UF CAP 4621 Artificial Intelligence Grad

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Term Papers

Goal

One goal of graduate education is learning to independently research a topic within your selected field. To aid each of you in developing these skills you are required to develop 2 term papers this semester. The first will be a short 4 - 6 page overview paper on some area of AI. The second can be an extension of the first, going into more depth on the topic, or it can be a more in-depth examination of some other area - the choice is yours. The paper will be 10 - 12 pages in length. A list of topics is included at the end of this description. Your paper should be designed to familiarize the reader with the topical area.

A correctly composed paper should reflect competent research, clarity of examples and explanations, and, possibly, critical analysis. The intent is for you to produce a paper that shows your ability to research a topic and present a clear and concise explanation of this area.

Paper Structure

An acceptable first term paper must be 4 - 6 type-written, double-spaced pages of text in length. The second paper must be 10 - 12 type-written, double-spaced pages of text in length. Your papers should be selected from the listed topics below unless approval is given by the instructor to develop a paper on some other topic.

You should submit a paper copy of your papers as well as a version in HTML. The HTML versions should be e-mailed to my account. I will post the HTML versions on the web so other members of the class can read them. DO NOT include your name in the HTML version of your paper. This will allow others in the class to provide anonymous feedback to you.

The paper version should include a title page that consists of the paper title, your name, your student number (SSN), the date and course number. This page is not counted in the total number of pages of the paper.

You are strongly encouraged to structure your paper so it has the following:

  1. Abstract. The abstract is a brief summary of your paper written in your words. It should contain neither citations nor quotations. It should consist of 1 or 2 paragraphs of 100 to 200 words.
  2. Introduction to the Topic. The Introduction is approximately 1 page in length, presenting a more in-depth introduction to your topic and its placement within the field of AI.
  3. Discussion of the Topic. This section comprises the bulk of the paper. Here you present your detailed discussion of the topic with any illustrative examples and at least 5 different citations. The citations are encouraged to be information found elsewhere on the web with hyperlinks to these sources provided in the HTML version of your paper. Care should be taken in presenting your material. Your overall presentation will be significantly weakened by poor grammar, poor spelling, incorrect usage of words, and awkward sentences. Take care to ensure that you are saying what you want to say and in a manner that a reader can easily understand.
  4. Conclusion. A brief summary of what you have stated.
  5. Bibliography. Citations to at least 5 different sources of information that you have used in developing your paper. If your paper contains quotations from other sources, you must cite every quotation. I am not overly concerned about the formatting of your bibliography - just be consistent in the style that you use.

Margins, Paragraph Spacing, Fonts, and Other Graphical Items

Many students feel that margins are a handy way to allow text of varying sizes to fit in the same space. While this may be a useful trick, it would not be fair for us to allow each student to choose his/her own margins. For this reason, your printed paper should have 1 inch margins on all sides and should be double-spaced.

No additional lines should skipped between paragraphs, and the first line of each paragraph should be indented one tab space (roughly 5 spaces). You should use simple fonts like the ones used in this description: the body of this assignment is Times New Roman and the headings are Arial. If you use different fonts they should be a common font that is easy to read. Headings should be 12-14pt and the body 10-11pt (Also the sizes used on this handout).

Graphical figures can be included in your paper if you feel that they are required. Since these items are not text, there must be enough extra text to replace the space that the figures displace.

Style

Quotes: Quotations are an invaluable tool for research papers. They allow you to substantiate your ideas with the exact words of an expert or otherwise knowledgeable person. Following is a list of rules regarding the use of quotations:

  • Quotations that require 3 lines or fewer should be enclosed in quotation marks and included in the paragraph in which they are referenced.
  • Quotations that are longer than 3 lines should begin on a fresh line and be indented one tab space. Do not enclose with quotation marks, and the text should only be single-spaced.
  • Since no one else should be summarizing your paper, quotations are not appropriate in the abstract.
  • The quantity of quotations should be limited such that the bulk of the text is written by you.

Lists: Lists are seldom necessary in this type of paper. They should be treated the same as the long quotes described above, and each item should be on its own line.

Personal Pronouns: All formal papers should be written solely in the third person (he, she, it). The only section of the paper in which you may do otherwise is the conclusion where first person (I) is allowed. The use of second person (you) should never be used because you (the writer) would be making assumptions about the reader that may not be true.

