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A gentle introduction to writing research papers. …but drawing heavily on slides from Chris Power. Alistair Edwards. 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. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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A gentle introduction to writing research papersAlistair Edwards
…but drawing heavily on slides from Chris Power
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
Exercise and assessment
ExerciseNow to Monday, Week 8 (18 November)Small groupsWrite a literature review on one of 4 topics
AssessmentWeek 7 Spring Term to Week 1 SummerIndividualWrite a literature review on a topic of your choice, related to one or more ADVT classes
Why do we publish?
‘Publish or perish’
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 this assessmentYour group must choose one of the given topics
1. Formal methods in HCI2. Designing for trust3. Motivations of people in crowdsourcing4. 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?
Choosing a topic
One key to success is – What are you going to research?
…but in the context of the later assessment
must be related to one or more of the classesmust have a significant literaturemust be of the right sizemust require no original research
Choosing your audience
For the formative exercise think of your colleagues
on the HCIT programmebut have not read as much as you
Choosing your audience
For the assessment think of the second marker
is an HCI expertbut has not been to the classes
What is your 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 proved 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 should have a
hypothesisFind 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 prove or disprove 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
Look for those references that have titles and keywords that seem to match the problem you are solving
If available, read the abstract
Collect papers – either digital or go to *gasp* the library!
Do this early because if you need to see a paper and we don’t have it in the University you can order through inter-library loans (ILL)
Doing your literature survey
Read the abstract, introduction and conclusions
If they are well written these will tell you what the paper is about and whether it is useful
Discard those that are not useful – may want to keep a file of interesting things to look at for another time
Keep those that are applicable and read methods and results
Doing your literature survey
Read the abstract, introduction and conclusions
These will also be most important in the paper you write
and are often poor
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
Introduction
ContributionGenerally
MethodResultsDiscussion
Conclusion
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
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
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 - Elements of Style
For the specifics of constructions etc (if you are not confident) - Fowler’s Modern English Usage
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
Read literature critically for style - re-read papers, chapters that you found easy to read
Exercise
Instructions
Groups of 2 – 3 Consult your tutor
Exercise
Instructions
Groups of 2 – 3 My group
April, RichardSophia, TraceyHanieh, LeonardoYingzhu, Anqi
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.