How to Write Technical Paper

8/14/2019 How to Write Technical Paper

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Yasir Jan

College of EME, NUST


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Conference papersAn original paper presented at a formal gathering of peers,

usually at the invitation of the group or organizationsponsoring the conference, which may be subsequentlypublished in its proceedings.

exchange of information between researchers.

Announcement like Call for Papers or Call for Abstracts


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Call for Paper SitesGeneral CFP Sites examples

Conference Alerts

Eventseer

OpenResearch.org

Papers Invited

WikiCFP

Specialized CFP Sites examples

ACM: Computer

IEEE: Engineering

H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences

LingList: Linguistics

UPenn-English: English Language

AS@ICU: Distributed systems and pervasive computing


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Conference basicsRelated issues

NSS / MIC 2009

2009 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and MedicalImaging Conference

website http://www.nss-mic.org/2009

e-mail: [email protected]

location: Orlando, Florida, USA

date:25 October 2009 until 31 October 2009

deadline:11 May 2009 for abstract


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Issues of papersPaper TitleThe AbstractThe Introduction

Related WorkThe BodyPerformanceExperimentsThe Conclusions

Future WorkThe AcknowledgementsCitationsAppendices


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Sections of paperExperimental processSection of Paper

What did I do in a nutshell? Abstract

What is the problem? Introduction

How did I solve the problem? Materials and Methods

What did I find out? Results

What does it mean? Discussion

Who helped me out? Acknowledgments (optional)

Whose work did I refer to? Literature Cited

Extra Information Appendices (optional)


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TitleA general or descriptive heading for a section of a written work


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TitleResearch Paper Titles are What Your Readers

See at First Glance

A research paper does not only need to have good

results but should also be attractive to the readers.

Use catchy but formal words in the title. Avoidslang or colloquial words.

You no longer need to put a period at the end ofthe title.


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TitleArticle title

Authors name

Authors school affiliation

[Specific] "Second-order Beliefs and the Use of Self-Presentational Explanations for Behavior."

[General] "Cognitive Abilities and Social Understanding

Give example of a specific and a general title related tocomputer architecture


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Paper TitleTitles can be long and descriptive:

Linear-Time External Multipass Sorting withApproximation Guarantees

short and sweet:

Approximate External Sort

The paper (or at least the algorithm) could have acute name that sticks in people's minds:

Floosh:A Linear-Time Algorithm for ApproximateExternal Sort


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Example of Title


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Example of Title


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Business titles examples Informational

"Acquisition is recommended

"Project delay due to spec change

"Adjust the volume controlTease

"Should we do the acquisition?"

"Project status"

"How to fix it

Cute"Buying spree!"

"Spec change strikes again

"Are we loud enough?"


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TitlesBad Title:

Web Cleaners and web cleaning key to Process ControlImprovements - Teknek Coverting - Web cleaning

equipment for the coating, laminating, printing, andconverting industries.

This is a company's web site. The title field shouldcontain only the company's name.

The title contains descriptive information. Titlesshould not contain descriptive information about thesite (or in this case, the company). Descriptiveinformation goes in the description field.


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Abstract


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AbstractFirst, write your paper. While the abstract will

be at the beginning of your paper, it should bethe last section that you write. Once you havecompleted the final draft, use it as a guide forwriting your abstract.

Function: An abstract summarizes, in oneparagraph (usually), the major aspects of theentire paper in sequence


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Abstract (Sequence)the question(s) you investigated(or purpose), (from Introduction)state the purpose very clearly in the first or second sentence.

the experimental design andmethods used, (from Methods)clearly express the basic design of the study.

Name or briefly describe the basic methodology used without going into

excessive detail-be sure to indicate the key techniques used.the major findingsincludingkey quantitative results, or trends

(from Results) report those results which answer the questions you were asking

identify trends, relative change or differences, etc.

a brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions. (fromDiscussion)

clearly state the implications of the answers your results gave you.
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INTRODUCTIONS

COMPAREDAt first glance, introduction and the abstract are very similarbecause they both present the research problem Objectives

briefly reviewing methodologymain findings and main conclusions.

Introduction Should be short, but does not have a word limit; Main purpose

is to introduce the research by presenting its context orbackground. Introductions usually go from general to specific,introducing the research problem and how it will beinvestigated

Abstract Has a maximum word limit; Is a summary of the whole

research; Main purpose is to summarize the research(particularly the objective and the main finding/conclusion),NOT to introduce the research area.


