MWF 3:45 - 5:00 PM
MSB 228
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This course serves a dual role. First and foremost, it is a forum to foster a research culture in the department and discuss the theoretical and practical issues of conducting research and completing a graduate degree in Computer Science. As such, all Computer Science graduate students are welcome and encouraged to attend the scheduled lectures, presentations, and colloquium.
Second, this course is a graduation requirement for all Masters and Doctoral students. For that purpose, the goal is to learn the practical skills of giving a presenation and writing a research paper.
The course is organized as a number of lectures on giving presentations, writing papers, and other aspects of performing research and pursuing a graduate degree, along with a number of invited research talks and colloquia (including those in the departmental Colloquium Series). Additionally, some students in the classs will be giving presentations on their current work as described below.
Masters students are required to take at least two credit hours of Seminar for completion of their degree, and to make at least one presentation of project work or research. Doctoral students are required to take at least three credit hours of Seminar for completion of their degree, and to make at least two presentations of project work or research. The presentation(s) must take place in the Seminar at least one term before graduation. A student's Thesis / Dissertation Defense or other local presentataion can NOT be counted to fulfill this degree requirement.
This course may be taken multiple times, but only three credit hours count toward the Doctoral degree, and only two credits count toward the Masters degree.
There are two grading options for this course:
Students registered for either the Masters or Doctoral Seminar MUST attend all scheduled lectures and events. Lectures will likely include such topics as presentation skills, CS publishing venues, and writing CS research papers, along with some invited research talks and colloquia (including those in the departmental Colloquium Series).
The class schedule is posted on the class web page and will be regularly updated. It is the student's responsibility to keep track of the event schedule, to attend the classes, and to sign in as evidence of attendance at each class. Students with an excused absence (e.g., a documented illness) must notify the instructor as soon as possible. Students with more than two unexcused absences will receive a one grade penalty. Four or more unexcused absences will result in an F or U grade for the course. Signing in for a student who is absent will be considered Academic Dishonesty and is grounds for failing the course.
Both Masters and Doctoral programs have a degree requirement to complete a presentation(s) at least one term before graduation. A Thesis Defense, Candidacy presentation, Dissertation Defense, or other local presentation can NOT be counted as one of the presentations -- these presentation must take place during the Masters/Doctoral Seminar.
All students taking the course for a letter grade must make at least one presentation during the term. A brief proposal describing the content of the presentation is due to the Seminar instructor at least one week before the date of the talk, and in all cases on or before 15 October 2008. Students who have taken the Seminar for a grade in previous semesters are encouraged to give their presentation before the middle of the semester.
The presentation should be a talk on your current research, accessible to a general audience of CS graduate students. The talk may describe work you are conducting for your thesis/dissertation, investigations with your advisor, recent publications you have been involved with, or a summary of related work with respect to your research area/topic. Talks are to be approximately 30 minutes in length, including 10 minutes for questions. Grading will be based on the presentation's content and presentation style. A lecture on how to give a good presentation will be given early in the term.
For presentations to be counted towards the degree requirement the students must download and fill out the Master/Doctoral Seminar Presentation Form. This form must be submitted to the Seminar instructor at the time of the talk, along with the abstract and a copy of the presentation.
All students taking the course for a letter grade must write a research short paper (4-6 pages in IEEE proceedings format). A first draft of the paper is due to the Seminar instructor by 1 December 2008; the final version is due by 9 December 2008.
The paper should be accessible to a general audience of CS graduate students, and should summarize the current research you are conducting towards your thesis, address related work of your topic, or be related to recent work you are conducting with your advisor. All papers MUST be in the required format, including font sizes and formats for citations and references. A lecture on the organization of research papers will be given early in the term.
Student-teacher relationships are built on trust. Students must trust that educators have made appropriate decisions about the structure and content of the courses they teach, and educators must trust that the assignments which students turn in are their own. Acts that violate this trust undermine the educational process. In this course, the penalty for any act of academic dishonesty is a final course grade of F.
All students takign the course should read:
Copying the solution from another student or jointly writing up the solution of a problem constitutes plagiarism. You are not permitted to use solutions to assigned problems from earlier terms. Such activities and other unapproved or anti-intellectual behavior violates the University's plagiarism rules and can result in severe penalties. Behavior of this type is unfair to both yourself (in missed learning opportunities) and to the other students. University rules on plagiarism are given here.
Student
Accessibility
University Policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas for more information on registration procedures).
Registration Requirement: The official registration deadline for this course is September 7, 2008. University policy requires all students to be officially registered in each class they are attending. Students who are not officially registered for a course by published deadlines should not be attending classes and will not receive credit or a grade for the course. Each student must confirm enrollment by checking his/her class schedule (using Student Tools in FlashFast) prior to the deadline indicated. Registration errors must be corrected prior to the deadline.
F. Dragan
dragan
at cs dot kent dot edu
FALL 2008