Writingfor CS and CE

Gabriel Dos ReisAssistant Professor

Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Types of Writing• Research Papers

o Technical Reports

• Reportso Vary tremendously in length/scope

• Long report about work of a committee• Short report about a particular topic

o Vary in purpose

• Technical Documentationo Designo Developmento Users

• White Papers• Memos• Web Sites• etc.

Goals of Writing• The type of writing you do will vary depending on

many factors• Difficult to give universal structure• But, there are some things common to most or all

writing

Audience

Audience• Probably the most important thing to consider.• This will determine everything from structure to

individual word choice.• You think about this before you begin to write

anything!• You are writing for the audience, not for yourself.

Things to Think About• What will be the background of those reading this

work?o What prior knowledge will they have?o What expectations will they have?o What do I need to tell them so that they can understand the paper?

• What is the reason someone will read this document?

• What information is most important to convey to the reader?

• What will the “life” of this document be?o Will the audience change? Will the document change?

Organization

Organization• The way you structure a document can have

more effect than the actual sentences it contains.• Again, think about the goals of a person reading.

o How would they expect the document to be organized?o What do they need to do with the document?

How Papers are Read• Technical papers are not novels.• With rare exceptions of short memos, people will

not just sit down one day and read your document from beginning to end.

How Research Papers are Read

• First: Read Title• Second: Read Abstract• Third:

o a. Browse figures/captionso b. Review citations

• Fourth: Read small portions to get main idea

• Only if someone is really interested do they sit down and read the whole paper from start to finish.

How Documentation is Read

1. Look at the Title2. Check either:

A. IndexB. Table of Contents

3. Find section with the specific material needed4. Find relevant subsection within that section

Then, read the material of relevance.

Your organization should:

• Make it easy for someone to understand the structure of the documento Follow conventionso Clearly label/section document

• Find information they want within the document

Organization• Use White Space

o Indentationo Line breakso Page breaks

• Keep paragraphs short• Use lists, bullet points• Maintain clear section headings.

General Advice

General Presentation Advice

• There are three stages of presentation:1. Attract Attention2. Create Interest3. Convey Information

• Importance:o You don’t get to stage 2, unless you satisfy stage 1o You don’t get to stage 3, unless you satisfy stage 2o Although stage 3 is the most important, it’s pointless unless you meet

the first two stages.

• Applies to posters/presentations, but also to papers

The Most Important Thing

• The RESEARCH!o You have to have some purpose for writing

• However, people will not learn about the research unless they actually read your papero This also has implications for how and where you publish your paper

Writing Research

Papers

Sections of the paper

Paper Sections• Title• Abstract• Introduction

o Describe the problem including background information

• Main Work (ideas/theory/exposition)o Possibly in several sections

• Implementationo If needed

• Resultso Possibly combined into main work section

• Relation to Previous Worko Situate your work

• Conclusiono With future work

• Acknowledgements• References• Appendices

Title• Don’t underestimate title importance• Memorable titles can help people remember the

paper• The title will be used for searching, later

• Remove unnecessary words• Watch for misleading words

Introduction• Motivation and Summary• By the end of the introduction, someone should

be able to tell someone else what you did, and why.o But probably not give any details about how

• Keep the introduction short, relative to the rest of the paper.

Motivation• Early on in the paper, you must make the case for

why you are doing this• This should not be too long

o If you have to spend too long to say why someone should read the paper, then there’s probably not a good reason

o The motivation is not why you are writing the paper, it’s just there to get people to read it

• Sometimes this is more important than other times – sometimes motivation is obvious

Summarizing Main Results

• You want to make it clear what the main results of your paper are.o Don’t “hide” them or make them a “surprise” at the endo Remember, most people will not read your full paper – you still want

them to know the main results

• Should always be in the abstract• Should be in the introduction of the paper

o Main Results, Contributions, Thesis Statement

• Can be in the conclusion

A “Main Results” Section

• Could be a subsection, a paragraph, a bulleted list, or a sentence

• Should be easy to find/locate• Should make clear what is the new, unique

contribution of this worko It is not a summary of everything you’ve done, or even a summary of

the papero Just list the key point(s) that are new to your work.

The Thesis Statment• A short statement that summarizes what the

focus of the paper is• Can help to focus your writing, presentation, and

research• The goal of the paper is to show why the thesis

statement is important and true (or false…)

Previous Work Section• Provide references to relevant material

o What are the key papers that someone should read to understand this?o What are the most relevant related papers/alternatives?

• Demonstrate that you are familiar with the main research in the areao Ensure you cite all the relevant work

• Especially the papers of those who will read yours…o Can’t cite everything; cite the most important thingso Usually, citations to textbooks aren’t needed

• Unless that textbook provides a unique derivation, a particular summary, etc.

Previous Work Section• If necessary provide background summary of

prior worko For example, if you are building on your own prior worko Make sure that prior work is separated from new work

• You want to clearly delineate what is new vs. what is old.

• When giving citations to previous work, it is good to show how your work fits in with that prior work.

The New Work• This is the main, core part of your paper• It should be the part that you are most confident

in, and have the most to say about• It is important that you are clear and accurate.

