Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Sections I read in an SP paper

A Special Problem (SP) paper is a form of documentation for capstone projects of students. It is in the format of a journal article. As a panel member, it is only during the SP presentation itself that I get a copy of the SP paper of the presenter. So given the limited amount of time to read the paper, I only read certain parts of it before the presentation starts.

First I read the title to identify the general area(e.g. web/mobile app, ML, algorithms) of the project. Second,  I read the abstract to get an overview view of the work. Third I focus on the objectives to know the specifics of what should be achieved by the project. Lastly, the results and discussion to check whether the objectives were met.

It is unfortunate that some advisers don't bother to read/edit the SP papers of their students before the presentation. Nonetheless, the four sections I mentioned above, I think, should be written with care.