CS 5970 — Technical Paper Assignments

NOTE: With a few exceptions (noted below in italics), each part of this assignment, like other assignments in this class, is due at the beginning of the class period. This means that if you are even a minute late, you lose 20%. If you are worried about potentially being late, turn in your completed assignment ahead of time. Do this by submitting it to me during office hours or by sliding it under my office door. Do not send assignments to me through email or leave them in my departmental mail box.

You will review in writing two approaches from the technical literature and will present one of these approaches to the class. These approaches may be related to your Large Project but they are not required to be. All technical papers must come from the primary, peer reviewed literature in artificial neural networks and/or artificial evolution. You will turn in a draft review that I will examine and use to provide feedback that you should use to improve your review for the final version. This review may be integrated into your Large Project if the topics are related. Likewise, you will turn in a draft set of slides for the technical paper presentation and I will provide feedback that you should use to improve your final slides.

The Assignments

Topic Paragraph

The first step in this assignment is to determine your topic. This may be the same topic as the one for your Large Project or it may differ. If you choose the same topic for both assignments, you should only turn in one topic paragraph and label it as covering both assignments. If you choose separate topics for these assignments, you should turn in two separate topic paragraphs, labeled accordingly. In either case, follow the directions in that assignment in completing your topic paragraph.

References

The second step in this assignment is to conduct a literature search. If you have chosen the same topic for your Large Project and for this assignment, you should only turn in one list of references and label it as covering both assignments. If you have chosen separate topics for these assignments, you should turn in two separate lists of references, labeled accordingly. In either case, follow the directions in that assignment in completing your list of references.

Draft Reviews

You will write two reviews, describing two different approaches to your topic. For reach review, you need to write an approach summary and a critical evaluation.

You should submit an electronic copy of your draft reviews before class through D2L. Due: Wednesday, October 7.

Final Reviews

The final reviews will consist of all the same elements as the draft reviews. However, because you will have received feedback based on your draft reviews, the final reviews should be of higher quality. In addition, your final reviews will be accompanied by brief explanations of how your final reviews address each the shortcomings noted in my feedback on your draft reviews. You should submit an electronic copy of your final review before class through D2L. Due: Monday, November 9.

Draft Technical Presentation Slides

For your presentation, you must prepare draft slides.

You should submit an electronic copy of your draft slides before class through D2L. Due: Wednesday, October 21.

Final Technical Presentation Slides

I will provide you with feedback on your draft slides to aid you with your revisions. You should submit an electronic copy of your final slides before class through D2L. In addition, your final slides will be accompanied by brief explanations of how your final slides address each the shortcomings noted in my feedback on your draft slides. Due: Monday, November 2, 1:00 pm.

Technical Review Presentation

You must also actually present your review to the class. The presentation dates are Monday, November 2 through Monday, November 16. As stated previously, your presentation will be 15 minutes long with up to 3 minutes for questions and answers. I may call on you to give your presentation on any of the scheduled presentation days. I will not announce the exact presentation schedule ahead of time. This means that you will need to attend class all of these days and be ready to present when called on. You will not be graded on your actual speaking (except that you will lose points if you fail to give a presentation). The presentation grading will be for the slides. As stated above (under "Final Technical Presentation Slides"), you will need to turn in the final draft of your slides for grading.