Project
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Grading Breakdown
Component |
Due Date |
% Project Grade |
Proposal |
Oct. 7 |
10% |
10-minute proposal presentation |
Oct. 7 |
10% |
Informal progress updates |
Throughout |
10% |
Formal progress report |
Nov. 16 |
20% |
25-minute final presentation |
Dec. 9-16 |
15% |
Final report |
End of Term |
35% |
Proposal Instructions
The proposal for this project is very important, as it provides me
with an understanding of what you hope to accomplish, and how you plan
to accomplish it. To this end, the proposal should have the following
structure:
- Section 1: Introduction. The introduction section of
your proposal should provide sufficient background to motivate your
work, as well as answer the following questions: What problem are
you trying to solve? Why is solving this problem important? What
do you hope to learn by conducting this project? After reading your
introduction, I should have a clear idea of what problem you are
addressing, and what the intellectual merit of your proposed
research is.
- Section 2: Research Plan. This section should define at
a more technical level the tasks that need to be done as part of
your project. Each task should be numbered and described in
detail.
- Section 3: Deliverables. In this section, describe the
deliverables that you will produce. Will you be developing a threat
model? Implementing software? Proposing new theory and writing
proofs? Each artifact of your research should be numbered and
listed in this section.
- Section 4: Proposed Timeline. This section of your
proposal should describe the time required to conduct each of the
tasks outlined in Section 2. Furthermore, approximate completion
dates should be listed for each deliverable identified in Section
3.
In total, I expect that your proposal will be approximately 3-5 pages
in length. However, this is just a guideline, and you will not be
penalized for writing a more detailed proposal. Overall clarity of
presentation is much more important than page limits!
Progress Report Instructions
The progress report should be a semi-formal write up describing
your research to date. Have you proven any theorems? Developed any
code? Configured a testbed? Have you made significant progress
reading and characterizing background literature? In this writeup,
you should address each task and deliverable mentioned in your
proposal and describe your progress to date. In particular, address
each of the following points:
- For each task that should be complete according to your
initial proposal, indicate what progress you have made. If you are
ahead of schedule, indicate which other tasks have been completed.
Please describe your progress in detail (i.e., don't just say that
Task T1 is "done") so
that I can fully grasp not only what you have done, but what you
have learned in the process.
- If you have fallen behind the timeline set forth in your
proposal, explain why. Research is a complicated process, and if
you have hit significant roadblocks, this is your chance to explain
them.
- Describe your plan to finish this project. If revisions are
needed to the task list set forth in our proposal, identify them
here. If your timeline needs to be revised, indicate which revisions
are necessary. This revised timeline will be discussed during our
meeting.
In total, I expect that your progress report will be 3-5 pages in
length. However, if you have made fantastic progress and feel that
you need more space to describe your acheivements, please take as much
space as is needed! A well written progress report will serve as a
good starting point for your final project write up.