Grading Policy
The class is graded as follows:
- Research project (50%)
- Proposal (5%)
- Project overview (5%)
- Midterm presentation (10%)
- Final presentation and report (30%)
- Topic presentations (25%)
- Paper reviews (15%)
- Participation (10%)
The overall score will be converted to a letter grade. The minimum score needed for each grade will be at most the following values:
- 93: A
- 90: A-
- 87: B+
- 83: B
- 80: B-
- 77: C+
- 73: C
- 70: C-
- 67: D+
- 63: D
- 60: D-
- 0: F
Research Project
The research project is a main component of this course. The goal is to conduct high-quality novel research related to networking that, by the end of the semester, would be publishable as a paper in a top-quality workshop like HotNets, and when expanded to a full paper would be publishable in a top-quality conference. You may work alone or in groups of 2. The steps in the research project are as follows:
During the first few weeks of the course, you should think about projects you might like to do. The instructor will suggest some topics (you need to set an appointment), but it's even better if you have ideas of your own.
- Project proposal: During the first few weeks of the class, you should think about the topic you want to work on and optionally find a partner. You are welcome (and encouraged) to explore your own ideas. However, you can also talk with the instructor who will suggest some topics. Submit a project proposal to the instructor via email (plain text email with no attachments). The proposal should be at most one page and inlcude each of the following:
- the problem you plan to address
- what will be your first steps to attack the problem
- what is the most closely related work, with at least 3 full academic paper citations (title, authors, publication venue, year) plus paper URLs, and why your proposed problem is different than those or why your proposed solution is better. You should actively search for related work, not just cite papers that the instructor mentions.
- if there are multiple people on your project team, who they are and how you plan to partition the work among the team
The proposal can be short. It should simply demonstrate that you have a plausible project and know how to attack it. The instructor will give a grade for the proposal, and either approve the project or ask for a revision.
- Project overview and midterm presentations: About one month after the proposal, give an overview presentation in class describing what problem you are solving, why existing approaches will not solve your problem, your solution approach, and your progress in your solution. You must demonstrate progress in your solution. Midterm presentations (roughly 1 month after the project overview) should show your progress and plan for closing the project.
- Final report: This is a short paper suitable for submission to a workshop. It should clearly state the problem being solved, importance of problem, related work, Your approach, evaluation, and results, summary of conclusions, discussion of limitations, and future work. The paper should be at most 8 pages for one-person projects, and at most 12 pages for two-person projects. But you will be judged on results, not pagecount!
- Final presentation: At the end of the course (the last day of our class), we will have final project presentations. This will be an opportunity for other students and the instructor to ask questions about your project.
Dates for the above steps will be announced on the class schedule. In general, you are encouraged to meet with the instructor and seek advice on the project as often as you like.
Can a project be shared with another course's project or independent research? It is OK, and often a good idea, to work on a class project that complements your other ongoing projects and has a related topic. However, you should identify the piece of the larger project that you are working on for this course, with separate pieces for other courses. Check with your other instructors as well.
Paper Reviews
For each class, we will have one assigned paper that you should read prior to class and be ready to discuss during the class. You should submit one paper review for each class on HotCRP by
4:00pm ET the day before the session for which the paper was assigned.
This review should be relatively short. It should summarize the paper in your own words, at least three comments on the paper that supply information not in the paper itself. For example, a comment might be:
- a suggestion to build on or extend the paper's ideas in future work
- a criticism of the paper
- an advantage of the paper (not discussed in the paper)
- an alternative solution for the solutions discussed in the paper
- a response to another student's comment
You are encouraged to read and comment on the other students' reviews. However, please write down notes on your own thoughts independently prior to reading other students' reviews.
Collaborating with other students to write reviews is not permitted. Your reviews should ideally include original ideas that do not appear in the other students' reviews. However, If you independently make similar points, that is acceptable.
You may skip any 2 paper reviews without affecting your grade. You will receive a deduction of one letter grade for missing more than 2 reviews. The overall review grade for the course will be calculated based on a random sample of 5-7 reviews over the semester.
Topic Presentations
Each student will give a few presentations on different topics during the semester. The goals are for you to learn more about particular areas of interest related to our assigned readings, and give an overview of what you learned to the rest of the class. Here is what you should do:
- By the deadline mentioned on the class schedule, specify your topic preferences (up to 5 topics) from the list of topics posted on Pizza. For each topic, you can find the related readings and the presentation date on the class schedule. The instructor will take your preferences into account while assigning the topics. The topic assignment will be announced on the class schedule.
- To prepare for your presentation, pick one "primary paper" to cover in depth, and a related paper. You can choose these papers from the optional readings for your topic on the course web site (not the required reading!) or others that you find. You can also contact the instructor for paper suggestions.
- At least one week before your presentation date, tell the instructor what papers you plan to cover, and arrange a meeting time with the instructor to go over your draft presentation. The instructor will then approve the papers or suggest other papers you should cover instead or in addition to what you pick.
- Prepare a presentation on your topic. The presentation should do two things. First, it should describe the primary paper and how it relates to the required reading for that day (this should take roughly 20-30 minutes of your presentation). Second, it should summarize the related paper (this should take roughly 10-15 minutes of your presentation) and compare it to your primary paper, the required reading, and/or other research in this area.
- Prepare 5 (or more) discussion questions. You should lead a 10-15 minute discussion during or after your presentation.
- Send your draft presentation to the instructor at least 2 days before your presentation.
Participation
You are expected to attend all sessions of the class. The general policy is that a student will automatically receive a deduction of one letter grade for missing more than 2 lectures.
Class sessions combine lectures, discussions of reading, and presentations by students. In all cases, the class is focused around discussion. Please comment, question, and interact! I ask that you
do not use laptops during class. This way, we will all be maximally engaged.
Academic Honesty and Cheating
The author of all writing, ideas, and other work must be clearly credited. For example, if your presentation of a past paper uses some slides from the author, you
must credit the author.
The standard penalty for a first instance of cheating is a grade of zero on the task in question, plus a reduction of one full letter grade in your final course grade.
For details, please see the
departmental honor code.