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HowtoWriteaResearchPaper

SlidesbasedonapresentationbySimonPeytonJones,MicrosoftResearch,Cambridge

Whywritingpapers?

•  Impressothers?Recognition?Promotion?•  Communicateyouridea!•  Greatestideasareworthlessifkepttoyourself

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Writingpapersisaskill

•  Manypapersarebadlywritten•  Goodwritingisaskillyoucanlearn•  It’saskillthatisworthlearning:

– Morepapersaccepted– GetyourPh.D.(faster)– Yourideaswillhavemoreimpact– YouwillhavebetterideasIn

creasin

gim

portance

Writingpapers:iterativemodel

Idea Do research Write paper

•  Forcesustobeclear,focused•  Crystallizeswhatwedon’tunderstand•  Opensthewaytodialoguewithothers:realitycheck,critique,andcollaboration

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GettingStarted

•  Youdon’tneedtohaveafantasticideabeforeyoucanwriteapaper– Writeapaper,andgiveatalk,aboutanyidea,nomatterhowinsignificantitmayseemtoyou

– Writingthepaperishowyoudeveloptheideainthefirstplace

–  Itusuallyturnsouttobemoreinterestingandchallengingthatitseemedatfirst

What’stheidea?

•  Areusableinsights,usefultothereader•  Figureoutwhatyourideais•  Makecertainthatthereaderisinnodoubtwhattheideais.Be100%explicit:– “Themainideaofthispaperis....”– “Inthissectionwepresentthemaincontributionsofthepaper.”

•  Manypaperscontaingoodideas,butdonotdistilwhattheyare.

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Oneping

•  Yourpapershouldhavejustone“ping”:oneclear,sharpidea

•  Readyourpaperagain:canyouhearthe“ping”?

•  Youmaynotknowexactlywhatthepingiswhenyoustartwriting;butyoumustknowwhenyoufinish

•  Ifyouhavelotsofideas,writelotsofpapers

Thepurposeofyourpaperis(typically)not...

To describe the WizWoz

system

§  YourreaderdoesnothaveaWizWoz

§  Sheisprimarilyinterestedinreusablebrain-stuff,notexecutableartefacts

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Yournarrativeflow

•  Hereisaproblem•  It’saninterestingproblem•  It’sanunsolvedproblem•  Hereismyidea•  Myideaworks(details,data)•  Here’showmyideacomparestootherpeople’sapproaches

IwishIknewhowtosolvethat!

Iseehowthatworks.Ingenious!

Structure(conferencepaper)

•  Title(1000readers)•  Abstract(4sentences,100readers)•  Introduction(1page,100readers)•  Theproblem(1page,10readers)•  Myidea(2pages,10readers)•  Thedetails(5pages,3readers)•  Relatedwork(1-2pages,10readers)•  Conclusionsandfurtherwork(0.5pages)

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Theabstract

•  WriteabstractfirstANDfinishlast!•  Usedbyprogramcommitteemembersto

decidewhichpaperstoread•  Foursentences[KentBeck]

1.  Statetheproblem2.  Saywhyit’saninterestingproblem3.  Saywhatyoursolutionachieves4.  Saywhatfollowsfromyoursolution

Example

1.  Manypapersarebadlywrittenandhardtounderstand

2.  Thisisapity,becausetheirgoodideasmaygounappreciated

3.  Followingsimpleguidelinescandramaticallyimprovethequalityofyourpapers

4.  Yourworkwillbeusedmore,andthefeedbackyougetfromotherswillinturnimproveyourresearch

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Structure

•  Abstract(4sentences)•  Introduction(1page)•  Theproblem(1page)•  Myidea(2pages)•  Thedetails(5pages)•  Relatedwork(1-2pages)•  Conclusionsandfurtherwork(0.5pages)

Theintroduction(1page)

1.   Describetheproblem2.   Stateyourcontributions...andthatisallONEPAGE!

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Describetheproblem

Useanexampletointroducetheproblem

Stateyourcontributions

•  Writethelistofcontributionsfirst•  Thelistofcontributionsdrivestheentire

paper:thepapersubstantiatestheclaimsyouhavemade

•  Readerthinks“gosh,iftheycanreallydeliverthis,that’dbeexciting;I’dbetterreadon”

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Stateyourcontributions

Bulletedlistofcontributions

Donotleavethereadertoguesswhatyourcontributionsare!

Contributionsshouldberefutable

NO! YES! We describe the WizWoz system. It is really cool.

We give the syntax and semantics of a language that supports concurrent processes (Section 3). Its innovative features are...

