Useful links for those who are writing survey papers

• Examples of survey papers from one of the top academic venues on cybersecurity. While nobody expects CPEN 542 students to write such papers in the matter of 2 months, these examples can help you to understand what makes a good survey paper and how your survey paper should be different from just a summary of literature.
• Top academic venues in cybersecurity. Aim to find publications for your survey paper from those venues.
• Google Scholar is the best place to search for academic publications.
• Barbara Kitchenham, O. Pearl Brereton, David Budgen, Mark Turner, [109] John Bailey, and Stephen Linkman. “Systematic literature reviews in software engineering – A systematic literature review”. In: Information and Software Technology 51.1 (2009). doi: 10.1016/j.infsof.2008.09.009.
• “A Systems Approach to Conduct an Effective Literature Review in Support of Information Systems Research“
• Tips on conducting literature review.
• Organizing your literature review.

Instructions for Survey Term Paper

Final version of a survey term paper should contain the following sections. All sections are required for the final version. For the pre-final draft of the term paper, all points and questions shown in bold and italic font are required.

Keep in mind that the final paper is supposed to be free from grammatical and other language-related errors and issues. Make sure to follow writing-related requirements for term papers.

Sections:

Abstract (2%)

The abstract should summarize the problem addressed, methodology, results, conclusions, and contributions.

I. Introduction (10%)

The section should provide the following

1. Explain clearly the problem domain or technology surveyed by your paper.
2. Explain why this is an important problem domain or technology.
3. Summarize related work, including the differences between your survey paper and previously published survey papers on same or very similar topics.
4. Summarize the methodology that you have followed in your survey.
5. Summarize results that you obtained.
6. Summarize the conclusions your drew from the results.
7. List contributions of your paper.

II. Background (10%)

This section should have the following subsections:

1. Problem/Technology Description. Use diagrams and other visuals to illustrate your description.
2. Adversary Model. Justify your adversary model and explain how you came up with it.

III. Related Work (5%)

This section should explain what other, particularly as reported in academic literature have done surveying systems/problems/technologies similar to the one surveyed in your paper.

Explain the similarities and differences between your survey paper and previously published survey papers on same or very similar topics.

IV. Method (15%)

V. Results (35%)

This section should report results of your survey. For pre-final draft, make sure to draft at least part of this section.

VI. Discussion (20%)

This section should draw conclusions from the results, i.e., explain what the results mean.

VII. Conclusion (3%)

This section should summarize the paper and acknowledge those who helped with the survey work reported in the paper.

References

Place references here. Make sure they are complete (e.g., page numbers, conference and journal titles, author names). Aim to use more academic references than non-academic ones. If you find it difficult to format your reference properly, consider help of http://www.citethisforme.com

Grammar and Language

Please keep in mind that your paper is expected to have no typos, grammatical errors, or other language issues. Up to 30% will be taken off for typos, grammatical errors, or lack of clarity. Make sure to check with one of the English Language references for correct use of the language, including punctuation marks. See this particular reference book for an example: The Bedford Handbook by Diana Hacker.