COP 4910 Frontiers in Information Technology Spring 2004

COP 4910 Frontiers in Information Technology Spring 2004 Completing Your Semester Project Hal Stringer 1

From Course Syllabus. . . • Grading Based on: – – – Project Proposal (written) Proposal Presentation Project Report (draft) Project Report (final version) Project Presentation 10% 20% 45% 15% (due 4/12) (per schedule) • Guaranteed Grading Scale: – – – A B C D F 90 – 100% 80 – 89% 70 – 79% 60 – 69% <60% • May use lower grading scale at my discretion. – Not likely to happen 2

Final Deliverables • April 12 th at start of Class in large envelop: – 2 printed copies of your final report • No binders or staples please. Just clip them together • Title page should include email addresses for all members • Copies of some references may be required (see Mechanics. . . ) – A copy of your final report on floppy or CD • Single. doc file labeled “Final Report Group ##. doc” – Also email a copy of the. doc file to me that day – 5% per day if late • Day of your presentation: – 1 printed copy of your presentation slides, stapled – Email copy of presentation file to my attention that day • label the file “Final Presentation Group ##. ppt” • Those working on prototypes: – Please see me about any additional deliverables 3

Course Goals • From Syllabus: – COP 4910 serves as the “capstone experience” – The primary goal of this course is for students to learn how to understand plan for the effects of new technologies in the work place. – A secondary goal is the practice of communication skills necessary to propose and implement new technologies within an organization. • From Project Overview: – Students will choose a frontier area in information technology and conduct a thorough study of that area. – Students should approach class projects as if they were conducting real-world projects in the IT arena. 4

Course Goals (continued) • From an individual perspective: – Opportunity to research whatever interests you most – Have a “senior project” you can be proud of and talk about or show to future employers 5

Work Required • In practical terms each of you should have: – become an expert in the technology area under study – conducted thorough research of your area of study – built prototypes or implemented the technology where possible – prepared professional reports and presentations – spent no less than 4 -5 hours per week on the above, not including attending presentations & status meetings. • Your final report and presentation should demonstrate that you have made this effort and met the course goals 6

What gets a good grade? • You performed quality research • You wrote a quality report • You scrupulously avoided plagiarism • You made a quality presentation Let’s review what these so there are no surprises. . 7

Quality Research (self directed learning): (By now, you should be pretty much finished with this) • What is good research? – Numerous (30 -50) and varied sources • textbooks, academic publications • magazine or journal articles • vendor/government/industry publications & reports – Sources are authoritative • reliable sources, sources are major players in technology – Sources are dense and challenging • requires reading to understand, college level material • What is bad research? – – Using only one source for a given topic/area Picking the first thing that pops up in Google Picking a source that covers what you think you need FAQs, “How things work”, World Book, webpages, etc. 8

Quality Report (This is what most of you should be working on now) • Ideas/facts learned from research are well documented – show you understand topic by writing about it • Technology, Context, Application, Business Implications – able to independently contrast technologies – understand impacts & able to draw conclusions • Report is well organized & well written – Research, Think, Write, Edit, Proof • References are properly used and documented – www. lib. duke. edu/libguide/home. htm (Option 7) • Format is professional and consistent – See website for guidelines if needed – Neatness does count 9

What is writing? • Numerous definitions. For this course: – “to compose and set down, especially in literary or musical form”, www. dictionary. com – “the act or practice of literary or musical composition”, www. merriam-webster. com – narrative must be original, you are the author/creator • Writing is not -– – – Copy & Paste (same as retyping source) Copy, Paste, & Delete Copy, Paste, Delete & Rearrange Copy, Paste, Delete, Rearrange & Reword Any of these is plagiarism. If I see any of these, you will get a “ 0”! 10

How to Avoid Plagiarism? • What is Plagiarism? – www. lib. duke. edu/libguide/plagiarism. htm – www. indiana. edu/~wts/plagiarism. html • Simple ways to help avoid plagiarism: – Use multiple sources • Combine information in a new way – Use acceptable paraphrasing & summarization • Don’t cut, paste & rearrange words – Learn source material(s) then put away before writing • Write what you learned using your own words – Use quotations if text comes directly from source • For your project, use this sparingly 11

Mechanics of Grading Reports • Zarina Myles & Ravi Vijaya Satya (GTAs) – The will spend 1 -2 hours per report vetting references • Do references exist and are they authoritative? • Does material in report reflect the source? • Was source copied, quoted, properly paraphrased or summarized? – Make sure your sources can be verified: • Include hyperlinks to sources in List of References if obtained from or reachable via the Internet. • Enclose with your report, paper or electronic copies of any sources (or portions thereof) that cannot be reached via the Internet. If files, can save on same CD as final report. • Return any books to library so they can checked out • See me if not practical/economical for some sources 12

Mechanics of Grading Reports (cont. ) • Report length: – 50 -60 pages if a term paper, 30 -40 if prototype-based – includes 6 -10 pages of non-body material • Title Page, ES, TOC, LOA, LOF, References, Appendices – the body should be narrative with a few figures, tables or lists – body page count (40+/20+) does not include: • Many and/or large graphics • Lengthy timelines or other lists of bullet points • Pages with 2 -3 lines at top • Anything else that looks like “filler” • Approximate Weighting – Work Effort: Research (30%), Writing/Org (10%), Format (10%) – Learning: Technology (30%), Business Aspects (20%) 13

Quality Presentation • Each group will have 20 minutes for their presentation followed by 5 minutes of Q&A – – Use time wisely, don’t get off course Recommend no more than 20 slides Distill your research to the most important points If you want access to the classroom to test a demo or do a dry run before your presentation date, let me know • You will be evaluated in a way similar to your proposal presentations (input from HS, ZM & RVS) – – Preparation Content & Organization Effectiveness of slides and presenter(s) Ability to answer questions 14

Final Comments • Seven Keys to IT Success. This course tries to address each of them in some fashion: – Explicitly • Technology, Business, Research/Learn, Communication – Implicitly • Teamwork - be honest & direct with group members • Self Motivation - give 110%, have confidence in your work • Problem Solving - always ask questions • Hope to have everything graded by Mon. , April 26 th – Grades should be posted on Polaris on May 1 st. – Notification of grades prior to commencement? • That’s all for now. . . See you April 7 th for the start of final presentations 15