COMP 516 Research Methods in Computer Science Dominik Wojtczak - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

COMP 516 Research Methods in Computer Science

Dominik Wojtczak

Department of Computer Science University of Liverpool

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COMP 516 Research Methods in Computer Science

Lecture 21: Best Presentation Award and Final Tips Dominik Wojtczak

Department of Computer Science University of Liverpool with material from Ullrich Hustadt and Rahul Savani

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Best presentation award: Honourable mentions

Ahmad Omar Viability of Telecommuting in Today’s So- ciety Oliver Owens Understanding Denial Of Service attacks and the strategies to defend against them successfully Claire Parker Protecting Against Cross-Site Scripting Attacks

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Best presentation award: The main prize

Paul Owen The use of internet health information for self-diagnosis: A help or a hindrance?

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Feedback on presentations

No need for full sentences Don’t put too much text on a slide Timing: some of you spent too much time describing the background It was very important to explain you research question Use simple direct language Often, less is more

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Feedback on presentations

No need for full sentences Don’t put too much text on a slide Timing: some of you spent too much time describing the background It was very important to explain you research question Use simple direct language Often, less is more

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Feedback on presentations

No need for full sentences Don’t put too much text on a slide Timing: some of you spent too much time describing the background It was very important to explain you research question Use simple direct language Often, less is more

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Feedback on presentations

No need for full sentences Don’t put too much text on a slide Timing: some of you spent too much time describing the background It was very important to explain you research question Use simple direct language Often, less is more

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Feedback on presentations

No need for full sentences Don’t put too much text on a slide Timing: some of you spent too much time describing the background It was very important to explain you research question Use simple direct language Often, less is more

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Feedback on presentations

No need for full sentences Don’t put too much text on a slide Timing: some of you spent too much time describing the background It was very important to explain you research question Use simple direct language Often, less is more

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Feedback on bibliographies

Given a source, categorize it: journal, conference paper, book etc. Make sure all the bibliographic data in included Choose an appropriate style and then . . . . . . make sure bibliographic entries are presented consistently for web pages, make sure that the access date is the actual date you accessed the web page, not when someone else did

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Feedback on bibliographies

Given a source, categorize it: journal, conference paper, book etc. Make sure all the bibliographic data in included Choose an appropriate style and then . . . . . . make sure bibliographic entries are presented consistently for web pages, make sure that the access date is the actual date you accessed the web page, not when someone else did

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Feedback on bibliographies

Given a source, categorize it: journal, conference paper, book etc. Make sure all the bibliographic data in included Choose an appropriate style and then . . . . . . make sure bibliographic entries are presented consistently for web pages, make sure that the access date is the actual date you accessed the web page, not when someone else did

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Feedback on bibliographies

Given a source, categorize it: journal, conference paper, book etc. Make sure all the bibliographic data in included Choose an appropriate style and then . . . . . . make sure bibliographic entries are presented consistently for web pages, make sure that the access date is the actual date you accessed the web page, not when someone else did

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Feedback on bibliographies

Given a source, categorize it: journal, conference paper, book etc. Make sure all the bibliographic data in included Choose an appropriate style and then . . . . . . make sure bibliographic entries are presented consistently for web pages, make sure that the access date is the actual date you accessed the web page, not when someone else did

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3,000 word Essay

submit via VITAL TurnItInUK Assignment deadline moved to 11th Dec (Tuesday) 6pm, because of a clash with COMP518 assignment it will be checked automatically against plagiarism and collusion

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3,000 word Essay

submit via VITAL TurnItInUK Assignment deadline moved to 11th Dec (Tuesday) 6pm, because of a clash with COMP518 assignment it will be checked automatically against plagiarism and collusion

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3,000 word Essay

submit via VITAL TurnItInUK Assignment deadline moved to 11th Dec (Tuesday) 6pm, because of a clash with COMP518 assignment it will be checked automatically against plagiarism and collusion

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Polishing Your Essay

Our goals Clarity, coherence, authority, and readability Keep sentences short

Keep your sentences 15-20 words long on average Rule of thumb: only two lines for a sentence Use only one idea in a sentence

Prefer the simple to the complex

Go for simplicity in writing: simple words and simple ideas The KISS principle, Keep It Simple and Straightforward

Think of unnecessary words as redundancies

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Polishing Your Essay

Our goals Clarity, coherence, authority, and readability Keep sentences short

Keep your sentences 15-20 words long on average Rule of thumb: only two lines for a sentence Use only one idea in a sentence

