research papers instructor: frode eika sandnes room 1.774

Research Papers

Instructor: Frode Eika Sandnes

Room 1.774

About me and your expectations

• I know very little about system administration (does anybody?)

• Knows a couple things about research papers

• Do not hold the answers - there may not be correct answers

• My role is to guide you in the ”right direction”

Course and learning objectives• A preparation for the final-year dissertation.• Get insight into the scientific research tradition and

methods.• Learn how to extract information from reliable

scholarly literature.• Learn how to find relevant literature through

bibliographic databases and evaluation of these.• Develop presentation skills.• Develop academic writing skills.• Gain familiarisation with classic sys admin texts.

Course format

• You are responsible for your own learning

• Student presentations• Discussions• Written assessments (peer review)• Lectures (very very few)• Graded coursework

– Literature survey

Presentations

• 2 papers x 25 min + Q&A.• Include additional material or refer to related

studies when relevant• Everybody is encouraged to ask questions (this

is a skill to be acquired). • We are all to anser the questions together in

discussion (presenter not required to have all the answers).

Assessment

• Required for passing– Attendance (80% required)– In class participation

• Graded work– Litterature survey ( max 4000 words)– Select topic freely from your two presented papers

(other topics also possible – must be unique)– Assessed according to international journal review

procedures.• Bonus:

– Maybe there will be a ”Research Surveys vol. 3”?

”Lectures”

• The following topics will be covered during the semester.– This introduction– What is research?– Using bibliographical databases– Assessing information– Organising information– Plagiarism, quoting, paraphrasing and summarising– Formatting of research papers– Presentation skills– Quantitative research and statistics

Now –the fun part…