Presenting Your Topic

Timeline

First Week of Class

Choose your presentation topic. It's not yours until it's recorded!

One Week Before Your Presentation Day

Bring enough printed copies of your group's paper to the class for everyone (~15 copies). Email a digital copy to the TA.

Presentation Day

As a team, present a brief, 25-minute talk to the class explaining what you've learned about the topic, and what questions you still have unanswered. You should take an active role in directing the ensuing discussion.

One Week After Your Presentation Day

Give the TA (Mark) both a digital copy, and a printed copy, of your group's revised paper draft. This copy will become part of the course monograph on plasmonics, and be made available online.

The Paper

As part of the graduate school process, all of us are expected to publish scientific papers. The more you practice this skill, the better you will become at it. We do not get the chance to publish papers every day, especially those of us who are first-year students. However, when we actually do get that opportunity, we are expected to fulfill it exceedingly well. In this class, we are giving you a chance to practice the skill of technical writing. Your peers will review your work, and the TAs will give you detailed feedback on both the rough and final drafts. We highly recommend that you take this as an opportunity to prepare yourself for publishing real scientific papers. It is a training exercise that will directly equip you for your career.

Your group is to submit a single paper that encompasses an overview of your topic that is relevant to nanophotonics. Like any good scientific paper, this document should be thoughtful, written in clear English, and include relevant citations. Also like any other scientific paper, it will be open to, and reviewed by, your peers. The final, revised draft will be due one week after your presentation.

Your paper should be ~10 pages (not including the title page or references), 12 point type, double spaced. You may include 1-5 figures and up to 30 references. When writing the paper, please use the template on the Resources page. Note: The only software format that will be accepted is MS Word 2003.

If you would like to use a figure from a paper in the literature, you must cite the source by using a superscript at the end of the figure caption. The caption should adequately explain the figure in your own words. Do not copy the caption word-for-word from the source.

Your references should consist of journal articles and books. Websites are helpful for gaining a basic understanding of certain topics as you are researching the subject, but we do not recommend that you use a website(s) as a reference for your paper. Instead, cite a reputable book or journal article that contains similar information.

Proofread your rough and final drafts before turning them in for a grade. Errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation reflect very poorly on those who make them, especially if English is your primary language. If neither you nor your partner is a native English speaker, you are strongly encouraged to seek out a native speaker who can help you edit both your rough draft and the final manuscript.

The paper should include your own personal thoughts, not just a review of other people's papers. You may want to include questions you were unable to answer, or possibly propose an experiment you think should be done. Also, note that the prompts provided on the topic page are to get you thinking -- they do not constitute what should be included in your paper!

Grade: The paper comprises 40% of the total grade; 25% of your paper grade will be determined by the initial draft, 75% will be determined by the completed, edited manuscript you submit after the presentation. See the grading page for additional details.

Honor Code: This paper, both in draft and final form, will be pledged under the Rice Honor System. Make sure that all your sources are properly cited, and all of the text in the paper is your own, original work. The paper copy you submit to the TA (Mark Knight) should include a signed Pledge: “On my Honor, I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid on this paper.” (Student Signature)

Plagiarism is strictly prohibited! If you copy someone else's ideas, visuals, wording, and even sentence structure without proper citation, you are plagiarizing their work. Most people do not fully understand the different forms of plagiarism. Before writing your paper, visit this website to learn more about what plagiarism really is and how it can be avoided: http://cnx.org/content/m15883/latest/

The Presentation

Your group's presentation should give the class a clear, concise introduction to the topic of the day. Advanced, or extended, mathematics should not be included -- those are best handled in your paper. You should aim for a 25-minute talk, but the length is flexible and will likely change as questions should be asked during the actual talk. Ideally, the presentation should be jointly designed and presented by your group.

Grade: 20% of your total grade will be determined by the presentation.

If you have questions on any of these requirements, please contact the course TA (Mark: mwk@rice.edu) for clarification.