The two main ways to find material for your paper is to look for it on the Internet and in the library. Once you have found a few papers, use these tips to find more on the topic:

Check the references of the paper - are there any sources that are particulary relevant to you?
Look for other material by the same authors. (You can even see if the author has a webpage with a publications list, or maybe a link to a few academic research groups doing research on the same topic.)
Find new keywords to search with.
If you find some related thesis (masters, PhD) these usually have comprehensive reference lists.

The library at HUT has several databases to search in. Besides the library's own databases, there are a number of scientific journals that have on-line versions that can be accessed from the campus network (hut.fi domain). The library main page has links to the electronic collections and databases (check especially ACM Digital Library and IEEExplore) as well as to manuals and general information. For example, the library has listed electronic journals that are good sources (check especially ACM, IEEE, and Elsevier journals and conferences on area of Computer science, Data processing, Programming, Computers and Communication engineering, Telecommunication, Teletechnology). Moreover, you can really visit to the main library or the library in the Computer Science building and borrow books and other material :-)

On the Internet, there is a huge amount of information available on almost any topic - the problem is finding the relevant sources and the quality findings. One way to start is to use a search engine, e.g. Google Scholar. Try different keywords and use advanced search features to narrow down the results. Another good place to start is CiteSeer. This is a database of scientific articles with lots of information on citations, related papers, other papers by the same author... Those who use LaTeX will appreciate the BibTeX entries available for the papers.

Evaluation of sources

The references should point to authoritative sources or, for research results, to the original publication the first presented the information. For example, when writing about a protocol, read and reference the original standard that defines the protocol. Other good sources are high-quality scientific and technical articles: journal articles, conference papers, technical reports and such. Web tutorials, company sites and e.g. 'white papers' are ok for educating yourself on the topic, but you have to be critical about the facts presented in them as many are at least partly marketing material.

You can find much information e.g. using wikipedia, especially the links at the bottom of the Wikipedia articles, but it is not acceptable as such to refer to Wikipedia because the the same information is available from original sources.

Using and referring to sources

Once the sources of information have been selected, they must be referred to in some systematic way by marking the reference in the text, right after where the source is being used. However, if you use a source throughout a complete section, you can state that in the beginning in the section. The reader will assume that the text is based on that reference until he encounters a section of at least the same level. For instance, if you state in section 2 that all text in that section is based on [16], you can use text based on [16] in section 2.1, section 2.2, and section 2.3, but not anymore in section 3. Note that our template renders in-text citations and bibliographies automatically, but you still need to know where to place the references and what information to include in your bibliography (also known as the "list of references")

There are several acknowledged methods for marking the reference in the text. When using the course's LaTeX template, you just mark the reference and the template takes care of the layout. (One widely used method in computer science is embedding the number of the reference enclosed in square brackets within the text. Another example is embedding the original author's lastname and the page number in the source enclosed in parenthesis). Detailed information about the source is written in the list of references.

List of references gives all publication information of the referred sources and it is usually given in the end of the paper. The list contains only the references that are referred to in the text. If you want to include other references, write a small section on related work or further information. The purpose of a reference is to identify and locate a referred publication. Network publications are referred to in a similar fashion but the date of referring is usually included in the list of references (network publications may change or move unexpectedly to a different URL). You may want to save yourself a copy of the network source you are refering to.

Writing tips

This course provides also a short english course! Mark the dates in your calendar immediately.

Remember the ground rule of writing in English: Everything has first an introduction, then the body, and finally a conclusion. This rule is true whether you are working with the complete paper, with a section, with a paragraph or even a sentence: When you write in English, you must always start with an introduction. After the introduction, which prepares the reader for the main issue you are about to say, you write the main point itself. Finally, you sum up. The purpose of a paper is not to show how smart you are but to inform others in a way that is easy to read.

Once you have your source material and have read it and learned something about the topic, it's time to start writing. Here are some tips on things to do and not to do. This is also a list of the most common mistakes - useful for both tutors and students.

Start working on your paper in time. If you leave it to the last minute you won't have time to ask your tutor for help if you encounter problems. It will also show in your work that it was done in a hurry.
Plagiarism is not allowed in any form. If you copy material and present it as your own, even in heavily edited form, you will fail the course and will be subject to further disciplinary action. Remember to properly refer to sources when using e.g. pictures. If you need to copy a definition or other short piece, do not forget to quote and cite properly.
To avoid copied material in your submitted version we suggest you don't copy at all. Not even in the outline or opening phase. Do not think you can copy-and-paste first and fix it later. Instead make a short bullet-list or write down a few keywords with a reference to (or note of) the source. Later you can write full sentences and explain matters in more detail - in your own words.
Stick to your outline. Usually the first outline is reasonably good, and once you have improved it based on the feedback from your tutor it's the backbone for a good paper. Do not write 7 pages of introductory text in the first two chapters. Instead, keep the introduction concise.
Keep in mind the main idea of your paper that you want to present. This is what the paper is about, and this where you shouldput most effort. This will also take up most of the pages in your paper.
Ask for help if you need it, and discuss the paper with your tutor. The feedback from the tutor is suggestions on how to improve your paper. If you disagree on some point, discuss the issue with your tutor - maybe (s)he was just looking at things in a different way.

If you need more information

Previous T-110 seminars have provided a collection of writing tips as course handouts with a good and long reference list. You can buy these handouts from Edita (as stated on the page) or loan them from the course staff.

Other guides

More training on writing in English e.g. grammar: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
On citations: International Standard ISO690:1987, Information and documentation -- Bibliographic references - Content, form and structure: Excerpts regarding citations
On electronic documents: Excerpts from International Standard ISO 690-2: Information and documentation - Bibliographic references - Part 2: Electronic documents or parts thereof