General Readings in Computing Science
2007/8

Please note that this course starts in week 2 of semester 1, and runs for 10 weeks before the Christmas break, and 10 weeks in semester 2.

The General Readings in Computing Science (GRCS) course is in a reading course, where students are required to read articles covering a variety of topics related to Computing Science, and to give a presentation on a CS topic that interests them. It aims to immerse students in general topics in Computing Science, to develop students' critital thinking, group dicsussion and presentation capabilities.

The course is compulsory for all MSc(IT) and MSc(CS) students.

It will be run in two parts: the Course Co-ordinator in semester 1 is Dr Helen Purchase (room S152, email hcp, tel 4484) ; in the second semester is is Prof Rod Murray-Smith (room S112, email rod, tel 4984)

Semester 1

Details of the structure of the semester 1 course and assessement can be found in the Semester 1 Guidelines for Students.

The discussion sesisons in Semester 2 are Wednesdays 11-12am, Rankine Building 106. The first lecture of the 2nd semester will be at 11am on Wednesday 9th January.

A different topic will be covered each week for the first six weeks, after which, the sessions will be used for student presentations. Note that some of these links will only work if accessed from the Glasgow University network (or VPNed into the Dept network) because of copyright restrictions.

There are up to three papers allocated to each week. Please note that it is the students' responsibility to access the relevant papers before each of the class sessions, and to read them beforehand.

Talk Pairs:

If your number doesn't appear here, I don't have it in my spreadsheet, and I am assuming that you are not presenting. If that is not the case, please contact me asap.

Exam Question:

Question 2

Choose a topic covered in the readings covered in the second semester (i.e. on one of: Turing Test & AI, Input techniques & tangible computing, Software Engineering, image synthesis, audio synthesis, and machine learning in bioinformatics). Summarise the key aspects of the papers covered, and explain their importance (both conceptual novelty and in expected or achieved ‘real-world' impact, using examples where possible), referring both to the papers themselves, and relevant literature or sources beyond that covered in the reading list.

Marking Scheme for exam question:

Discussion sessions

Other papers will be discussed during the class sessions. You are not expected to read these papers beforehand (but it would be useful if you do!)

Steps for reading and noting a paper:

• Read title, abstract and conclusion . Try to some idea as to what the paper is about. Identify aim, results.
• Skim. Read the sub-headings, and the first lines of the paragraphs. This should help you get an idea as to the ‘story' of the paper
• Write down a brief structure of the paper for reference – use their subheadings if necessary, but it's better to use your own
• Read the paper from beginning to end without stopping. Note words/phrases you don't understand; underline words/phrases you think might be important, but don't stop until you get to the end.
• Read the paper again , making additional notes as you go along within the structural headings. Re-read sentences, paragraphs you don't understand; look up unfamiliar words.
• Bring your notes to the discussion session for annotation; file them away for exam revision

Presentations

Note the following:

• You may only speak for 5 minutes; you will be stopped after that. This means you must be very careful with your timing - I suggest that you aim for a presentation of 4minutes 30seconds so as to give you some slack. You do not want to be stopped mid-sentence while you are wrapping up your talk. I will give you an indication when you have had 4 minutes. If presenting as a single person (if you could not create a pair) you will only have 2.5 minutes.
• There will be a short (max 1minute) changeover time between presentations.
• As you are only allowed to use one plastic overhead transparency, the changeover should not take long.
• You may use the whiteboard (and must clean it during the changeover).
• There will not be time for questions after each presentation.
• There will be a short quiz for all students at the end of the session.
• You will be marked according to a pre-defined Marking Scheme for presentations:

  	Summary of topic (0.3)	Discussion as to why it is interesting & Explanation of importance (0.4)	Presentation skills (0.3)
  A	Complete and very easy to understand	Clearly stated and well-justified. Concepts and impact well-chosen and highly convincingly argued.	Very fluent, very easy to understand.
  B	Mostly complete and easy to understand	Clearly stated and partially justified. Most of key concepts and impact areas highlighted	Fluent, easy to understand.
  C	Reasonably complete, and mostly easy to understand	Partially convincing, but inadequately justified. Some of key concepts and impact areas highlighted	Mostly easy to understand
  D	Information missing and difficult to understand	Unconvincing. Lack of detail on concepts and impact.	More than five minutes long, or very difficult to understand.
  E, F, G	Impossible to understand	Not convincing at all.	More than five minutes long, or impossible to understand.
  H	No answer	No answer	More than five minutes long.

Please let me know if you have any questions!