Writing SPE Technical Papers

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    SPE 101

    Wat do you tik separates

    a ecellet paper roma averae oe?

    First o all, excellent papers

    contain excellent inormation: new

    ideas, methods, data, observation,

    analysis, etc. Secondly, all the

    inormation needs to be logically

    organized so that it is easy or

    readers to understand. Ater all, the

    purpose o a paper is to eectively

    communicate with others.

    We readi papers writte

    y oter SPE memers, wat do

    you tik is te most commo

    area or improvemet?

    The majority o SPE papers are

    very good. Some may have

    issues such as being overly long

    or have language diculties.

    Wat omework sould

    a autor do eoreeii a paper?

    While planning a paper, it is a good

    idea or authors to do a li terature

    review on the same or similar

    topics in order to know more about

    the history and the recent advances

    in the particular subject matter.

    Do you write a paper wit a

    specifc audiece i mid,

    suc as or colleaues,researcers, te idustry at

    lare, etc.? how mit tis

    cae your approac?

    Yes. Actually, papers or dierent

    audiences are organized in quite

    dierent ways. For example, papers

    written or the industry at large may

    need more introductory material

    or general technical discussion.

    On the other hand, papers writtenor colleagues and peers who are

    already working in the same eld o

    study may touch more on technical

    details, ranging rom applications

    and improvements to detailed

    ormulae or experiment analysis.

    Wat advice would you ive

    to a colleaue wo as ever

    writte a paper? Were is a

    ood place or tem to start?

    Start with a literature review on

    your topic o interest and others

    related to it. The multisociety

    library at www.onepetro.org

    is a good place to begin.

    Some SPE memers strule

    to come up wit a ood topic

    or a paper. Do you ave ay

    WRITIng SPE TEChnICAL PAPERS

    The chie asset o SPE is the knowledge o its members, which is documented primarily in the technical papers

    they write. SPE members derive tremendous benets rom papersboth rom reading them and rom writing them.

    Authoring papers is a way to share knowledge with the industry and to gain public recognition or ones work.

    Presenters o technical papers at conerences have the chance to share their ndings with peers at an industry event

    (possibly held in an interesting new place!). The networking benets or authors at these SPE events oten lead to

    additional paths o study or learning.

    To help potential authors write the best possible papers, SPE has posted a variety o tips on its website at www.

    spe.org/papers. Here you can nd advice or writing a quality paper proposal and or ormatting your paper in the

    SPE way.Whether you are contemplating gett ing star ted on your rst SPE paper or have already presented several,

    you can learn a lot rom the experience o seasoned authors. With this in mind, TWAsat down with 2010 Ferguson

    Medal winner Lujun Lou Ji, a senior research engineer at M-I Swaco. The Ferguson Medal recognizes signicant

    contributions to the permanent technical literature o the proession by an SPE member younger than 36.

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    2Vol. 7 // No. 2 // 2011

    tips to elp a potetial autor

    determie weter or ot

    someti tey are worki

    o is a wortwile topic?

    Good topics usually can be

    ound by browsing the oerings

    at SPE events. Clues to popular

    and interesting topics lie in

    calls or papers, in the keynoteand technical presentations

    given, and through the networking

    experiences among members

    at these meetings. This is one o

    the great benets o participating

    in SPE meetings. Reading SPE

    papers and journal ar ticles is

    also very helpul in this regard.

    how importat are co-autors?

    how muc dierece is tere

    i te workload take oy te autor as compared

    to is/er co-autors?

    nEW IDEAS nEW METhODS nEW DATA nEW ObSERVATIOn nEW AnALYSIS

    An E xCE LLE nT PAPER COnTAInS ExCELLE nT I nFORMATIOn

    Co-authors are as important as

    the main authorthey contribute

    a lot to the paper and are also

    responsible or its content in

    the same manner as the author.

    That said, an author usually

    has a litt le bit more workload

    than co-authors do, since she/

    he usually handles the overall

    organization o the paper and isresponsible or including co-

    authors contributions. Co-authors

    may write parts o the paper as

    well, and they also need to review

    the entire paper, making sure

    that all o the inormation that

    they want to include is present

    and clearly organized. Finally, the

    paper must be understandable

    or all the co-authors, the

    rst readers o the paper.

    Wat aout posters?

    We sould a autor

    cosider a poster

    istead o a paper?

    When authors have enough

    data or results but do not

    have enough time to put them

    into a ull paper, they should

    consider putting them into

    a poster. A poster briefysummarizes the analysis or

    experimental method, outlines

    the associated data, results,

    etc. and draws conclusions

    based on these observations.

    Ay fal touts?

    Language skills are also

    important. Weak language

    skills can prevent readers

    rom understanding theinormation in the paper. TWA

    Iterested i readi Jis medal-wii paper? Go to www.onepetro.org and look up

    SPE paper 110845 A Novel Hydraulic Fracturing Model Fully Coupled with Geomechanics

    and Reservoir Simulator. Watch or Part II o Writing SPE Technical Papers in the next

    issue oTWA, where you will nd more tips to help you write the best possible paper.