Professor Cindy Norris

• Office: 107A CAP Building
• Email: can@cs.appstate.edu
• Phone: 262-2359
• Office hours: MW 9am-12pm; TR 3:30-5pm
• Class: T 9-9:50am in CAP 243

Course Goals

• Gain experience reading CS technical papers.
• Improve writing skills.
• Improve speaking skills.
• Gain an introduction to computer science research and research/project proposal writing.

The precise topics that you will be reading/writing/speaking about will be selected by members of the class. You will need to come up with a research or project idea, study the background needed to complete the research or project and ultimately, write a research or project proposal. Along the way, you'll write a bibliography for the proposal and give presentations on papers listed in the bibliography. You'll write summaries of papers presented by your classmates. You can work with one other person on your research/project idea in which case you would work together on the bibliography, research/project proposal and the final presentation.

Grading Policies

Your grade will be determined by the following components:

• Bibliography, 10%
• Oral Presentations, 15%.
• Paper Summaries, 15%.
• Research/Project Proposal, 35%
• Final Presentation, 15%.
• Attendance, 10%.

Graded Components

• Bibliography: You need to turn in a bibliography that lists the materials (textbooks, journal articles, conference proceedings, etc.) you'll need to study in order to prepare your research/project proposal. This is due on September 9th.
• Oral Presentations: You will take turns giving presentations on papers related to your area of research/project. These presentations must be created using a presentation tool such as powerpoint or open office impress and be emailed to the instructor prior to classtime on the day they are to be given.
• Paper summaries: If you are not presenting, you are required to turn in a 1-2 page double-spaced, 12pt font, typed summary of the paper assigned that week. The summary is due at the beginning of class. This is meant to ensure that everyone reads the paper, not just the presenter.
• Research/Project Proposal A Research/Project Proposal is a paper designed to convince the reader that you have a valuable research or project idea, the necessary background to do the work and a plan for getting the work done. Your proposal should be 15-20 double-spaced pages in length, 1 inch margins all around and 12 point font.
• Final Presentation: At the end of the semester, you will be required to give a 10-15 minute presentation of your research/project proposal. Your goal is to convince us to give you the "funds" you need to complete your proposed work. You need to convince us: 1) you know what you are talking about (you've done sufficient background study), 2) that the work you are proposing makes some type of contribution 3) that the work you are proposing can be completed by you in a reasonable period of time (less than a year). The paper presentations will be given during the final exam period on Friday, December 12, 12-2:30pm in CAP 243.
• Attendance: Four points will be taken from your grade up to a maximum of ten points for each unexcused absence. If you think your absence should be counted as excused, please send me an email indicating you will be absent and why.

Final Grades

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