| Deadline | Task | Group/ | References | % of Final |
| Individual | Grade | |||
| 4-Sep | Choose topic and partners | Group | ||
| Bibliography Building: | ||||
| 11-Sep | Bibtex file: first round | Individual | NH:p94-96;97-102; bibcard; bibtex | 3 |
| how/where searched | ||||
| 18-Sep | Bibtex file: second round | Group | 3 | |
| note on each entry: problem | ||||
| 25-Sep | Final annotated bibtex file, | Group | 3 | |
| paper interconnections, | ||||
| papers categorized | ||||
| 27-Sep | Focused set of papers identified | Group | 3 | |
| and justified in writing: (read | ||||
| abstracts, intros, conclusions of all) | ||||
| 15-Oct | First half of paper reviews | Individual | NH:p130-135 | 5 |
| 29-Oct | Second half of paper reviews | Individual | 5 | |
| Literature Survey Writing: | ||||
| 9-Nov | Draft | Individual | NH:chs 1-5; ch 6 and 13 | 5 |
| 21-Nov | Final | Individual | 8 | |
| 29-Nov | Writeup of brainstorming session | Group | 5 | |
| Key open issues | ||||
| Possible approaches to try | ||||
| Plan for evaluating approaches | ||||
| Written Research Proposal | Sample PHD proposals | |||
| 30-Nov | Draft | Individual | 5 | |
| 10-Dec | Final | Individual | 8 | |
| 7-Dec | Oral Presentation in proposal format | Individual | NH:chs 10, 11 | 7 |