Research Methods
Principal lecturer: Dr Neil Dodgson
Taken by: MPhil ACS
Syllabus
The course is based on Justin Zobel's book Writing for computer science.
Assessment
There are ten assessed exercises and each lecture has associated homework reading.
Mini-Symposium
The mini-symposium will take place on 3 and 4 December 2009. The programme is now available. Each MPhil student will give a ten minute talk on a recent research paper, in a manner accessible to anyone with an undergraduate degree in computer science.
Lectures
Lectures are given by Dr Neil Dodgson, except where noted, and are all held in Lecture Theatre 2 in the William Gates Building.
- Fri 9 Oct — reading: introduction and how to read a paper
- Mon 12 Oct — reading: how to review a paper, where to publish papers, and the research process
- Fri 16 Oct — writing: who are you writing for and writing style
- Mon 19 Oct — writing: more on style and editing
- Fri 23 Oct — writing: writing the first draft, structuring a paper, and fine details of style
- Mon 26 Oct — writing: how to write a good research paper — guest lecture by Prof. Simon Peyton Jones
- Fri 30 Oct — writing: graphs, figures, tables, maths and algorithms
- Mon 2 Nov — Lecture Theatre 1 — presenting: how to give a presentation
- Fri 6 Nov — Lecture Theatre 1 — presenting: how to prepare a presentation
- Mon 9 Nov — experimenting: experiment design — by Dr Per Ola Kristensson
- Fri 13 Nov — experimenting: statistical analysis I — by Dr Per Ola Kristensson
- Mon 16 Nov — experimenting: statistical analysis II — by Dr Per Ola Kristensson
Fri 20, Mon 23, Fri 27, Mon 30 Nov — rehearsals for MPhil students' presentations (Exercise 8, MPhil students must attend two of these: allocation to times and places now available)
Thu 3, Fri 4 Dec — presentation days for MPhil students (Exercise 9, attend both days, a programme will be distributed in class)
rehersal days and presentation days for first year PhD students will be later than those for the MPhil, possibly in the new year; dates will be announced later