Paper reviews

Paper reviews are an important component of your grade.  Each week, you are expected to provide a short, structured review of each assigned research paper; while you are also expected to read and come prepared to discuss each of the book chapters, I won't require that you create a review for them too.  Note that if you are presenting a paper, you do not have to submit a review in advance of your presentation; instead, you are to create a summary review which you will submit by 6:00pm the day after class.  Presenters are expected to submit advanced reviews for papers they are not presenting that week.

Reviews are due by 8:00pm on the evening before class. Please send it to me by email with the Subject "CS846 review" (or just click this link).

Content

Please use the following rough structure:

• What is the Problem Being Solved here (a few sentences)
• What is the New Idea they are proposing?  (a few paragraphs)
• Positive points: 2-3 things you liked about the paper, with a few sentences to explain each
• Negative points: 2-3 things you didn't like or thought were weak about the paper, with a few sentences to explain each
• Future work: If you were asked to extend the research, give one or two ideas you could explore.  You may assume you would have access to any tools or data from the original paper.  Give a few sentences of detail, but be concrete about what you're proposing.  One idea is to consider how this research could be made to help developers.
• Rating on a scale of 1 (lame) to 5 (outstanding), with a one sentence rationale (don't worry, there is no right or wrong answer to this, I'm just interested in your opinion)
• Discussion Points:  Suggest at least two topics you would like to discuss about the paper in class (and then do so!); these can relate to directly your comments above.  Come prepared to discuss these points in class!
• Other Comments, if you feel the need.  If you never use this section, I will be fine with that.

Formatting

Each paper review should fit onto a single page, no more. Start a new page with each review.  Use either the ACM SIG proceedings format (LaTeX or MS-Word, "option 2" format preferred for LaTeX), or just follow these instructions:

• Use a font that is proportional and has serifs like Times-(New)-Roman. Don't use a sans serif font like Arial, as they are harder to read in dense paragraphs (but they're OK for slides). Don't use a monospace font like Courier except for formatting source code or similar.
• Your review should have a title, like "CS846 Week 3 Reviews"; the title should centred, in a boldface font about 18 points in size. Put your name below in a non-boldface font, about 16 points in size.
• The rest of the text should be formatted in two columns, using a 10 point font for the main text. Use subheadings as appropriate, 12 point sized and bold faced.

Please submit it as a PDF file; if you submit MS-Word file instead, I will make you wear a pointy hat at the next class.