Prefer the simple to the complex

Go for simplicity in writing: simple words and simple ideas The KISS principle, Keep It Simple and Straightforward

Think of unnecessary words as redundancies

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Polishing Your Essay

Our goals Clarity, coherence, authority, and readability Keep sentences short

Keep your sentences 15-20 words long on average Rule of thumb: only two lines for a sentence Use only one idea in a sentence

Prefer the simple to the complex

Go for simplicity in writing: simple words and simple ideas The KISS principle, Keep It Simple and Straightforward

Think of unnecessary words as redundancies

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Polishing Your Essay

Our goals Clarity, coherence, authority, and readability Keep sentences short

Keep your sentences 15-20 words long on average Rule of thumb: only two lines for a sentence Use only one idea in a sentence

Prefer the simple to the complex

Go for simplicity in writing: simple words and simple ideas The KISS principle, Keep It Simple and Straightforward

Think of unnecessary words as redundancies

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Polishing Your Essay

Our goals Clarity, coherence, authority, and readability Keep sentences short

Keep your sentences 15-20 words long on average Rule of thumb: only two lines for a sentence Use only one idea in a sentence

Prefer the simple to the complex

Go for simplicity in writing: simple words and simple ideas The KISS principle, Keep It Simple and Straightforward

Think of unnecessary words as redundancies

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Polishing Your Essay

Our goals Clarity, coherence, authority, and readability Keep sentences short

Keep your sentences 15-20 words long on average Rule of thumb: only two lines for a sentence Use only one idea in a sentence

Prefer the simple to the complex

Go for simplicity in writing: simple words and simple ideas The KISS principle, Keep It Simple and Straightforward

Think of unnecessary words as redundancies

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Polishing Your Essay

Our goals Clarity, coherence, authority, and readability Keep sentences short

Keep your sentences 15-20 words long on average Rule of thumb: only two lines for a sentence Use only one idea in a sentence

Prefer the simple to the complex

Go for simplicity in writing: simple words and simple ideas The KISS principle, Keep It Simple and Straightforward

Think of unnecessary words as redundancies

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Polishing Your Essay

Our goals Clarity, coherence, authority, and readability Keep sentences short

Keep your sentences 15-20 words long on average Rule of thumb: only two lines for a sentence Use only one idea in a sentence

Prefer the simple to the complex

Go for simplicity in writing: simple words and simple ideas The KISS principle, Keep It Simple and Straightforward

Think of unnecessary words as redundancies

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Polishing Your Essay

Our goals Clarity, coherence, authority, and readability Keep sentences short

Keep your sentences 15-20 words long on average Rule of thumb: only two lines for a sentence Use only one idea in a sentence

Prefer the simple to the complex

Go for simplicity in writing: simple words and simple ideas The KISS principle, Keep It Simple and Straightforward

Think of unnecessary words as redundancies

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Weasel words

Words that sound good without conveying information; they obscure precision. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word salt and pepper words beholder words lazy words

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Weasel words

Words that sound good without conveying information; they obscure precision. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word salt and pepper words beholder words lazy words

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Weasel words

Words that sound good without conveying information; they obscure precision. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word salt and pepper words beholder words lazy words

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Salt and pepper words

Look and feel like technical words, but convey nothing. Examples: various, a number of, fairly, quite, ... Sentences that cut these words out become stronger Bad: It is quite difficult to find untainted samples. Better: It is difficult to find untainted samples. Bad: We used various methods to isolate four samples. Better: We isolated four samples.

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Salt and pepper words

Look and feel like technical words, but convey nothing. Examples: various, a number of, fairly, quite, ... Sentences that cut these words out become stronger Bad: It is quite difficult to find untainted samples. Better: It is difficult to find untainted samples. Bad: We used various methods to isolate four samples. Better: We isolated four samples.

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Salt and pepper words

Look and feel like technical words, but convey nothing. Examples: various, a number of, fairly, quite, ... Sentences that cut these words out become stronger Bad: It is quite difficult to find untainted samples. Better: It is difficult to find untainted samples. Bad: We used various methods to isolate four samples. Better: We isolated four samples.

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Salt and pepper words

Look and feel like technical words, but convey nothing. Examples: various, a number of, fairly, quite, ... Sentences that cut these words out become stronger Bad: It is quite difficult to find untainted samples. Better: It is difficult to find untainted samples. Bad: We used various methods to isolate four samples. Better: We isolated four samples.

