COS-561 Information
Overview
Grading
Your final grade for the course will be based on the following weights:
- 25% Class participation
- 25% Reading responses
- 50% Project
- 10% Checkpoint #1 - project proposal
- 10% Checkpoint #2 - preliminary demo
- 30% Checkpoint #3 - final report (5 pages + bib)
Class participation
Papers will be discussed in a
very involved manner. All students are expected to have thoroughly
read and considered each assigned paper, prepared to answer and pose
questions about each reading.
Project
The project in COS-561 is an open-ended research
and/or development project, done in groups of two or three. This year,
as a replacement for specific programming assignment, the project
requires significant coding. You must show a preliminary version of a
working prototype by checkpoint 2 (early December) and
a more complete working version by the due date (January). More
information can be found on the Project
page.
Reading responses: How to review
When reviewing papers, you will see a section for describing a paper
summary, its strengths, its weaknesses, and detailed comments. In the summary
section, please directly address:
- What problem the paper is addressing (1-2 sentences or bullets).
- The core novel ideas or technical contributions of the work (1-2 sentences
or bullets). Put another way, what's the 30 second elevator pitch, or, five
years from now, what should one remember about this paper?
- A longer description (3-5 sentences) that summarizes the paper's approach,
mechanisms, and findings.
For the other sections, please include 2-4 bulletted points for the strengths
and weaknesses, while a much longer exposition in the detailed comments.
Remember to be constructive: don't only focus on the paper's shortcomings, but
also on what it could have done differently or as the next steps. Imagine that
you are having a conversation with the authors: What would you tell them?
In class, one reviewer will be assigned to present the paper, prior to
general discussion.
Presentations
When presenting papers in class, you should prepare slides for a 10-12 minute presentation that includes:
- Paper name, author/institution, venue (conference)
- "Descriptive" part
- Problem statement
- Core idea(s)
- Descriptive summary of technical design, including illustrations/animations
- Summary of evaluation
Depending on how long the above topics take you to cover (and you should
practice your presentation prior to class), you might also include an optional
"opinion" part of the presentation:
- "Opinion" part
- Strengths
- Weaknesses/limitations
- Proposals for follow-on work?
Remember that many students in the class haven't read the paper, so the first
descriptive presentation is necessary for their understanding. The second
"opinion" discussion will be driven by other readers' comments, whether or not
your formal presentation finds time to cover it.
Last updated: Tue Oct 23 14:58:22 -0400 2012