Organization
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Department of Computer Science
Graduate and Honours Seminar Series
CS 499/900 Spring/Summer 2009
Seminar Coordinators: H. J. Hamilton (with D. Hepting, and Y. Y. Yao)
Email: semcoord@cs.uregina.ca
The Department of Computer Science runs two student seminar series:
· CS499 (Honours Seminar) for fourth-year honours students
· CS900 (Graduate Seminar) for graduate students
Honours students must complete two semesters of CS499, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. students must complete two semesters of CS900 in each program, respectively. A student is required to make one presentation in each semester that they are enrolled in the CS499/900 seminar course.
Initial Meeting: All CS499 and CS900 students are requested to meet with the seminar coordinators on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 3:30 pm in CL 232 for orientation and to receive instructions for the remainder of the semester. If you are unable to attend this meeting, please see the coordinators as soon as possible.
Requirements: You must satisfy the following requirements by the specified deadlines. Failure to meet the specified deadlines may result in your presentation being postponed or cancelled. Students whose seminar has been cancelled will not receive credit for the course. For Honours students, the seminar coordinator will serve as the supervising professor.
May 14 |
Initial meeting of the seminar series participants. |
May 19 |
Submit the title and an abstract for your presentation. The abstract should provide a concise summary of the technical content of your presentation in 80-120 words (no more, no less). Correct spelling and grammar are required. The intended audience for the abstract is the other participants in the seminar series, but the abstract is also distributed campus-wide and to interested parties in industry. Submit an electronic copy of your abstract to semcoord@cs.uregina.ca |
June 9 |
Submit an electronic copy of your proposed presentation, after review by your supervising professor, to semcoord@cs.uregina.ca It will be reviewed and revisions may be requested. If you have an early June presentation, you must submit it by May 28. |
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June 16 |
Submit a revised copy of your proposed presentation to semcoord@cs.uregina.ca for final approval. This copy should take into consideration, and address all previous comments and feedback. If you have an early June presentation, you must submit it by June 2. |
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Attend all scheduled presentations and ask at least one question at each (keep a written record of your question and the answer). Minimum for credit: five. |
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Scheduled date |
Bring an evaluation sheet and enough (at least 12) copies of the Seminar Question sheet to your presentation. Make your presentation at the scheduled date and time. |
Topics: Students will choose a topic for presentation subject to the following guidelines:
· Honours students: Choose a topic in consultation with the coordinators (or with their approval, any other Computer Science faculty member). The proposed presentation should describe material beyond that covered in any course taken. The presentation may take the form of a survey, a description of a system or implementation, or a presentation of original research results.
· Graduate students (first presentation in a seminar course): Choose a topic within your research area. Research papers from a minimum of three research groups must be cited. The presentation may take the form of a survey of existing research work, or a presentation of a new idea with a comparison to existing work.
· Graduate students (second presentation in a seminar course): Choose a topic within your own research. The presentation must include some original research ideas and results.
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NOTE: The proposed presentation MUST be different from any of those given in other courses (i.e., recycled material is NOT allowed). However, with the approval of the coordinators, exceptions to this policy may be considered for presentations recently given, or soon to be given, at a relevant academic conference. |
Presentations: On your scheduled date, you will be briefly introduced by your supervising professor or one of the coordinators, and you will be required to speak for approximately 40 minutes. No presentation should be shorter than 40 minutes or longer than 45 minutes. (Presentations shorter than 35 minutes or longer than 50 minutes will automatically need to be repeated to obtain credit.) The remaining 5 to 10 minutes will be devoted to responding to questions from the audience. Questions should be delayed until the formal part of your presentation is complete. Other students participating in the seminar series are required to ask questions and submit an accurate written transcription of their question and a summary of your answer. The question sheets are then submitted to the seminar coordinator; if a question was not asked verbally it cannot be counted unless time was exhausted before it could be asked.
Preparation for your presentation is entirely your responsibility. All presentations should employ a computer and data projector. CL 232 is a smart classroom. The combination to open the cabinet has been provided to your supervisor and the seminar coordinator. If you require assistance, please contact Audio Visual Services at 585-4476. If you require any special equipment, it is up to you to book it. A laptop PC and Data Projector can be booked through the CS Office or AV Services. As your scheduled date approaches, confirm that any equipment is properly booked, functional, and that you know how to use it.
