Milestone dates:

• May 27 May 29: Topic due
• June 10 June 12: Bibliography due
• July 1: Draft due
• July 22: Final version due

Quotidian requirements:

• You must use LaTeX to write your paper. If you are not familiar with LaTeX, you may want to use LyX or equivalent WYSIWYG system as a gentle introduction to LaTeX.
• All drafts and papers must be submitted on paper and on Blackboard, and will go through TurnItIn. Your topic and bibliography should be submitted only Blackboard.
• Papers should be at least 8 pages, and most suitable topics will probably take closer to 10 to 12 pages. If you want to write a 30 page opus, though, that's fine too.

I will be glad to discuss topics with you in depth, and, if you wish, suggest a topic.

We do have access to a lab; if you want your paper to be about your implementation of a particular system or systems (perhaps you want to do a comparison/contrast, for instance, of different current email systems or configuration management systems), that's a fine idea and is probably one of the easiest ways to create a good paper.

For examples of excellent papers, please see the section "Selected Papers" in the class home page.