1. Related Work CPSC 502/503 – Tony Tang

2. Learning Objectives By the end of this lecture, you should be able to » discuss two ways to identify related literature » discuss three ways that related literature can be organized in a paper » describe what a synthesis of related literature looks like » use common tools to track down related literature

3. Outline » Short activity: what do you know about what you are doing? » Organizing related literature » Organization » Synthesis » Keywords » Tools

4. Activity: Identify what you are doing Take two minutes to write down the answers to the following questions: What is the problem you are addressing? (Note: not “What is your project”; not “What are you building?”) » Alternately, what is the research question your work addresses? What is the approach you are taking to address this research question? If you are struggling with the above, answer the following two questions: (1) what is the domain of the problem you are addressing? (2) what is the domain of the approach you are taking?

5. Activity: Identify what you are doing Related literature serves one purpose: Provide a reader with context to understand why you are doing what you are doing—that is, what others have done about it, and why what others have done is insufficient. This helps to make clear why what you are doing is going to help humanity more broadly. (i.e. what you are adding to the table) In the academic “game” it serves one additional purpose: Appease the egos of people who are reading your piece that think, “Hey, I already did that.” Or, “Hey, [Fred] has already done that!” Practically, each piece of related literature you identify should address one (or both of the following): » Who has done work on a similar problem? » Who has done work that takes a similar approach to your planned approach?

6. Objection: “No one has done what I’m doing” Usually, this is unlikely. If it feels like this is the case, you are either a genius, or doing something that is unlikely to meaningfully contribute to research. (How will others build off this? How will others find what you are doing?) If you feel stuck, then part of the answer is to think more broadly about what the research question you are asking. What is this question related to? Alternately, you could focus on your research approach—where did you get the idea to do what you are doing? Did it really come out of thin air? Finally, you ought to be talking to others about what you are doing.

7. Organizing a Related Literature Four typical ways: » As you found it (a.k.a. the laundry list) » Historical (“In the beginning…”) » By similar problem; by similar approach (two sectioned) » Thematic (all the shades of red; all the shades of blue)

8. Organizing a Related Literature Four typical ways: » As you found it (a.k.a. the laundry list) » Historical (“In the beginning…”) » By similar problem; by similar approach (two sectioned) » Thematic (all the shades of red; all the shades of blue)

9. Themes Identify trends in the research literature (“folks have tried X kinds of approaches”) Identify trends in successes Identify trends in shortcomings The question is: How do these things sort of “lump together.”

10. Synthesis (Activity) As a writer, the onus is on you to make this section compelling and worthwhile reading. How can you do this? Take 1 minute and brainstorm a set of bullet point ideas.

11. Synthesis

12. How to find the related work? Find the first one. Check for the keywords Check for their related literature Check for forward references

13. Some tools ACM Digital Library Google Scholar dblp

14. Some tools ACM Digital Library – fwd, back references, crappy search Google Scholar – finds too much, but great search dblp – great for quick searches Organizing your related lit RefWords Mendeley BibTeX

15. Doing it from home http://www.hcitang.org/pmwiki.php/GradStudentTips/EZProxySetup

16. Learning Objectives You now know how to » discuss two ways to identify related literature » discuss three ways that related literature can be organized in a paper » describe what a synthesis of related literature looks like » use common tools to track down related literature

17. NSERC CGS-M Government moolah: $17,500/year for two years Competitive: Based mainly on your grades to this point, but also on a proposal. (Plus two letters of reference) Money to take with you wherever you decide to go. Indicate what schools you’d like to go to, but it is non-binding. Takes about 16 hours to complete. $1000/hour.

18. NSERC CGS-M Proposal: non-binding. They are interested in your communication skills. » Suggestion: take the proposal that you have, and rework it. » One-page proposal. Focus on Motivation (3 sentences), Problem (5 sentences, but summarize with one), Approach (suggest phases of activity, and the kinds of tasks that will happen per task – 10-15 sentences), and then Contribution to Research/Benefit to Canada (3-5 sentences). Maybe a sentence or two about related work.

19. NSERC CGS-M If you are >25% chance of going to grad school, APPLY ANYWAY. You can make the decision about where to go later.