We study its properties We prove that the type system is sound, and that type checking is decidable (Section 4)

We have used WizWoz in practice

We have built a GUI toolkit in WizWoz, and used it to implement a text editor (Section 5). The result is half the length of the Java version.

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“Restofthispaperis...”

•  Considerusingforwardreferencesfromthenarrativeintheintroduction

•  Theintroduction(includingthecontributions)shouldsurveythewholepaper,andthereforeforwardreferenceeveryimportantpart

“The rest of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 introduces the problem. Section 3 ... Finally, Section 8 concludes”.

Structure

•  Abstract(4sentences)•  Introduction(1page)•  Relatedwork(1-2pages)•  Theproblem(1page)•  Myidea(2pages)•  Thedetails(5pages)•  Relatedwork(1-2pages)•  Conclusionsandfurtherwork(0.5pages)

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Relatedworklocation

Relatedwork

Your reader Your idea WeadoptthenotionoftransactionfromBrown[1],asmodifiedfordistributedsystemsbyWhite[2],usingthefour-phaseinterpolationalgorithmofGreen[3].OurworkdiffersfromWhiteinouradvancedrevocationprotocol,whichdealswiththecaseofpriorityinversionasdescribedbyYellow[4].

Relatedworklocation

•  Problem1:thereaderknowsnothingabouttheproblemyet;soyour(carefullytrimmed)descriptionofvarioustechnicaltradeoffsisabsolutelyincomprehensible

•  Problem2:describingalternativeapproachesgetsbetweenthereaderandyouridea Ifeel

tired

Ifeelstupid

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Structure

•  Abstract(4sentences)•  Introduction(1page)•  Theproblem(1page)•  Myidea(2pages)•  Thedetails(5pages)•  Relatedwork(1-2pages)•  Conclusionsandfurtherwork(0.5pages)

Presentingtheidea3. The idea Consider a bifircuated semi-lattice D, over a hyper-modulated signature S. Suppose pi is an element of D. Then we know for every such pi there is an epi-modulus j, such that pj < pi.

§ Sounds impressive...but § Sends readers to sleep § In a paper you MUST provide the details,

but FIRST convey the idea

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Presentingtheidea

•  Explainitasifyouwerespeakingtosomeoneusingawhiteboard

•  Conveyingtheintuitionisprimary,notsecondary

•  Onceyourreaderhastheintuition,shecanfollowthedetails(butnotviceversa)

•  Evenifsheskipsthedetails,shestilltakesawaysomethingvaluable

Puttingthereaderfirst

•  Donotrecapitulateyourpersonaljourneyofdiscovery.Thisroutemaybesoakedwithyourblood,butthatisnotinterestingtothereader.

•  Instead,choosethemostdirectroutetotheidea.

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Thepayloadofyourpaper

Introducetheproblem,andyouridea,using

EXAMPLESandonlythenpresentthegeneralcase

Usingexamples

Examplerightaway

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Thedetails:evidence

•  Yourintroductionmakesclaims•  Thebodyofthepaperprovidesevidencetosupporteachclaim

•  Checkeachclaimintheintroduction,identifytheevidence,andforward-referenceitfromtheclaim

•  Evidencecanbe:analysisandcomparison,theorems,measurements,casestudies

Structure

•  Abstract(4sentences)•  Introduction(1page)•  Theproblem(1page)•  Myidea(2pages)•  Thedetails(5pages)•  Relatedwork(1-2pages)•  Conclusionsandfurtherwork(0.5pages)

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Relatedwork

Fallacy Tomakemyworklookgood,Ihavetomakeotherpeople’sworklookbad

Thetruth:creditisnotlikemoney

Givingcredittoothersdoesnotdiminishthecredityougetfrom

yourpaper

§  Warmlyacknowledgepeoplewhohavehelpedyou

§  Begeneroustothecompetition.“Inhisinspiringpaper[Foo98]Foogleshows....Wedevelophisfoundationinthefollowingways...”

§  Acknowledgeweaknessesinyourapproach

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Creditisnotlikemoney

Failingtogivecredittootherscankillyourpaper

Ifyouimplythatanideaisyours,andtherefereeknowsitisnot,theneither

§  Youdon’tknowthatit’sanoldidea(bad)

§  Youdoknow,butarepretendingit’syours(verybad)

Structure

•  Abstract(4sentences)•  Introduction(1page)•  Theproblem(1page)•  Myidea(2pages)•  Thedetails(5pages)•  Relatedwork(1-2pages)•  Conclusionsandfurtherwork(0.5pages)

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Conclusionsandfurtherwork

•  Bebrief.

