COM1621 Senior Seminar

Spring 2002


      Dean Larry Finkelstein
Email: laf@ccs.neu.edu
Office: 105CN
Phone: (617) 373-2462
Office Hours:
Please make an appointment with
Rachel Bates (rachelb@ccs.neu.edu X2462).
           Professor Ronald Williams
Email: rjw@ccs.neu.edu
Office:
Phone: (617) 373-8683
Office Hours:
     

Talks Schedule for Spring 2002

Welcome to Senior Seminar

Students presenting Tuesdays - Go over your slides with Prof. Williams

Students presenting Wednesdays - Go over your slides with Dean Finkelstein

After your talk, please turn in soft copy and a printout of your slides (4-up is fine).

Talk Titles from 2001
PowerPoint presentations are available for some of these talks.
Talk Titles from 2000 and 1998
PowerPoint presentations are available for some of these talks.

Syllabus

The purpose of this course is to teach you to give a technical talk in computer science. You will have the opportunity to give a 20 minute talk on a computer-science related subject to the class, and to listen to others talk. You will be graded on your talk and on attendance. The criteria for grading talks are explained below. You are graded on attendance in order to ensure that everyone has the experience of speaking in front of a reasonably large audience. Your final grade will be equal to your talk grade less 1/3 grade for each unexcused absence.

A schedule for talks will be set up on the first day of class. I will lecture on how to give talks, and give a demonstration talk the next week. You are expected to prepare and practice your talk in accordance with the handout "How to Give a Technical Talk". Your talk will be graded on the following criteria:

  • The subject of your talk should be interesting and informative. You might describe a technique or method that you have found useful, illustrating your point with examples, or you might explain how you solved a design problem or improved an existing program.
  • Some consideration is given in the overall grading to the difficulty of explaining the subject. For example, a talk on the benefits of object-oriented programming is more difficult to prepare than one on designing the features of an inter-office electronic mail system.
  • Manner of presentation. You should speak clearly and loudly. Look at the audience at least most of the time while you are speaking. Try to be relaxed and natural. All this is difficult if you are nervous. Practice helps a lot in controlling nervousness.
  • Slides. Your slides should be neat and legible. Follow the advice in the handout. Handmade slides are fine but PowerPoint is better.
  • Length. Your talk should be at least 18 minutes long and not moe than 23 minutes long.


Last Updated: April 2, 2002 7:59 p.m. by

Harriet Fell
College of Computer Science, Northeastern University
360 Huntington Avenue #161CN,
Boston, MA 02115
Internet: 1621@harrietfell.com
Phone: (617) 373-2198 / Fax: (617) 373-5121
The URL for this document is: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/fell/COM1621/COM1621.html