WPI Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Computer Science Department
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CS4445 Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining - B Term 2012 
Project Guidelines

PROF. CAROLINA RUIZ 

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Guidelines for Projects and for Written Reports

Each of the projects in this course deals with one or more specific data mining techniques. The guidelines below are intended to help you structure the experimental work you are expected to do for each project, as well as your written and oral reports.

Guidelines for Oral Reports and Slides

We will discuss the results of each project in class. Your oral report should summarize the most important parts of your written report and should elaborate only on the most significant or more unique parts of your work. Each group will have 4 minutes to present their project in class. Given the time constraint, your presentation should consist of 3-4 slides (and no more!). Once again, an important aspect of both your written and oral reports is the "story-telling" aspect. Try to tell the story of what experiments you ran and why, how each experiment shed lights on what experiment(s) to run next, and what you learned with them. Be prepared and use your presentation time wisely!

Submission and Due Dates

  1. Please submit the following files by email to cs4445-staff@cs.wpi.edu BY 11:00 AM the day the project is due (submissions received after 11:00 am won't be accepted):

    1. The best model you obtained in this project: Save the best model you obtained in this project onto the file
      [your-lastname]_[your-partner's_lastname]_proj[n]_best.model
      We'll run your model over our secret test dataset(s) to measure the accuracy of your model.

      To save this model in Weka follow these steps:

      1. construct the model using Weka, as usual
      2. In the bottom left sub-window of Weka Explorer, under "Result list (right-click for options)", right-click the model you want to save.
      3. Click on the "Save model" option of the pop-up window.
      4. name your model file as requested in the project description:
               [your-lastname]_[your-partner's_lastname]_proj[n]_best.model
               

    2. Your group's oral presentation: Submit the following file with the slides for your (group's) oral report:
      [your-lastname]_[your-partner's_lastname]_proj[n]_slides.[ext]
    where: [n] is the project number; [ext] is pdf, ppt, or pptx. Please use only lower case letters in the name file. For instance, the file with my slides for Project 1 would be named ruiz_proj1_slides.ppt (if I worked on the project alone) or ruiz_smith_proj1_slides.ppt (if I worked on the project in a group with Joe Smith). Please sort the lastnames in alphabetical order.

  2. In addition, each groupd should submit:
    1. a hardcopy of the individual solutions (one per student) to the homework assignment, AND
    2. a hardcopy of your group written report
    by the beginning of class the day that the project is due.

Grading Criteria

The project grade will be distributed as follows: Given that the written and the oral reports contain individual (as well as group) parts, it is likely that each member of the group will receive a different grade. A detailed distribution of the total points appears in the project description above. Extra points will be given to exceptional quality work.