Course Description
for Seminar in Computer Science (CS 4960)

20470 CS 4960 001 Seminar in Computer Science 1.0 Th 15:30-16:30 P-113

• To explore aspects of computer science beyond what you have encountered in your previous course work,
  
  
• To benefit from similar research done by your fellow students, and
  
  
• To present an important body of work in both written and oral form.

• Accept the presentation date I assign at the beginning of the semester.
  
  
• Choose a computer science topic to research and present to an audience. The audience will include, but not be limited to, the other members of the class.
  
  
  1. The topic must have significant scholarly, as opposed to merely technological, content.
     
     
  2. The research must draw on multiple sources, and embody concepts that may be expected to endure beyond any particular current technology.
     
     
  3. I expect the presentation to be different from any other, including those given in other courses.
  
  
• Propose a topic (use the e-mail form interface).
  
  The proposal must include:
  
  
  • an abstract of between 80 and 120 words, which describes the nature of the scholarly content that you will include in your presentation.
    
    
  • full citations, in proper form, of multiple reliable sources (at least two) from which you intend to draw. For details about proper form for citations see "Your List of References" and "When You Make Direct Use of a Source" below.
  
  
• To pass the course, your proposal must be satisfactory You must get my formal approval of the proposal by working out an agreement with me, which may mean that you will have to perform a series of revisions to your proposal. Your presentation must correspond to the agreed-upon proposal.
  
  
• Create a balanced and unbiased written report on your topic. Base it on a variety of solid sources, including the ones you listed in your approved proposal. Synthesize and summarize the knowledge you gained from the research. Infuse the exposition of the report with freshness and originality. The report must tell what you learned about the subject matter - what you think, feel, and wonder about it. What interesting questions did your research answer? What interesting questions remain unanswered?
  
  
• Turn in your written report one week in advance of your presentation date. Give one copy to me, and a copy to each member of the class, so that all members can review the information before the talk. Your report must be double-spaced, have wide margins, and have a font size of 12 or greater. You must deliver a hard copy to me no later than one week before your presentation. You will have the option of either giving each member of the class a hard copy, or sharing with the class a link to a PDF version published via the CS Department web server. The Department will help you make your written report available to the class at no cost to you. Ask me for additional details.
  
  
• On your assigned date, deliver an oral presentation of the content of your written report. I will publicly announce seminar presentations. They will be open to visitors who may wish to attend. You must speak for no less than 45 minutes and no more than 50 minutes. If not, you will have to repeat the presentation in order to get credit for the course. (To insure that your presentation goes well, it is essential that you rehearse it.) We will use the remainder of the 60-minute class session for questions, answers, and, in some cases, for the transition time between a first and second presentation.
  
  
• Attend all the presentations of the other members of the class. React to the presentations by asking questions and by filling in feedback forms, which I will collect after the presentation, record, anonymize, and give to the presenter. During the semester, each student must ask (out loud) presenters at least three documented questions, and receive their answers. Students will document questions by (accurately) writing the questions and answers on a special form.

1. the quality of your efforts during the topic selection and topic proposal phase,
2. your grade on your written report,
3. your grade on your oral presentation, and
4. your participation grade.

1. you receive a a score of 60 or above in each of the four components, and
2. your average over the four components is 70% or above.

How to Cite Your Sources of Information

It is very important to good scholarship and intellectual honesty that you accurately and fully report the sources of information you employ in preparing your report.

Your List of References

Make a list of references. In the list, cite all your sources of information whatever be their form: written word, audio, image, video, material artifact. Attach the list to the end of your written report.

The references in a list are always numbered or tagged in some way so that you can specify exactly which one you mean when you speak or write about them.

Each item in your list of references is a guide to your reader. The reader may want to examine your source material. You must describe each of your sources so that the reader will be able to find a copy of the source as easily as possible.

Here are some specific rules for citing a book, article, or web page:


1. An entry for a book must include the title and edition number, author, publisher, date of publication, and ISBN. Some books are on-line. For example, many books that are in the public domain are on-line. If you accessed the book on-line then you must also cite the full URL.
   
   
2. An entry for an article in a periodical must include the title of the article, the name(s) of the author(s) of the article, the page numbers where the article appears (or, if you read the article online and page numbers are not available, the full URL of the article), the title of the periodical in which the article appeared, the date of publication of the issue of the periodical in which the article appeared, and the name of the editor of the issue of the periodical in which the article appeared. If you accessed the article on-line, then you must also cite the full URL.
   
   
3. If you want to use a web page as a reference, rule 1 or rule 2 may apply. If not, then you must diligently search the web page and the appropriate related pages (e.g. a link to "home" or "about us") for the following information: author, date the page was last updated, date you viewed the page, the full URL, and any additional information you think may help your reader find the information and/or get an idea of its quality. The URL should be "stable." If it appears that the page will only be available temporarily, then it is not appropriate to use it as a source.

Citations for other forms of writing, audio, video, images, and artifacts should be made along the same lines.

Look here for a great deal of very useful additional information.

Restrictions on Sources:

Two of your sources must be either book(s) or article(s), citable as described above.

WHEN YOU MAKE DIRECT USE OF A SOURCE

Direct use of source text means direct quotation or close paraphrase. The term also applies to other kinds of "art." For example, if you insert an image from one of your sources into your work, that is direct use of a source. If you slightly modify or copy someone's art and then insert it into your work, it is still considered direct use.

In the type of writing you are assigned to do for this class, it is permissable to make limited direct use of source material. However, it is very seldom appropriate to make extended direct use of source material.

For example, it is seldom appropriate to quote or paraphrase a long passage of text from a source. It is seldom proper to include copious numbers of diagrams and images from source material.

You must include acknowledgement with each direct use of a source.

You must place quotation marks ("") around any text that you copy directly (quote) from a source.

You must place the acknowledgement in very close proximity to the place in your writing where you have used the source. The acknowledgement must indicate which source you used and where to find the material within the source. You may use an in-line comment or a footnote to identify the location.

For example, if you number the items in your reference list like this:

[1] Comer, Douglas E. 1999. Computer Networks and Internets, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-083617-6.



[2] Sobell, Mark G. 1995. Unix System V: a practical guide, 3rd ed. Boston, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-8053-7566-X.

Then you can identify the location of a quote with a simple in-line comment like this:

As Comer states on page 158 of [1]: "To achieve high bit rates over conventional twisted pair wiring, ADSL uses an adaptive technology in which a pair of modems probe many frequencies on the line between them ..."

DEFINITION: To Plagiarize


• Transitive Verb:
  • To use and pass off (the ideas or writings of another) as one's own.
  • To appropriate for use as one's own passages or ideas from (another).
  
  
• Intransitive Verb:
  • To put forth as original to oneself the ideas or words of another.

If you make direct use of a source without acknowledgement, then you are plagiarizing.

Do not plagiarize any part of what you write for this class, or what you present visually or orally.

Penalties

If there is compelling evidence of plagiarism, I will withhold credit.