1、Technical Writing for Computer Science Part 1: Content and Organization Research Careers Lecture Series July 13, 2009,Michael J. Lewis, Director Department of Computer Science Binghamton University (SUNY),NSF REU Technical Writing,CS Research Papers,Every paper is different, but most should be organ
2、ized like this: Abstract Introduction Related Work Design Implementation Performance Summary and Future Work References,NSF REU Technical Writing,CS Research Paper (cont.),Abstract 150 300 words Identify the problem Some background OK, but get to the point Identify the key contribution explicitly do
3、nt let others decide Dont keep secrets report the main results Many more people will read your abstract than your paper,NSF REU Technical Writing,Introduction,Do not start with a quote! Provide some background (1-2 paragraphs) Get to the point Identify the problem (yes, again) Identify your contribu
4、tion (yes, again) Preview most important results (yes, again),NSF REU Technical Writing,Related Work,Report the background research Categorize other papers Briefly summarize them (1-2 sentences each is often all you have room for) Draw the most important distinctions with your work About to 1 page,N
5、SF REU Technical Writing,Related Work: How?,People (your advisor, graduate students, other professors, etc.) Manuals, websites, specifications, etc. If its not officially “published,” be careful Use Wikipedia for trivia about Saturday Night Fever Do not use Wikipedia for CS background research Publi
6、shed research papers,NSF REU Technical Writing,Why?,Research must be new Otherwise its a waste of time Especially important if its an “old problem” Others have good ideas you can build on Reading other work can spark ideas (it can also inject biases, be overwhelming, etc. no magic answer to this pro
7、blem) Others may identify problems for you They may also show which problems are “too hard” E.g. NP-Complete problems need heuristics,NSF REU Technical Writing,CS Publications,(from the “Publishing Game” talk.) Publication Venues Journals Conferences Workshops Technical ReportsYou have to find every
8、thing,NSF REU Technical Writing,How do you find “everything”,Build a list of venues that are likely to report research on this topic Talk to your advisor and other group members Browse conference lists, look at “Calls for Papers“ Browse by key words to find some recent papers Google, Google Scholar,
9、 INSPEC, ACM Digital Library, IEEE digital library Check the last several years of proceedings in these venues Online or printed copy in the library,NSF REU Technical Writing,Find some papers,Now get your hands on some papers Read them - are they relevant? If so, theyve probably cited relevant work
10、Go find those papers, tooUse the Related Work and Reference list of relevant papers, to find others Use title, author, conference, etc.,NSF REU Technical Writing,Browse by Author or Group,Make sure you get the latest work from the group or author of relevant papers Statements in a paper are only nec
11、essarily true at the time it is published “open problems” may be solved Performance numbers may be irrelevant “new” approaches may be old Find the author or research groups Web page Dont count on it being up to date! Browse databases/libraries by author,NSF REU Technical Writing,Shortcuts,You will n
12、ot be able to read everything thoroughly You dont have to! (notice before I said you have to find everything) Read abstract, intro, related work, summary Then decide whether to read the whole paper Gold nuggets in your background research “Taxonomies”, or “Surveys” (not always called that) E.g. ACM
13、Computing Surveys,NSF REU Technical Writing,Use Citation Counts and Info,Some papers will pop up over and over Make sure you read and cite these If only for practical reasons for reviewers to see Google scholar and Citeseer Reports citation counts Read and cite the heavily cited papers (see above) A
14、llows you to browse by “Cited by” If others are citing the same work you are, they might be working on similar problems,NSF REU Technical Writing,Writing a Related Work Section,Group and categorize other approaches Distinguish your work succinctly Be diplomatic and nice Start with the most “importan
15、t” work If something is very closely related Describe it in more detail Be more specific about differences Make it clear why (you think) your paper is novel,NSF REU Technical Writing,Brief aside,Make it easy for others to find your work Pick good titles for your papers Post your papers on a web page
16、 Post full citations on your page So others can simply cut and paste into their papers Its easier to stay “current” than to get current Track top conferences, related groups, and authors Seek them out at conferences and talk to them Potential for collaboration Staying current is like eating healthy
17、and exercising,NSF REU Technical Writing,Design and Implementation,Depend heavily on content of the paperBest to separate Design from Implementation But not always and sometimes impossibleNot every implementation detail is important Focus on those that are novel and important to the contribution of
18、the paper,NSF REU Technical Writing,Performance,Clearly describe your experimental setup Ideally others should be able to reproduce your results Computer scientists seldom achieve this goal Then describe your results Capitalize “Figure 1” but not “this figure” ALL figures and tables should be called
19、 out in the text Interpret the results and “lesson” of every graph, figure, table, etc. Dont require the reader to do this for himself or herself,NSF REU Technical Writing,Summary and Future Work,Say what youre going to say (Intro) Say it (Body) Say what you said (Summary)Summaries are not Conclusio
20、ns Draw conclusions throughout the paperFuture Work Show that theres more to do dont reveal too much,NSF REU Technical Writing,The Process,You do not need to set aside a whole day! Write in small blocks of time Reread often, later, on paper Get a first draft done, somehow, fast This is the “clay” to
21、 sculpt from But be willing to throw away most of it eventually,NSF REU Technical Writing,Miscellaneous ideas,Be clear “Hold the readers hand” Assume your reader is lazy Make it easy to find the information Focus on contributions, not the journey Name new things acronyms, capital letters, descriptiv
22、e names, bold face or italics (the first time), etc.,NSF REU Technical Writing,Other Sources,How (and How Not to) Write a Good Systems Paper A classic still relevant http:/www.sigops.org/advice.htmlWriting a Technical Paper, by Michael Ernsthttp:/pag.csail.mit.edu/mernst/advice/write-technical-paper.html,
