Note, this is a revision as of march 2013 going in effect for the next rps, the previous version is here.
Objective
The course objective is to ensure that students become acquainted with problems from the field of practice through two short projects, which require the development of non-trivial methods, concepts and solutions. After this course, students should be able
to:
Transform a roughly outlined problem into a carefully defined research question, supported by some level of reading up on the topic.
Establish a feasible project schedule for answering the question.
Conduct autonomous research to answer the question at hand, using literature searches, studying, experimentation and/or the development of software and hardware.
Present solutions to a diverse audience (experts as well as non-experts).
Defend solutions in debates.
Provide an appropriate report
Process
Some simple rules for selecting and completing RP's:
RP selection
You can select a RP1 from the entire list. Choose subjects that relate to courses already followed.
You can have no more than 2 re-sits from block 1 - 4 pending when you are choosing your RP2 subject.
Security track students have to choose for RP2 a subject with a clear security research focus.
Network track students have to choose for RP2 a subject with a clear systems and networks focus.
Part time students have to do their RP2 in their 2nd year, preferably in June.
Preferably not the same organization for RP1 and RP2.
Your RP project can not be related to or supervised by your employer.
Working alone or in pairs
Preference for pairs because:
students can help each other when one gets stuck in a problem...
investigate more solutions in parallel
learn to collaborate
contribution of each student must be clear in report and presentation
However, doing an RP alone is also allowed.
Students working in pairs must be at same level (both RP1 or both RP2).
Not the same pairs for RP1 and RP2, choose a different partner
At the presentations pairs get 25 minutes, singles get 20 minutes (may vary depending on amount of students).
Attendance
You must spend 4 consecutive weeks full-time on the project without other SNE or work obligations in that period.
You must make arrangements with your supervisor that you will be full-time present at their location or, if that is not possible, here at our SNE/UvA site (10:00-16:00).
You will notify the SNE core team about any absence beforehand.
You are not allowed to receive any financial compensation from the company you conduct your research at.
Feedback during RP
During both RP1 as RP2 a voluntarily group meeting on the third Monday afternoon 16h00.
If that Monday is a holiday, that meeting will be on the third Tuesday.
Purpose is to exchange progress information and discuss potential or real encountered problems.
Fifth week
Presentation will be on wednesday, thursday and or friday of fifth week
report must be submitted by friday of the fifth week.
extension in delivering a report is possible, ask for it.
Optionally week 5 of the RP in June is available to continue and finish research.
RP order
A student must successfully complete RP1 before starting RP2.
RP1 and RP2 can be done arbitrarily in January or June.
If failed for RP2, it is allowed to redo a RP2 at any time.
Evaluation
The grade depends on a weighted average of four sub-grades
40% the research on the subject
20% the report structure and layout
20% the presentation
20% the work at the location, the attitude, etc.
A student has passed if:
the grade is equal or higher than 6.0 and
none of the sub-grades is less than 4 and
the average, not rounded, grade for report and average grade for research must be 6.0 or higher.
the end grade averages resulting in 5.5 are always rounded to 6.0
The grade for work is obtained from the supervisor, advise of grade on research, presentation and report from supervisor is very much appreciated.
This information must be delivered by supervisor preferably before end of fifth week.
The research, report and presentation are evaluated by the OS3 team and members of the SNE research group and, sometimes, os3 alumni.
The sub-grades are typically averages and are not rounded at any time.
Marks for presentation are determined before end of fifth week, typically on the day of presentation.
Evaluation and if needed corrections of report can take up to 6 weeks (pending holidays in july).
If the other sub-grades are 6.0 or more but the research and/or report is less than 6.0, then there is an opportunity to correct the report.
Correcting the report and better description of the research may also change the research sub-grade.
Here is a document describing the entire evaluation criteria.
Report
We expect the report roughly to contain the following chapters/paragraphs:
title, abstract
Introduction, context
Problem statement, research question
Related/prior work
Model, Method
Experiment(s), implementation, data gathering
Analysis, evaluation, results, comparison to model, simulation
Conclusions
Suggestions for future work.
Appendices with source code, raw tables, etc.
Obviously this can vary depending on type of research, subject, etc.
Publication of results
the marks will be emailed to the students and reported to the ESC.
Communication
All communication happens using email addresses from either OS3 or UVA. This is to avoid trigger happy gmail sensitive spam filters.
Students are responsible of checking if mail arrived at team or supervisor.
E.G. you can not assume the supervisor or coordinator received the email because you did send it.
If important request a confirmation and check if that does not come.
Colloquia
We aim to schedule colloquia about research in computer science to give more context for the RP's.
Faculty process:
When applying for a bachelor or master certificate the student must submit an approved copy (with a mark 6 or higher) of the student’s bachelor or master thesis. Students are requested to submit their thesis for two reasons:
The Faculty is obliged to register all theses in order to be - amongst others - accountable for the standard and assessment of its theses to the visiting Quality Assessment Committees of the disciplines.
The theses can be a source of information to students and teachers.
These rules and regulations are applicable to all bachelor- and master theses submitted to the archives of the Faculty of Science. The student hands in the thesis at the Education Office when applying for a certificate. The supervisor of the bachelor- or master final research project (and/or
the Board of Examiners) may demand that the student hands over one or more hard copies of the thesis. This will be agreed on at the start of the final research project. When applying for the certificate the student submits a digital copy of the thesis of the final research project. The student
has to take care that this copy is either in PDF or Word (and not a mix of both for e.g. separate parts of the thesis, cover, index, appendices).
The supervisor of the final research project must take care of two things:
The supervisor has to indicate whether the copy that is submitted is the true version that has been concluded with a satisfactory result
The supervisor has to indicate (in agreement with the student) whether the thesis contains confidential information, and therefore must not be submitted to the - public – catalogue of the library. These theses will only be registered confidentially.
The Education Office only provides diplomas to students who have submitted a Thesis. Please note the role of the supervisor.The Education Office sees to it that the
approved document will be filed by the library of the Faculty of Science. The thesis will be stored on the faculty’s server, which also takes care of a back-up.The library transfers the thesis to the on-line catalogue (UvA-DARE), unless the
supervisor has indicated that there are strong objections against it because of its confidential character.A student may decide not to actively contribute to publication on the internet. For that reason the student may request the Education
Office not to publish the thesis, and the thesis will only be registered in the Faculty’s archives.This procedure will be published on the programme website (<http://www.student.uva.nl>).
TIPS
Make a formal scientific report front page (not: This ia a consultancy report...)
Check English spelling
it is always: "bla bla, which" or "bla bla that", so not "bla bla which" or "bla bla, that"
be careful when using it's, it is, etc. It is the cat that was castrated. Its balls are on the table.
when using it's or their or which or this, make sure it is clear to what it points.
make complete sentences.
do not add several sentences together separated with commas.
it is always "However,"
use formal language: "one can" in stead of "you can"
