Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports1 Problem Solving with Constraints CSCE421/821, Fall Berthe Y. Choueiry (Shu-we-ri) Avery Hall, 360 Guidelines for Reports

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports2 Outline Writing a critical summary Committing to a project Writing a progress report About your final report

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports3 Writing a Critical Summary This generic template is provided as an aid but is not mandatory –PART I: your understanding of the paper –PART II: your opinion of the paper

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports4 PART I: The paper What: Context of the paper –problem the authors claim to address (i.e., motivation) –assumptions they make –solution they claim to provide How: Short Description of proposed technique –basic algorithmic steps –optimizations, if any –evaluation: empirical/theoretical Impact: Comparison to previous techniques –if provided, how? –can you identify/propose some other? What next: Directions for future research

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports5 PART II: Your opinion Is the paper a ‘real’ advancement of the state of the art? Is it useful for the theory? for practice? Can you identify other uses of the proposed technique(s)? What are the shortcomings? Can you identify more? can you propose a fix? Any issues swept-under-the-carpet? Can you identify other directions for future research?

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports6 Outline Writing a critical summary Committing to a project Writing a progress report About your final report

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports7 Committing to a Project By Wednesday, October 29, you must commit to a project Submit to handin a short report (up to 1 page) stating: –Project title, your name –A short justification for your choice –A clear work-plan listing main tasks, approximate dates, and expected outcomes –A bibliography, if applicable –Clearly state whether you are collaborating with colleagues and/or with a research assistant One proposal per team is sufficient. Teams are reminded that each member will have to provide a full evaluation of the performance of each other team member, listing both good and bad aspects. This is a requirement for collaboration.

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports8 Outline Writing a critical summary Committing to a project Writing a progress report About your final report

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports9 Progress report: format In your report, you discuss your progress on the work-plan you had set to yourself in the proposal you submitted Be as concise as possible but do not be bothered by a limitation on the number of pages. Thus, there is no requirement concerning the number of pages (could take from 1 page to whatever is needed), shorter reports are welcome If you have finished your project, this could be your draft for your final report

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports10 Progress report: content Document what you did so far Comment on what you accomplished with respect to what you promised you would State whether you are early/late and why Explain in case you have changed your plans and explain why Report any difficulties, breakthroughs Discuss anything else you feel is appropriate

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports11 Progress Report: Intent Imagine you are a professional hired to carry out some investigations for a client. The client is paying you for the number of hours and for the quality of service/result you are providing. It is time to re-evaluate the contract. You need to update your client on your progress. How would rate your performance? how much would you charge? are able to finish the task? –if so how and when? –if not, will you keep the contract? drop it (a penalty is involved)?

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Guidelines for reports12 Outline Writing a critical summary Committing to a project Writing a progress report About your final report

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Your Final Report (1): Content Given the variety of the projects, it is difficult to give general guidelines on the content of the report Please discuss them with me on an individual basis Include –What you accomplished –The problems you encountered –Your findings Guidelines for reports13

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Final Report (2): Typical Structure Title, Course Number, Your Name, Date Abstract Table of Contents. In LaTeX: \tableofcontents Introduction, motivation, roadmap (Section 2, Section 3, etc.) Contributions Experiments –Experiments set-up, data sets –Results –Discussions Conclusions & future work Bibliography Guidelines for reports14

Foundations of Constraint Processing, CSCE421/821 Final Report (3): Advice Format: Use a one column format (not two columns) Have as many figures as possible (including all those you are going to use in your slides): a picture is worth a million word.. Include all your pseudo code (if any) In your figures/plots, do not rely on color but use different line styles Also, you may want to check my Golden Check to avoid annoying common mistakes The length of the report is not an issue. The shorter the better, but you should use any number of pages as you need. Guidelines for reports15