Paper presentations (20%)


Every student will be presenting one of the papers in class. The presenter will be responsible for preparing slides and answering questions from the audience. A good presentations engages the audience and provokes a discussion. It also requires an in-depth understanding of the presented paper. Papers will be posted to the class website (watch reading for updates.)

Each presenter is should send the instructor the presentation slides three days prior to the presentation day in order to get timely feedback. Each presentation should end in approximately 40 minutes if there were no interruptions.

Review and discussion of papers (20%)


During the semester, every student is required to review the papers from the reading list that will be presented in class.

Instructions for preparing a review


A paper review should include the following 7 items:
  1. Paper title.
  2. Reviewer name.
  3. Rating (based on your assessment of the contributions/originality):
    (3) Excellent
    (2) Good
    (1) Marginal
    (0) Trivial
  4. Three strengths of the paper (in decreasing priority).
  5. Three weaknesses of the paper (in decreasing priority). For each weak point provide a constructive suggestions on how it can be fixed if you were the author of the paper.
  6. Research challenges the paper does not address (no more than three sentences).


Discussion


You prepared your review and thought about weak points. Voice your concerns, during or after presentation in the form of a question/discussion. Initiate a discussion regarding someone else's concern. Being able to "think on your feet" and participate in discussions is a key trait of a good researcher (hence it will be a key component of your grade).


Project (60%)


Students will form teams of 2-3 or work individually. Each team will have to propose a project on a topic related to the course material. Requirements and milestones for the poject are on projects page.