# Lab 3 student notes

Course material under [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). [Lab instructions](https://agencyai.mit.edu/lab3/).

Keep your own notes. Brief answers, file locations, and selected outputs are enough.

- Name and partner
- Where I keep my spec

## Step 1. Write a spec for your project

- Project topic, ideal result, and who would want it
- Challenges I expect
- What I would keep and throw away in a one-day version
- Work that involves reading other people's work
- What already does something like this, and what my version would do differently
- Work that involves building from scratch, tweaking, or vibing up programs
- What I am unsure about, and which of those questions published work might help answer

Write your spec separately, as described at the end of Step 1 in the lab.

## Step 2. Try a case and question the spec

- A request someone might make, and the result they would expect
- What my spec means for this case, and which reading I intend
- How I would check the result, or that I don't have a check yet
- What I revised, and any question I can't answer yet
- Claude's critique, and whether Claude would want to use the project

## Step 3. Have a partner read the spec

- Partner's case and interpretation before my explanation
- Wording that led to any difference between us
- What I changed or kept, and why

💬 *Checkoff questions*

- **What does your project do, and how will you judge a result?** Show staff what you would keep in the one-day version and how you would judge whether it is useful.
- **What did inspecting a case and reviewing the spec reveal?** Show your partner's interpretation and explain what you revised or kept as is.

### Checkoff 1

- Staff's interpretation of my spec
- Feedback and any revision

## Step 4. Put the spec to work

Keep the question, reading notes, claim checks, supporting passages, and links to source records and saved exchanges in `paper-sources/notes.md` in your Reading Map clone. Use this section for your reflections.

- Where my Reading Map clone is
- Which Step 1 question I picked, and why
- What the later sources added or changed
- What comparing the reading map with my own reading led me to check
- What my checks changed about how I would use the reading map
- The decision I recorded in my spec, or the question left open and the next check
- What my partner understood from my explanation, and their Step 3 case judged again if a requirement changed

💬 *Checkoff questions*\
Ask staff for a checkoff after you explain your decision to your partner.

- **What choice did the reading map help you make or reconsider?**
- **What evidence or precedent supports that choice?**
- **How did your spec guide the reading map, and what would you change now?**

### Checkoff 2

- Staff feedback and pending work

## Optional: automate a literature search

Complete this only if you try it.

- Claude's suggested setup for a recurring sweep
- Terms I asked staff to explain