Schedule for Second Part of the Course

The Exam

There is only one exam in this course. It is a comprehensive exam covering all of the material presented before spring break. The exam will be given out in class on Monday, March 22 and will be due back at the beginning of class on Monday, March 29.

You may use your class notes and any other notes that you have prepared in advance of the exam. No other materials should be used and no collaboration is permitted. There will be no time limit imposed on the exam, but it will be designed to take approximately 3 to 4 hours.

The Final Project

One of the major objectives of this course is to prepare you to learn a challenging topic on your own, synthesize the (probably challenging) literature on this topic, and give clear oral and written presentations on the topic. This is a valuable skill no matter where your career takes you! It is my intention to help you refine these skills in this course.

• An in-class presentation. Normally, a 2-person team will give a 75 minute presentation. A one person project will have a 35-40 minute presentation.
• One or two homework problems assigned to your classmates at the time of your presentation. You will prepare these problems and their solution set. You will grade the submissions as well.
• A paper or "module" giving a clear and well-motivated presentation of your topic. You will typically use the original journal papers on your topic and books. Your task is to give a very well-motivated and clearly-explained exposition of the topic. You should assume that your readers will be CS 141 students who have just completed the first part of the course. Your written presentation should also include the selected homework problems and their solutions.

Here are the key dates for the presentations:

• You should begin thinking about your project now. You should chat with Ran briefly about your plan no later than Tuesday, March 9.
• A short description of your project is due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, March 10. You should have confirmed your plan with Ran in person before submitting this document. The document should contain the names of the project participants, a title, and a few sentences about the material to be covered. You should also include at least two sources (journal papers and books) which you plan to use.
• A schedule of the student presentations will be posted on the course web site on March 11.
• You are responsible for scheduling a meeting with Ran to practice your talk. You should contact Ran at least 10 days before your presentation to schedule this meeting and the meeting will be scheduled for approximately one week before the presentation.
• At that first meeting, you should be prepared with all of the materials for your presentation (slides, blackboard material, and homework problems). You will give the presentation to Ran. Typically, you will receive feedback on the presentation and may be asked to meet with Ran again a few days later to go over the revised presentation.
• The first presentation will be on Wednesday, March 31 and presentations will occupy all of the class periods for the remainder of the semester.
• A complete first draft of your written presentation is due at the beginning of class on Monday, April 19. You will receive comments on this draft by Friday, April 23. Your final document is due at Ran's office at 5 PM on Friday, April 30.

This second part of the course is worth 30% of your course grade. This grade will be assigned assigned as follows:

• 5% of this component's grade will be for receiving the proposal on time.
• 15% of this component's grade will be for a well-prepared practice presentation at least one week before the actual presentation.
• 10% of the grade will be for carefully selected and well-written homework problems (at least two should be presented to Ran at the practice presentation) and their solutions.
• 30% of the grade will be based on the quality of your in-class presentation on the scheduled date.
• 15% of the grade will be based on the quality of the first draft of your written presentation.
• 25% of the grade will be based on the quality of the final written presentation.