The deadlines are given in the detailed schedule. All the submissions (except sign up) and commenting are done using the Optima learning environment (course's Optima instructions). You have to use the LaTeX template and submit your work both in original LaTeX-format (.tex) and pdf. (include also all your pictures and BibTeX-files!)

Sign up for the course

Sign up instructions describe how to apply to this course.

Draft paper and short English course

The draft paper submission has three main goals: Almost all necessary source material has been found (the reference list) and the student has formed a structure for the paper (the outline). In addition, the draft paper shows that the student has started writing (at least one page of text with full sentences). Remember that use of the course's LaTeX template is required (naming instructions of files are below).

During the autumn a short English course is arranged.

Attending to the English course is recommended for all students. If the students participating in the English course miss some lectures, then they have to make an additional assignment to complete the english course. More information about the course and additional assignments will be published later in the English course web page

The tutor's primary task is to check the content of the outline. Following points of view should be noted:

The outline shows that the article-to-be has a point (a message, a central theme, something to say).
The outline's references are good enough: as relevant, valid and up-to-date as reasonably achievable in the time the student has had since (s)he got the (finalized) topic to work on. Note: using marketing material or slides etc. requires very strong justifications.
The outline contains a thorough enough analysis of the references: what information is still missing from the references and which missing pieces of information are necessary, and which are only nice-to-have.
The outline's structure is logical: the "story" the student plans to tell flows in clear and discernible manner (is easy enough to follow).
The outline's content coherence is good enough: most of the issues, which should be addressed in the article-to-be, are included in the outline and no extra issues, which do not "belong" in the article-to-be, are included.
The outline and the required one page of text are written in understandable English: the words and expressions convey the message clearly enough, however, the language does not need to be fault-free (yet).

Name your paper as YourLastname_draft.tex and correspondinglyYourLastname_draft.pdf. Upload both files to the Submissions/Drafts folder in Optima.

Full paper and opponent tasks

The full paper submission has two parts. First, the full paper itself is written before the full paper deadline. One/two weeks afterwards is another deadline for tutors and opponents to comment the papers. Based on the full paper submissions, tutors will recommend which of the papers should have full presentation and which poster presentation (if such are needed). Requirements for both of these tasks are listed below.

Full paper itself

Length of the full paper is 5-7 pages using course's template.

The evaluation of the full paper is done from the following points of view:

The paper is ready: it has all intended content including abstract, introduction, background, "the beef", and conclusions. The text is ready and does not consist of lists only. The PDF file shows that the student has used the correct LaTeX template.
- The writing style is scientific enough: the writing style is neutral and objective. We use only terms and concepts that are well established, or, if new terminology is necessary, we create such judiciously. We avoid the passive voice and rather use "we" than "I" when a reference to the author her/himself is necessary.
- Using the given LaTeX template, article is close enough to final article's length limit i.e. at least four full pages long.
The article makes a contribution: the point, message or the central theme of the article exists. Moreover, the contribution should be:
- True: the article presents verifiable facts and well justified interpretations of them in an unbiased manner.
- Meaningful in some way: the contribution does not need to be hugely important, yet it should still be in some way meaningful from some point of view.
- The article is original work, and it presents student's own combination or analysis of previous information.
The contribution of the article is relatively easy for the reader to discern. This means a combination of the following:
- The article covers a wide enough area extensively enough or a smaller area in enough depth, so that reading the article is meaningful for a reader who is interested in the article's topic area.
- The article content as a whole is coherent and free from unintentional substance conflicts e.g. the words used in the article for different terms and concepts remain the same throughout the article. . Also, the article covers most of the issues that are relevant for the article's contribution and the scope of the article. Additionally, the article contains only few "extra" (not strictly relevant) issues.
- The structure of the article content is clear and logically related to the "story the author is telling".
The in-text references (citing of sources) are sufficient. All information that has been taken from a source other than the author's own thinking is correctly referred.
- The choice of references for the article is adequate; the references in the reference list are as relevant, valid and up-to-date as reasonably achievable. In other words: there is a strong relation between the chosen references and the research question/problem stated in the article.
The article's reference list is correctly formatted and the bibliographic data of each item is clearly marked: the PDF file shows that the student has used the correct LaTeX and BibTeX templates and the correct class file.

Name your paper as YourLastname_full.tex and correspondinglyYourLastname_full.pdf. Upload both files to the Submissions/FullPapers folder in Optima.

Opponent tasks

Each student will be named as an opponent to a fellow student. In this phase of the course, the opponent's task is to read through the full paper that is assigned to him/her and give comments and constructive criticism. When both writing and reading the comments, note that comments are often subjective in this kind of work.

