1. CMSC 601 Basic Research Skills Spring 2011 Tim Finin finin@cs.umbc.edu

2. First Class Overview of course Introductions Comments on research Latex 101 Plagiarism and paraphrasing exercise

3. Objectives Help Computer Science students – Learn specific research skills – Understand CS research community practices – Become aware of research career options – Improve oral and written presentation techniques – Be sensitive to professional ethics and academic integrity – Explore a potential research topic – Get a head start on their own research

4. Texts and Readings We’ll use two text books: – Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning a Master's or Ph.D. (Revised Edition), Robert L. Peters. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997. ISBN: 0-374-52477-7. – Writing for Computer Science: The Art of Effective Communication, Justin Zobel. Springer-Verlag, second edition, 2004. ISBN: 1852338024 We’ll also look at papers and resources provides as handouts or links

5. Important Links Course Web site: – http://cs.umbc.edu/courses/graduate/CMSC601/Sp ring11/ http://cs.umbc.edu/courses/graduate/CMSC601/Sp ring11/ Google group URL: – https://groups.google.com/group/CMSC601-S11 https://groups.google.com/group/CMSC601-S11 Google group email address: – CMSC601-S11@googlegroups.com

6. Assignments and Project We’ll have a series of short assignments and a longer project Example assignment: read a paper and produce a short summary of its content Your project will involve – Choosing a research topic – Finding a faculty member who will serve as an external reader for it – Doing a literature survey, proposal, poster, paper and a presentation slides for your research topic