CS 574 - Term Project Assignment - Part 2

Deadlines

See the main class page for deadlines

Overview - Part 2, individual paper

Part 2 must be done individually, with each person reporting on a different research or development activity, specifically one of the papers that you used for reference material for your group assignment.

The project is to be done this semester. Do not turn in a paper done for another course or for your job.

Topic Selection

Choose your reference paper carefully. For example, "computer crime" is an interesting subject -- but it would not be a good topic for this project, because most of what has been written about it consists of popular and other non-technical articles and books. Topics that involve only well-known aspects of security (such as "how to avoid computer viruses") would also not be appropriate.

Reading a paper of this kind is different from reading a textbook or a general introduction to a topic. You might want to consider the suggestions contained in the brochure "Efficient Reading of Papers in Science and Technology."

If you have questions about reference selection, or if you are uncertain about whether a reference paper is suitable, please check with me.

Specifications

This is the complete and mandatory specification for this paper. Your paper must meet all these specifications for the best grade. You are strictly limited in length, so choose your thesis statements and arguments carefully.

Some of you will recognize this as a classic "one-three-one" essay format: an introduction with (typically three) theses statements, one section to prove each thesis statement, and a conclusion. For this paper, your sections are not limited to a single paragraph, but you are strictly limited in the overall length of your paper.

Your paper must have the following pages and/sections:

1. Title page - This page must have a complete title, name and email address of the author, approximate word count, date submitted, semester and year. This page must include the proper bibliographic citation for the paper that you will be writing about.
2. Introduction and Theses - This section will state the thesis (or theses) of your paper. Specifically, what aspects of the reference paper will you analyze and discuss?
   Here are some example questions to consider as you write your thesis statements. Of course, you are not limited to these, and need not deal with all of them. You need to make thesis statements, such as "this work will be significant in the field because...".
   • What did the author, researcher, or implementer accomplish?
   • What is new about the work that is reported? Why is this significant?
   • Do the authors of the paper make a compelling argument for their conclusions?
   • What does this paper mean in the context of the computer security field?
   • Why is this paper important (or not important)?
   • Did this (or will this) paper have a significant influence on the field and later work? Why or why not?
   • What work remains to be done?
   • Is this paper significant on a wider scale, such as at a societal level, or outside the field of computer security?
   • How is this related to broader security, societal, legal or technical issues?
   • What does this imply for the future?

3. Main Body - One section (one or more paragraphs) about each of the thesis statements you made in the Introduction section. Provide direct quotes and/or citations to the paper if necessary to prove your thesis statements. Remember, this is your work to convince me that your thesis statement are justified. Use quotes sparingly, you have limited space and I want to see your analysis of the paper, not just a set of quotes to prove your thesis statements.
4. Conclusion - One section (one or more paragraphs) that summarize your "proof" of your thesis statements. What does the reference paper really mean, and why is your main body persuasive enough to convince me that your thesis statements are "proven"?
5. A copy of your reference paper. You must, in addition to providing a complete, correct bibliographic citations for the paper (on the title page), include a copy of the complete reference paper that you are analyzing.

Explain and analyze the material from the reference paper as clearly as you can in your own words. Do not just copy paragraphs from the paper or or other references you have read; if you do copy diagrams, algorithms, etc., clearly identify the original source. Remember, you have a strict limit on paper length!

Readability, organization, and clarity of presentation are important in technical writing. Part of your grade for the report will be based on these factors. Be sure to proofread and edit the final copy before handing it in.

For this paper, if you do cite material from the reference paper, you must provide a page number in your citation, e.g. (Auth1999, p2) and highlight the material in the copy of the reference paper that you attach. In other words, if you cite or quote part of the reference paper, you must include a citation with a page number, and use a high-lighter to show me the quoted material in copy of the reference paper that you submit.

If you use other materials (other reference papers), you do NOT need to attach copies of those papers. Only attach the paper that you are analyzing.

All body text double-spaced, no font smaller than 10 pt, standard margins.

The length of your paper is strictly limited: a title page, and either not less than FOUR or more than FIVE pages for the introduction, body and conclusion. The copy of the reference paper is not included in the page limit. The title page is not included in the page limit. If you need a references page, it is not included in the page limit.

All papers will be submitted as two printed copies of your paper, and one copy of the reference paper that you are writing about. Don't bother with "professional clear plastic binders", etc. A simple staple in the upper left corner is sufficient. Do use a binder clip to submit the two copies of your paper and the one copy of the reference paper together.

This part of the project is to be done separately by each person. It is acceptable to discuss the new developments you are reporting on with other people; however, you must write your own report. I plan to choose one or more papers at random and ask the authors questions about their paper and their reference paper in class.

Remember to attach a single copy of the reference paper that you are discussing along with the two copies of your paper.

Appendix - Representative peer-reviewed and/or "academic" references

• Proceedings, USENIX Technical Conferences.
• Proceedings, USENIX Security Conferences.
• Proceedings, USENIX LISA Conferences.
• Proceedings, Internet Society Networked and Distributed Systems Security Conference.
• Proceedings, IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy (title varies).
• Proceedings, CRYPTO Conference (title varies)
• Proceedings, Computer Security Applications Conference (title varies)
• Proceedings, National Computer Security Conference
• Proceedings, Computer Security Foundations Workshop
• Proceedings, ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security
• ACM Transactions on Information and System Security (began publication in Fall 1998)
• Journal of Computer Security
• Computers and Security (However, note that many of the papers from this journal are non-technical articles, not research papers.)

There are also many other refereed journals that are not exclusively devoted to computer security -- for example, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering and ACM Transactions on Database Systems.