ADVT Assessment

Coinbox exercise

An apology

I am really sorry about the bug in the feedback web pages

Inexcusable

Your feedback is most valuable

Specification

You are to write a paper according to the

instructions below. The paper must be a

literature review, informed by one or more

of the classes in this module. The title of

the paper will be of your choice, but will

have to be approved by Alistair Edwards.

Four phases

Phase Task Deadline

1 Choose a title and have it approved

25 February

2 Extended abstract 11 March

3 Feedback on abstract 15 March

4 Paper 24 April

Title

The title must relate to one or more of the classes in this module. It should be sufficiently specific to be realistic to be addressed in a paper written under these constraints. The paper must be based on existing work – as presented in the classes and in the literature. It must not require any original research.

Extended abstract

The purpose of the abstract is to set out the structure and outline content of the eventual paper. Feedback will be provided on the abstract. The Extended Abstract must be no more than 2 pages. It does not have to conform to any page formatting rules, but must be in PDF electronic format and must be submitted electronically.

Paper

The paper must address the title. It is expected that it will follow the outline of the extended abstract, but it is permissible to introduce new material. In particular, there may be topics covered in greater depth towards the end of term, which you may wish to include.

Your paper must be in PDF format, formatted according to the published specification requirements (http://www-course.cs.york.ac.uk/hcit/Sample.docx or http://www-course.cs.york.ac.uk/hcit/Sample.doctx) ) and must not exceed 8 A4 pages. You must use the IEEE style of referencing. (See http://www.ieee.org/documents/ieeecitationref.pdf).

Marking1 Has the Extended Abstract been

submitted and approved? (0.5)2 Does the paper address the topic

implied by its title? (0.5)

3 Does the paper show evidence of the author having read more widely around the topics? (1.0)

4 Does the paper show evidence of input from one or more of the ADVT classes? (0.5)

5 Does the author show original and critical thinking? (1.0)

6 Does the paper show awareness of the diversity of potential users of interactive technology? (1.0)

7 Are references used appropriately? (1.0)

8 Does the paper meet the formatting requirements? (0.5)

9 Is the abstract appropriate? (1.0)

10 Quality of the introduction. (1.0)

11 Does the paper present appropriate conclusions? (1.0)

12 Quality of presentation and writing. (2.0) This includes clarity of meaning, English style and grammar and formatting.

Questions?

Any subsequent questions will be answered via the on-line forum:

http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=63&sid=84ed8f0e3bbff1cdd17c37d67db26025

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

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 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

After you have chosen your topic (and done the work!) you need to know how to target your paper

Again, for this 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

(Remember 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

Exercise: Doing a literature survey in 15 minutes

Exercise

Get into groups of 3 or 4 Each group to have a computer with web access

Choose a topic that is interesting to you

Do a Google Scholar search on that topichttp://scholar.google.co.uk/

Pick 1 paper that appears to be highly cited

Read the abstract and introduction

Pick out interesting references

After 10 minutes you will tell the other groups the ‘story’ of research you have found

Choose a topic

What is Multimodality?

Research in Practice

Design for the web: Frameworks and Metaphors

Cross-cultural design

Can we do a better mail merge?

Using dialogical methods to understanding experience

Are we human or are we children?

Research through Design

The social experience of gaming

Multimodality

Forms Design: What really matters to users

Access to the Web for disabled and older people

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

Abstract ExampleThis paper presents the design of a new web browser, the Tree Trailblazer, which allows users to browse the web while maintaining a visual record of their exploration path, or trail, through the information space. This design enhances the backtracking aspects of web browsing over current designs by providing visual cues regarding the pages related to the page being viewed, providing users with an understanding of their position in the trail. This design also helps users blaze new trails off a page by allowing them to open previews of pages off of the currently viewed page. The scenario based design process that was used to construct the browser is discussed in conjunction with the initial prototype implementation. A formative user evaluation of this prototype showed this browser design to be very easy to learn and highly usable, with particular attention being paid to aspects of the tree visualization.

Power, C.; McQuillan, I.; Petrie, H.; Kennaugh, P.; Daley, M.; Wozniak, G.; , "No Going Back: An Interactive Visualization Application for Trailblazing on the Web," Information Visualisation, 2008. IV '08. 12th International Conference , vol., no., pp.133-142, 9-11 July 2008doi: 10.1109/IV.2008.64URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4577938&isnumber=4577908

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

Scientific Writing Style

Scientific writing

Everything you say must be backed by evidence

From the literatureFrom your results

There is no place for opinion

Finding your scientific voice

It’s not a highly personal narrative“I studied different sources in the library. I attended the class on…”

It doesn’t have to be very convoluted, full of complex terms

“If skin deformation is a critical factor for roughness perception (Taylor and Lederman, 1975), then it would seem reasonable to argue that roughness perception in virtual reality might be more similar to roughness perception in the physical world via a probe, than via a bare finger.”

46-word sentence - I have to draw breath, that’s not a good sign

Keep it as plain and simple as you can

Try to find a way of writing that is somewhere in the middle, that you are comfortable with

A certain amount of use of the first person is fine

Keep words short and simple as possible - except for technical terms

Keep sentences short always (break the argument down into its logical parts for the reader to understand)

Sentences building to paragraphs

‘Skin deformation may be a critical factor for roughness perception (Taylor and Lederman, 1975). Roughness perception in the physical world is usually undertaken with the bare fingers and thus involves skin deformation; sometimes it may be undertaken with a probe or other device, and no skin deformation is involved. Therefore it is reasonable to argue that roughness perception in virtual reality, which inevitably uses a probe, is more similar to roughness perception in the physical world via a probe than via a bare finger.’

