The Handbook of Pragmatics (2003).
Laurence R. Horn and Gregory Ward (eds.)
Oxford: Blackwell.
The papers marked "Other" on the course schedule are papers we would
have covered if there were more time. They are not required, but would be
valuable to read.
The papers represent a sampling of research in discourse and
pragmatics. You are encouraged to branch out and read beyond the
reading list for the course.
If you choose one of the computational options for the project,
you may also use other annotated data to evaluate your system. You
may use any existing annotations that are available to you. Or, you
may annotate a small test set yourselves to evaluate your system.
Reaction Essays and Annotations
To help presenters direct class discussions better, everyone is
expected to write a short reaction essay for each assigned paper.
Your reactions should be concise (200-300 words), and they should be
well written.
Given the space limitation, your reaction essay should not include a
complete summary of the reading material. You should limit
your reactions/ideas to one or two per paper. Your ideas may have a
number of forms: (a) You may compare the work to related material; (b)
You may hypothesize about ways in which the work could have been
improved; (c) You may think about ways to expand on the work
(conceptually or computationally); (d) You may critique the work,
including its conceptual framework, methodology, and/or results; or
(e) you may describe something you don't understand that you would
like the class to discuss (explain exactly what you don't understand).
For some papers, you will also be asked to perform some
annotations of a text snippet which are relevant to the paper.
Reaction essays (and annotations, if applicable) are due by noon two
days (counting weekend days) before the class during which the paper
will be presented.
We will use the Yahoo group pittcs3730.
Enter it through yahoo.com, or go there directly:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pittcs3730.
Please post your reaction essays in plain text. Do not use attachments.
Post them as messages, not as uploaded files.
It is preferable to post annotations in the same way.
However, if you want to prepare some
annotations in a format other than plain text (in powerpoint or word,
for example), then you may upload them as files. Also, please upload
your powerpoint presentations after you have given them.
Please be sure to
follow the naming conventions given below for both plain-text messages and
uploaded files.
The group is by invitation only, and the messages will be accessible
to group members only.
Please sign up for a Yahoo account, if you don't have one already, and
send your Yahoo user name to wiebe@cs.pitt.edu . I will invite you to
join the group. You will receive the invitation at your Yahoo email account.
Note that you need to click on SECURE each time you enter your password into
Yahoo, if you want it to be secure.
Please post to the group by sending email to
pittcs3730@yahoogroups.com or by posting a message on the Web site.
You will have options for message delivery: Send individual email
messages, Daily digest (send many emails in one message), Special
notices (Only send me important update emails from the group
moderator), and No email (Don't send me email, I'll read the messages
at the Web site). It's up to you
whether you want to receive the messages in email or simply access
them at the Web site.
You will also have the option to add another email address, such as
your cs.pitt.edu address (which
Yahoo will make you verify). If you do this, then that is the email
account you can use to send messages to and/or receive messages from
pittcs3730@yahoogroups.com (if you opt to use email).
Please use the following naming conventions for your message
subject lines and for any annotation files uploaded to the site:
last-name-of-first-author last-2-digits-publication-year your-last-name
essay (for reaction essays) and annots (for annotations).
For example,
Theresa Wilson's reaction essay for Grosz and Sidner 1986 should have
the subject line "Grosz 86 Wilson essay".
Class Presentations
Each student will give two class presentations. You should
prepare slides for your presentation. Since everyone in the class
will have read the assigned papers, there is no need to reiterate
everything in the paper. You should present the claims of the paper,
and address some interesting issues. What did we learn from the
paper? What future work does the research suggest? If the reaction
essays include annotations, you should also lead a class discussion of
the annotations. The reaction essays for your paper should be good
sources of issues and questions for discussion.
Feel free to meet with me before your presentation. Send email to
arrange a time, if you cannot come to office hours. Bring a sketch of
your presentation. I can answer background questions you may have,
and help you figure out what to focus on in your presentation.
Please upload your presentations to the Yahoo group after you
have given them in class (click on "Files" to upload them). The file names: each paper should be included in the name, and
"pres" should be included in the file name. For example, suppose
Theresa Wilson presents Mann and Thompson 1988 and Hobbs 1979 (Day 6)
using powerpoint.
The name of her uploaded file should be Mann88Hobbs79WilsonPres.ppt
Class Participation and Late Assignments
Because in-class discussions are an important part of this course,
absences are strongly discouraged. Even if an absence is unavoidable,
you are still responsible for making arrangements to turn in the
assignments on time. You are also responsible for obtaining the
materials passed out and the information presented during the missed
class.
No extensions will be given for reaction essays. In case of
extraordinary circumstances (hospitalization, family emergency) you
should contact me as soon as possible so that we may arrange an
extension for assignments prior to the due date. Late assignments
will not be accepted.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity: if you include material from any source in your
presentation and/or projects, you must acknowledge it. Your
presentations and projects should represent your (and your partner's,
if applicable) original work.