08-200 / 19-211 Ethics and Policy Issues in Computing

Research and Communication Skills

While many courses in the School of Computer Science emphasize programming, problem solving, or theorem proving skills, this course focuses on research and communication skills. Students will find these skills quite valuable in their careers. For graduate students and students pursuing undergraduate research projects, these skills are essential. However, they are not taught formally in most of the courses that students take prior to taking this one. The topic of this course is computers and society, but in the process of learning about computers and society students will also learn about selecting research topics, writing research proposals, finding and citing relevant literature, writing papers, and preparing poster presentations. Short presentations about these skills will be included in lectures throughout the semester, and homework assignments will include opportunities for students to practice these skills and receive feedback.

This page includes notes and resources related to each of the research and communication skills that will be discussed this semester. Additional notes and resources may be added prior to each lecture.

If you find additional resources that you think would be useful to students in this class, please let me know. Also let me know about broken links or resources that you don't find helpful.

Selecting a research topic

Avoiding plaigiarism

Finding information with search engines

Creating a bibliography and citing sources

Using library resources

Evaluating information sources

Organizing a research paper

Writing skills

Creating a poster presentation