If the problem is summarized beforehand, and if your solution is clear, sensible and easy to read, you can easily study from it. If it is messy, not detailed, or illogical, it is not a useful studying tool.

Presenting your problem sets in such a fashion does take more time in the short run, but it is not a waste of time! It helps you internalize the material now, and makes studying for exams easier. The more you practice presenting your ideas in an organized fashion, the better prepared for life after college you are, no matter what field you choose!

I have put together some guidelines. As I've said, following these guidelines will not only make the grading easier for the grader, but also makes your papers more useful to you in the future. If you do not follow them, I may return your hw ungraded.

Save your homework once it has been returned to you! It can be an invaluable study tool.

• Recopy your work.
  Your solutions should make sense, and have no scratch-outs. Let a good eraser or white-out pen be your friend.
• State or summarize the question, before giving the solution.
  When you include a summary, and any given data, your hw becomes a very useful study tool. Without this, your homework is virtually useless for studying.
  
• Don't just state answers, explain your work, using a combination of notation and complete sentences.
• Make your homework handsome and readable.
  Homework that is easy to read not only is more pleasant to grade (thus putting the grader in a good mood), it also gives that always-important good first impression.
  One way to do this is to use pencil rather than pen.
  If you must use pen, only use one side of the paper.
  (Feel free to use the clean side of paper that's
  been once through the printer. )
• Leave space between the problems, and within each problem, leave space between ideas. This not only looks neater, but gives the grader room to respond.
  Do not try to fit your entire problem set onto one page. While the trees would undoubtedly benefit from your economy, my eyes do not.
  
• Staple your papers together.
  Please do not use paperclips, or fold over the corners in the vain hope that this will keep your assignment together. It will only get caught up with other assignments, not to mention making your assignment unsightly.
  
• You put a lot of effort into your homework, make it look like you did! (If you don't put alot of effort into your homework, I'm sure you can still see the benefit in making it look like you did.)