Research Talk Summary

Students are required to submit a 2-page summary of a research talk in the area of Computer Science during the quarter (see Grading in the syllabus for possible venues in which to see talks). Your summary should provide the following.

• The title, speaker, time and location for the talk.
• Identify the research area and problem addressed in the talk, and the key hypothesis/idea and methods presented.
• A summary of the proof/experiment or other method of investigation explored.
• A critique of the work presented. In particular, are the results convincing?
• Comment on the clarity and technical detail of the talk, in terms of the oral presentation and visual/audio aids used. Were the contributions and outcomes of the research clear?
• (Optional - up to 1 additional page permitted) Where appropriate, look at the/a research paper presented in the talk. How did the presentation in the paper differ from that in the talk? What parts of the paper were emphasized in the talk, and what parts were omitted?

Week 10

• Note: Without the items below being complete, you will receive a grade of incomplete (I) for the course, and will be required to register in the course again.
• Deliverables, due Thursday of Week 10:
  1. An email to Prof. Zanibbi from your faculty advisor, indicating acceptance of your final pre-proposal.
  2. A five-minute presentation of your pre-proposal, and submission of your final pre-proposal through MyCourses.
  3. A research paper summary (see requirements above)
  4. Set up a project/thesis web page (examples are provided on the course home page).

Week 9 (Peer Review #2)

• Students should submit a copy of their pre-proposal through MyCourses, and bring a printed copy of their proposal to class. Students will again be paired up, write a review of each other's pre-proposal and then discuss it.
• Students should complete a research talk summary before the end of Week 10.
• NOTE: you are welcome to remove the headings from your pre-proposal. All of the components described by the headings should be present, but you can now organize things however you and your advisor feel is best.
• Our final reading for the quarter is on using graphs and figures (Ch. 6 of Zobel).

Week 8

• Please submit an updated pre-proposal through MyCourses.
• Students will give a 3-minute presentation on their updated pre-proposals, and have 2 minutes for questions and comments.
• Please note that we will be repeating our peer-review exercise in Week 9.

Week 7

• Please submit an updated pre-proposal through MyCourses.
• Students to give a 3-minute presentation on their updated pre-proposals.
• Reading: on algorithms and pseudo code (Ch. 7 of Zobel)

Week 6

1. There will be no lecture this week (Jan. 26)
2. Students should submit an updated pre-proposal draft by 4pm Thursday, again using MyCourses.
3. Read Ch. 9 (137-155) of Zobel on writing research papers and documents (e.g. thesis and project reports).
4. Reminder: a research presentation summary is due before the end of the quarter.

Week 5 (First peer review)

1. Students will revise their pre-proposal and submit it through MyCourses before class next Thursday.
2. Students will bring a copy of their pre-proposal to class, where we will do a peer-review exercise. A reviewing template will be provided; students will pair up, exchange proposals, write reviews, and then discuss them with one another.
3. We will discuss material from the assigned reading on experiments (remainder of Ch. 11).
4. Reminder: Students need to complete a research presentation summary (as described above) before the end of quarter. There will be a research talk this Thursday at 11am in room 2400 (Golisano), `Subtle Gaze Manipulation for Improved Mammography Training' being presented by Dr. Bailey and Srinivas Sridharan, a Ph.D. student.

Week 4

1. Students will submit a draft pre-proposal through MyCourses, and give a 4 minute presentation of their pre-proposal. The presentation should make either the hypothesis that a project supports clear, or the hypothesis that will be tested in the case of a thesis.
2. Read Zobel material on experiments, pp. 185-197, as well as the paper "Should Computer Scientists Experiment More?," which is avaiable under "Content" on MyCourses. We will discuss these in class.
3. Here is a YouTube video showing Richard Feynman discussing the Scientific Method.

Week 3

1. Read Zobel material on Hypotheses and Research Areas (169-182), and come with questions or comments.
2. Talk to potential advisors in the department, to help with the selection of your research problem. Faculty members might also recommend a research paper to present in seminar.
3. Prepare a 4 minute presentation summarizing a research paper in the/one of the research areas that you are currently considering. Submit your slides through MyCourses.

Week 2

1. Read Zobel text material on 'Doing Research' (p. 157-169)
2. Prepare a five minute presentation describing the research of three faculty members in the Computer Science department. For each faculty member provide:
   • Their research area.
   • The specific research problems that they work on.
   • A citation for one of their recent research papers, along with a 1-2 sentence summary of the paper abstract.
3. Submit your presentation slides as a .pdf, .zip archive for a keynote file, or .ppt file through myCourses (link above)