Choosing a topic:

Please choose a topic that focuses on a networking technology and/or on a networking application. The majority of the topic should have a networking aspect to it.

You should not focus exclusively on a technology at the physical layer (OSI layer 1). If you choose a local area network protocol, make sure you focus primarily on the networking (OSI layer 2) aspects of it.

You may choose an application, make sure you focus primarily on the networking (OSI layers 2-7) aspects of it. In this case, you should probably discuss the relationship of the application to other standardized application layer protocols and/or to the requirements of the application that it obtains from lower layers.

You cannot cover material covered in lecture. If your topic was discussed in lecture, just make sure you go substantially beyond what was covered in lecture.

Your project will consist of learning about the topic and reporting what you have learned. You are not expected to build or design anything.

 

Learning about your topic:

You should find and read information related to your topic. This information should be composed of a few independent sources. You can use any source that you deem reliable. Here are a few magazines that I believe are generally reliable, to give you a few examples:

• IEEE Spectrum
• Communications of the ACM
• IEEE Communications
• IEEE Internet Computing
• IEEE IT Professional
• IEEE Multimedia
• IEEE Network
• IEEE Security & Privacy
• IEEE Technology and Society
• IEEE Wireless Communications
  

UCI has online subscriptions to these and many other publications. To take advantage of this, you must either use a computer on the UCI campus or use the UCI VPN.

A reasonable amount of information would probably be 3-5 articles from these magazines, or a corresponding amount from other sources.

 

Topic Proposal (due November 4)

Tell us the tentative title of your paper. Write a paragraph telling us about the topic you will write about. The purpose of the topic proposal is to give us a chance to let you know whether the topic meets the requirements discussed above in "Choosing a Topic".

Turn in the topic proposal by November 4 10pm:

1. If your topic proposal is in a format other than PDF, then convert it to PDF. There are several free conversion tools on the Internet.
2. Post the topic proposal in the Gradescope assignment called "Topic Proposal".

We will review your topic proposal by November 7, and we will let you know whether the topic is ok.

You may change your topic afterward. If so, you don't need to upload a new topic proposal, but you are welcome to ask the TAs or Professor Jordan about the new topic.

 

Initial Report (due November 11)

Write a 1-2 page initial report explaining what the scope of your final paper will be, i.e. explain the topic again and tell us what aspects of the topic you will write cover. Include a list of the references you have found so far. We expect that you will find additional references in the following week, so this is just a partial list.

Turn in the initial report by November 11 10pm:

1. If your initial report is in a format other than PDF, then convert it to PDF. There are several free conversion tools on the Internet.
2. Post the initial report in the Gradescope assignment called "Initial Report".

You may change your topic and/or references afterward. If so, you don't need to upload a new initial report, but you are welcome to ask the TAs or Professor Jordan about the new topic.

 

Final Paper (due November 18):

Your paper should be approximately 4-5 pages, not including the bibliography.

YOU MUST INCLUDE IN YOUR FINAL PAPER A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF YOUR INFORMATION SOURCES. Please include the following information for each:

1. Author of the document.
2. Title of the document (e.g. article title or web page title).
3. Venue where the document was published (e.g. journal, conference, magazine, publisher, name of website).
4. Where to find the document within the venue (e.g. volume number and page number, or path within webpage sitemap), if available.
5. Date written; for webpages without a date written include the date accessed.
6. URL, if the reference is available online. This should be the direct URL provided by the venue, if available. I should be able to put this URL in my webrowser and immediately obtain the reference.

Turn in the final paper by November 18 at 10pm:

1. If your paper is in a format other than PDF, then convert it to PDF. There are several free conversion tools on the Internet.
2. YOU MUST UPLOAD YOUR PAPER ONTO TWO WEBSITES:
   1. Turnitin.com: Enroll in the CS 132 class in turnitin.com. The class id is 22995226. On Nov. 12, I emailed you the enrollment key. The website offers instructions here and here. You will need to create an account and enroll in the class turnitin account. Post the paper to turnitin.com. After you have submitted the paper, wait a minute or two for turnitin to produce a Similarity Report. Then view the Similarity Report. If the Similarity Report shows any significant problems (e.g. if the icon for the Similarity Report is yellow or red), then consider revising your paper and repeating this step.
   2. Gradescope.com: Post the paper in the Gradescope assignment called "Final Paper".

Grading:

We will assign scores for preparation (how well did you demonstrate that you know the material), content (which material did you include in your report), and presentation (how well did you communicate this information in the report).