Research article presentation

Technical WritingHow to Write Good Research Articles

Supta Richard Philip 1

1M.Sc. in Computer ScienceDepartment of Information Engineering and Computer Science

University of Trento, Italy.

August 8, 2012

Copywrite Declaration : Metarials are taken from Dr. Ashfaqur Rahman, Research Scientist,Intelligent Sensing andSystems Lab (ISSL),CSIRO, Australia &

Xiaohua Jia, Chair Professor,Dept of Computer Science,City University of Hong Kong.

Supta R. Philip (University of Trento) Technical Writing August 8, 2012 1 / 21

1 Publication Requirement

2 Kinds of Scientific Publications

3 Where to publish your workImportant journals & conferences

4 Plan your writingReader-oriented Writing

5 Structure of a PaperChoose a Right TitleWrite a concise AbstractChoose a right set of keywordsExamples of an abstract / keywordsOrganization of your PaperIntroduction: the most difficult partRelated work and Reference listExamples of reference lists

6 Writing Tips: carry you to a long way


Publication Requirement

The people who need the publications

BSc Degree (Minor)

MPhil Degree / MS by Research / MS (Minor)

PhD Degree

Full time researcher / Academics




BSc Degree (Minor)


PhD Degree





BSc Degree (Minor)


PhD Degree





BSc Degree (Minor)


PhD Degree



Kinds of Scientific Publications

ThesisAspects to be Assessed for a Thesis:

background knowledgeoriginal contributions (amount of work)methodologypresentation (writing)

Conference PublicationsFocus on a piece of work with limited discussion

Journal PublicationsMore complete (extensive) discussion

Book chapters / Text books

























background knowledge

original contributions (amount of work)methodologypresentation (writing)







background knowledgeoriginal contributions (amount of work)

methodologypresentation (writing)







background knowledgeoriginal contributions (amount of work)methodology

presentation (writing)












Where to publish your work

JournalsRanking of journalsReview process of journalsPublication cycle

ConferencesRanking of conferencesReview process of conferencesN.B. a good journal / conference tends to have rigorous reviewprocess and long review time


Where to publish your work

JournalsRanking of journalsReview process of journalsPublication cycle

ConferencesRanking of conferencesReview process of conferencesN.B. a good journal / conference tends to have rigorous reviewprocess and long review time


Important journals & conferences

DatabaseIEEE Trans on Knowledge and Data EngineeringACM Trans on Database SystemsIntl Conf on VLDB

Software EngineeringIEEE Trans on Software EngineeringACM Trans on Software Eng. and MethodologyIEEE Intl Conf on Software Engineering

Distributed SystemsIEEE Trans on Parallel and Distributed SystemsACM Trans on Computer SystemsIEEE Intl Conf on Distributed Computing Systems

Computer NetworksIEEE/ACM Trans on NetworkingIEEE INFOCOMACM Mobicom, etc.




















Plan your writing

Ask two questions before starting:What is new in your work?What are you going to write?

Emphasize on the originality and significance of your work.

Organize your thinking and decide the structure (outlines) of yourpaper.

Stick on your central points throughout the whole paper and removeall unnecessary discussions.


Plan your writing






Plan your writing






Plan your writing






Reader-oriented Writing

Purpose of your writing: disseminating your research results.Dont write if there is nothing to write.Dont make a simple problem complicated to fool people.Dont hide technical details.

Reader-oriented writing: Write in a way that would lead readers tofollow your thinking, NOT in the way of your thinking.Well-organize your thinking.Give enough and clear explanation (never leave reader to guess).Try to present your idea in an accurate way (no ambiguous).Always think how readers would interpret your writing (assume yourea reader).

Use simple/ plain English.Purpose of technical writing: express your idea correctly & clearly.












Structure of a Paper

Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work

System Model & Problem Statement

Methods / Solutions

Simulations / Experiments

Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References

Average number of pages of a journal paper.Average number of pages of a conference paper.



Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References




Title

Abstract

Key words

Introduction

Background

Related Work


Methods / Solutions


Conclusion

Acknowledgement

References



Choose a Right Title

The title should be very specific, not too broad.

The title should be substantially different from others.Topology control for multihop wireless networks, IEEE Trans. onComm, 93.Topology control of multihop wireless networks using transmit poweradjustment, infocom00.Distributed topology control for power efficient operation in multihopwireless networks, infocom01.

Avoid general / big titles, e.g.,Research on data mining,Some research on job assignment in cluster computing,A new framework for distributed computing,












Write a concise Abstract

The use of an abstract:for search purpose.giving readers a paper-summary before getting into details.

An abstract should tell:the problem that the paper discusses.the work that has been done, or method being used.original findings / achievements.

An abstract usually does NOT have:reference numbersmultiple paragraphs












Choose a right set of keywords

The use of keywords:database search,categorizing your work (for editors to choose reviewers).

The keywords must be specific and, as a whole, represent the maintopic of the paper.

Avoid using the words that are not the main topic, such as calculus,simulations, etc.












Examples of an abstract / keywords


Organization of your Paper

Top-down writing method

Planning sections and subsections

Sketching: use a sentence to represent the points (paragraphs) ineach subsections

Writing details: expand a sentence in the sketch into a paragraph

Adjustment: break / merge paragraphs, add / merge sections

N.B. keep a logical flow from section to section, paragraph to paragraph,and sentence to sentence.










































Introduction: the most difficult part

Purpose of introduction: Introducing readers to your problem / work. Anintroduction usually contains: Brief background of the topic-area Existingwork, which would lead to the importance / originality of your workDescription of your problem Achievement / significance /brief-methodology of work


Related work and Reference list

Show your knowledge in the related area,

Give credit to other researchers (reviewers are usually chosen from thereferences),

Cite good quality work (particularly when citing your own work) andup to date work.













Be organized to serve your topic,

Emphasize on the significance / originality of your work (Introducingyour work out).



Be organized to serve your topic,

Emphasize on the significance / originality of your work (Introducingyour work out).



Consistent with the format, ordering, etc.

Standard format of books / journal papers / conference papers, e.g,X. Jia, X.D. Hu and D.Z. Du, Multiwavelength Optical Networks,Kluwer Academic, 2002. J. Li, Yi Pan, and X. Jia, Analysis ofDynamic Location Management for PCS Networks, IEEE Trans onVehicular Technology, Vol. 51, No. 5, Sep 2002, pp.1109-1119.X. Jia, D. Li, X.Hu and D. Du, Placement of Read-Write Web Proxiesin the Internet, Proc of IEEE Intl. Conf. on Distributed ComputingSystems, Phoenix, USA, Apr 2001, pp.687-690.

Do NOT use non-standard abbrev.



Consistent with the format, ordering, etc.

Standard format of books / journal papers / conference papers, e.g,X. Jia, X.D. Hu and D.Z. Du, Multiwavelength Optical Networks,Kluwer Academic, 2002. J. Li, Yi Pan, and X. Jia, Analysis ofDynamic Location Management for PCS Networks, IEEE Trans onVehicular Technology, Vol. 51, No. 5, Sep 2002, pp.1109-1119.X. Jia, D. Li, X.Hu and D. Du, Placement of Read-Write Web Proxiesin the Internet, Proc of IEEE Intl. Conf. on Distributed ComputingSystems, Phoenix, USA, Apr 2001, pp.687-690.

Do NOT use non-standard abbrev.


Examples of reference lists


Writing Tips: carry you to a long way

Reader-oriented writing (good organization, logical flow, etc).

Standard and consistent formatting (professional and neat looking).

Learning from other peoples writing.












For Further Reading I

James D. Lester.Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide.Harpercollins College Div; 8th edition, January 1996.

Peter Haisler.Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide.15/6 2011.

A. Sloman.http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/internal/research students/theses.php, Jul2010.

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.http://www.aresearchguide.com/


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Research article presentation