Contractions: Contractions (can't, doesn't, etc.) are a form of informal speech that should never be used in a formal paper.

Conjecture: We are assuming that you are not an expert on the topic that you choose to write about. For this reason your personal opinions, conjecture, or any other forms of editorialization do not belong in the paper.

Conversational Wording: The paper should be written in a formal style. Conversational text is not appropriate. Examples:

  • Well, the reason is ...Well is not appropriate.
  • The answer is, you see ...You see is not appropriate.
  • So, computers are ... So is not appropriate.

Grading Philosophy

The initial papers will be graded on a 30 point scale. The final papers will be graded on a 50 point scale. Factors that will be considered in the grading will include, but not be limited to:

  • Quality, quantity, & thoroughness of research
  • Adherence to topic
  • Thoroughness of coverage of the topic issues
  • Relevancy and clarity
  • Clarity of the abstract
  • Difficulty of subject matter
  • Correctness and quality of works cited
  • Grammar and spelling

Topics

The following are suggested topics for your papers. I am open to consider other topics, but these must be approved first! A maximum of two papers will be allowed on the same topic so make your selection quickly!! The number of stars after a paper title identify the number of people that have selected the topic.

  • ABSTRIPS
  • ATN parsing
  • Automated Reasoning
  • Bayes networks
  • Bayesian learning *
  • Belief systems
  • Building knowledge bases * *
  • Case-based planning
  • Case-based reasoning *
  • Causal networks
  • Chart parsers
  • Classification in reasoning
  • Cognitive Modeling *
  • Connections between AI and other fields * *
  • Constraint satisfaction
  • CYC *
  • Data mining * *
  • Deductive learning
  • Dempster-Shafer uncertainty
  • Dynamic belief networks
  • EURISKO
  • Explanation-based learning
  • Evolutionary algorithms *
  • Fuzzy logic * *
  • Fuzzy sets *
  • Fuzzy Systems and Machine Intelligence * *
  • Game playing * *
  • Genetic algorithms * *
  • ID3 *
  • Inductive learning *
  • Inference *
  • Intelligent agents *
  • Knowledge Acquisition *
  • Knowledge discovery in databases * *
  • Knowledge representation for automated reasoning
  • Learning
  • Learning by discovery *
  • Learning by generalization
  • Machine learning *
  • Machine translation *
  • Model-based reasoning
  • Modifying knowledge bases
  • Multi-agent systems
  • Natural language generation *
  • Natural language understanding *
  • Neural networks * *
  • Neural Network applications in Finance *
  • Nonmonotonic reasoning
  • Ontologies
  • Parsing of natural language
  • Plan generation
  • Planning
  • PROSPECTOR
  • Qualitative reasoning
  • Reactive Behavior
  • Reasoning about actions
  • Reasoning about physical systems
  • Remote Agents *
  • Robotics * *
  • Semantics
  • SHRDLU
  • Simulated annealing *
  • Spatial reasoning
  • Speech recognition * *
  • STRIPS
  • Temporal reasoning
  • The Chinese Room *
  • Theorem proving *
  • Truth Maintenance
  • Vision

HTML Guide Most PC based word processors have an option for automatically converting your text to HTML. If your word processor does not have this conversion available, you should follow the outline given below: 

<HTML>

<HEAD>

<TITLE> Your paper title goes here </TITLE>

</HEAD>

<BODY>

<CENTER> <H2> Repeat your paper title here </H2> </CENTER>

<HR>

<H3> Abstract </H3>

This is the text of your abstract. <P>

<H3> Introduction </H3>

This is the text of your introduction. If you wish to have a series of numbered items use the following: <P>

<OL>

<LI> This is the first item listed <P>

<LI> This is the second item. This should be repeated as many times as needed. <P>

</OL>

If you wish to have a bulleted list instead use <UL> and </UL> in place of <OL> and </OL>. <P> <B> This is bold text </B> and this is <I> Italic text </I>. You can also do both <B> <I> on a section of text </I> </B> so long as you get the tags in their proper order. <P>

You can hyperlink some text using the A command. For example, <A HREF="http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~ddd"> the course syllabus </A> contains information on the requirements for the class.

While this is very brief, it does introduce the most commonly used commands. <P> </BODY> </HTML>

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