Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University MEC Research Paper

MEC Research Paper (ECMM 7030)

The MEC Research Paper is one of the three research options in the MEC program. It may be similar to a graduate course project but it is normally larger than a course project. For comparison, a student usually works for a year on a Master's thesis, for two terms (8 months) on a Master's project, and for one term (4 months) on a Research Paper. While a thesis requires a defence at the end with the supervisor, two readers, and a moderator on the committee, and a research project requires a presentation with the supervisor and a reader on the committee, a research paper requires that the final version is accepted by the supervisor.

The student should find a supervisor and discuss with her or him a topic for the research paper. After agreeing on the topic and scope of the paper, the student should prepare a research paper proposal, which should be a document of tentatively 5-10 pages. After the document is approved by the supervisor, the student should send it to the MEC Director (vlado@dnlp.ca) to be approved.

MEC Research Paper Proposal

The proposal should have a title page including:

• indication of the type of the document; i.e., "ECMM 7030 E-Commerce Research Paper Proposal"
• research paper proposal title,
• student name, email or Banner number,
• supervisor's name
• date

The proposal should start with an abstract giving a short summary of the rest of the proposal. After the abstract, the first section should describe the research problem, explain why it is important, and how it is related to e-commerce area in a wide sense.

The next section should include description of related work, including a short literature review. The following section should include a description of proposed methodology, and finally a proposed final structure of the paper. At the end, there should be a list of references, which does not have to be very long; i.e., about five references could be sufficient for the start.

MEC Research Paper Expected Content

• Start with an introduction that carefully articulates the problem or topic addressed in the paper.
• Clearly state the research question and give evidence concerning why it is important.
• Focus on a well-definied topic.
• Contain a thorough literature survey that deeply explores the selected topic. The literature survey:
  • Should be rooted in the academic literature (journals, conference proceedings) but may also include trade publications
  • Is not a passive collection of data, but must reflect a critical assessment of the state of knowledge in the selected topic.
• Show a demonstrated knowledge of the specifics of the literature and recent contributions to the body of the knowledge in the selected topic.
• Include a critical analysus of the literature.
• Be approximately 30 - 40 pages in length, but this will vary depending on the chosen topic.

MEC Research Paper Final Approval