Things to Look Out For

• You are not just presenting a list of what you did.o Every piece of research has lots of “infrastructure” work that goes on

behind it – you don’t need to go into this, unless it is criticalo You don’t need to discuss “dead end paths” that you pursued

• One exception is if it is very likely someone else would follow that dead end path

o You research is evaluated on results, not process.

Things to Look Out For

• You want to develop your material clearlyo Usually, someone will read this section in ordero Don’t pull ideas/material from nowhereo Make sure that information is presented in a logical ordero Think of it as telling a (technical) story:

• Keep the story moving• Don’t refer to things that the reader has no knowledge of• Make sure the reader understands what has happened!

Things to Look Out For

• Avoid tangential topicso Make the section about the main results, not the interesting “side”

itemso Use appendices if necessary

• Make sure there is a clear overviewo Avoid going directly into details if the person doesn’t have the overall

pictureo Often, overview sections or figures are helpful

Results• You want to demonstrate all of the core ideas that

you discussed in practiceo If you discussed something, show the results

• Idea is to show that what you presented works, and give some sense of how well it works

• Pick good test cases, that cover a range of situationso Ones that allow comparisono Ones that allow evaluation of parts of your techniqueo Ones that simulate “real world” cases

• You need to provide comparisons to other work, whenever possibleo This lets people evaluate your work

Conclusion• Now that we have seen the work in the paper,

what can we conclude?o What has been the “contribution” of this work?o What insights does this work offer?o What does this now allow us to do?

• Conclusion should not be just a summary of what was in the paper – that is obvious.

Future Work• Usually part of the conclusion• Not always included, but a good idea if possible• People want to know that the paper is not a

“dead end”o What more could be done? If I like this area, what could I work on

next?o Is this likely to stimulate future work?

• Can be a “defense” against reviewers.

Future Work• Avoid using “throwaway” future work

o In computer science, you can always say you want to improve performance, port to a new system, or integrate with something else.

o Better to have one or two solid areas for future work than 10 that aren’t developed.

• Don’t just state areas, give some indication of the challenges/opportunitieso Why will that be worthwhile?o What are some obstacles that will be faced in that extension?

General Comments

Audience• Make sure you are writing to the appropriate

audience• Usually, this is to other researchers in the field

o Not to novices – they will know the basics of the fieldo Not necessarily to just the foremost experts in the area – they will not

be familiar with every bit of prior worko Not to experts in all areas – they may not be familiar with simpler

concepts from other fields

• Some papers (e.g. literature reviews) are for more general, less expert, audiences

Audience• Give them the background they need to

understand the papero Particularly if you rely on another technique; don’t make them read

other papers before they can read yourso Not always possible – sometimes there is too much to do

• Notation might not be standardizedo Explain the notation as neededo The concepts might already be known

Overstating/Understating

• Do not oversell your worko Do not promise more than you delivero Do not try to make your work have more impact than it reasonably

does

• You probably have a higher opinion of your work than others do or ever will.

• Readers are annoyed if they spend their time reading your article, only to find it didn’t do what was promised.

Overstating/Understating

• Do not undersell your worko Don’t put in so many disclaimers that you discourage someone from

reading/following ito Point out problems, especially key ones, but:

• Your goal is not to point out every conceivable flaw• If necessary, point out why problems might not be so bad

• You are writing the paper because you have something new to present, that others should find valuable.

Overcoming Objections

• Those reading the paper will often have questions/objections.

• You want to answer/address these in the paper• This is key to getting the paper accepted through

review, but also for getting the paper accepted after publication

Overcoming Objections

• Think: “If I were a reviewer, what would I have questions about?”o Find a way to address those directlyo If they are technical concerns and you have not addressed them in the

work, show that you’ve thought about them

• What examples should be included?• What tests should be provided?

Figures and Captions• People will usually look at figures before they

read the text• You want the figures to stand on their own as

much as possible• Be sure that your captions clearly describe what

is in the figure. Do not rely on the text to describe the figure.

Comparisons to Prior Work

• Always a tricky propositiono Your goal in the paper is to show how good your work is. You have

spent a great deal of time on your own approach.o You must be fair to prior work, but you probably can’t devote as much

effort to replicating it.

• If standardized comparisons can be made, use them

• If you implement another method for comparison, be sure to do your best with ito If not, be sure to clearly state what you did not do, and why.

Comparisons to Prior Work

• It is not OK to just present your material and assume it should be acceptedo That does not show any new contribution over the state of the arto Exception: if it is truly the first time someone has accomplished

something

• If you cannot provide comparisons, at least provide concise, clear arguments that evaluate your method vs. other methods.

Feedback• If possible, get someone else to read your work

o They should be willing to give direct, honest feedbacko Take their evaluations to heart

• When reviewers reply with objections, don’t blame the reviewero If the reviewer didn’t understand it, it’s probably your faulto Make sure that you address their concerns

• Sometimes it is only a style/writing issue!• Sometimes they have found more fundamental flaws

o Even these can sometimes be addressed by writing differently.o There are (very rare) exceptions where reviewers are way off

• Always be polite and respectful in your responses, anyway

Conclusion

Thanks for Listening!• Questions/Comments?

• Contact:o Gabriel Dos Reiso gdr@cs.tamu.edu