Scientific Speaking, Reading, Writing, and Presentation Skills for Computer Scientists
- Proseminar, Prof. Dr. Kreitz, Herr Lüer, Do. 14:15-15:45, 3.04.0.02
This module aims at strengthening the ability of students to understand scientific material, to present it in a comprehensible fashion - both orally and in written form -, and to discuss scientific questions that arise in the course of a presentation. As an added feature, students will learn to do this in English.
Specific subjects that will be used for this purpose will change every year. They will be selected from the following
- Artificial Intelligence
- Quantum Computing
- Cryptography
The first half of the course aims at training basic skills such as understanding structure and content of scientific material and lectures, writing scientific documents, preparing an oral presentation, and leading a scientific discussion. For this purpose we will use general reading materials, video presentations, and the introductory chapters of a textbook for the respective subject.
In the second half of the course, students will be expected to give a brief presentation of a topic selected from the text book or related material, to lead a scientific discussion after the talk, and to write a summary that includes the results of the discussion.
Structure of the 2011 course
- We will discuss some of the fundamental issues and topics of artificial intelligence by studying some chapters of the book Artificial Intelligence. A modern approach by Stuart Russel and Peter Norvig.
- The course will be taught in cooperation with Wolfgang Lüer (Sprachenzentrum). As the course language is English only (!), participants should have some level of proficiency in the English language.
- Some additional guidelines for preparing a presentation can be found in Ian Parberrys "Speakers Guide for theoretical computer science"
- All organizational details will be discussed on April 14.
Grading:
- The final grade will be based on the quality of the presentation, on the quality of the written summary, and on participation in the discussions.
- Slides of the presentations must be submitted in pdf format at least 3 days before the actual presentation so that they can be posted on the web in time.
- The written summary (5-7 pages) must be submitted no later than July 29 - also in pdf format.
- All participants will be expected to be actively present at all sessions.
Literatur
- Stuart Russel and Peter Norvig: Artificial Intelligence. A modern approach. 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall, 2003
