Guideline for the course Seminar on Current Trends in IT

(ITec3141)
Objective
The objective of the course is to develop the capability of students to write scientific seminar
report and also to introduce students to current research issues and results in selected areas of
Computer Science. The department instructor/ advisor will decide on the area of emphasis and
will avail different selected topics to the students. Students should review different literatures
and prepare well-written reports and present their findings.

Course Delivery
The advisor/instructors will avail a list of titles/topics for students to choose. Each student/group
will choose one title, review it, prepare and submit a report to the advisor and coordinator (see
below for the details), and present in class.

Before starting writing a report, the student is required to understand the subject matter of the
topic first. Make sure that you have understood any concepts and the meaning of terms that have
been included in your report. Not only in your report generally about the topics. The instructor
may ask you questions regarding such concepts even if you mention them neither in the report
nor in the presentation. For this, you may have to read books if available on the area. The best
source of information is the Internet. Try to read research papers and download some of the
references cited in the paper and do further reading.

Normally downloading a paper from the publisher requires subscription, although abstracts can
be freely downloaded. But there are freely available papers stored elsewhere. Some good sources
and/or search engines are:

 Citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/stats/articles
 Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/ for scientific papers.
 Google: http://www.google.com/ for general search
 Hinari: Under hinari the students can access Science Direct since JU subscribed
 IEEE and other related journals

Once you have a good understanding of concepts on the topics, you may start writing. Some
of the considerations in your report include, but are not limited to, the following:
 Introduction (not only the specific topic about the areas)
 Clear description about the topics
 Current Research findings in these areas (focus on your topics)
 Application areas of the topics
 Challenges that the researchers face in this area
  Limitations (especially to make more practical the research findings)
 Unanswered questions (relate with challenges)
* Thoroughly study the literature review. It will also help you to understand the topics better.

Report Organization

There is no simple and fast rule as to what the report should look like and should not have a
similar organization for all of you. Normally, it may contain the following sections:
Cover page
 Table of contents page; may not be necessary if there are few sections, say <5
 Introduction
 Detailed presentation: This is the important one. Here is what you are going to say
everything you have in mind. You may choose the organization and structure as
appropriate for this part
 Summary/Conclusion
 References

Report Format

 A maximum of 15 pages, including the cover page and the table of contents page if any
 A4 size paper
 1” margin for all (top, bottom, left, right)
 1.3 line spacing; 3 points before and after the paragraph; justified
 12 point New Times Roman for the body text and bigger fonts (increment by 1) for titles
and Subtitles depending on the depth (hierarchy) of titles you have
 The pages must be numbered starting from the Introduction page
 Spelling and major grammatical errors may lead to mark deductions

Report Submission
You must submit the report at least 3 days before the presentation date both in hard and soft copy
(in Word or pdf format) to seminar coordinator.

Presentation
Students will prepare a PowerPoint presentation and present their work:

 slides must be numbered

 don’t overcrowd the slides
 choose a background that is simple and makes the text readable
 don’t include new material that was not covered in the report - diagrams, illustrations and
examples are ok.
 use effects when absolutely necessary
The presentation should be completed in a maximum of 20 minutes (including Q&A).

Participation

Attendance and active participation by all students in all the presentation sessions is mandatory
and will be considered in the grading of the course. Absentees without sufficient reason will be
penalized.

References

References have two major objectives. Firstly, the report author is acknowledging the works of
others thereby avoiding plagiarism. Secondly, readers who need more information can access the
referred material hence. All references must be traceable. Formats vary you can use any.