PSU CS 305 — Social, Ethical, and Legal Implications of Computing

Term Project, Fall 2012

Assigned: 17 October 2012. 
Preliminary presentations and paper summaries due: 7th November 2012 at 21:00. 
Final Paper due 28th November 2012.

You are to write a term paper and deliver a presentation on a topic suggested by you and agreed to or modified by the instructor. In addition, you will be required to critique the presentations of your classmates.

If you suggested some project topics by 10rd October, one of them has been has been assigned to you.

Your paper on this topic will be 1400-1700 words, including a reasonably comprehensive bibliography. Your talk will be a 15-minute presentation of the material in your paper. I will be strict on the time limit.

Preliminary presentation slides: You are to turn in the contents of the four slides described below by the seventh week of class (7th November). They should convey a sense of what your 15-minute talk will be about. Submit your slides using the dropbox in D2L.

The goal of asking for a few of your slides now is not to restrict you from changing them later, but to encourage you to start planning your presentation. 

  1. Title: Think of a catchy title that hints not just at your topic, but also the position that you will take on it.
  2. Outline the talk: what will you cover, and what are the main points in each section.
  3. Conclusion: after all of your reading and thinking, what conclusion did you come to?  Was this what you expected when you started?
  4. References: what are the main sources that you have been using to prepare your project?

Paper abstract: You are also to turn in an abstract of your paper by the seventh week of class. This abstract will include:

  • Your name

  • Title of Paper

  • The introduction to your paper (this should convey a sense of what your paper will be about)

  • A sentence or two of your "My Opinion" section so we have an idea of what your position will be on the issue.

Submit your abstract to EasyChair.

Presentation

Your presentation will be on the topic you have selected. Your talk must meet the following specifications:

  • The slides must be submitted to D2L as a PDF document. No other formats or submission methods are allowed.

  • The talk should be 15 minutes in length; this includes 2 minutes for questions.

  • The slides must be in presentation form. That is, they may not be a cut-and-paste of your paper abstract.  Prefer graphics to text bullets; the slides are a visual aid, not a replacement for your paper.

  • The slides must include:

  •  First slide must include the title, your name, and date.
  •  Penultimate slide must be a summary and conclusion.
  •  References go on the final slide, after the summary & conclusion.

You must submit your final presentation slides in PDF format by noon on the day of your presentation. All the slides will be loaded onto the instructor’s computer before the presentation – you will not be allowed to connect your own computer to the projector!

Presentation Critiques

You will be required to complete an evaluation form for each presentation delivered by other students.  You will rate each presentation by expressing your agreement or disagreement with the following statements:

  • I understand the ethical problem the presentation addressed.
  • I understand the presenter’s position on the ethical problem.
  • The presenter’s position on the problem was logically developed.
  • The presenter was easy to understand.
  • I think that the presenter knew what he or she was talking about.
  • The presenter used the available time well.
  • I think the presenter had rehearsed this presentation.
  • Overall, the content of the presentation was excellent.
  • Overall, the presentation techniques were effective.

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Your ratings will be scored not by how well they conform to my ratings, but by how successful you are in applying your own criteria to discriminate between strong and weak presentations.

Paper

Your paper will be on the topic you have selected. The paper must meet the following specifications:

  • The paper must be submitted to Easychair as a PDF document. No other formats or submission methods are allowed.

  • Formatting: 8.5”x11”, 1" margins all around, 11pt font, 1.5 line spacing

  • The paper must be 1400–1700 words in length.  Put the word count at the top.

  • The paper should have at least 5 credible references at the end. These references must be cited in the paper in a meaningful way.  At least 4 of them should be to documents that are available other than on the web.

  • The introduction should clearly convey the purpose of the paper and must present an opinion based upon a reasonable analysis of the data that you gathered.

  • Your paper must include a section entitled "My Opinion". The purpose of this section is for you to draw your own conclusions on the topic that you are investigating.

Grading will be as follows

Following the above specification 20%
Information content
 20%
Grammar/Spelling/Mechanics 10%
Organization
 10%
Clarity and Concision
 10%
Logical Analysis 20%
Grader discretion 10%

Make sure you take the time to proofread your paper. It is important for a computer scientist to be clear and concise. Remember all of the poor instruction manuals you have read in the past!  Have at least two of your colleagues proofread your paper.  Put their names in the acknowledgements section.

Plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated. You can reference existing works and facts, when needed, as long as the sources are clearly cited in the paper, and you clearly distinguish your own work from your sources. Minor re-phrasings of others' writing is plagiarism.