Theprocessofwriting

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Theprocess

•  Startearly.Veryearly.– Hastily-writtenpapersgetrejected.– Papersarelikewine:theyneedtimetomature

•  Collaborate•  UseCVS/sharelatex/GoogleDocs/etc.tosupportcollaboration

Gettinghelp

•  Expertsaregood•  Non-expertsarealsoverygood•  Eachreadercanonlyreadyourpaperforthefirsttimeonce!Sousethemcarefully

•  Explaincarefullywhatyouwant(“Igotlosthere”ismuchmoreimportantthan“Jarvaismis-spelt”.)

Getyourpaperreadbyasmanyfriendlyguineapigsaspossible

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Gettingexperthelp

•  Agoodplan:whenyouthinkyouaredone,sendthedrafttothecompetitionsaying“couldyouhelpmeensurethatIdescribeyourworkfairly?”

•  Oftentheywillrespondwithhelpfulcritique(theyareinterestedinthearea)

•  Theyarelikelytobeyourrefereesanyway,sogettingtheircommentsorcriticismupfrontisJollyGood.

Listeningtoyourreviewers

TreateveryreviewlikegolddustBe(truly)gratefulforcriticismaswellaspraise

Thisisreally,really,reallyhard

Butit’sreally,really,really,really,really,really,really,

really,really,reallyimportant

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Listeningtoyourreviewers

•  Readeverycriticismasapositivesuggestionforsomethingyoucouldexplainmoreclearly

•  DONOTrespond“youstupidperson,ImeantX”.FixthepapersothatXisapparenteventothestupidestreader.

•  Thankthemwarmly.Theyhavegivenuptheirtimeforyou.

Languageandstyle

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Basicstuff

•  Submitbythedeadline•  Keeptothelengthrestrictions

– Donotnarrowthemargins– Donotuse6ptfont– Onoccasion,supplysupportingevidence(e.g.experimentaldata,orawritten-outproof)inanappendix

•  Alwaysuseaspellchecker

Visualstructure

•  Givestrongvisualstructuretoyourpaperusing– sectionsandsub-sections– bullets–  italics–  laid-outcode

•  Findouthowtodrawpictures,andusethem

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Visualstructure

Activevs.passivevoice•  Itcanbeseenthat…•  Wecanseethat…•  Figure1showsthat…•  “Weuseaqueue,i.e.,astructurethatpermitsinsertionsattherearanddeletionsfromthefront.Wemaintainapointertothefrontandrearofthestructure.”

•  “Inaqueue,insertionsareperformedattherearanddeletionsareperformedatthefront;thereforeapointertothefrontandtherearmustbemaintained.”

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Usepresenttense

•  Presenttenseisstrongerthanfuturetense

WEAK:Inthispaper,wewillshow…STRONG:Inthispaper,weshowthat…

Usepresenttense

•  Pasttensedegradesinto“diarywriting”

BAD:Inthisworkwewantedto…GOOD:Thegoalsofourworkareto…

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Don’tchangetense

BAD:Inthischapter,wehavedescribedwhathappenswhenwedothewrongthing.Weexaminedthebehavioranddeterminethattheyarecorrect.BAD:TheanalysisreportedintheprecedingsectionwillshowthatNickcandifferentiateshodfromshoddy.

Usesimple,directlanguage

NO YES The object under study was

displaced horizontally The ball moved sideways

On an annual basis Yearly

Endeavour to ascertain Find out

It could be considered that the speed of storage reclamation left something to be desired

The garbage collector was really slow

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YouMUSTreadeachofyoursentencesfor:

•  Content/meaning•  Structure•  Style

Beconsistent:callaspadeaspade!

•  Can’tchangeterminology,evenforagoodreason,w/outexplanation

remoteproxyvsproxydatastructurevsstructure

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Whichvsthat

•  thatidentifiestheobjectaboutwhichyouarespeaking

•  whichprovidesfurtherinfoabouttheobject

GOOD:Thecarthatisspeedingdowntheroadisabouttocrashintoapole.GOOD:Thecar,whichisspeedingdowntheroad,isabouttocrashintoapole.

Avoidfuzzywords

•  very,easily,actually,truly,infact,some,thing

•  etc.BAD:Incomparingouralgorithmwiththealgorithmdescribedinreference17,weseethatoursisveryfast.

BAD:Inthissection,wedefinethetermsnode,tree,graph,etc.

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Summary

•  Everyclaimmustbeexplainedandsubstantiated•  Everythingthatyoustateisaclaim•  Anydecentreviewerwillassumethat“ifyoudon’tstateit,youdidn’tdoitandyoucan’thandleit!”

•  Geta“reader”toreadyourpaper•  Writingawell-writtenpaperisalotofwork!