IST 511 Research Paper and Presentation

The research paper and presentation should cover a the computational or formal aspects of a particular field or subfield related to IST and how the topic of interest relates to other areas of IST. For completeness it should address the fundamental issues rasied by Heilmeier's Catechism:

What is the goal of your field and its research? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
What is the state of the art? How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?
What's new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
Why should anyone care?
If you're successful, what difference will it make?

What are the risks and the payoffs?
What resources will it require?
How long will it take?

How will you know if you have succeeded; how will you evaluate your work?

Research Paper: The paper should be at least 10 pages, not including references, in the ACM double columned, single space format. It is important to learn to adhere to publication formats since some venues will not accept documents in a different format. The format can be found here:

http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates

Presentation: There have been many excellent descriptions of what constitutes a good research presentation. Here are some:

http://research.microsoft.com/~simonpj/papers/giving-a-talk/giving-a-talk-html.html

http://wit.tuwien.ac.at/research/tips/good_research_talk_slides.pdf

I've put some of my own preferences here in a ppt presentation initially compiled by Tom Carsey but edited by me. Please note that a new brief presentation on what to present is now there.

Requirements:

Research presentations (you will be graded on both).

Near the middle of the semester on research topic. Short, not more than 10 minutes. Hardcopy and PPT must be given to the instructor before the presentation.
At the end of the semester on a related research topic. Presentation should be no more than 13 minutes. Please rehearse your presentation so that is fluid and natural. Hardcopy and PPT must be given to the instructor before the presentation.

Your research paper is due by the last possible hour of the first day of the exam period, Monday, December 17. Hardcopy and pdf must be given to the instructor.