Scientific Writing for MSc in Computer Science
3
No subprogramme
Other studies
The course focuses on skills needed in scientific writing: searching, selecting and reading scientific articles, making notes during reading, organising your material, and writing scientific article itself. We also discuss some writing-related ethical issues, like stealing, cheating, and plagiarism, which are not tolerated by the academic community. You will write an approximately 10-pages long scientific article on a topic given by the instructor following the department"s guidelines for master thesis and seminar papers. You will also practice reviewing articles. This course is only for MSc students majoring Computer Science! You are not allowed to participate if you have already passed the course!
| Year | Semester | Date | Period | Language | In charge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | autumn | 03.09-08.10. | 1-1 | English | Tiina Niklander |
Lectures
| Time | Room | Lecturer | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 10-12 | B222 | Tiina Niklander | 03.09.2013-08.10.2013 |
Exercise groups
| Time | Room | Instructor | Date | Observe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 10-11 | A318 | Emanuele Giaquinta | 04.09.2013—04.09.2013 |
General
The course is for students who are doing only their Master's degree in English at the Department of Computer Science. That means that students with a bachelor's degree in computer science from University of Helsinki do not participate to this course, because the course Kandidaatintutkielma has covered similar content.
The course follows the model of last Fall's course. You can find information about the schedule and course content at the moment from that course's pages at:
Completing the course
All small groups have their initial meeting on Wednesday morning. Read your meeting time from your email. Small group leaders are Sourav Bhattacharya, Emmanuele Giaquinta, Esther Galgrun, Julien Mineraud, and Kai Zhao.
During the course you will write one 10-page scientific report about a given topic. The paper will graded using the normal grading scale 0-5. The report must be written following the best scientific practices, like using proper references and citation techniques, as well as, proper scientific style and good written presentation. See the table about factors affecting the grades (PDF) and the evaluation subpage.
Literature and material
Zobel, J., Writing for Computer Science: The art of effective communication. 2nd edition, Springer-Verlag, 2005 or similar book about scientific writing. Also the 1st edition from 1997 can be used. Some copies available in the campus library.
The support material page contains links to some useful online materials and services.