Transcript Research Seminar Course

Research Seminar
Course
For MRes and first-year PhD students
Spring term January-March
Up to 10 weeks, ca.1-2 hours per week
http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~phjk/MACResearch
Seminar/index.html
Course leaders: Paul Kelly, Herbert Wiklicky, Uli Harder
MAC Research Pathway:
Research Seminar Course
Course objectives
 Learn how to evaluate research papers
 Learn what makes papers good
 Learn about how papers are refereed
and published
 Learn how to get your papers published
MAC Research Pathway:
Research Seminar Course
Course design:
 Student presentations:
 Each student will present one paper during the term
 Class evaluations:
 Each week each student is asked to write a short
evaluation of one of the papers being presented
 Class Discussion:
 Discuss the papers – expose the flaws, analyse the
writing, what was the impact?
MAC Research Pathway:
Research Seminar Course
Assessment:
 Short review submitted each week (you
may work in pairs)
 Longer review of the paper you
presented
 Key skills:
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Summarise
Evaluate
Identify the important questions
Understand the context
What students like about it:
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Mentoring in preparation for talks
Broad sweep of CS topics
Class discussions
Learn to referee
 Don’t like:
 Workload
 Having to read and listen to topics outside
specialist area
Course objectives
• Our objective is to study
– how research papers are written,
– how to read such papers critically and
efficiently,
– how to summarise and review them.
– how to gain an understanding of a new field, in
the absence of a textbook
– how to judge the value of different contributions
– how to identify promising new directions
• How?
– Broad theme “Impactful Computer Science"
– Broad sweep over research in Computer Science
that has had an impact, or might impact in the
future
– Student presentations
– Classroom discussion
– Write (and get feedback on) summaries/reviews
Paper presentations assignments
 Papers will be assigned at the start of the
course in January – see web page
 You can swap assignments with your friends
 You can also swap your assignment for a
paper on the shortlist (see course web site)
 But you must finalise your choice within a
week or so, and inform the course organisers
Preparing a paper
presentation
 See Guidance Notes on the web
 Aim for about 15 minutes
 Main objective:
lively interesting talk that promotes
discussion
 Use Powerpoint or OpenOffice or
Keynote
 Make an appointment with Herbert or
Paul or Uli to review your slides
 Objective
Presenting a paper - outline
 what is the goal of this work, what problem is addressed, what was the
current state of the art, who is the work aimed at?
 Proposal
 if this paper presents a new idea, what, in a nutshell, is it?
 Contributions/claims
 what contributions does the paper claim to make? Which one is the
most significant?
 Evidence
 Support for claims - Theorems? Case studies? Simulations?
Benchmarks? Does evidence address issues needed to support
claims?
 Shoulders of giants...
 what previous research does this work build on? What are the key
underlying theoretical ideas? Software infrastructure?
 Impact
 has this work been influential? When later research papers cite it, what
contribution is being referred to?
 Discussion points
 End with questions which you think should arise
After presenting a paper
 You have two weeks in which to write it
up into a review article
 Same structure/objectives as paper
presentation
 But should also include
issues/comments/conclusions which
arise from the discussion
Writing your short
review
 Target: half a page, maximum: one page
 Clearly-separated (use subheadings) sections covering
Summary (as briefly as you can – two or three sentences)
Evidence (what evidence is offered to support the claims?)
Strengths (what positive basis is there for publishing/reading it?)
Weaknesses
Evaluation (if you were running the conference/journal where it
was published, would you recommend acceptance?)
 Comments on the quality of the writing
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 Plus:
 Queries for discussion
How to get high marks for the
short review
 Format your submission
 Have a title
 Marking scheme:
 Summary
 Discussion – strengths, weaknesses
 Reflection – including evaluation
 Step back, present your own objective opinion
 Clarity – of what you have written
 Please put your name(s) on the review
Outcomes…
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Find the best examples of research papers in
theoretical computer science which have had
impact – in whatever terms you think are important
Identify the most promising recent research
papers, likely to find application in the future
Learn how best to present contributions in
computer science, how to present evidence for
claims made, and how to evaluate them critically
Choose a thesis topic which will change the world
Become a seasoned, critical, cynical reader of
scientific literature