COSC 5050 Research Writing for Computer Science

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COSC 5050Research Writing for Computer Science

• Spring 2004
• Dr. Rex Gantenbein
• Lecture 13 Acquiring attitude/project post mortem

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Course information

• Final draft due 11 May (Final week)
• In class presentations 20-22 April
• Set up schedule (20 minutes each)

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Thesis defenses

• Typical length is 45-60 minutes, plus discussion
  and questions
• Presentation should be moderately formal
• Fancy dress is not required, but you should try
  to look professional
• Food is not required

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Thesis defenses

• Preparation is VERY important!
• Overheads and/or PowerPoint slides
• Practice presentation (so that it sounds natural)
• Understand your material
• Visual aids should be used effectively
• Include screen shots or figures as needed
• Internet or execution demos can be valuable

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Thesis defenses

• Plan A defenses are required to be formal
  colloquia
• Public may attend presentation
• Committee members have preference with respect to
  schedule
• Sign-off on Completion of Requirements form is
  required
• Advisors or others may want a final copy of paper

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Making a presentation successful

• A successful presentation (like any communication
  project) depends on
• Planning
• Execution
• Attitude

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Making a presentation successful

• Planning
• Connect your presentation to the main topic
• Maintain the flow between sections
• Reinforce the connections to the main topic in
  each section and re-establish it at the end
• Use transitions and conclusions for each section
  to emphasize the change in focus (verbal and/or
  visual)

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Making a presentation successful

• Execution
• Poise
• Confidence
• Dignity
• Be prepared!!

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Making a presentation successful

• Attitude
• Anticipate your audiences needs and expectations
• Get in a good mood! (Dont be scared)
• Dont worry about getting it perfect the first
  time
• Use an incremental approach here as well as in
  writing

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Acquiring attitude

• Nobody expects you to be perfect in your
  presentation!
• Dont get your self-esteem mixed up with your
  presentation skills
• Be as prepared as you can be
• Understand your audience and play up to them

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Acquiring attitude

• Recognize your (projects) limitations
• Even a Ph.D. thesis has limited scope and time
• Make it very clear what you DID and DID NOT do
• Use these to your advantage if questioned
• You get what you pay for!!
• That would have been a good thing to do, but it
  would have taken a lot longer.

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Acquiring attitude

• Remember that this is probably NOT
• the most important thing you have ever done
• the most important thing you will ever do
• Consider the possible outcomes
• Acceptance without revision
• Acceptance with some revisions
• Acceptance with major revisions
• Rejection

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Acquiring attitude

• The most likely outcome is that the paper will be
  accepted with some revisions
• Your advisor has some obligation to help you here
• Find out what the criticisms are and address them
• Leave enough time to make the revisions before
  the graduation deadline!!

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Project post mortem

• An important part of any project is understanding
  the process
• Post mortem analyzes the work that you did and
  helps to you learn from it
• Repeat what worked, dont repeat what didnt

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Project post mortem (example)

• How realistic was the project?
• Poorly defined goals or expectations
• Changing requirements
• Incomplete tool sets

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Project post mortem

• How did the software engineering paradigm(s) fit
  your actual activities?
• Linear sequential model (waterfall)
• Spiral model (prototype)
• Chaos model (recursive stages)
• How did the paradigm(s) help structure your
  project and your presentation of it?

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Project post mortem

• Whats the difference between creating a new
  system and re-creating an existing one?
• Understanding requirements
• Defining functionality
• Designing the interface
• What else?

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Project post mortem

• Verification and validation
• Would it have been possible to formally verify
  any part of your project?
• Was it possible to adequately test any part of
  your project?
• How did you know when you were done testing?

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Project post mortem

• Maintenance
• Do you think your project could be maintained or
  expanded by somebody else without your help?
• How much documentation did you provide?
• Is your project structured for long-term use?

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Project post mortem

• Were you able to achieve the goals that your
  started with?
• What were the biggest obstacles?
• Did you understand your goals better at the
  beginning or at the end of the project?