![[CLIS logo]](IMAGES/head.jpg)
MLS students must have completed (or waived) LBSC 671, and must have completed, waived, or be concurrently registered for LBSC 602.
This course is not cross-listed in Computer Science, and it does not meet the Computer Science qualifying exam requirement. Computer Science students wishing to register for this course as an elective should contact the instructor.
Students enrolled in other programs (including iSchool Ph.D. students) should consult with the instructor to determine whether their academic preparation is appropriate for this course.
| Instructor | |
| Name | Doug Oard |
| oard@umd.edu | |
| Office | HBK 2118F/AVW 3131 |
| Office Phone | (301)405-7590 |
A schedule that summarizes what we will cover each week can be found on the course Web site.
Students wishing to discuss accommodations for unusual circumstances should contact me to discuss this before the end of the third module.
Textbook and other reading assignments for each week can be found on the schedule. The principal text for this course (referred to below as "CMS" for the authors' initials) is W. Bruce Croft, Donald Metzler and Trevor Strohman, Search Engines: Information Retrieval in Practice, 2015 Update, which is available on the Web in PDF. An earlier version of this book (identical except for a few corrections) is also available in print should you wish to order it from Amazon or some other bookseller. It has not been ordered by the bookstore (to prevent unnecessary returns if you all get it from the Web!).
The course has a mailing list that will be used by the instructor to make announcements. Students will be initially added to the mailing list based on email addresses on file with the university. If you have not received a welcome message from the mailing list by January 24, please contact the instructor to make sure that your correct address is included.
Requirements for technology skills that students are expected to have mastered before taking the course and tools that students are expected to have available are described in the first module. All modules are available under the "Module Content" links on the Schedule page.
| Component | Portion of Grade |
|---|---|
| Homework | 15%-20% (5% each, lowest homework OR reading summary grade is dropped) |
| Reading summaries | 10%-15% (5% each, lowest homework OR reading summary grade is dropped) |
| Commentary | 10% (1% each week for best 10 weeks) |
| Project | 30% |
| Final Exam | 30% |
The homework assignments are designed to provide an opportunity for students to explore specific topics in a structured way. Students may work together on the homework assignments, but all of the material that is turned in for grading must be produced individually. For example, students may form study groups and work out homework solutions together on a whiteboard or by each working separately on different terminals and then sharing what they have learned, but it would not be permissible for one student to prepare an answer set and then for other students to copy those answers and submit it as their own work.
Reading summaries are designed to provide students with an opportunity to explore one topic in more depth, and they provide other students with greater breadth of exposure to the research literature than would otherwise be practical. Students are required to do one additional reading three times during the semester; assignments of readings to students will be made based on bids received during the first module, and the assigned student should submit a one-page summary of the key points from their assigned reading by midnight Thursday night of each module so that other students will be able to review those summaries before the end of each module.
This course is fundamentally about ideas, not just the details that undergird those ideas. Students are therefore required to contribute to the synthesis of these ideas. The venue for sharing these ideas will be the course discussion board on ELMS. One point will be awarded to a student for each module during which they make at least one substantive contribution to the discussion board, up to a maximum of 10 points. To receive credit, the contribtution(s) must be made on or before the end date of the module, and they must contribute substantive new perspectives. They may be framed as reactions to readings, videos, summaries written by other students, discussion board postings by other students, or outside activities related to the module's content. No partial credit will be awarded. Multiple contributions made for the same module may Students who are uncertain as to whether their contributions would be considered substantive may request early grading by email; such requests should be made no later than Thursday, and may be made no more then twice during the semester.
A term project will be completed by the end of the semester. Students may work individually or in groups. Additional details are provided in the P4, P6, P8, P11, P13 and P14 assignments, which are available through the course schedule.
The final exam will be comprehensive. Students may not receive assistance from any other person when completing the final exam, and they may not communicate in any way with any other student in the course about the exam during the examination period.