Transcript overview

CMSC 601
Basic Research Skills
Spring 2011
Tim Finin
[email protected]
First Class
• Overview of course
• Introductions
• Comments on research
• Latex 101
• Plagiarism and paraphrasing exercise
Objectives
Help Computer Science students
– Learn specific research skills
– Understand CS research community practices
– Become aware of research career options
– Improve oral and written presentation techniques
– Be sensitive to professional ethics and academic
integrity
– Explore a potential research topic
– Get a head start on their own research
Texts and Readings
• We’ll use two text books:
– Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's
Guide to Earning a Master's or Ph.D. (Revised
Edition), Robert L. Peters. Farrar, Straus and Giroux,
1997. ISBN: 0-374-52477-7.
– Writing for Computer Science: The Art of Effective
Communication, Justin Zobel. Springer-Verlag,
second edition, 2004. ISBN: 1852338024
• We’ll also look at papers and resources
provides as handouts or links
Important Links
• Course Web site:
– http://cs.umbc.edu/courses/graduate/CMSC601/Sp
ring11/
• Google group URL:
– https://groups.google.com/group/CMSC601-S11
• Google group email address:
– [email protected]
Assignments and Project
• We’ll have a series of short assignments
and a longer project
• Example assignment: read a paper and
produce a short summary of its content
• Your project will involve
– Choosing a research topic
– Finding a faculty member who will serve as an
external reader for it
– Doing a literature survey, proposal, poster, paper
and a presentation slides for your research topic