M.Sc. Cognitive systems - Advanced Module - Summer 2021

Seminar: Doing Science and Conducting Research

	Brielen Madureira
	Online, Mondays at 10:00
	12.04.2021 - 23.07.2021
	Moodle page, course Science-Research id 27585
	madureiralasota at uni-potsdam dot de

The information here may still be changed or updated until April 11 without notice. After that, any modification will be discussed/announced in the Moodle forum.

Description

Navigating the whole process of a publishing a paper can be challenging when we are starting our careers. Reading and writing scientific literature demands practice, data collection and annotation is not a simple task as it may sound and ML experiments can easily turn into chaos without proper organisation.

Besides, there are good (and bad) scientific practices that every researcher should be aware of in order to responsibly contribute to the community.

In this course, we’ll cover the main steps of the current scientific process of NLP and Computational Linguistics and, more generally, Machine Learning.

Goals

• reflecting about how to do science and conduct research responsibly
• getting acquainted with different aspects of scientific publications
• gathering hands-on experience on the steps of publishing a paper
• developing a deeper understanding through oriented reading
• practicing argumentation skills in group discussions and written assignments

Format

This is a ‘minds-on’, interactive seminar based on a mix of offline, independent reading and online group discussions. That means there will be no lectures to passively listen to. I will be there to provide some structure to your learning process and facilitate the discussions, but successful participation will only be possible with your own initiative.

Every week, there will be a reading list which will prepare you for the online discussion in small groups, when you will work together on a worksheet. Reading is crucial in this course, so plan your time schedule to accommodate that. Once during the semester, you will work on a presentation and in the end there will be a programming project.

The course will be 100% online and in English.

Please, check the guidelines and the schedule for more details. Note that this page is meant only to present the course, but we’ll use Moodle for everything else (submissions, announcements, question forums etc), so please enrol in the Moodle course page.

Background

Everyone is welcome to take this class. You do not necessarily have to be considering an academic career, much of the current research comes from the industry as well.

Requirements and grading policy

• active participation in the course (joining online group discussions and handing in exercises) [25% of final grade]
• presentation [25% of final grade]
• final programming project [50% of final grade]

You can get between 0 and 10 points for each item. To pass the course/module, you must achieve a performance of at least 70% on each of the items above separately, which includes abiding by the guidelines listed here.

Contact

Feel free to contact me if you have any question or suggestion. Do not hesitate to talk to me if you have any needs I’m not aware of (e.g. accessibility or name preference) or if you are facing any issue that demands adjustments (e.g. caring for family members or health problems).

I’m always willing to help those who have difficulties with the content as well. Talk to me and we’ll find a way to help you.

I hope to see you soon!