.

Your critique, improvements and polishing will be graded using the rubric below.

Critique:

Points	Description
5	The critique comments on: the ease of the perceptual tasks required to make the comparisons of interest the use of preattentive properties and any perceived or inherent grouping the use of colour The comments apply the principles we covered in lecture, and correctly identify the ways improvements might be made.
3	The critique discusses the three points required, but does so incompletely, or incorrectly applies the principles covered in lecture.
1	The critique fails to discuss the three points required.

The critique comments on:

the ease of the perceptual tasks required to make the comparisons of interest
the use of preattentive properties and any perceived or inherent grouping
the use of colour The comments apply the principles we covered in lecture, and correctly identify the ways improvements might be made.

The critique discusses the three points required, but does so incompletely, or incorrectly applies the principles covered in lecture.

The critique fails to discuss the three points required.

Improvements:

Points	Description
5	Comparisons of interest are made as easy as possible. The improved plot makes use of perceptual properties higher on the ranking of perceptual ease than the original. Colour is used in a way that matches the variable it is encoding and is colourblind friendly. Preattentive properties are used to highlight groupings of interest.
3	The improved plot makes comparisons of interest easier, but there is still room for improvement.
1	The “improved” plot makes comparisons harder than the original version.

Polishing:

Points	Description
5	Plot is in a state suitable for publication. Axes labels, ticks and breaks are readable, sensible and complete. Major and minor breaks are sensible and not distracting. Legends are readable and minimise cognitive effort.
3	Some polishing has been attempted, but plot still has some problems such as: unreadable axis labeling or use of abbreviated variable names, legends are off the page or unhelpful, inappropriate breaks or a distracting grid.
1	No polishing has been attempted.

Plagiarism is taken seriously. If your submission replicates someone else’s work you will receive zero points.