1

CS 178HIntroduction to

Computer Science Research

Why Do an Honors Thesis?

Graduating with Special Departmental Honors

• An honors thesis (CS 379H with a B) required to graduate with departmental honors.

• Looks good on resume.

2

Other Potential Awards

• Departmental Distinguished Graduate

• CNS Dean’s Honored Graduate

• CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Award

• NSF Graduate Fellowship

3

Preparation for Graduate School

• Decide if independent scientific research is something in which you have interest and abilities.

• Career in scientific research generally requires a graduate degree: Master’s or Ph.D.

• Admission to a top graduate program is greatly helped by research experience as an undergraduate.– Record of ability to perform independent research.

– Letter of reference from research faculty member with whom the applicant has worked closely.

• Applications due in Dec/Jan, so need to complete or make substantial progress by fall of final year.

4

Demonstrate Ability to Work Independently

• Regular classes are very structured with specific, well-defined requirements and assignments.

• Independent research classes (CS 370, CS 379H) require students to work independently, set their own agenda, manage their own time, and creatively explore their own ideas.

5

Develop Widely Useful Skills

• Technical computing skills.

• Reading primary CS research literature.

• Written technical communication.

• Oral technical communication.

6

Technical Computing Skills

• Large-scale software development

• Design, execution, and analysis of experimental evaluations of software performance.

• Theoretical analysis of algorithms and software, (by proving theorems).

• Recognizing good technical problems that are ripe for attack: – Large potential impact

– Solvable with achievable improvements in existing technology.

7

Reading Research Literature

• Cutting edge ideas in computing are not in textbooks.

• Primary research literature:– Scientific conference proceedings– Scientific journals– Published by scientific societies (e.g. ACM,

IEEE, AAAI)

• Reading research literature requires skills acquired through experience.

8

Finding Relevant Papers

• Google (Scholar)

• Bibliographies of existing papers.

• Ask an expert (e.g. your faculty advisor).

9

Reading Strategies

• Determine level of comprehension needed:– Shallow: Just understand basic results and

general approach.– Deep: Understand all technical details so you can

re-implement and extend the techniques employed.

• May need to identify pre-requisite knowledge and read relevant text-book or Wikipedia material or selected papers from the bibliography.

10

Critical Reading

• Have the authors asked the right questions?• Are their assumptions reasonable? • Is their methodology sound?

– Theorems/proofs correct?– Experiments include relevant comparisons (not

just straw men)?

• Are the results significant?• How can you improve upon this work?

11

Technical Writing

• Proper organization of research papers.– Area-specific conventions

• Writing clear grammatical prose.– Practice, practice, practice (take writing components early).

– Repeated revision of slowly improving drafts

– Seek editing advice from multiple readers

• Why write/publish?– Clarify your own ideas

– Establish credit, recognition, and priority for your ideas (importance of citations).

– Contribute to scientific knowledge and allow others to build on on your work.

12

Research Paper Organization:Typical Sections

• Introduction/motivation• Technical background• Novel algorithm/system description• Evaluation and Analysis

– Theorems and proofs of correctness or complexity.

– Experimental results on benchmark data sets.

• Related research• Future research• Conclusions• Bibliography

13

Oral Presentation:Giving Clear Technical Talks

• Proper organization of presentations– Frequently mirrors structure of papers

• Proper use of media, graphics, and presentation software: Humans are visual animals.– Algorithm animation

– Graphics for visualizing results

• Reducing anxiety and speaking audibly, clearly while conveying excitement– Practice, practice, practice

14

Accepting Constructive Criticism

• Actively seek-out constructive criticism of your ideas, papers, and presentations.– Dialectic creates quality– Science is a social enterprise, most research is

collaborative

• “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” ( Elie Wiesel)

15

Communication Skills

• Communication is critically important in almost any professional career.– Even in science and technology– And not just in scientific research

16

Research Should Be Fun and Rewarding!

• Explore ideas that interest and excite you.

• Contribute to the expansion of human knowledge.

• Help develop the next generation of technology that will improve people’s lives.

17