A gentle introduction to writing research papersAlistair Edwards

…but drawing heavily on slides from Chris Power

Notices

Winners of the Treasure HuntThe Hunters: Bruno, Burak, Jackson, Ke & Vivekhttp://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~alistair/HCIT/Treasure%20hunt.html

We need an HCIT Programme Representative

My Tutorial GroupAbstracts, Introductions and Conclusions for next week, please

Objectives

To give a brief introduction to scientific writing in general

To help you prepare for the specific writing task for the assessment of this module

Why do we publish? (principled)

As scientists we work at the forefront of our field, we have new insights into many topics in which we work

We have an obligation to share our improved knowledge, about interaction or any topic, with others

Peer-review self-selects the best work to be shared with the outside world forming a meritocracy

Our work grants us immortality

Why do we publish? (pragmatic)

Publications help us communicate our message to other scientists to foster collaboration

Publications give us ‘esteem’, which is a quality that allows you to influence decision makers

Publications get us money in the form of grants and scholarships

Publications grant us jobs

‘Publications get us money in the form of

grants and scholarships’

Increasingly true

All university departments are being assessed via the Research Excellence Framework (REF)

This will depend to a large extent on bibliographic metrics of publicationsPublish a paper and get lots of people to cite it = £££££££

Why do we publish?

‘Publish or perish’

Your writing tasks

Formative assessmentWeeks 6 – 9Group writing on a given topicPeer reviewed

Module assessmentSpring 7 – Summer 1Individual writing on a negotiated title

Individual projectReportPaper

Organizing your research (paper)

Organizing your research (paper)

Choosing a topic

Choosing your audience

What is your hypothesis?

What is your story?

Doing your literature review

Finding your evidence

Choosing a topic

One key to success is – What are you going to research?

…but in the context of your assessments

you will have to negotiate your topic

Think of your audience

Formative exercise?

Module assessment?

Project report?

Project paper?

What is your hypothesis?

A classic scientific paper is based on a hypothesis

A hypothesis is a proposition

Your objective is to prove – or falsify – that hypothesis

(QUAN)

Example hypotheses

Animation makes web advertising more effective

Fast-tempo music increases game players’ sense of immersion

Perceived ease-of-use is positively related to flow experience of playing of an on-line game

Data entry by older users is easier when the pocket computer has a keyboard, albeit a small one

The null hypothesis

The negation of the hypothesis

Seek to prove itFail and you have supported the hypothesis

e.g. Perceived ease-of-use is not positively related to flow experience of playing an on-line game

Even a review paper may have a hypothesis

Find a point to argue

and do so with reference to the literature

What is your story?

Every paper has a story

Finding it can be hardbut once you are clear you can write a clearer paper

‘No tale is so good that it can’t be spoiled in the telling’ (Proverb)

Example stories

‘This is my hypothesis and here is the evidence to support or refute it’

A history

Sellingan ideaa product

Teachstart from what the reader knowsand lead them to new knowledge

Doing your literature review

There is always a literature review

Your assessment paper will be mostly a literature review

Doing your literature review

Doing your literature review

Make notes as you go along

Organize the papers cleverly – use good tools to store and organize papers

Desktop – Bibtex, Endnote, RefManCloud – Mendeley, Citeulike

Do not keep them in a word document or other basic file type – you will drown

With the above tools you can then generate bibliographies for your own paper in whatever format you want

What’s your story?

Structuring your paper

You then have to communicate all of the above to your reader

Build constructs of language – sentence to paragraph, paragraphs to sections, sections to papers

All constructs of our paper will have the same structure:

Introduction – orienting the readerContribution – the point of the constructConclusion – sending the reader off

Structuring your paper

Title

Abstract

Introduction

Contribution

Conclusion

References

Acknowledgements

Structuring your paper

ContributionGenerally

MethodResultsDiscussion

Structuring your paper

Contribution

Show reasoned judgementDo not express opinions

Structuring your paper

Title

Abstract

Introduction

Contribution

Conclusion

References

Acknowledgements

Structuring your paper

Introduction

ContributionFor the assessment mainly discussion

Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract:State the contribution you are makingState the motivation as to why it is interestingState the methodology you followedState the resultsState the conclusions

You get about 1-2 sentences for each of these

The abstract will keep people reading your paper

Extended abstracts – short paper – you get 1 or 2 paragraphs for each of these

Abstract

Abstract:State the contribution you are makingState the motivation as to why it is interestingState the methodology you followedState the resultsState the conclusions

You get about 1-2 sentences for each of these

The abstract will keep people reading your paper

Extended abstracts – short paper – you get 1 or 2 paragraphs for each of these

Abstract

The abstract and paper should be capable of being read independently

Don’t assume that the reader reading one of them has read the other

A good abstract?

Introduction

Introduce the topic‘This paper is about…’ very early on‘No one reads the second paragraph’

Journalists’ dogma

Introduce the background

Introduce the paper

Literature review

In this section you will convince the reader that what you are doing is new and interesting

Hit on major themes within the research community

Look for problem areas such as common disagreements or ‘dogma’ that is in the field so that you reference them clearly

This is particularly important in your assessmentYou have not simply read the literature, you have analysed it criticallyDiscussion section?

Conclusions

Simple ruleIntroduce nothing new in the conclusionsIt is a distillation of what has gone before

Not a summary of the paperA summary of what can be learned from it

Conclusions

State – or re-iterate – succinctly:The contribution you have madeThe motivation as to why it is interesting to your audience and how it applies to themThe methodology you already describedThe key resultsWhat the findings mean to the field and how it is original and important

Sources of information

Zobel Writing for Computer Sciencehttp://www.amazon.com/Writing-Computer-Science-Justin-Zobel/dp/1852338024

Strunk and White (2014) Elements of Style, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Mander K. (1994) Writing for Humanshttp://www.cs.york.ac.uk/tutorials/writingforhumans.html

Sources of information

How to Write a Great Research Paperhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3dkRsTqdDA

Video (34:25) by Simon Peyton Jones

Thimbleby, H (2008) Write now!, (in) Cairns. P & Cox, A. (eds.) Research Methods for Human-Computer Interaction, Cambridge University press, pp.196-211

Pinker, S (2014) Why Academics Stink at Writing, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Read literature critically for style - re-read papers, chapters that you found easy to read

Sources of information

Truss, L. (2003) Eats shoots and leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation Profile Books

Burchfield, R. W (2004) Fowler's Modern English Usage Oxford University Press

How to Write an Abstract by Philip Koopman, Carnegie Mellon University http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html

Exercise

Instructions

Groups of 2 – 3 Consult your tutor

Formative exercise topics

1. Formal methods in HCI

2. Designing for trust

3. Motivations of people in crowdsourcing

4. Effects of font size and line spacing of text on webpages - what should we be recommending to web developers use to make the web easiest for people to read?

1. Formal methods in HCI

Harrison, M., Campos, J. C. & Loer, (2008) Formal analysis of interactive systems: opportunities and weaknesses. (in) P. Cairns & A. L. Cox (Eds), Research Methods for Human-Computer Interaction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 88-111.

2. Designing for trust

Shneiderman, B. (2000) Designing trust into online experiences, Communications of the ACM, 43 (12) pp.57-59.

3. Motivations of people in

crowdsourcingNov, O. (2007). What motivates

Wikipedians? Communications of the ACM, 50(11), 60-64.

4. Effects of font size and line spacing of text on webpages - what should we be recommending to

web developers use to make the web

easiest for people to read?Ling, J. and van Schaik, P. (2007). The influence

of line spacing and text alignment on visual search of web pages. Displays, 28(2), 60-67.