Readability

Original sentence: Flesch Ease of Reading Index 13%

Chris’s (initial) re-write: Flesch 33.4%

These reading indices are not very good, but can occasionally be a useful tool

Don’t go all literary, darling

Don’t feel that you are expected to write in some very literary style

Don’t vary terms for interest (see defining terms later)

Don’t suddenly vary topic

Don’t intentionally create suspense

Don’t be too informal, either

Contractions such as don’t, can’t and wasn’t have no place in a formal document

do not, cannot and was not

They are a way of documenting the way we speak

- and signalling informality

(which is why they are used in these slides)

Precision and rigor!A scientific style is usually as precise as possible

Avoid vague terms ‘the web users tended to…’

Make sure you know the meaning of complex words you use ( e.g. sequencing attribute grammar)

Avoid colloquial/culturally specific expressions e.g. ‘training wheels interfaces …’

Chris had no idea what this meant

Think about your reader(s)!

You need to persuade your reader that this is an important document/project and lead them through the information

The story

Don’t discuss a concept for three pages and then define it - reader needs a definition at the beginning of a discussion of the concept

Provide introductory/bridging sentences/phrases“The next section will introduce concepts of web accessibility and usability in order to establish the criteria for evaluations of websites by users”

Define terms (and abbrevs) and stick to them!

Early in your paper, define any technical terms you need to, set up abbreviations and then stick to them

In the case of technical terms, if you vary them, the reader may think you mean something different

‘web user’, ‘evaluator’, ‘participant’, ‘tester’

are these all the same lot of people?

Abbreviations and acronyms

Spell out all abbreviations and acronyms the first time you use them

Even ‘common’ onese.g.‘A long standing controversy within human-computer interaction (HCI) is…’

Abbreviations and acronyms

Specifying an abbreviation (abbrev) and then not using it is just irritating for the reader - last thing you want

Make a list of abbreviations as you go along, at the end check that you have introduced them on the first instance of their use

Make sure that any acronyms, abbreviations that you use without explanation really are understood in the field

Don’t use too many abbreviations - again, think of the mental load on the poor reader

If there is disagreement about terminology, key concepts?

Do discuss different researchers’ definitions, concepts if appropriate

But make it clear where you stand - you are now an expert!

‘According to Jones (2001), web accessibility is… However, Smith (2004) defined web accessibility as… In this thesis, I will follow Jones…’ Or: ‘In this thesis, accessibility will be defined as…’Or: In this thesis, I will define accessibility as…’

Conceptual analysis and definition of new terms may well be an important part of your contribution to the field

Politically correct interlude

If writing about human beings, use non-sexist terminology

Not: ‘The web user was shown a scale on which to rate the usability of each site. He was asked to study this…’

Easy way out - use the plural!But: ‘Web users were shown a scale on which to rate the usability of each site. They were …’

If writing about particular groups of humans, personalize them

Not: ‘The elderly cannot see colours with the accuracy…’But ‘Many elderly people cannot see colours…’

Political correctness

Language is powerful

It is easy to cause offense

So, try to avoid itbut not at the expense of claritye.g. what is a ‘visually challenged person’?

How do I start?

SeeThimbleby, H (2008) Write now!, (in)

Cairns. P & Cox, A. (eds.) Research Methods for Human-Computer Interaction, Cambridge University press, pp.196-211

Using other people’s words

This might be something about plagarism, but let’s think of this in another way

If you literally use the words of other authors, it isn’t your own voice, and will lead inevitably to a very uneven style - a bit from one author, a bit from another, or worse, a bit from X, a bit from you, a bit from X

One thing you are being assessed on is the ability to explain other people’s work in your words

Quotations

So… keep quotations fairly rare and keep them brief

Save them for really key points

Particularly where the original author’s words are critical

Of course, always acknowledge the source of material (Petrie, 2008)

Headings

Use them (they help the reader), make them informative

“Background research” - not very informative!

“Previous research on web accessibility and usability”

(Some readers like only the standard headings like ‘Introduction’, ‘Methodology’)

BUT don’t assume the reader has read them on the way through (may seem odd, but it’s definitely true)

Headings

So, do not follow a heading

Research on Web accessibility and usability

withThis area of research received little attention until the late 1990s.

Must be:Web accessibility and usability received little research attention…

Figure and tables

They can help a reader enormously

It is OK to use a figure/table from a published source, if it’s acknowledged (usually in the title)

Each figure/table should have a clear, stand-alone caption

Each figure/table must be referred to in the text (otherwise how will the reader know when to study it?)

Designing figures and tables

Make sure they are sufficiently rich in information (would it be simpler to give some words - an error I often make!) but not too cluttered

Are axes, objects all clear?

Zobel has a good section on good and poor design

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Computer-Science-Justin-Zobel/dp/1852338024

Give figures/tables to a colleague and ask them what they mean

Allow (as much time as possible) for checking, proofing

Use spell checks, but remember they are dumb, dumb, dumb

Read yourself, out loud if at all possible

Have someone else proof read if possible

Remember, you won’t fail for the odd spelling mistake, but you want your report to look as professional as possible

Sources of informationZobel Writing for Computer Science

http://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 Humans

http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/tutorials/writingforhumans.html

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