CS 178H
Introduction to
Computer Science Research
Why Do an Honors Thesis?
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Graduating with
Special Departmental Honors
• An honors thesis (CS 379H with a B)
required to graduate with departmental
honors.
• Looks good on resume.
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Other Potential Awards
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Departmental Distinguished Graduate
CNS Dean’s Honored Graduate
CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Award
NSF Graduate Fellowship
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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.
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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.
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Develop Widely Useful Skills
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Technical computing skills.
Reading primary CS research literature.
Written technical communication.
Oral technical communication.
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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.
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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.
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Finding Relevant Papers
• Google (Scholar)
• Bibliographies of existing papers.
• Ask an expert (e.g. your faculty advisor).
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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.
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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?
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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.
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Research Paper Organization:
Typical Sections
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Introduction/motivation
Technical background
Novel algorithm/system description
Evaluation and Analysis
– Theorems and proofs of correctness or complexity.
– Experimental results on benchmark data sets.
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Related research
Future research
Conclusions
Bibliography
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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
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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)
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Communication Skills
• Communication is critically important in
almost any professional career.
– Even in science and technology
– And not just in scientific research
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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.
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