CmSc 250 Introduction to Algorithms
Research Paper Assignment
Choose one of the following options for your research paper
· Summary research paper: choose an area of interest to you (e.g. cryptography). Write a paper summarizing the current developments in this area of research. Your report should contain a. an overview of the area, b. an overview of the work done in the area across different countries. Include some discussion of the history of the area.
· Comparison paper: choose an area of research in algorithms, and compare the research being done at different research centers. Examine at least three sites located in different countries. Study the current approaches being used. Compare the trends in private companies and the trends in academic research. In your paper you should also characterize briefly the area and its history.
· Historical research: pick a class of algorithms that you are interested in. Provide a detailed history of the research in this area, up to and including the current state of affairs.
· Applications: Choose a domain where specific algorithms are applicable, e.g. medicine, biology, criminal justice, banking, computer games. Describe the class of algorithms used and the typical tasks they are used for. Describe the current developments in Algorithms research, oriented to that specific domain. Describe the unsolved problems related to algorithms application in that domain.
Choose an audience for your paper (not me), e.g. a high school student seminar on current developments in computer science, or an academic seminar for college students and professors, or your boss who wants to know more about what is being done in the area of algorithms.
For any of these projects you will need a minimum of 5 sources, including professional journals and/or books besides the web. A one-page proposal of the project topic should be submitted no later than February 14, 2009. In your proposal, you should indicate what the topic is, what resources are available to you, your audience, and other appropriate information.
You will present your paper in class during the last week of the semester.
Grading criteria for the project will include:
· proposal (10%) - was it submitted? Was it well done?
· mechanics (10%) - sentence structure, spelling, grammar, paragraph structure, etc.
· general content (30%) - does the paper flow well? Are all of the sources related to the same general topic?
· specific content (30%) - is terminology explained? Are the summaries complete?
· relationship to course (10%) - is the topic appropriately related to algorithms? This will usually be caught in the proposal, but you could lose it in the course of work.
· Power Point presentation (10%) - did you manage to present the most interesting points in the content within 20 minutes?
Due dates:
Proposal February 14
Draft paper March 28
Final paper April 11