285 Final Project

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285 Final Project
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Document Specification Rough Draft Due April
8th

• Purpose
• Economy of effort
• Input from instructors and peers can focus your
  efforts before you do unnecessary work
• Work planning
• Helps in establishing a clear writing schedule
• Youll know what you need to research before its
  too late to research it
• Improved Organization

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Document Specification Requirements

• Introduction
• State the topic of your Final Project
• State the purpose and intended audience of your
  final project.
• Note Not just your CMPE 285 instructor.
• Does not need to be the full introduction of your
  Final Project.
• But working towards this can help focus your
  research.

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Document Specification Requirements (cont.)

• Technical Discussion Outline
• Should address major points
• Organize your points of interest
• Proposed Research
• List research sources
• Exact sources, when possible
• Otherwise, general sources you plan to
  investigate
• Indicate your chosen style guide.
• (Length typically 2-3 pages)

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What sort of article is this?

• Thesis chapter?
• If so, present it with enough information to be
  an independent paper.
• Journal article for publication?
• Consider what journal
• Tailor style to journal
• Conference paper?
• Consider the scope or theme of the conference.
• Project report?
• Who are you reporting to?
• Are you recording information or drawing specific
  conclusions?
• Tutorial?
• What level is the audience?

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Key elements

• Abstract (sometimes optional)
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods (sometimes optional)
• Results (sometimes optional)
• Discussion
• Conclusion

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Other elements

• Visual aids (recommended)
• Table of contents (optional)
• Index (optional)
• Glossary (optional)
• Appendices (optional)
• Supportive, but nonessential information.
• Citations (required)

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Foregrounding major findings

• Can be present in your
• Title
• Abstract
• Purpose statement (in introduction, typically)
• Key visual aids
• Informative section headings

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Abstract

• Used as screening device
• Is this the article theyre looking for?
• Used as stand-alone text
• Provides simple, high level information
• Reader may or may not return later
• Provides preview of article
• Facilitates indexing
• Advises librarians, record-keepers
• Should have keywords for automated retrieval

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Introduction

• Identifies audience
• Provides background
• Explains problem/thesis
• Sets style or tone

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Materials and Methods

• Describes methodology
• Identifies special conditions
• Identifies special criteria used to select
  materials
• Justifies choices for each element
• Demonstrates the validity of your research
• Also gives your reader opportunity to question or
  improve on your research

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Results

• Major findings from your project or research
• Short description of your supporting data
• Depends on the quantity of data
• You may be able to present all your data
• You may want to summarize
• You may want to include lengthy, verbatim results
  in an Appendix.

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Discussion

• What are the implications of your results?
• Do they confirm or refute others observations?
• What are the contributions to your field?
• New hypotheses?
• Proposed future research?
• Practical applications?

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Conclusion

• Mirrors introduction, but key differences
• Can assume a higher level understanding
• Not the place for background information
• Can build on the data/results already presented
• Can ask parting questions, suggest further
  research.