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ECS 251: Advanced OS

Dune

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Administrative

Quiz1 graded, pick up in my office if you want your copy back

  • Overall pretty good, a few quizzes missing
  • Reminder, one free quiz

Proposal due on 1/30 (next week!)

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Writing an intro

Many different ways to do this

  • Usually do intro and related work at the same time
  • Amount of related work at beginning is a tradeoff

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Four to five main sections of an intro

(1-2 par) What problem are you solving and why is it important. You need to have citations to backup claims of importance!

(1-2 par) How other people solve this problem and why they fall short

(1 par, optional) What is hard about this problem

(1-2 par) How you solve it and why your approach is better

(1 par) Summarize results (these will be anticipated results for the proposal)

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Proposal -- intro + a plan

Intro -- the bulk of your grade and time

Want you to start thinking about what this research will take

  • Timeline of what you plan to accomplish, decompose project into smaller tasks
  • Anticipated results
  • Evaluation plan

Your proposal must have: intro, timeline, anticipated results, and eval plan.

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Proposal grading: expect scrutiny

I’m not going to regrade or allow resubmissions, please spend time on getting this right the first time

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Proposal

Similar to the intro of a paper, but some key differences

  • Intro -- usually write after you know the results. Proposal, write ahead of time
  • Can sometimes write ahead of time

Proposal is more like the intro for a grant proposal

  • Have to show that you have a good problem and that you understand the area
  • Speculating on the work that needs to be done, judged on having a reasonable guess

Must use LaTeX template that we provide!!!

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Proposal hints

Think big, propose something bold

  • Have a well thought out contingency plan

Most of your time will be spent on the first 2-4 paragraphs

  • Understand and motivate the problem
    • Citations!!!!
  • Understand the problem space and where you fit
    • Classify other approaches
  • Related work that you read but doesn’t fit in the intro forms your related work section

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Writing hints

Good topic sentences

Careful use of emphasis (e.g., lists, italics)

Don’t cite anything from Wikipedia!!!!

  • You will get an automatic 0 if you do
  • Do use wikipedia to help find the primary source