About how to do

research
Some tips for Graduate and
PhD students
(collected and adapted by A Florea)

Content

Choosing a Research Project

Standard Pitfalls for Graduate
Students
How to do it
Guide to reading
Progress
About your research report
2

1. Choosing a Research
Project

You must be enthusiastic about it

Solving the problems it entails must be
worthy of a MSc. or Ph.D.
It must be within sight of the state of the
art, i.e. it must be doable' in the time
frame

2. Standard Pitfalls for

Graduate Students

Solving the World do not try to solve all problems in the

world; set yourself a high but well focused goal

Manna from Heaven do not stay in expectation of the "big"

idea coming from heaven (as it will not usually come); be
proactive, search for inspiration and ideas, read, talk, try to find
examples and use cases

Computer Bum do not rush to implement a program; think

first about what you want to achieve, how, what method; make a
description of the approach, define necessary algorithms, do not
go to implementation unless you have at least a software
architecture and a functional specification

Standard Pitfalls for

Graduate Students

Micawberism
Wilkins Micawber, a character from Dickenss novel
David Copperfield , was always imagining himself as
already achieving great things, then he made detailed
plans of what to do once these great things were
achieved
Do not think you will fail; imagine that you have
already achieved what you aim for; how does it look,
how can it be used? (I am purposefully using present
and not future tense, you should do the same)
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Standard Pitfalls for

Graduate Students

Ivory Tower do not shut yourself in an ivory tower to do your

research (as this will not help your progress); talk to people, with
colleagues, professors, people with similar interests but also to
people who know nothing about your research
Misunderstood Genius do not think that what you want to
achieve or what you have done can not be understood by
anybody; you should be able to explain to any person what you
are working on, what it is good for, what your contribution is
Ambition Paralysis do not wait to have the "great" idea; you
may have it but, just in case you do not, start from small ideas,
pick an example, try to solve it, and then try to apply the solution
to some other examples. Sooner or later the "big" idea will
come.

Work is 1% inspiration plus 99% transpiration, Albert Einstein

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3. How to do it
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.

Define the problem / question

Form a Hypothesis/Hypotheses
Locate Resources/Gather Information &
Materials
Plan the Research/Developing Methods
Develop a model & algorithm / approach
Set up/find a case and see if it fits

How to do it
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Design an architecture of your system

Write functional specifications
Implement it
Collect data and more cases
Test, interpret results
Develop an application(s) and think how to
go further
Some steps may be re-iterated (due to feed-back)
but do not skip steps
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How to do it
During all steps, do not forget/hesitate (or
whatever else might prevent you) to:
Communicate results

Do not wait to start writing; write about what you

have done or what you aim to achieve this will
help you clarify the ideas and will allow you to
obtain early feed-back

Talk to people people knowledgeable in the

domain but also other people can you
explain your idea to people who know nothing
about research?
9

4. Guide to reading
3 levels of reading
Outer Circle
Middle Circle
Inner Circle

10

Guide to reading

Outer Circle articles about the surrounding

problem (e.g, intelligent agents negotiation)

read an introductory material - all

read 1-2 surveys on negotiation all and in depth
read some papers to become familiar with the
research on intelligent agents negotiation: read the
abstract, 50% of intro, conclusions + titles of
sections

11

Guide to reading

Middle Circle articles about the

particular type of problem you have in
mind (e.g., heuristic negotiation)

read as for Outer Circle + all Intro + 1-2

core Sections
mark candidates for Inner circle
collect further readings from references
12

Guide to reading

Inner Circle articles about the specific

approach you consider (e.g, heuristic
negotiation strategies for multiple, concurrent
bi-lateral encounters )
read the entire article, then read it again
select key articles for your work and read
them again (a 3rd time)
search applications based on the approach
(you should do this for the middle circle also)
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Guide to reading
For every article you have read (regardless
of the circle) do:
note title, authors, journal, pages, etc., so as
to able to refer it afterwards
make some notes about the content of every
article (usually this will help you both to
remember and to understand better)
length of notes should depend on the circle
level
14

5. Progress

Try to keep your own progress report (your

teacher may ask for one)

Achievements over the past x months

Goals for the next x months
Name 3 or 4 key papers that you have read in the
past x months

(choose the x value that best fits you)

Collect other people feedback on your

progress
15

Bibliography about HtdR

http://www.cs.indiana.edu/mit.research.how.to/mit.research.how.
to.html
http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~silvia/research-tips/
http://depts.washington.edu/rural/RURAL/design/scimethod.html

One more tip: do not take for granted

everything you read about HtdR (including
these slides
)
Think about it, try it = question everything
(this is what a researcher does), and find
your own way to do it
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6. About your research

report
By the end of first semester you have to write
a research report
Requirements for the RR of Master AI
students
Min 15 pages
Written in English
Use your own words, even when describing
other's work or quote (X says that "")

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Rememer what you have to

cover in your RR
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Define the problem / question

Form a Hypothesis/Hypotheses
Locate Resources/Gather Information & Materials
Plan the Research/Developing Methods
Develop a model & algorithm / approach
Set up/find a case and see if it fits
Design an architecture of your system
Write functional specifications
Implement it
Collect data and more cases
Test, interpret results
Develop an application(s) and think how to go further
18

About your research report

The RR that you will write by the end of the year will contain
the description of all steps (1-12) listed in Section 3 (slides 6
and 7)
The RR for semester I must contain at least the description of:
1,2 (problem, hypothesis)
3 presentation and synthesis of what you have read (state of
the art)
4, 5 first version (plan, model, algorithm)
6 (use case)
7 first version (architecture)
Ideally, it should include 8 (specs) first version, and a
demonstrator (a small program to demonstrate some of your
ideas)
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About your research report

The RR must describe clearly your contribution(s)

Your main contribution(s) may be at different levels (one or
several of, although not limited to):

a new/improved method
new/improved algorithm(s)
a new/improved system architecture
the application of an algorithm / method to solving a different
problem from the ones existing in the literature
a new implementation with improved functionalities, enhanced user
interface, etc.
a new application (even if based on existing algorithms, techniques)
creative synthesis of what you have read, new classification
dimensions and future trends

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About your research report

When presenting your contribution(s) you should
mention:
Why you did it
How it differs from existing approaches (e.g, better,
faster, more test cases, more problems to be
solved, a different application, etc.) highlighting
merits
Existing technologies and your foreseen one
Shortcomings, possible ways of removing them
How you will continue
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Bibliography
http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~silvia/research-tips/Writing
%20a%20paper.pdf
- I do not support everything it is written here but there are
good tips

E. Robert Schulman, How to Write a Scientific Paper,

Annals of Improbable Research, Vol. 2, No. 5, pg. 8.
http://members.verizon.net/~vze3fs8i/air/airpaper.html
- Not (very) serious but amusing

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