Department of Computing
Links for Current HDR Students
On Doing a PhD
Some advice previous students have found useful:
On Writing
If you search on the Web for advice on thesis writing, a lot of the suggestions are for commercial sites. These are typically quite poor, and not relevant to a higher degree research thesis. Some links we think are good:
- Write the Thesis (Monash Univ) [I really like this -- MD]
- How to Write a PhD Thesis (Joe Wolfe, UNSW)
- How Theses Get Written: Some Cool Tips Outline (Steve Easterbrook, UToronto)
- PhD: First Thoughts to Finished Writing (UQ)
On Presentations
- Tips for Presentations by Robert Dale.
- How to Give a Good Research Talk by Simon Peyton Jones, John Hughes and John Launchbury
- How to Give a Good Talk by Patrick Blackburn
On Ethics
As a researcher and scientist, you're expected to abide by certain ethics guidelines. This is also a topic in COMP496/901, where these are put in context.
- Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research
- On Being A Scientist: Responsible Conduct In Research [an enjoyable read that discusses the reasons for ethics guidelines, with interesting case studies -- MD]
- Macquarie's ethics links
- Vancouver Protocol
- Macquarie's ethics statement
- Macquarie Senate statement on academic freedom
- Macquarie's ethics process for experimental work
On Reviewing
There are a couple of useful things on the Web on how to go about reviewing (typically a conference paper or a journal article; they're also useful tips in analysing the papers that will go in your literature review), and also about assessing the quality of papers via metrics.
- Allen S. Lee: Reviewing a Manuscript for Publication
- Alan Jay Smith: The Task of the Referee
- CORE conference and journal ranking
- Journal Impact Factor
Compendia
Other universities have collected useful sites as well.
Fun
If you have any suggested additions to this page, please contact Dr Mark Dras.
Exercitationem
Visi ut aliquid ex
Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur.
Visi ut aliquid ex
Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatu
Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio.

