Survey Paper Assignment (CS 658 Only)

Overview

Students registered in CS 658 must write a research survey paper on a topic related to computer security or privacy. You should read Keshav’s How to Read a Paper to efficiently read a paper and conduct a literature survey. In writing your paper, you are expected to become familiar with the research literature relevant to your topic.

Detailed rules

• Paper sources: Your paper selection focus should be on top-tier academic venues, such as
  • USENIX Security Symposium,
  • ACM CCS,
  • IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy,
  • Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS), and
  • NDSS Symposium.

  Visit LEARN for a sample paper and deadlines for the proposal and paper.

• Topic approval: Your topic must be approved in advance by the instructors before you submit your proposal.

• Proposal: Your proposal should be one page in length and include at least 10 references, preferably including (but not limited to) papers from the aforementioned venues. It is recommended but not required that you discuss the proposal with the instructors first. You should turn-in your proposal before the reading week begins.

• Paper: Your paper should be a summary of past and current work on your topic, as well as an overview of known open problems and potential future directions in the area. You should provide a concise summary of work, emphasizing major accomplishments, rather than a detailed accounting of individual pieces of research activity. You should turn-in your paper before the class ends.

• Format: Your proposal and paper should be formatted in the two-column ACM proceedings format, using one of the ACM SIG Proceedings Templates. Your paper should not be longer than six pages. The ACM templates include headings for “Categories and Subject Descriptors,” “General Terms,” and “Keywords”, which you do not need to use.

If you have questions about the survey paper, please post them to Piazza, visible only to instructors if necessary.