This assignment is due by Monday of Week 2. Again, "submission" will be the creation of log entries and web pages and uploading the links.

During week 2 we will start to dig in to the skill of reading a research paper. In this assignment you will do some background reading about how to read a research paper.

Setting your weekly objectives

CS110 weeks run Thursday-Wednesday. Please include completing this assignment as your goal for Week 2. Once your research is off and running you will be setting all of your research goals upfront on a weekly basis (i.e. as close to Friday as possible, for the upcoming week). But for the first few weeks, we'd like you to add goals as they arise.

So, please read over this assignment and add the appropriate Week 2 goals to your log. Then, of course, you will add logs of the activities that you do in pursuit of these goals.

Preparing to read a research paper

Reading a research paper is at the heart of what you will do as a researcher. But research papers can be long, technical, and difficult to understand, particularly if you don't have the necessary background.

This part of the assignment is to read the following paper:

Although you do not have to write anything in response to this paper, please read it carefully. We will work with the information in this paper in class on Monday.

Scheduling group time and updating your group page

Now that you have your assigned group, you will need to attend your CS110 research group meetings (starting dates for these may vary a little across groups) BUT ALSO you need to meet weekly with your other group members, in addition to your advisor/grad mentor. The last part of the assignment is to prepare this scheduling.

For this part of the assignment, you will need to edit your group page on the CS110 website. Since you don't have edit permission on your group project page on the website, (1) create a Group Page as a Google Doc in your drive folder and (2) add the information there. Then (3) send a Slack message to Thomas asking him to edit your group's project page on your behalf. Please record the following information:

  1. Identify at least two hours where your whole group can meet together each week. Record these meeting times on your group page.
  2. Ask your research advisor (faculty and/or grad mentor) about their preferred form of communication (whether its Slack or email) and how you can reach out to them with questions about the papers and new material that you will be learning in the weeks ahead. If your mentor is not already in communication with you on Slack, one person on your team should send them an email (cc-ing all the other members and Thomas) to initiate this conversation.
  3. Ask your research advisor/grad mentor about setting up short (30-min) meetings  separate from the research group meeting that you're observing. If you have that information and have scheduled this meeting time, that's great! Record it on your group page (and record your efforts on your log!). If you are still in the process of scheduling this, record all of the concrete steps you have taken toward scheduling this meeting on your log page.
  4. Finally, add a link to each group member's log from your group's page.