Assignment: Research Paper on software requirements gathering and design
Task
The task for this assessment is to understand a recent research paper in the area of requirements gathering and to explain the work in your own words. Select ONE paper from the list below and write a report that summarises the paper. The format required for the report is detailed below.
Your report should be around 2000 words long and certainly no longer than 3000 words. It should be understandable and well-explained according to the following format and criteria:
1. Summary: (150 to 250 words) This part should be a summary of the problem and the solution presented in the paper. This must be in your own words, your own understanding. Please don't repeat material from the paper here. You will lose marks if your summary is longer than 250 words.
2. Introduction: (around 700 words) You have to explain the setting of the problem here. Most papers cite many references in the introduction. You don't need to read all those papers although it is good if you read some. You should develop your own understanding of the problem and explain it here.
3. Algorithms and Systems: (around 700 words) You should explain any algorithms or systems presented in the paper here, again in your own words. There is no need to repeat complicated notation from the paper, however, you can use those notations if you wish, but the notation should be well explained in your own words.
4. Results: (around 700 words) You should explain the evaluation and results of the paper in your own words here. There is no need to reproduce graphs or tables, just a summary of the results will be sufficient.
5. References: Include a reference list of your sources and ensure that you use citations correctly throughout the paper.
How much work is it?
I expect it to be a lot of work, at least 10-15 hours of serious work will be required to complete the report. Please do not try to understand the paper by understanding every sentence. A better strategy is to read the paper again and again, understanding a little more every time. I have found this strategy to be quite useful. Reading and understanding research papers takes a lot of thinking on your part. Research papers are usually concisely written and you need to think and reconstruct a lot of the picture on your own.
You may discuss the paper with others but the submission must be written individually, in your own words. I will carefully check whether your report is in your own words.
Where are the papers from?
I have taken all the papers from recent issues of the Journal of Requirements Engineering. You should not have any problem in understanding the papers with the background you have from the lectures and suggested books.
Help
You are welcome to come and discuss your report with me. However, I haven't read the papers thoroughly, so you will need to explain the paper and explain your difficulties and then I will be able to help you.
The two useful guides on how to read a research paper are provided on LMS in the same folder. Post any requests for clarification about the requirements of this assessment to help forum on LMS so that all students may remain equally informed.
Topics and Papers (select one paper from this list)
• A framework for quality assessment of just-in-time requirements: the case of open source feature requests
• A method of requirements change analysis
• Advancing viewpoint merging in requirements engineering: a theoretical replication and explanatory study
• Automatic recommendation to omitted steps in use case specification
• Challenges of working with artifacts in requirements engineering and software engineering
• CrowdMock: an approach for defining and evolving web augmentation requirements
• Eliciting user requirements for e-collaboration systems: a proposal for a multi- perspective modeling approach
• Value-based requirements engineering: method and experience.