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Salt and pepper words

Look and feel like technical words, but convey nothing. Examples: various, a number of, fairly, quite, ... Sentences that cut these words out become stronger Bad: It is quite difficult to find untainted samples. Better: It is difficult to find untainted samples. Bad: We used various methods to isolate four samples. Better: We isolated four samples.

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Salt and pepper words

Look and feel like technical words, but convey nothing. Examples: various, a number of, fairly, quite, ... Sentences that cut these words out become stronger Bad: It is quite difficult to find untainted samples. Better: It is difficult to find untainted samples. Bad: We used various methods to isolate four samples. Better: We isolated four samples.

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Salt and pepper words

Look and feel like technical words, but convey nothing. Examples: various, a number of, fairly, quite, ... Sentences that cut these words out become stronger Bad: It is quite difficult to find untainted samples. Better: It is difficult to find untainted samples. Bad: We used various methods to isolate four samples. Better: We isolated four samples.

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Beholder words

Make judgements on behalf of the reader. Examples: interestingly, surprisingly, remarkably, clearly Bad: False positives were surprisingly low. Good: To our surprise, false positives were low. Even better: To our surprise, false positives were low (3%).

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Beholder words

Make judgements on behalf of the reader. Examples: interestingly, surprisingly, remarkably, clearly Bad: False positives were surprisingly low. Good: To our surprise, false positives were low. Even better: To our surprise, false positives were low (3%).

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Beholder words

Make judgements on behalf of the reader. Examples: interestingly, surprisingly, remarkably, clearly Bad: False positives were surprisingly low. Good: To our surprise, false positives were low. Even better: To our surprise, false positives were low (3%).

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Beholder words

Make judgements on behalf of the reader. Examples: interestingly, surprisingly, remarkably, clearly Bad: False positives were surprisingly low. Good: To our surprise, false positives were low. Even better: To our surprise, false positives were low (3%).

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Beholder words

Make judgements on behalf of the reader. Examples: interestingly, surprisingly, remarkably, clearly Bad: False positives were surprisingly low. Good: To our surprise, false positives were low. Even better: To our surprise, false positives were low (3%).

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Lazy words

Are inserted to avoid making a quantitative characterization. Make the science feel infirm and unfinished. Worst offenders: very, extremely Never use these in technical writing More examples: several, exceedingly, many, most, few, vast Bad: There is a very close match between the two semantics. Better: There is a close match between the two semantics.

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Lazy words

Are inserted to avoid making a quantitative characterization. Make the science feel infirm and unfinished. Worst offenders: very, extremely Never use these in technical writing More examples: several, exceedingly, many, most, few, vast Bad: There is a very close match between the two semantics. Better: There is a close match between the two semantics.

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Lazy words

Are inserted to avoid making a quantitative characterization. Make the science feel infirm and unfinished. Worst offenders: very, extremely Never use these in technical writing More examples: several, exceedingly, many, most, few, vast Bad: There is a very close match between the two semantics. Better: There is a close match between the two semantics.

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Lazy words

Are inserted to avoid making a quantitative characterization. Make the science feel infirm and unfinished. Worst offenders: very, extremely Never use these in technical writing More examples: several, exceedingly, many, most, few, vast Bad: There is a very close match between the two semantics. Better: There is a close match between the two semantics.

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Lazy words

Are inserted to avoid making a quantitative characterization. Make the science feel infirm and unfinished. Worst offenders: very, extremely Never use these in technical writing More examples: several, exceedingly, many, most, few, vast Bad: There is a very close match between the two semantics. Better: There is a close match between the two semantics.

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Lazy words

Are inserted to avoid making a quantitative characterization. Make the science feel infirm and unfinished. Worst offenders: very, extremely Never use these in technical writing More examples: several, exceedingly, many, most, few, vast Bad: There is a very close match between the two semantics. Better: There is a close match between the two semantics.

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Lazy words

Are inserted to avoid making a quantitative characterization. Make the science feel infirm and unfinished. Worst offenders: very, extremely Never use these in technical writing More examples: several, exceedingly, many, most, few, vast Bad: There is a very close match between the two semantics. Better: There is a close match between the two semantics.