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Example abstractAbstractThe long-term performance of various systems was determined andthe economic aspects of solar hot water production wereinvestigated in this work. The effect of the collector inclination angle,collector area and storage volume was examined for all systems,

and various climatic conditions and their payback period wascalculated. It was found that the collector inclination angle does nothave a significant effect on system performance. Large collectorareas have a diminishing effect on the systems overall efficiency.The increase in storage volume has a detrimental effect for smalldaily load volumes, but a beneficial one when there is a large dailyconsumption. Solar energy was found to be truly competitive whenthe conventional fuel being substituted is electricity, and it should

not replace diesel oil on pure economic grounds. Large daily loadvolumes and large collector areas are in general associated withshorter payback periods. Overall, the systems are oversized and areeconomically suitable for large daily hot water load volumes.


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Example abstract

(explanation)"The long-term performance of various systems was determinedand the economic aspects of solar hot water production wereinvestigated in this work."

Here the authors present the objectives of their research (and by

implication their research problem, i.e. the long-term performanceand the economic aspects are unknown and need to be found).

"The effect of the collector inclination angle, collector area andstorage volume was examined for all systems, and various climaticconditions and their payback period was calculated."

Here we are told what was studied and calculated, i.e. we aregiven a very brief summary of the methodology.


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Example abstract

(explanation)"It was found that the collector inclination angle does not have asignificant effect on system performance. Large collector areas have adiminishing effect on the systems overall efficiency. The increase instorage volume has a detrimental effect for small daily load volumes,but a beneficial one when there is a large daily consumption."

This part of the abstract presents the main finding (i.e. results) theauthors obtained.

"Solar energy was found to be truly competitive when the conventionalfuel being substituted is electricity, and it should not replace diesel oilon pure economic grounds. Large daily load volumes and largecollector areas are in general associated with shorter payback periods.

Overall, the systems are oversized and are economically suitable forlarge daily hot water load volumes."Finally, the main conclusions and recommendations from the research

are given.


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Materials and MethodsWhen writing a lab report, it is often a good idea to

begin by writing theMaterials and Methods section.

Very straightforward

Following this section, it is generally recommended towrite the Results section, followed by the Discussion,and finally the Introduction. Although this strategy isonly a recommendation, and although it may seem

illogical at first, many have found this approach veryeffective for writing scientific papers.


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Example (M & M)A potato and a knife were obtained for this

experiment. Also, distilled water, a blender,cheese cloth, a clean container with a cover,

and eight spectrophotometer tubes were used.A Spectronic 20 spectrophotometer was usedfor this experiment, as were buffers of pHs 4, 6,7, and 8. Catechol substrate, Parafilm

coverings, KimWipes, a black pen, and pipetteswere also obtained for this experiment. Finally,a pencil and pad were obtained for recordingresults.


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Non verbal factorsDont worry about non verbal factors because,

each conference or journal has their standardformat


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Writing style


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Writing stylePassive voice has no place in technical writing. It

obscures who the actor was, what caused it, and when ithappened. Use active voice and simple, clear, direct

phrasing.Do not use words like obviously or clearly, as in

Obviously, this Taylor series sums to pi. If the point isreally obvious, then you are just wasting words bypointing it out. And if the point is not obvious (readers

won't be intimately familiar with the subject matter theway the author is), then you are offending readers byinsulting their intelligence, and demonstrating your owninability to communicate the intuition.


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Writing stylePrefer singular to plural number. In

sequences induce graphs, it is not clearwhether the two collections are in one-to-one

correspondence, or the set of sequencescollectively induces a set of graphs; eachsequence induces a graph avoids thisconfusion. Likewise, in graphs might contain

paths, it is unclear whether a given graphmight contain multiple paths, or might containat most one path.


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Figure


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Figures


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FiguresA figure should stand on its own, containing

all the information that is necessary tounderstand it.

Good captions contain multiple sentences; thecaption provides context and explanation. Forexamples, see magazines such as Scientific

American andAmerican Scientist. Never writea caption like The Foobar technique; thecaption should also say how the Foobartechnique works or what it is good for.


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FiguresI am not fond of having many different types

of figures in a paper some labeled figure,others labeled table or graph or picture.

This makes it very hard to find table 3,which might appear after figure 7 but beforefreehand drawing 1. It's best to simply callthem all figures and number them

sequentially; the body of each figure can be atable, a graph, a drawing, or whatever.


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Naming


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NamingDon't confuse the reader by substituting program,library, component, system, and artifact, norby conflating technique, idea, and method.Choose the

Choose good names not only for the concepts that youpresent in your paper, but for the document source file.Don't name the file after the conference to which youare submitting (the paper might be rejected) or theyear. Even if the paper is accepted, such a name won't

tell you what the paper is about when when you lookover your source files in later years. Instead, give thepaper a name that reflects its content. best word forthe concept, and stick with it.


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Summary of paperIntroduction

Methods

Figures and TablesConclusion

Documents

How to Write Technical Paper