The (PhD Candidate's) SoA
What is a SoA? The SoA that our PhD Candidates are expected to write, in their first 6 months work is, somehow the picture of the left zone in Figure \ref{862290}, or the drawing of the context of the PhD Candidate's Research Question. It may be even a short paragraph, dedicated to each of the actual Research Lines intersecating with the Candidate's Research Question.
Not just a set of lists (the list of the people, of their Institutions, of the documents they produced in a fixed time-window, et cetera related to some specific keywords). It is a story. Although if a PhD Candidate is not expected to be a novelist, nevertheless he is expected to learn how to represent (in a graph, in a text and in a talk) where (s)he and his/her questions are positioned.
Whenever Candidates present theirselves must spend few words not only about their work and advancements but also about the State of the Art of their work.
From our point of view, a SoA is a text of 1000-2000 words. It will give a detailed picture of the most interesting People and Institutions who operate and operated on the Research Topic, their Reasons (why), their Networks and their periodic appointments (Conferences) and their Activity (what and when they have done, are doing and they project to do). The SoA will define (don't take literally this list):