CMSC 601: Research Skills for Computer Scientists

Spring 2009
Instructor: Marie desJardins

Last updated 3/14/09
 
Date Topic Reading Handouts/Links Assignments Due
1/27 Overview. Plagiarism. LaTeX.   Survey
Grading policies
LaTeX sample input file and output file
LaTeX tutorial input file and output file
Plagiarism exercise
Paraphrasing guidelines
Paper summary guidelines
ICML-03 reviewing form
Newman paper
Summary of Newman paper
Slides of presentation on Newman paper 		 
1/29 The reviewing process. Discussion of Parberry Classification/Analysis. Writing I: Organization, bibliographies.  BibTeX.
  • Zobel Ch. 10, 13
  • Peters Ch. 1, 2
  • Parberry, A Guide for New Referees in Theoretical Computer Science
    		•  Slides
    Topic guidelines
    Annotated bibliography guidelines, LaTeX source, and BibTeX file
    Andrew Roberts, Getting to Grips with Latex - Bibliography Management
    Plain (sorted) and unsorted annotated bibliography BibTeX style files 
    Levin and Rendell, How (and How Not) to Write a Good Systems Paper
    Chinneck, How to Organize Your Thesis     		Survey
    2/3 Library resources. Meet in Library 259.   Library exercise
    Library resource handout     		 
    2/5 In-depth paper analysis and critique.
  • Smith, The Task of the Referee
  • Melville et al., An expected utility approach to active feature-value acquisition, ICDM 2005
  • Ting, A comparative study of cost-sensitive boosting algorithms, ICML 2000
    		• Discussion questions Paper summaries (2)
    2/10  Writing II: Style, common errors.
  • Zobel Ch. 1 and pp. 19-26
  • desJardins, How to Succeed in Graduate School
  • Purdue Online Writing Lab's APA citation guidelines
    		•  (See 1/29 for slides)
    Dr. dJ's Handy Writing Guide
    Check-based grading handout
    Outside reader agreement
    Kajiya, How to Get Your SIGGRAPH Paper Rejected     		Topic paragraph
    2/12 In-depth survey analysis and critique. Elvins, A survey of algorithms for volume visualization, SIGGRAPH, 1992.
    Jain et al., Data clustering: A review, ACM Computing Surveys 1999.     		Literature survey tips Library exercise
    2/17 How to give a good presentation.
  • Peters Ch. 20
  • Zobel Ch. 14
    		•  Slides
    Paper presentation feedback form  
    Mark Hill, Oral Presentation Advice
    Peyton-Jones et al., How to Give a Good Research Talk
    Winston, Some Lecturing Heuristics
    Patterson, How to Have a Bad Career in Research/Academia     		 
    2/19 Research I: Finding a topic and advisor.
  • Peters Ch. 5, 6, 16
    		•
  • Slides
  • Transcript of Hamming, You and Your Research
  • Hampel, "In Search of New Frontiers" (Chronicle of Higher Ed.)
    		• Paper summary due: Your choice
    2/24 Guest speaker: Prof. Penny Rheingans. (Prof. dJ out of town)  
    		 
    2/26 Research II: Research topics cont.
  • Zobel Ch. 9
  • (See 2/19 for slides)
  • Literature survey review form
    		• Outside reader form
    Annotated bibliography
    3/3 Writing III: Tools.
  • Zobel Ch. 4-5
  • Slides
  • The Simplified LaTeX beginner's guide and tutorial
  • The LaTeX Wikibook
  • LateX Project home page
  • The UK TeX FAQ
  • The Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN)
  • Peter Flynn's Beginner's LaTeX
  • The AMS Short Math Guide for LaTeX
  • Keith Reckdahl's Using Imported Graphics in LaTeX2e
  • JAIR format
  • AAAI format
  • SIGGRAPH format
    		• Literature survey outline
    3/5 Research III: Empirical methodology.
    		Slides  
    3/10 Student paper presentations

    		 
    3/12 Student paper presentations
    		  Literature survey draft
    (Paper summaries)
    SPRING BREAK
    3/24 Guest speaker: Adam Anthony (UMBC Ph.D. May '08)
    		CRA-W mentoring workshop booklet
    		Literature survey review
    3/26  Guest speaker: Prof. Tim Finin  

    3/31
    		 Publicity: CV, networking, website.

    		Peters Ch. 13 Slides
    Marie's CV: PDF and LaTex source
    Susan Eggers, Networking and Professional Social Interaction
    		 Final literature survey
    4/2 Time management; success strategies.
    		Peters Ch. 12, 21, 22, 23 Slides
    Research paper guidelines
    CRA time management article
    H. T. Kung, Useful Things to Know About Ph.D. Thesis Research
    		 
    4/7 Research IV: Statistical methods. Guest speaker: Prof. Tim Oates

    		Research problem statement
    4/9
    		 Research V: Statistical methods. Guest speaker: Prof. Tim Oates. (Prof. dJ out of town)



    4/14 Matlab and related tools.
    Guest speaker: Dr. Fusun Yaman.

    		 
    4/16 Proposals
    		 Peters Ch. 18 Slides

    4/21 Research VI: Presenting Your Work
    		Presentation feedback form Research problem statement revision
    4/23 Guest speaker: Patricia Ordonez (UMBC Ph.D. student)    
    4/28
    		 Guest speaker: Jesus Caban (UMBC Ph.D. student)      
    4/30
    		 Student project presentations (1): Robert Whetsel.
    		Paper review form Paper draft
    5/5 Student project presentations (2): Chaitra Sathyanarayana, Tristin Celestin.      
    5/7 Student project presentations (2): Obinna Odumodu, Shiming Yang.     Paper review
    5/12
    		 Student project presentations (2): Daniel Millington, Yasaman Haghpanagh.

    		 
    5/14 Final exam slot (1-3pm, AC IV 014); student project presentations (3): David Berrios, Tejas Lagvankar, Brian Engelkemier
    		     Final paper (hardcopy); research portfolio (CV and research statement)(email PDF or hardcopy), professional website (email URL) (Last date to submit; all materials due by 5pm!)