Eick : Second LectureCOSC 7363

About Reading Scientific Papers

Eick : Second LectureCOSC 7363

Teaching Material on Paper Reading

• http://www.biochem.arizona.edu/classes/bioc568/papers.htm• http://www.lib.purdue.edu/phys/inst/scipaper.html• Rice University Suggestions on how to read a paper

More general, although related issues: • http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jrs/sins.html (3 sins COSC/MATH)• Faking a paper • http://www.cs.indiana.edu/HTMLit/how.2b/how.2b.html (How to

be a good gradate student) • http://www.cs.indiana.edu/how.2b/how.2b.community.html

(Becoming a part of the research community)

Eick : Second LectureCOSC 7363

Questions to ask!!1. What is the research paradigm that the author is using? If the paper is part of

a well established field, you should describe the field and its current state.2. What is the problem area with which the paper is concerned? 3. What is the author's thesis? That is, what is he/she trying to convince you of?4. Summarize the author's argument. That is, how does the author go about

trying to convince you of the thesis?5. Does the author describe other work in the field? If so, how does the

research described in the paper differ from the other work?6. Does the paper succeed? Are you convinced of the thesis by the time that

you have finished reading the paper?7. Does the author indicate how the work should be followed up on? Does the

paper generate new ideas?8. Some papers implicitly or explicitly provide a new way of doing things or of

thinking about problems. If your paper does so, describe the approach.9. Can the paper be trusted? Are there any indications that the authors are

flagrantly lying? Does the paper contain unusual inconsistencies? 10.What other things did you learn when reading the paper?11. What is the educational value of the paper?

Eick : Second LectureCOSC 7363

Teaching Plan Next 5 Weeks

• Janurary 16: Course Overview; how to read a scientific paper.

• January 18: Read Feigenbaum paper!! How to read a scientific paper

• January 23: Prepare Slow PaperWalkThrough Page/Brin Paper

• January 25: TBDL & Jan. 18 topics continued

• January 30: Reading Papers; finish Page/Brin Paper

• Feb. 1: PaperWalk Through ICDM06 Best Research Paper

• Feb. 6: Raj Reddy Turing Award Lecture Paper

• Feb. 8: Student Guided Discussion DBSCAN paper

• Feb. 13: Student Guided Discussion Silhouette Paper

• Feb. 15: TBDL and on Writing Introductions/Conclusions/Abstracts

• Feb. 20: Student Presentation Langville/Mayer Paper (optional)

• Feb. 22: Student Guided Discussion Bregman Divergences Paper