When preparing your presentation, aim for 25 to 35 slides as a rough guideline. Of course, the number of slides is contingent upon the content on each slide. However, if you have fewer than 20 slides, or more than 40, you will likely have some problems satisfying the 40 to 45 minute presentation length requirement. Also use large font sizes and do not clutter your slides with too many points. Points should be clearly delineated, and the structure of your talk should be apparent by the heading and numbering scheme used. Use colour if you want, and whenever necessary/appropriate to augment your presentation, but be sure to use colours that are easily differentiated when projected. Slides containing details that cannot be easily read by the audience are NOT acceptable.
The liberal use of pertinent diagrams, figures, and graphs is strongly encouraged. However, photocopying from research papers, textbooks, or other technical material is seldom appropriate. A blackboard lecture is NOT an acceptable substitute for a presentation. If you find yourself needing to describe your material on the blackboard, it likely means that you need an additional diagram, figure, or graph in your presentation. Be sure that pertinent details are obvious and easily read by the audience.
The liberal use of examples is also strongly encouraged. When you introduce new terminology, provide a formal definition for a term, state a general condition/requirement, or state a theorem /axiom/principle/conjecture, it is often useful to provide an example, at an appropriate level of detail, describing the ideas in practical and concrete terms. Try to structure an example so that it builds upon previous examples by using the same base data/scenarios/context. In this way, the size, scope, and complexity of your examples increases as your audience becomes familiar with your material. But remember, most people in the audience will not have the same comfort with, or understanding of, your topic as you do. And our objective is not to baffle the audience, but to transmit some knowledge, even if for some it’s just at the most fundamental or rudimentary level.
The walk through and discussion of an algorithm or set of formulas, without the support of a detailed example demonstrating its operation, is NOT acceptable. Consequently, you should not waste time during your presentation by walking through an algorithm line-by-line. If an algorithm merits discussion, you should plan on a general overview sufficient to describe the significant characteristics/nuances that make it unique/novel. The remainder of your discussion should then focus on a detailed example describing the operation of the algorithm as it is intended to be used, again highlighting the significant characteristics/nuances, as required.
Finally, actually standing in front of an audience and knowing what to say is very different from going over your presentation in your mind while it is being prepared. If you have little or no public speaking experience, you should rehearse your presentation for time, content, and clarity. This could reveal weaknesses in how the presentation flows, deficiencies in the details or errors.
Evaluation: Your mark will be determined based upon four components, as follows: 10% for the abstract, 20% for attendance, 20% for participation, and 50% for the presentation. Your attendance and participation will be recorded at each presentation. Presentations will be evaluated on the basis of organization, content, style, and delivery, as described on the Presentation Evaluation form. You must receive a mark of at least 70% on the presentation component in order to receive credit for the seminar course. If you do not receive a mark of at least 70% on the presentation component, you will be given the opportunity to undertake remedial work that focuses on resolving the particular deficiencies in your presentation. The nature of the remedial work is at the discretion of the coordinators, but will include, at a minimum, revisions to your presentation to address the particular deficiencies and another short presentation at a later date, where these will be discussed. You must also receive an overall average mark, based upon the four components, of at least 70% to receive credit for the seminar course.
* The University of Regina promotes a learning environment that is free from all forms of harassment and discrimination. Students experiencing any behavior which constitutes harassment or discrimination should contact the Sexual Harassment Prevention Officer, the Racial Harassment Officer, or an appropriate Administrative Officer.
Topic:__________________________________________________________________
Organization
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Title Slide
Outline
Introduction
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Background Material
Conclusion
Future Research
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Problem Statement
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Motivating Example
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Intuition Explained
Approach/Method
Results
Analysis
Novelty
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Large Font
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Color Scheme (if color)
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Short Points
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Examples
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Figures
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Graphs
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Adequately Rehearsed
Loudness
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Clarity
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Look At Audience
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Did Not Read
Speed: Too Slow
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OK
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Too Fast
Seminar Question Sheet
Student Name:_______________________________ Date:_______________________
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Seminar Question Sheet
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Seminar Question Sheet
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Seminar Question Sheet
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Seminar Question Sheet
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Seminar Question Sheet
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Seminar Question Sheet
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Seminar Question Sheet
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Seminar Question Sheet
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Seminar Question Sheet
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Seminar Question Sheet
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Seminar Question Sheet
Student Name:_______________________________ Date:______________________
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