CSC 596- Seminar and Discussion in AI

This course aims at preparing students to comfortably indulge in research for their graduation projects and theses. It sets the groundwork of the logic of inquiry in reviewing the literature of a selected topic.  It adopts a systematic research methodology starting by a selection of a topic in the AI field and collecting a comprehensive list of references for it through the search of available information resources. Students are then asked to analyze the collected references in accordance with a set of criteria that appraise the publication information as well as the aspects of the contents, including objectivity, coverage, and writing style to obtain a desired list of references. This allows students to have practical skills in finding and using sources of research information, research management, and basic data analysis techniques. Following, students are asked to annotate each reference of such a desired list.  The annotation includes:

• The focus of the reference.

• The usefulness of the reference.

• Limitations.

• Intended audience.

• Research methods.

• Conclusions that may have been put forward.

• Student’s reaction to the reference.

• The relationships among references.