Research Seminar – CPIT 695

1. Research Seminar – CPIT 695 Course Introduction 1

2. Course Outcome To identify research point and potential supervisor To write MSc research thesis To defend the research proposal

3. Course Work Evaluation • Evaluation will be based on: • Active participation • Seminar Report • Proposal Defense Presentation • Proposal

4. Academic Integrity Students are encouraged to discuss the materials, homework, and projects together. However, all written assignments must be done individually or in assigned groups. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: plagiarism, cheating on exams, unauthorized collaboration and falsifying academic records. Violating of these may result in a grade penalty on an assignment, an "F" in the course, dismissal from an academic unit, revocation of admission, suspension from the university, etc.

5. Course Methodology • The course will be conducted via different means such as: • Open discussion • Researchers presentations • Self reading and research • lecturing

6. What is an MSc and PhD? • Then: school, • learning (“apprendre”). • Now: university, • understanding (“comprendre”). • Understanding is better than Learning: • “Learning is brain damage. I’ve spent the last 18 to 20 years unlearning the things I learned in my Ph.D. studies.” – Gilad Bracha (2011)

7. What is an MSc and PhD? • Fact: You will change • Your first research paper will mobilize all your intellectual resources. It will be exhausting. • Yet by the end of your PhD studies you will have all your papers in mind, plus your entire domain of research. And you will make it. • PhD studies: a genuine mind expansion. • One cannot teach on an empty stomach but teaching on a full stomach is difficult too. • Research: often, not so much a look at new things than a new look at things.

8. What is an MSc and PhD? • MSc, PhD… what does it mean? • MSc students must demonstrate the ability to do substantial software development as part of their coursework • MSc degree provides knowledge and skills • To hold professional positions in the development and design of computer systems, and in the design and implementation of new software applications; • To hold administrative positions that require planning and evaluation of computer-based systems; • To teach in computer science; • To be prepared for further study and research at the doctorate level.

9. What is an MSc and PhD? PhD: The doctoral degree in computer science prepares students to undertake fundamental and applied research in computer science, preparing them to apply their studies in the world of academia, governmental policy and/or the industrial sector.

10. What is an MSc and PhD? • What does it mean to be an MSc or PhD holder? • Independent • Committed • Hardwork and Smartwork

11. MSc thesis…? • What is an MSc thesis? • [Stanford MS] The research report represents work that is publishable in a journal or at a high-quality conference, although it is presumably longer and more expansive in scope than a typical conference paper • The Master's thesis must be a written account of a critical and scholarly investigation in an area of computer science. • It may represent: • (a) a piece of independent research (extensions and improvements of work in a given part of the field are acceptable at a level of novelty which is less than that required for a doctoral thesis); • (b) a work of synthesis that gives new significance and insight to previously-known results; or • (c) an important constructive contribution to the development of a computer application.

12. MSc thesis…? • What is an MSc thesis? • The thesis may not be a digest of known results from the literature, a summary of a published report, company classified or government classified material, or dependent for its background on other non-available reports. • What it is made of? • Hypothesis (research) • Testing (using subjective and objective methods) • Results (---) • Conclusions (observations and comparisons) • What is thesis proposal?

13. What should you know? 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

14. What should be our outcomes? 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

15. What should we learn? • Zotero or Endnote or others • How to organize papers? • How to write references? • Tool to write papers • Latex • Materials to refer: • How to Succeed in Graduate School: A Guide for Students and Advisors -- Marie desJardins • Michael HAMADA and Randy SITTER, “Statistical Research: Some Advice for Beginners”, The American Statistician, May 2004, Vol. 58, No. 2, pp. 93 – 101. • Weekly writing practice: • http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/toys/archive/index.htm

16. What is a good MSc thesis? Discussion…

17. Assignment • What should be the components of the research proposal…? • Let’s see the next chapter

18. References • CPIT 695 Notes of Dr. Ahmad Barnawi • http://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/mscs/degree.php • http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/graduate/ms_program.html • http://cidse.engineering.asu.edu/forstudent/graduate/computer-science/ • http://cs.au.dk/~danvy/tips-and-tricks/index.html • http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~phjk/MACResearchSeminar/ • Materials to refer: • How to Succeed in Graduate School: A Guide for Students and Advisors -- Marie desJardins • Statistical Research: Some Advice for Beginners -- Michael HAMADA and Randy SITTER

19. References • http://dept.cs.williams.edu/~bailey/p/research.pdf • http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/Spencer.Rugaber/txt/research_paper.txt • http://faculty.washington.edu/wpratt/survive.htm • http://www.cs.indiana.edu/mit.research.how.to.html • http://www.cs.iastate.edu/~honavar/hamming.html • http://www.cs.umd.edu/~oleary/gradstudy/gradstudy.html • Websites with useful information • http://www.cs.iastate.edu/~honavar/grad-advice.html • http://www4.stat.ncsu.edu/~davidian/st810a/index.html • http://faculty.washington.edu/heagerty/Courses/b572/lecture2012.htm • http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~eddy.zhengzhang/resources.html • Writing Personal Statements: https://sites.google.com/site/asergrp/statements

20. References • Weekly writing practice: • http://writing-program.uchicago.edu/toys/archive/index.htm • Books: • Jacques Barzun's Simple and Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers • Claire Cook's The MLA's Line By Line • Chicago manual of style • The Complete Plain Words, Sir Ernest Gowers • http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/gowerse/complete/index.htm • Common Errors in English Usage by Paul Brians • Mary-Claire van Leunen. A Handbook for Scholars. Oxford University Press, 1992. • The Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing • http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/tsw/home.htm