Data Communications

Data Communications and Distributed Data processing

Term Research Paper

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Note: Undergraduate students are not expected to submit a term-paper

Purpose:

The goal of this exercise is to provide students with an opportunity to explore current topics of interest in of data communications and distributed data processing. Students will learn to identify and use various research resources available, systematically explore a topic, collect appropriate literature, conduct an analysis and present their findings.

Requirements:

From the broad topic area picked by you, you are at liberty to examine a specific area or issue that intrigues you. Your research topic must be approved by the instructor. Students are expected to obtain prior approval before proceeding to work on the topic.

Your research paper should address the following requirements:

All concepts must be clearly defined/explained and appropriately cited. Background literature and/or context must be from credible sources (not from blogs, user reviews etc.). Since the topics being explored are current (“hot topics”), your paper should clearly tie in the relevance and importance of the topic to the context of data communications and distributed data processing and examine the consequences of neglecting the issue. Your analysis should be your own, clearly written and demonstrate a well-reasoned analysis of the topic.

Your primary research sources (and citations) must be from peer reviewed journals (at least 10). You are required explore research databases available through the library such as ABI/INFORM or EBSCOhost. The websites of few top organizations are also good starting points to explore your topic.

Formatting instructions:

· Typed, using Times New Roman font, 12-point font size.

· One-inch margins on all sides.

· 1.5 line spacing

· Page numbering on bottom right (excluding the cover sheet on final draft)

· Headings as appropriate

· Citations and references should follow the APA Reference List style. See the examples file attached under Course information.

· Minimum length of content (excluding diagrams, tables, references etc.) is 3 pages and maximum length is 5 pages.

· Do not have a cover sheet. Include the paper title, and author’s name in the document header.

List of top peer reviewed journals:

You are free to read and cite from any peer reviewed journal. To help you to start, here’s a list of few top journals (in alphabetical order) – it may be a good idea to check for the journal impact factor to assess the journal’s influence in the discipline before making your choice. Once you’ve chosen your journals, check for the number of times the article has been cited by other researchers/authors. Articles with more number of citations reflect importance of topic and quality/value of the research effort.

· Communications of ACM (any journal/conference proceedings)

· Decision Sciences

· European Journal of Information Systems

· Harvard Business Review

· IEEE publications (any journal/conference proceedings)

· INFORM Sciences

· Information and Management

· Information Systems Journal

· Information Systems Research

· Interfaces

· Journal of AIS

· Journal of Information Technology

· Journal of MIS

· Journal of Strategic Information Systems

· Management Science

· MIS Quarterly

· MIT Sloan Management Review

· MIT Media Lab

· Organization Science