CIS 4930.1194X/6930.1078X Spr.'00
Extra Credit Assignment

Several students have asked about the possibility of doing more in-depth research papers and presenting them to the class.

I think this is a good idea, but since not everyone in the class may feel they have enough background to do this, and so as not to change the course requirements in mid-stream, as it were, I will offer this opportunity as an extra credit assignment.

The assignment will be worth up to a 10% bonus on your overall course grade. (One letter grade.) For example, if you do an excellent job on it, you can bring a B+ average up to an A+. (It is worth roughly twice as much as a normal homework assignment.)

Paper

For the extra credit, you should write an in-depth research paper on some topic area related to the course that is of interest to you. It should go deeper than the normal homework papers, cite more references, be more analytical, quantitative, clearly written, creative, etc. The standard will be higher than on the normal homeworks.

Group work is encouraged. However, the length of the paper should be at least 4 (single-spaced, 12-point) pages, plus at least 2 more pages per additional group member after the first. (So, don't add people to your group if they won't do their share.) The maximum length is twice the minimum length. The paper must form a coherent whole, of uniform good quality. The expected group size is 2-4 people.

The paper may be completed and turned in any time between now and the end of Friday, April 21. Earlier submissions are encouraged. Please let me know by April 14 whether you are planning to do a paper, so that I can plan ahead to reserve class time for the presentations.

Presentation

You should be prepared to give an in-class presentation on the material in your paper shortly after turning in the paper. The date of your presentation will be scheduled after you turn in your paper. The planned length of the presentation should be about 1-1.5 minutes per page of the paper (not including time for questions). You are encouraged to prepare overhead transparencies as visual aids.

You can structure the presentation however you want, but all members of your group should be able to answer questions from the class and from the instructor about the material presented. All group members will share the same grade.

Further, I will only give your group the chance to give an in-class presentation if I feel that the paper is sufficiently interesting and of high enough quality to warrant spending class time on it. Otherwise you will be graded solely on the paper.

(Think of this assignment as a simulation of the process of submitting a paper to a conference, which may or may not accept it for presentation.)

The total number of papers accepted for presentation may depend on how quickly we can get through the lecture material for the rest of the semester, but I will try to set aside at least 1 or 2 classes for student presentations. (Assuming enough people do the assignment.)