Scientific Communication CITS7200

Lecture 6Writing a Paper

• Writing is part of the process of research.

• If you don’t publish it, you haven’t done it!

“There are three necessary steps in useful research; the first to begin it, the second to end it, and the third to publish it.” Michael Faraday

But…

• No one wants to read your paper.

– Concise and relevant title– Inviting abstract– Good visual organisation

Organisation

• Target your audience• Choose appropriate language and

notation• Rank your contributions• Determine the length

– Aim to be concise– Avoid repetition– Achieve general results that give special

cases

Science vs. fiction

• In both cases, all necessary info is given

• But…– In fiction, clues are hidden– In scientific writing, clues are up-front

Hiding clues• State your facts in a way that seems clearly to be doing so for another purpose

He was proud of his old college associations, and wore his college tie and gold tie-pin to all formal events.

(The victim was stabbed with a small sharp object)

• Place your clue somewhere is a long list of irrelevant facts

The autopsy revealed that the victim had a high level of alcohol in the blood system at the time of death. There were head wounds from a fall, numerous pin-prick needle marks on the inner arm, buttocks and one on the neck, bruises on the legs, and an enormous tattoo across the back claiming allegiance to a motorbike gang.

• Rely on stock responses

The victim was pregnant.

Placement of clues

• If observers are asked to watch out for something, they seldom remember what immediately preceded or followed that something

In the autopsy report, what followed the pin-prick mark on the neck?

• In scientific writing, clues must be presented clearly, together, up front, and in a way that makes the deduction that is drawn from them completely obvious.

Abstraction hierarchy of a paperTitle

Abstract

Introduction

Conclusion

Other Chapters

Title

• Single most important part of paper

• Directly determines the number of readers

• Most readers don’t get past the title

• The title is at the highest level of abstraction

• It is a concise description of the paper

• It captures the content in one phrase

• It must attract the attention of the casual browser

• Linear Scheduling is Nearly Optimal• Learning the Unlearnable• An application of the multiedit-condensing technique

to the reference selection problem in a print recognition system

• A Frame-based Computer Vision System• An Initial View on Size Estimation for Expert System

Applications• Active Intelligent Vision using the Dynamic

Generalised Hough Transform• RAPID - a video rate object tracker

Authors

• Author list, with affiliations• Always use same appellation• Use complete mailing address,

including email

Lyndon WhileSchool of Computer Science &

Software EngineeringThe University of Western Australia

35 Stirling Highway,Crawley, W. A. 6009

lyndon@csse.uwa.edu.au

• Always date your work• Establishes precedence• Keeps track of drafts• On a line by itself after the author

field

Abstract

• Second highest level of abstraction• Summarises the content of your

paper• Can be used as stand-alone• 200-600 words in length• Usually a single paragraph• Contains no reference pointers, no

abstract symbols

• Should be easy to understand• Should be easy to translate• Must lay claim to new results• Avoid starting with “This paper…”

Keywords

• Give a list of keywords• Used in computer searches

CR classification

• Computing Reviews Classification System

• Four-level tree • Three numbered levels and an

unnumbered level • Give at least the top two levels for

everything you write

• D is for Software• D.3 for Programming Languages• D.3.3 is Language Constructs and

Features

• D.3.3 [Software]: Programming Languages - Abstract data types.

Introduction

• Third highest level of abstraction• Must state your thesis or

hypothesis

• A thesis is a proposition laid down or stated as a theme to be discussed and proved, or to be maintained against attack.

“Shakespeare was a republican”“The piano-movers problem is NP-

complete”

•A hypothesis is a supposition or conjecture put forth to account for known facts, and it serves as a starting point for further investigation by which it may be proved or disproved

“Internet usage is growing at an exponential rate”

• Explain the problem

• Explain what your hypothesis is for solving the problem

• Outline your plan of attack

• Your first sentence must carry some essential information, but at the same time gently introduce the reader to the rest of the article.

• “Finite-state verification tools deduce properties of finite-state models of computer systems.”