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Adverbs

In technical writing, adverbs tend to come off as weasel words. Bad: We offer a completely different formulation of CFA. Better: We offer a different formulation of CFA. The right frame of mind: ‘Less is more‘

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Adverbs

In technical writing, adverbs tend to come off as weasel words. Bad: We offer a completely different formulation of CFA. Better: We offer a different formulation of CFA. The right frame of mind: ‘Less is more‘

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Adverbs

In technical writing, adverbs tend to come off as weasel words. Bad: We offer a completely different formulation of CFA. Better: We offer a different formulation of CFA. The right frame of mind: ‘Less is more‘

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Adverbs

In technical writing, adverbs tend to come off as weasel words. Bad: We offer a completely different formulation of CFA. Better: We offer a different formulation of CFA. The right frame of mind: ‘Less is more‘

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Adverbs

In technical writing, adverbs tend to come off as weasel words. Bad: We offer a completely different formulation of CFA. Better: We offer a different formulation of CFA. The right frame of mind: ‘Less is more‘

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Passive voice

Is bad when it hides relevant or explanatory information. Bad: Termination is guaranteed on any input. (hides relevant information) Good: Termination is guaranteed on any input by a finite state-space. (includes the relevant information, but misplaces the emphasis) Even better: A finite state-space guarantees termination on any input. (contains all the relevant information, and it feels crisp)

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Passive voice

Is bad when it hides relevant or explanatory information. Bad: Termination is guaranteed on any input. (hides relevant information) Good: Termination is guaranteed on any input by a finite state-space. (includes the relevant information, but misplaces the emphasis) Even better: A finite state-space guarantees termination on any input. (contains all the relevant information, and it feels crisp)

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Passive voice

Is bad when it hides relevant or explanatory information. Bad: Termination is guaranteed on any input. (hides relevant information) Good: Termination is guaranteed on any input by a finite state-space. (includes the relevant information, but misplaces the emphasis) Even better: A finite state-space guarantees termination on any input. (contains all the relevant information, and it feels crisp)

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Passive voice

Is bad when it hides relevant or explanatory information. Bad: Termination is guaranteed on any input. (hides relevant information) Good: Termination is guaranteed on any input by a finite state-space. (includes the relevant information, but misplaces the emphasis) Even better: A finite state-space guarantees termination on any input. (contains all the relevant information, and it feels crisp)

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Lexical illusions

Read the following text: Many readers are not aware that the the brain will automatically ignore a second instance of the word "the" when it starts a new line. Read that same text again, but with different line breaks: Many readers are not aware that the the brain will automatically ignore a second instance of the word "the" when it starts a new line. Duplicating words is a phenomenon of electronic composition.

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Lexical illusions

Read the following text: Many readers are not aware that the the brain will automatically ignore a second instance of the word "the" when it starts a new line. Read that same text again, but with different line breaks: Many readers are not aware that the the brain will automatically ignore a second instance of the word "the" when it starts a new line. Duplicating words is a phenomenon of electronic composition.

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Lexical illusions

Read the following text: Many readers are not aware that the the brain will automatically ignore a second instance of the word "the" when it starts a new line. Read that same text again, but with different line breaks: Many readers are not aware that the the brain will automatically ignore a second instance of the word "the" when it starts a new line. Duplicating words is a phenomenon of electronic composition.

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Final tips

Have a break before you try to polish your essay. Read it slowly, and force yourself to think like a reader. If English is not your mother tongue, read it aloud. Finally, give it to someone else to read References http://www.csun.edu/˜vcecn006/jargob.html

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Final tips

Have a break before you try to polish your essay. Read it slowly, and force yourself to think like a reader. If English is not your mother tongue, read it aloud. Finally, give it to someone else to read References http://www.csun.edu/˜vcecn006/jargob.html

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Final tips

Have a break before you try to polish your essay. Read it slowly, and force yourself to think like a reader. If English is not your mother tongue, read it aloud. Finally, give it to someone else to read References http://www.csun.edu/˜vcecn006/jargob.html

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Final tips

Have a break before you try to polish your essay. Read it slowly, and force yourself to think like a reader. If English is not your mother tongue, read it aloud. Finally, give it to someone else to read References http://www.csun.edu/˜vcecn006/jargob.html

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Final tips

Have a break before you try to polish your essay. Read it slowly, and force yourself to think like a reader. If English is not your mother tongue, read it aloud. Finally, give it to someone else to read References http://www.csun.edu/˜vcecn006/jargob.html

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Final tips

Have a break before you try to polish your essay. Read it slowly, and force yourself to think like a reader. If English is not your mother tongue, read it aloud. Finally, give it to someone else to read References http://www.csun.edu/˜vcecn006/jargob.html

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COMP702

http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/˜leszek/COMP702/#writing Each slide corresponds to advice from a different member of faculty.

