CONTENTS: * REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRST DRAFT (due end of Friday, Nov 30) * A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE COURSE GOALS AND WHY WE ARE DOING THIS SURVEY * IF YOU HAVEN'T YET CHOSEN A TOPIC * REQUIREMENTS FOR SURVEY PAPER Note that there is a separate submission script, also: /course/cs7600/homework/submit-cs7600-hw-survey-opt-in-to-share-with-class In order to share your survey paper on the class Wiki (survey paper only -- without my comments), please submit a short file sayiung that you give permission to share your survey with the class. You may give permission when you submit or after the class is over (or even early next semester). ==== REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRST DRAFT: We are now ready for the next round of writing the Survey paper. When you have your draft ready, please use: /course/cs7600/homework/submit-cs7600-hw-survey-draft1 MYFILE to submit it. The file can be in any of several formats: * a URL pointing to overleaf.com * a URL pointing to a Google doc (make sure it's a public doc) * a pdf file * a Word file (.doc or .docx) * a text file (this is fine for this rough draft) The rough draft is not part of the course grade. But it allows me to give you comments before the final version. It also ensures that you don't write the whole 5-page paper at the last minute. Any time that someone writes a technical paper at the last minute, it's always a disaster, and the final technical paper will be part of the course grade. You may also use anything on the web (_except_ other student assignments from this or another university) as resources for background. Some excellent resources include: * Wikipedia (A great way to quickly fill in gaps in background knowledge) * https://scholar.google.com/ (In systems, try adding SOSP (or OSDI or ASPLOS) as keywords. While these are major systems conferences, many of the best papers are also found outside of these conferences. But in both cases, they are likely to reference one of these three conferences.) * http://dblp.uni-trier.de/ (For example, use this for papers of a favorite author of yours.) ==== A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE COURSE GOALS AND WHY WE ARE DOING THIS SURVEY: Finally, I'd like to remind you of the philosophy of this course and of core courses in general. These core courses are meant to give you some breadth, but _also_ to show you enough about the concepts that you can start to see interesting intersections between the core course and your own chosen area of study. Computer Science should be a mix of overlapping topics, and _not_ a series of isolated topics that prevent computer scientists from talking to each other. If I am not showing you interesting intersections between my course (Computer Systems) and your chosen area of study, then I am failing you as the teacher of a core course! _Please_ give me a chance to improve the situation for you by finding a better intersection with your area of interest, rather than just doing this survey to satisfy a boring course assignment on technical writing. :-( If you are still dissatisfied, write to me by e-mail, and let's also talk in class, so that I can help point you to directions in computer systems that can have an interest for you in your own chosen area of research. Putting the right keywords into scholar.google.com is an excellent way to find those intersections, and I can help you either by suggesting appropriate keywords or maybe suggesting a landmark paper in an area of interest for you. ==== IF YOU HAVEN'T YET CHOSEN A TOPIC: If you haven't yet chosen a topic, please go to: https://wiki.ccs.neu.edu/display/CS7600/CS7600+Home and edit that page to add a topic and place your name next to it. If a topic has already been chosen, then you must choose a different topic. You can find a topic in one of two ways: 1. Choose one of my suggestions from: /course/cs7600/surveys/survey-topics.txt [ and with my permission, you are welcome to add and subtract papers ] 2. Create your own topic of three papers on a systems-related theme. [ As before, I must approve the topic. But this is a great way to pick a topic related to the interests of you and your advisor or mentor. Your advisor/mentor may have suggestions for good topics. ] =========================================== REQUIREMENTS FOR SURVEY PAPER: You may choose your own papers for a survey, or you may choose one of the options proposed in survey-papers.txt in this directory. A two-page written paper will be due by Nov. 30. The two-page paper can be any single-spaced format (not too much space between lines) that you choose, including single column and any reasonable font size. [ The two-page paper is not part of the course grade. But it allows me to provide advice along the way. It also ensures that the paper is not written all at the last minute. ] A five-page version of the written paper will be due by the last class during finals week (by Dec. 14). The five-page version must be 11-point font, single-spaced, traditional size margins (e.g., in LaTeX, "\usepackage{fullpage}"). It may be single-column. If you prefer a two-column format (typical of conference formats), then you may write a three-page, two-column article (11-point font, traditional size margins). The five-minute oral presentations in class will be scheduled for the finals week (Dec. 11 and 14), or optionally the last day of classes (by Dec. 7), if you prefer. When you have chosen, submit your name and the topic that you have chosen to: /course/cs7600f17/homework/submit-cs7600-hw-surveys If there are too many people choosing the same topic, I reserve the right to randomly select students and ask them to choose a different topic. Be sure to look at: writing-technical-papers.txt in this directory, for tips on writing technical papers.