242-702, Semester 2
,
2015-2016
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Objectives
– tips on writing a thesis statement and an overview
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1
.
Before you Write Your Proposal
2
.
Organizing Your Notes
3
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What's a Thesis Statement?
4
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Organizing an Overview
5
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Outline Writing Tips
6.
Two Possible Outline Formats
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Writing a proposal can be easier if you do some simpler tasks first:
– organize your research notes
– write a thesis statement
– write a research overview organized notes
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I'm assuming that you learnt about making research notes in 242-500 RDM and in
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– very quickly the notes become very large
– organizing them will help you develop research ideas
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If you've used note cards to record your reading/thoughts, they can be:
– arranged on a table/floor
– grouped into categories
– sorted in different orders
– pinned to a wall
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Zotero ( http://www.zotero.org/ )
– a Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources
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SuperNotecard ( http://www.mindola.com/snc/ )
– hierarchical notecards
– limited version is free; full version US$29
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Go through your notes, and write down common keywords and phrases:
– e.g. network congestion, denial-of-service, virtual networks, micro payments, content throttling
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These keywords may suggest a thesis idea.
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Visuallly organize keywords into clusters or mind maps.
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FreeMind
– free mind-mapping software written in Java
• see the screenshots and the Mind Map Gallery
• http://freemind.sourceforge.net/
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Common question types:
– comparison questions
– definition questions
– cause/effect questions
– questions about the process
– classification questions
– evaluation questions
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Comparison:
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How do neural networds compare and contrast with standard game techniques such as collision detection?
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Definition
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What kinds of neural network are used in games?
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Cause/Effect:
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How is game design affected when neural networks are added?
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Process:
– What are the steps involved in integrating neural networks into games?
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Evaluation:
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What speed or memory benefits are there when neural networds are added to games?
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Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
–
Who?
researchers in neural nets / games
– What?
–
Where?
– When?
–
Why?
– How?
what games types use them as part of game logic / UI time-lines for major developments speed, memory benefits scripting, special hardware
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A thesis statement is another name for the
"problem statement" inyour thesis
– i.e. the sentences that appears in the abstract and introduction of your research proposal
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A thesis statement is a sentence (or sentences) that summarizes the point
(purpose, direction, aims) of your research.
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It gives a direction to your work.
–
Bad: "Several factors extend network speeds."
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Good: "Internet protocols that increase throughput are not always desirable for system administrators."
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The thesis statement is specific .
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Bad: "Illegal downloading is bad."
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Good: "Illegal downloading is ethically and legally equivalent to stealing, and will eventually stifle artistic creativity."
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The thesis statement combines all the main ideas in the research
– e.g. it uses all your keywords
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The thesis statement is an aid to keeping your research on track , focussed on the important ideas.
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It is not a promise to do something, or a statement of future plans.
– Bad: "In this work I will show that hardware costs are not too high."
– Good: "The high cost of hardware development and research justifies high margins when selling existing hardware."
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A topic/subject on its own is not a thesis statement:
– Bad: "iPhone Sales in Thailand"
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Good: "iPhone Sales in Thailand reflect the iPhone's technological superiority to other products aimed at the same markets."
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Words added to a title, but not forming a complete sentence , cannot be a thesis statement:
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Bad: "The potential of music for education."
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Good: "Since kids remember the words of music they listen to most often, pop songs should be used more in education."
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A question is not a thesis statement:
– Bad: "What is James Gosling's place in computing?"
– Still Bad: "James Gosling plays a major role in computing." (not specific)
– Good: "James Gosling's contribution to programming language design, with his development of Java, has had a major effect on the development of more recent languages."
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A " defending " statement:
– "Contrary to what some AI researchers believe, computers will never be intelligent."
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A " because " statement:
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"Logic Programming will never be mainstream because it lacks imperative features."
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A " testing " statement:
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"Image processing operations can be made substantially faster by using map-reduce concurrency."
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Writing an overview can be thought of as expanding the thesis statement
– the tricky aspect is how to organize the ideas
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There are some standard organizations:
– problems/issues → solutions
– cause → effect effect → cause
– general → specific specific → general
– comparison and contrast
– simple → complex
– known → unknown
– time-line (past → now → future)
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Thesis: Myths about Java have prevented it from being used widely in games programming .
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Issue 1. Java is slow and a memory hog.
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Issue 2. Sun Microsystems does not support
Java as a games platform.
– Issue 3. Java has not been ported to games machines.
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Thesis: Computer games have positive effects on a child's language development .
– Cause 1. Games introduce new words.
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Cause 2. Games reinforce word usage and proper syntax.
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Cause 3. Game audio teaches the correct way to say words.
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Thesis: Functional Programming will solve the Crisis in Concurrent Programming .
– General 1: increase in multi-core hardware
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General 2: lack of concurrency features in conventional languages
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Specific 1: complexity of libraries such as PVM
– General 3: concurrency support in FP
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Specific 2: map-reduce in Haskell
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Comparison focuses on similarities.
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Contrast focuses on differences.
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Outline ordering:
– introduce topic A
– introduce topic B
– compare and contrast the two
– state thesis using comparisons/contrasts as support
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Thesis: Computer Games are Weakening
Kid's Reading Skills
– topic A: computer games
– topic B: reading
– comparisons: need to understand words, sentences, situations, stories
– contrasts: CGs have limited domains, less complexity, less ambiguity
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1. Every word in the outline should relate to the thesis statement, and really mean something.
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Thesis: Environmental damage from the inadequate disposal of PC hardware is a major problem in Thailand .
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Bad (empty words):
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1. Introduction
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2. Problems with PC hardware
• 2.1. Where it is
• 2.2. Who does it
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Better (content-filled words)
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1. Sources of PC hardware waste
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2. Current disposal methods
• 2.1. Landfills
• 2.2. Incinerators
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2. The information for each subheading must be related to the heading above it
– related in the sense of the outline structure
• e.g. cause → effect, general → specific
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Thesis: James Gosling used elements borrowed from C++ and Simula as the main ingredients of Java .
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Bad (poor ordering):
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1. C++was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell Labs
• 1.1. Java's imperative features come from C
• 1.2. James Gosling is a Canadian
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Better:
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1. Java was developed by James Gosling starting in 1991 at Sun Microsystems
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2. Java features inspired by C++
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3. Java features inspired by Simula
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1. Topic outline
– each line is a word, phrase, or point
• punctuation isn't necessary, but grammar helps organize your thoughts
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2. Sentence Outline
– each line is a grammatically complete sentence with a full-stop (no questions allowed)
• better for first-time writers
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1. Issues of game censorship
–
1.1. intellectual freedom
– 1.2. values taught
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2. Censorship in the past
Confusing since the lack of grammar adds ambiguity.
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1. The issues of computer game censorship arise from two main sources.
– 1.1. Some people feel that games must have the same intellectual freedoms as other media, such as books and movies.
–
1.2. Some people feel that games have an obligation to impart values since they are so important to young children.
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In both formats, nest headings using numbered sub-sections.
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The numbering can be removed when you convert the outline to a proposal.
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