For this class, you'll need to produce a written critique of several papers each week. Your critique should be no more than a page long.

Main contribution: The objective is to understand the main message in the paper. What do the authors want to get across in the paper ? Details are less important. Thus in order to write an effective one-page critique of the paper, you should first be able to summarize the contributions of the paper in a line or two to yourself.

Claims: What are the main claims the authors make in the paper ? How well are these substantiated in the paper ? If they aren't - why not ? What are some alternatives ?

Assumptions: What the assumptions underlying the work ? Are they justified ? Why/why not ? Could some of the assumptions be relaxed ? Could some assumptions be discarded ? Are there implicit, unstated assumptions that are significant ?

Methodology: What method do the authors use to justify their claims ? Is it rational ? What are some alternatives ? Are the authors justified in the use of their methodology ?

Clarity: Is the paper clearly written (I don't mean only good English, though thats a part of it) ? Does it flow logically from one section to the next ?

How to give a presentation in class:

You are required to present a paper in class. You should have read the paper thoroughly, and have written a critique. In addition you should prepare a presentation (powerpoint preferable) to accompany your talk. Your presentation should be aimed to last for about 40 minutes. Summarize the paper in some depth and then critique it. Conclude with a summary. If possible, compare the paper to others you have read in class. The presentation should be bullets/figures/pictures. Do not copy large pieces of text from the paper into your slides.

For tips by others on paper reading/presentation see:

Maja Mataric, USC, How to Present a Paper

Ashwin Ram, GaTech, How to Present a Paper

Spencer Rugaber, GaTech, How to Read a Research Paper

Armando Fox, Stanford, Paper Writing and Presentations