The opponent (and tutor) should consider the following when commenting the full paper (and consider the list describing full paper itself given above, too):

Language is understandable. If you do not understand something in the paper or something is very unclearly stated, say that in your comments.
There are no mistakes when presenting facts.
There are no missing things that should have been taken in to the paper.
References are adequate and sources are traceable.
Something that should be improved before the final paper that will be published in the course webpages in the end of the course.

Write or upload your comments to Optima in the Submissions/FullPapers folder and link them to the paper you are supposed to comment using Optima's comment tool (the yellow note after the submission) (how to do this is described in course's Optima instructions).

Final paper

For the final paper version, read through the comments of the opponent and tutor fromOptima. Meet your tutor and discuss with her/him all comments (tutor and opponents).Make the required corrections. Check again the full paper evaluation list, too.

Name your paper as YourLastname_final.tex and correspondinglyYourLastname_final.pdf. In addition to these, you have to upload all your other files such as .bib and figures. Name them also in a way that you name is in the filename. Upload all files to the Submissions/FinalPapers folder's subfolder that is dedicated to you in Optima.

Opponent task

After the final paper deadline, the opponent should read the Final version of the paper and provide constructive comments and criticism to the author. Write or upload your comments to Optima in the Submissions/FinalOpponentReports folder and link them to the paper you are supposed to comment (how to do this is described in course's Optima instructions). Additionally, the opponent should read through the paper before the conference days and prepare a couple of questions for the author of the paper. Opponent may read the same paper as during the full paper phase or the opponent may change. Note: You should prepare more than two questions, since some of the questions might get answered in the presentation. Try to make questions that require other than yes/no answer. The questions or comments are presented in the discussion following the presentation. Of course, you can read also the other papers or ask questions freely after the presentations even when you are not the opponent of that paper :-) Do not ask the "which is better?" question unless you are prepared to offer criteria.

The Final Touch

In this phase, you check the outlook of the paper, including figures and references.

In particular, check that the seminar day is correct in the paper header! You can get the updated class file from Additional Reading page.

Upload the updated files into Optima final paper folder as a new version.

Presentations

The presentations are ~15 minutes in length and given in English. More detailed instructions for the presentations will be given in the second practical arrangements meeting.

You should reserve time for questions at the end of your presentation. Note that the given time may not be exceeded. Your opponent (and the audience) will ask questions and you should try to answer them.

Name your presentation as YourLastname_presentation.pdf orYourLastname_presentation.ppt. Upload your file to the Submissions/Presentations folder in Optima.

Conference days and opponent tasks in the end of the course

Participation to the one day conference is a mandatory part of this course. All students present their work at the conference. More instructions about the presentationsare above.

Commenting the presentations

In the end of the presentations, the opponent asks the questions (s)he prepared after the final paper deadline. The opponent should write down how well the presenter answered your question, and also write down comments and feedback on the presentation. These comments are returned the author using Optima according the detailed instructions given below. They should not be said aloud in the questions section of the presentation, it is reserved for questions - also others than the opponent can ask something.

Opponent's comments after the conference

The opponent have to upload her/his comments concerning the final paper after the conference dates together with the comments of the presentation before deadline. The comments have to include following clearly:

An evaluation of both the presentaion and the final paper:
1. What was good in the presentation? What was good in the paper?
2. What should be improved in the presentation? What should be improved in the paper?
3. Were there clear mistakes in the presentation or in the paper?
The questions you asked and the answers given by the presenter
How and how well the presenter could answer the question
Suppose a grade (using TKK's grading from 0-5) and justify the grade.

Note: the opponent has tasks after the Full paper and Final paper submissions, too!

Name your comment file as YourLastname_comments_to_PaperAuthorLastname.txt. Upload your file to the Submissions/FinalOpponentReports folder in Optima.

Final grade

The final grade will depend on the paper, the presentation, and the opponent tasks. These are judged as a whole, with most emphasis on the paper. To pass the course, performance must be acceptable in all these areas.

On grading: Grades 1-2 meet the minimum requirements for the course but indicate major flaws in the paper. Grade 3 is given to a good paper that meets most formal requirements of a technical or scientific publication and has no major flaws. All students should be able to get this grade with sufficient effort. Grade 4 requires the paper to be excellent in some aspects, and to be interesting to the reader. Students achieving this grade should feel that they have done a very good job. Grade 5 is only given to exceptional papers, such as ones making a clear research contribution or having high value to the reader. (See tutor instructions for more detailed criteria for grading.)