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CSC 590: Thesis Seminar. Instructor: Alex Dekhtyar. Meet and Greet. Your name. Undergraduate background. Point you are in your studies. Do you have thesis area? Do you have specific thesis topic? Have you started you thesis Any other interesting info.
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CSC 590: Thesis Seminar Instructor: Alex Dekhtyar
Meet and Greet • Your name. • Undergraduate background. • Point you are in your studies. • Do you have thesis area? • Do you have specific thesis topic? • Have you started you thesis • Any other interesting info.
Disclaimer: I usually do not use PowerPoint slides in class. However this course is different. Disclaimer: Slides heavily borrow from Gene Fisher’s CSC 590 slides (with Gene’s permission)
Objectives • Learn what is involved in writing a thesis • Learn how to do research • Learn how to present research in oral and written forms
Objectives • How to do research • Pick a research topic • Discover/survey literature • Validate your work • How to «sell» your research • on paper • In presentation (twice)
On the Internets Course page (for my stuff) http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~dekhtyar/590-Fall2009 Wiki (for your stuff) http://wiki.csc.calpoly.edu/590 Mailing List csc-590-02-2098@calpoly.edu
Schedule 1. September 25 Syllabus and Introductions 2. October 2 M.S. research and thesis 3. October 9 Thesis document structure 4. October 16 Thesis document: Introduction, Background, Related work 5. October 23FURLOUGH Guest lecture 6. October 30 Short Presentations, Halloween party 7. November 6 Thesis Presentation 8. November 13 Long Presentations 9. November 20 Long Presentations 10. December 4 Long Presentations
Alternative Schedule 1. September 25 Syllabus and Introductions 2. October 2 M.S. research and thesis 3. October 9 Thesis document structure 4. October 16 Thesis document: Introduction, Background, Related work 5. October 23FURLOUGH Guest lecture 6. October 30 Short Presentations, Halloween party 7. November 6 Thesis Presentation 8. November 13Catch-up discussions 9. November 20 Catch-up discussions 10. December 4 Long Presentations 11. December 7 Long Presentations
Assignments Duration 1. Thesis reading and critique15% 2. Research blurb/Thesis Intro 15% 3. Experimental design 10% 4. Related work20% 5. Short presentation 5% 6. Long presentation 30% 7. Class participation 5% Today – Oct 16 Today – Oct 23 (Part 1)
Research in a nutshell • Come up with interesting, novel idea. • See what else is out there like it. • If it’s really new, «bring it to fruition» • whatever it means.
M.S. Thesis in a nutshell • The Fisher definition: • a "potentially publishable" piece of work. • "by the book" definition: «a culminating experience ...» One good idea worked on for six months to ayear by a smart person, under the supervisionof a smart advisor.
Thesis BuZzwords • "systematic study of significant problem" • "identifies problem, states assumptions" • "evidences originality,critical and independent thinking"
Types of M.S. Thesis • Theoretical • define stuff, prove theorems • Experimental (Empirical) • state hypothesis, design experiment, run it analyze results • Project-oriented • identify need, design and implement system, validate it. • Survey • study the work of others, summarize, analyze, draw conclusions
Starting your work • Figure out what general area(s) interest you. • Take grad class(es) in areas, do well in them. • Find advisor.
Quantitative Stuff • Thesis Length • as long as is needed • 50 – 150 pages (depending on material) • Thesis research length • the longer the better • 1 ac. Year now is CSC requirement (three quarters of thesis research) • 1.5 – 2 years typically yields better results
Quantitative Stuff • How much to put in a thesis? • pretty much, one good idea. • Whose idea? • yours (more fun, more risk, less advisor time) • Advisor’s (less risk, more advisor time, may be harder to get excited)
Quantitative Stuff • How big a bibliography? • Fisher says: «Approximately equal to number of pages.» • The more the merrier