CSE378 Autumn 2003

Mini Research Paper

Beyond the Textbook

Due: see schedule embedded below.

Note that the dates will overlap other course activities, such as homeworks and tests (don't expect homeworks to be lighter on weeks when there is a paper deadline!) Your best bet is to work steadily at it all the way along.

The big picture: pick a topic of interest you (and agreed on by me); research it; and write up your findings in the form of a web page, which will be linked from the CSE378 web. The topic should have some connection with the topics covered by this course. Ideally, ask some question which you would genuinely like to know the answer to; and answer it. Make your paper as interesting as possible, and accessible to anyone with a moderate computer science background. You are free to include illustrations, figures, and links to outside materials, as long as doing so does not violate the intellectual property rights of the originators of the material. As with any write, give credit where credit is due.

Schedule

Topic proposal: No later than beginning of lecture Friday, October 24. This should consist of a title, a couple of sentences of description, and an indication of where you have found or expect to find information. I will get back to you as soon as possible with feedback on your proposal. Expect to have some give and take on settling exactly what the topic is. (Hint: the biggest mistake with topic selection is picking something that is too broad.) Format: e-mail is fine, though a hardcopy is preferred.

Outline: No later than beginning of lecture, Friday, November 7. This should be a fairly detailed outline of the paper. It should include as many resources (references) as you have used so far or that you have found and expect to use. This should be in the format of an .html file, which you can e-mail to me, or just send me a link to if you have it on-line somewhere.

First draft: No later than beginning of lecture, Friday, November 14 Monday, November 17. Full draft, though not necessarily polished. All references should be included. Practically all of your research should be completed by this time, and that should show in what you turn in. Format: same as the outline.

Final version: No later than beginning of lecture, Friday, December 6. This version must in the form of an HTML file (if you need to submit more than one file, please give me a .zip file). All of the writing of your own should be in the file (as opposed to a link to your own web site, etc.). All of the links should be absolute, or relative to the directory structure you give me, so that no matter which I put the files, the links will work properly. If this isn't the case, you will have to keep submitting corrected versions until all the links work. None of the pages should require any special software, viewers, or plug-ins. They should be viewable correctly from any standard up-to-date browser, such as Mozilla or IE6.0. No Flash, so SVG, no Quicktime, etc.

The final format should be something like this:

Title
Your name (see below about pseudonyms)
A brief abstract (one paragraph to give someone a good idea of what the paper is about)
The paper itself
The list of references used

This final version is what will be posted from the course web. If you don't want people to know you are the author, you may substitute a pseudonym for your actual name.

"How long should the paper be?" Ideally, one doesn't write papers to fill up blank pages, but to share with readers the interesting things one has learned. Make is as long as is necessary (to treat the subject properly) and as long as is appropriate (for the amount of credit or importance in the course grade).

I'm expecting to learn a lot from your research! I hope you will, too. I'll be available throughout the quarter to talk with you personally about the progress of your effort.