Assignments
| Name | Due | Weight | |
| #0 | Establishing a research presence | Jan 30 | 5% |
| #1 | Recognizing good ideas | Feb
|
10% |
| #2 | Generating new ideas | Feb 27 | 10% |
| #3 | Performing research | See below | 75% |
Assignment #0: Establishing a research presence
Goals: Start the process of establishing and publishing your research identity.
To do: Create a website for yourself.
Your website should include (at a minimum):
- Your name, contact information and a picture.
- A summary of your research and professional interests, goals and expertise.
- Links to any of the following that apply: your current and past projects, your papers, your current and past research collaborators, your research lab.
Your website does not need to be fancy, but should be professional looking. You should add content to it during the semester (and throughout your graduate career).
Assignment #1: Recognizing good ideas
Goals: : Think critically about research papers and develop your research "taste".
To do: Select the latest proceedings from the top conference in your research area.
Select two papers that you think present good ideas.
Write a one page evaluation of each paper. Your evaluation should include:
- A summary of the key idea.
- Your reasons for choosing this idea: What is so good about it?
- Possible research directions: How might the idea be extended for better effect or leveraged for some other purpose?
Assignment #2: Generating new ideas
Goals: Experience one way of generating research ideas; foster
cross-disciplinary thinking
To do: Read summaries of other students' evaluations of papers from their research areas.
Select two papers from different research areas and propose a research idea or direction that is a combination of ideas from the two papers.Write a 2-3 page explanation of your idea. Be sure to explain the motivation behind your idea, how it relates to the ideas in the papers you selected (cite the papers), and the main issues that would need to be resolved to determine how well your idea would actually work.
Assignment #3: Performing research
Goals: Provide an in-depth research experience. Upon completing this semester-long assignment, you will have experience in performing all of the elements of a research project:
- Managing student-adviser interactions.
- Generating a research idea.
- Giving a research presentation.
- Writing a paper.
To do: You will need to find a faculty member who is willing to advise you on research during the semester. If you already have a research project and research adviser, then you are all set. If you don't, then I suggest talking to your academic adviser to see
if he or she would advise you on a project for the semester. You might want to pursue an extension of something you learned about in Assignment #1 or the idea you developed in Assignment #2, or your adviser might suggest a project of interest to both of you.This assignment will have several milestones.
Name Due Weight #1 Initial report Mar 6 5% #2 Interim report Mar 27 5% #3 Draft presentation slides Apr 17 10% #4 Final report May 01 40% #5 Presentation TBD 40%
Milestone #1: Initial report.
The initial report should indicate:
- The (tentative) title of the project.
- The name of the faculty member with whom you are working.
Milestone #2: Interim report.
The interim report should include:
- A one-paragraph problem statement: why is the problem interesting,
important, and challenging?- A summary of what you have accomplished so far, what remains to be
done on the project, and any obstacles you foresee in
accomplishing the remaining tasks.- A one-page literature survey of related work. The survey should
have at least 15 references.Milestone #3: Draft presentation slides.
The draft presentation slides should correspond to the 25-minute talk
you will present at the mini-conference at the end of the term.
Milestone #4: Final report.
The final report should describe the work you have completed for your main project. The report should be formatted in the accepted conference format for the main conference in your research area. Think of your report as a "mini-conference paper" that might eventually form the basis of a conference paper submission. This report should have all of the components of an actual conference paper. The report will be graded based on your adherence to the criteria for writing a good research paper that we discuss in class.
Milestone #5: Presentation (Finals week)
We will schedule a suitable morning or afternoon during the finals week for the presentations. Your talk should have all of the components of a good talk, which we will cover in class. The grading of this part of the project (the talk and the final slides themselves) will be based on your adherence to the principles that we discuss in class.