• “Network protocols such as routing protocols are difficult to test because meaningful experiments may involve dozens or even thousands of hosts and routers.”

Standard body

• Introduction• Literature Review• Methodology• Experimental Results• Conclusion

Hierarchy of standard body

• Introduction• Conclusion• Other chapters

Literature review

• Almost all scientific work is done in context

• The lit review explains the context of your work

• It reviews the science• Must use consistent notation and

level of abstraction

Methodology

•Your work uses existing methods

• Frequency domain techniques in signal processing

• Genetic algorithms in optimisation• MPEG compression in video• AODV routing protocol

• You develop new methods

• Explain how your ideas work

• Often in computer science you develop a new algorithm

• Not enough to list the steps• Need to address correctness and

complexity

Give some or all of

• The steps that make up the algorithm.

• The input and output, and the internal data structures used by the algorithm.

• The scope of application of the algorithm and its limitations.

• The properties that will allow demonstration of correctness, such as preconditions, postconditions, and loop invariants.

• A demonstration of correctness.

• A complexity analysis, for both space and time requirements.

• Experiments confirming the theoretical results.

• Use standard mathematical notation, not programming specific notation

e.g. xi rather than x[i]

• Use standard mathematical operators

• ==, • a = b = c, • a++, • for (i=0; i<n; i++)

• Must give enough detail so that the reader can implement the algorithm

• Don’t use pseudocode, use English• Good practice to make source code

available through your website

Experiments

• Many papers describe computational experiments

The scientific procedure

• Hypothesise• Test• Refine your model• Repeat

Experiments are done to• Gain insight• Compare existing models• Verify theoretical predictions• Tune algorithm to code parameters• Measure performance

• Experiments need to be designed• Identify clearly your hypothesis• Explain how the experiment tests

it• Explain your results• Readers must be able to reproduce

your experiments

State• machine precision• the type of random numbers you

use• the programming language • the version of the compiler, and• compiler options and optimisations

• Use standard test data if these exist

• Distinguish clearly between objective statements (backed up by facts) and speculation

• Gather every conceivable statistic, then decide which are useful

Tables, images, and graphs

• All figures in figure environment• All figures need numbers• All figures need captions• All figures need supporting text

• In tables, it is easier to compare terms in columns rather than rows

complexity terminology

O(1) Constant

O(log n) Logarithmic

O(n) Linear

O(nb) Polynomial

O(bn) Exponential

O(n!) Factorial

Complexity O(1) O(log n) O(n) O(nb) O(bn) O(n!)

Terminology Const. Log. Linear Poly. Exp. Fact.

• Only use significant figures• Always use same level of

significance• Large amounts of data better

displayed in graphs

• Make table design simple• Minimise the number of rules• Label graph axes• Use standard units

• Latex treats figures as floating objects

• Placement specifiers can be used

• h place item here in the text

• t place item at the top of a page

• b place item at the bottom of a page

• p place item on a special page containing only floats

• ! override other parameters even if (Latex thinks) the result looks awful.

\begin{figure}[htbp]\label{fig:horrible}\centerline{\

psfig{figure=horriblepic.ps}}\caption{My horrible figure}\end{figure}

• Captions should explain the content of the figure clearly.

• Don’t be afraid to use more than one sentence.

\caption[Short cap]{My very long caption}

Conclusion

• Should draw together all of your previous work

• Should point out your contributions• Highlight new ways of looking at

your results• Discuss limitations• Discuss future research

Acknowledgements

• Financial assistance

• Help from others that is not part of their normal working duties:– Contributed to the ideas– Provided code, data, etc– Helped with hardware, software, etc

Bibliography

• Include references for all citations• Refer to original sources• Prefer refereed sources to

unrefereed• Comply with format specifications

Appendices

• Contains essential information that would otherwise interrupt the flow of the text

• Mathematical analyses• Data• Program listings

Format of generic experimental paper

TitleAuthorAffiliationDateKeywordsCR ClassificationAbstract

IntroductionLiterature ReviewMethodologyExperimental ResultsConclusionAcknowledgementsReferencesAppendices