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COMP702 Presentations (1)

remind listeners of big picture (before starting on technical details) include both high-level information (aims of the project etc.) and sufficient technical detail don’t spend presentation explaining why the project is hard (and making excuses for not doing a better job)

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COMP702 Presentations (1)

remind listeners of big picture (before starting on technical details) include both high-level information (aims of the project etc.) and sufficient technical detail don’t spend presentation explaining why the project is hard (and making excuses for not doing a better job)

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COMP702 Presentations (1)

remind listeners of big picture (before starting on technical details) include both high-level information (aims of the project etc.) and sufficient technical detail don’t spend presentation explaining why the project is hard (and making excuses for not doing a better job)

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COMP702 Presentations (1)

remind listeners of big picture (before starting on technical details) include both high-level information (aims of the project etc.) and sufficient technical detail don’t spend presentation explaining why the project is hard (and making excuses for not doing a better job)

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COMP702 Presentations (2)

consider the audience when preparing the presentation bad presentations are usually bad because the presenter has not thought much about what the audience knows or remembers

• r how much time and attention they have to give, or how much

background knowledge they need

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COMP702 Presentations (2)

consider the audience when preparing the presentation bad presentations are usually bad because the presenter has not thought much about what the audience knows or remembers

• r how much time and attention they have to give, or how much

background knowledge they need

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COMP702 Presentations (2)

consider the audience when preparing the presentation bad presentations are usually bad because the presenter has not thought much about what the audience knows or remembers

• r how much time and attention they have to give, or how much

background knowledge they need

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COMP702 Presentations (2)

consider the audience when preparing the presentation bad presentations are usually bad because the presenter has not thought much about what the audience knows or remembers

• r how much time and attention they have to give, or how much

background knowledge they need

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COMP702 Presentations (3)

common to assume that audience members remember everything from one presentation to the next Much better: start each subsequent presentation with a gentle reminder of what the project is about Key skill = empathy being able and willing to consider the perspective and position of the audience members (who may, e.g., have many presentations to assess)

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COMP702 Presentations (3)

common to assume that audience members remember everything from one presentation to the next Much better: start each subsequent presentation with a gentle reminder of what the project is about Key skill = empathy being able and willing to consider the perspective and position of the audience members (who may, e.g., have many presentations to assess)

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COMP702 Presentations (3)

common to assume that audience members remember everything from one presentation to the next Much better: start each subsequent presentation with a gentle reminder of what the project is about Key skill = empathy being able and willing to consider the perspective and position of the audience members (who may, e.g., have many presentations to assess)

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COMP702 Presentations (3)

common to assume that audience members remember everything from one presentation to the next Much better: start each subsequent presentation with a gentle reminder of what the project is about Key skill = empathy being able and willing to consider the perspective and position of the audience members (who may, e.g., have many presentations to assess)

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COMP702 Presentations (3)

common to assume that audience members remember everything from one presentation to the next Much better: start each subsequent presentation with a gentle reminder of what the project is about Key skill = empathy being able and willing to consider the perspective and position of the audience members (who may, e.g., have many presentations to assess)

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COMP702 Presentations (3)

common to assume that audience members remember everything from one presentation to the next Much better: start each subsequent presentation with a gentle reminder of what the project is about Key skill = empathy being able and willing to consider the perspective and position of the audience members (who may, e.g., have many presentations to assess)

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COMP702 Writing

don’t just use bullet points introduce each subsection, table etc. with some text try not to be too vague reflect on what you have done

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COMP702 Writing

don’t just use bullet points introduce each subsection, table etc. with some text try not to be too vague reflect on what you have done

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COMP702 Writing

don’t just use bullet points introduce each subsection, table etc. with some text try not to be too vague reflect on what you have done

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COMP702 Writing

don’t just use bullet points introduce each subsection, table etc. with some text try not to be too vague reflect on what you have done

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PhD opportunities at University of Liverpool

http://www.liv.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/ faculty-of-science-and-engineering/ school-of-electrical-engineering-electronics-and-computer- computer-science/computer-science-mphil-phd/

• verview/

http: //cgi.csc.liv.ac.uk/˜pwg/2012-studentships.htm

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PhD opportunities at University of Liverpool

http://www.liv.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/ faculty-of-science-and-engineering/ school-of-electrical-engineering-electronics-and-computer- computer-science/computer-science-mphil-phd/

• verview/

http: //cgi.csc.liv.ac.uk/˜pwg/2012-studentships.htm

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