Computation, Organizations & Society Lab

Syllabus, Assignments and Grading

Objectives of this course

The overall objective of the course is to introduce students to a broad array of research methods and to the related means by which research results are determined valid and generalizable using them. Students should learn basic research methods and the principles of writing a research paper.

Syllabus

Below is a list of topics expected to be covered in this course.

Transdiscisplinary Research
The graduate student process
Problem Formation
Methods of Scientific Research
Research as an Engineering Pursuit
Computer Science Research Basics
Validation and Generalizability
The Research Process
Writing a Research Paper

Assignments

There will be several Lab assigments based on the content described above. These assignments involve various kinds of research experiences. Several lab assignments have a "follow-up" assignment. This is a small scale activity done by the student after the assignment concluded to further enrich learning.

Finally, each student ends the term with a term project based on project ideas introduced in the course.

Students are expected to be uniquely responsible for their work. However, working and sharing ideas with other students in the course who are working on similar or complementary work is strongly encouraged. All work will be published on the web.

Background

Programming
It is assumed students are comfortable writing programs in Java (or an equivalent programming language). While there is not necessarily a large amount of programming involved, students should feel comfortable doing so.
Communication skills
Students should be able to express themselves verbally and in writing.
Internet
Students are assumed to be familiar with basic Internet tools such as web searching, and sending and receiving email messages.

Grading Policy

Your final grade in this course is based on:

Class participation
Lab assignments (including follow-up assignments)
Final Project