Here are some important criteria by which most phonology problems are evaluated. It's a good idea to become familiar with them, and to check your own work against them before turning it in.

• The write-up begins with a description of the phenomenon or patterns to be accounted for. Only after a clear description has been presented should your formal analysis begin.

• Your analysis correctly accounts for virtually all of the data. (Significant over- or under-generation of the data is a serious problem.)

• The formal mechanisms of the theory are correctly employed. Rules or constraints are paraphrased in prose form.

• In an OT analysis:
  • Crucial constraint rankings are demonstrated by (mini-)tableaus that give legitimate ranking arguments.
  • Sufficient numbers of relevant losing candidates are considered so that as many constraints as possible can be crucially ranked.
  • A final ranking is given that shows all and only the crucial ranking relationships among the constraints you have considered.
  • There are summary tableaus for a few representative inputs that include all the constraints in the analysis. They are correct and consistent with the patterns observed in the language.

• In a rule-based analysis:
  • The number of rules required for the analysis is the minimum reasonably possible.
  • Crucial rule orderings are demonstrated by (mini-)derivations comparing good and bad orderings.
  • There are full summary derivations for a few representative URs that are correct and consistent with the proposed rule formulations.

• When appropriate, alternative analyses are considered and rejected on reasonable grounds.

• The discussion is reasonably clear, consistent and complete. Terminology is correctly used.