Office hours: asking about an assignment

You: Hi, sorry, is this still office hours? Have you got a few minutes?

Dr Patel: Yes, of course, come in. Sorry, remind me of your name?

You: It's Jasur, I'm on your Machine Learning in Practice module. I wanted to ask about the first assignment, if that's okay.

Dr Patel: Sure. What's on your mind?

You: So, the brief says we need to critically evaluate a case study. I just wanted to check I understand what you mean by 'critically evaluate'.

Dr Patel: Good question. Basically, I don't want you to just describe what the company did. I want you to assess it. What worked, what didn't, and why.

You: Right. So it's more about giving my own judgement, backed up by evidence?

Dr Patel: Exactly. And ideally you'd bring in some of the literature we've covered to support your points.

You: Okay, that makes sense. Is there a minimum number of sources you'd expect?

Dr Patel: There's no fixed number, but for three thousand words I'd expect maybe ten to fifteen good-quality academic sources.

You: That's really helpful. And one more thing, would it be okay to use a case from my previous job? It's quite relevant.

Dr Patel: That could work well, actually, as long as you don't include anything confidential. Send me a short outline first.

You: Great, I'll email you a paragraph this week. Thanks so much for your time.

Dr Patel: Not at all. Good luck with it.