Each
student
has to work on a term paper in this course. Term papers
should be technical in nature, appropriate for an audience
knowledgeable in
computer security (at the graduate level). The length of the
term paper should
be about 5000 words (15 pages single column, single line spacing
12pt font, with 1 inch margins).
Term paper organization format (Minimum requirements)
The final term paper should have an abstract of about 300 words that summarizes (i) the motivation for the work and (ii) the contributions made. It should be followed by a list of keywords. The Introduction section should begin by elaborating on the motivation. Next comes an overview of your work followed by summary of contributions made. The last paragraph of the introduction should describe how the rest of the term paper is organized. A required section in the term paper should be called Related Work that should describe some of the published works on the same topic. The term paper should also have a Conclusion section that (i) summarizes the term paper and (ii) indicates what are some of the avenues of future work along the lines of the term paper. Last but not the least the term paper should contain a set of references.
If you
are new
to technical writing or would like to brush up your skills, here
is an excellent document to help you, courtesy of
Professor H.J. Siegel
of C.S.U's ECE department.
Once
you have picked a topic
that sounds interesting, search for publications in the related
area at the
main computer security venues:
Term paper / Term
project
Evaluation
The term paper will be
evaluated
on its technical merit and depth, description of and comparison
with related
work, originality and presentation, as is typically done in
peer-reviewed
conferences and journals.
Other Requirements
The student shall work
individually
on the term paper. The student shall identify a topic by
the
end of the second week of classes (please refer to the course
web page
under
schedule for important deadlines). The student shall discuss the
topic
with
the instructor before starting work on it. A two page abstract
of the
term
paper is due by the end of the fourth week. This abstract should
adequately motivate the topic and describe the work to be
performed for
the term paper. Some intial references (about 5) should also be
included in the two page writeup.
Term papers should be submitted electronically by email to the instructor in PDF format.