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Chapter 5: Writing a Paper
The Scope of a Paper
What is the scope of a paper and why it is important?
It is what you plan to write up in your paper. it is necessary to make choices about what to include, and thus it is necessary to identify what might be included.in this this stage your research has become focused on investigation of a small number of specific questions, and you have preliminary experimental or theoretical results that suggest what the core contribution of the work is going to be.
What are the questions that you can ask yourself to define what you
need or how to start?
▪ Which results are the most surprising? ▪ What is the one result that other researchers might adopt in their work? ▪ Does it make sense to explain the new algorithms first, followed by description of the previous algorithms in terms of how they differ from the new work? Or is the contribution of the new work more obvious if the old approaches are described first, to set the context? ▪ What assumptions or definitions need to be formalized before the main theorem can be presented? ▪ What is the key background work that has to be discussed? ▪ Who is the readership? For example, are you writing for specialists in your area, your examiners, or a general computer science audience?
How to choose where the work might be published?
There are many factors that should be considered when making this decision, such as relevance to your topic and how your work measures against the standard for that forum. In particular, the venue partly determines the scope of a paper. For example, is there a page limit? Are there specific conventions to be observed? Are the other papers in that venue primarily theoretical or experimental? What prior knowledge or background is a reader likely to have? Do the editors require that your code be available online?
Telling a Story
What is Telling a Story when you write a paper?
A cornerstone of good writing is identifying what the reader needs to learn. A strong thesis or paper has a story-like flow, with a sequence of concepts building from a foundation of knowledge assumed to be common to all readers up to new ideas and results.
How you can do that or What is the structures that you can follow to
write a paper like telling a story?
There are several common ways for structuring the body of a paper: ✓ Chain in which the results and the background on which they build dictate a logical order for presentation of the material.
- First might come, say, a problem statement, then a review of previous solutions and their drawbacks, then the new solution, and finally a demonstration that the solution improves on its predecessors. ✓ Compression for fast external sorting , the demonstration is a series of graphs and tables based on experiments that compare the costs of sorting with and without compression. ✓ One option is to structure by Specificity , an approach that is particularly appropriate for results that can be divided into several stages. The material is first outlined in general terms, then the details are progressively filled in. ✓ Another structure is by Example , in which the idea or result is initially explained by, say, applying it to some typical problem. Then the idea can be explained more formally, in a framework the example has made concrete and familiar. ✓ A final alternative is to structure the body by Complexity. For example, a simple case can be given first, then a more complex case can be explained as an extension, thus avoiding the difficulty of explaining foundational concepts in a complex framework. Some other structures are inappropriate for a write-up. For example, the paper should not be a chronological list of experiments and results. The aim is to present the evidence needed to explain an argument, not to list the work undertaken. Organization
What do you need to make your paper organize for your reader to
understand or quick scan it?
Scientific papers follow a standard structure that allows readers to quickly discover the main results, and then, if interested, to examine the supporting evidence. Many readers accept or reject conclusions based on a quick scan, not having time to read all the papers they see. ➢ Describe the work in the context of accepted scientific knowledge. ➢ State the idea that is being investigated, often as a theory or hypothesis. ➢ Explain what is new about the idea, what is being evaluated, or what contribution the paper is making. ➢ Justify the theory, by methods such as proof or experiment.
▪ In cases where researchers are working more or less as equals, one strategy is to brainstorm the contents of the paper, then for each author to write a designated section. Another strategy is to take turns. Theses
What are These?
- A thesis (or dissertation) is how research students present their work for examination. A thesis may have longer-term importance as a description of significant research results, but your primary goal should be to produce a piece of work that the examiners will pass.
- The questions that examiners respond to are much the same as those a referee would ask of a paper. That is, the examiners seek evidence of an original, valid contribution developed to an appropriate standard. However, it is a mistake to view a thesis as no more than an extended paper.
- A paper stands (or does not stand) on the strength of the results. A thesis passes (or fails) on the strength of your demonstration of competence; even if good results are not achieved, the thesis should pass if you have shown the ability to undertake high-quality research.
- A thesis with negative results can, if appropriately written, demonstrate the ability of the candidate just as well as a thesis with positive results. The outcomes may be less interesting, but the capability to undertake research has still been shown.
What is the different between Thesis and Paper?
◊ The difference between a thesis and a paper is that the former may report on a series of more or less independent research discoveries. In contrast, a typical paper concerns a single consistent investigation. A thesis may, moreover, include work drawn from multiple papers. ◊ The scope of a thesis is more substantial than that of a paper, the introduction should be broad in topic and conversational in tone. It could introduce a whole area rather than a single problem. Another reason to develop a substantial introduction is that a thesis is a more thorough, detailed document than is a paper.
Getting It Wrong Problems that make it certain that the paper will be rejected, and which in some cases are obvious to the referee in the first few moments of reading.
1. Irrelevance ( I cannot figure out what this paper is about ) There is a lack of connection to the literature on any particular topic, and thus no sense of what the author is trying to achieve. In some cases, the author has proposed an elegant solution, but it is not obvious what the problem is, in some papers there is no obvious research question, no statement of aims or goals, and no claimed contribution.
2. Inconsistency, Inadequacy, and Incompleteness ( the experiments
are inadequate- parts of the paper are missing )
There may be an interesting method, but the experiments are trivial or uninformative, and fall far short of supporting the claims; often, in these cases, the problem is that the data set used is too artificial to allow any interesting conclusion to be drawn. Or a small data set may be used to support claims for applications at an entirely different scale. Or the data set may not be relevant to the problem at all.
3. Incomprehensibility
The reader feels that the work cannot be of value. there seems to be a wide gap between what the writer wants to say and the actual words on the page.
4. Ugliness
If something looks terrible, then the author doesn’t care about the content; and if the author doesn’t care, then the reader certainly shouldn’t. There are several common forms of this ugliness. One is in illustrations and tables: graphs that are badly designed or badly rendered, tables that are irregular or chaotic, diagrams in which the parts are unrelated. When absurdly sized headings or columns that overlap. Use bad fonts and colors. A more subtle form of ugliness is when a paper is dense with errors. These may be errors of fact, spelling errors, garbled citations, incomplete sentences, or any of a range of such things. They show that the author is indifferent to the work, and the reader will respond likewise.
5. Ignorance
A way of persuading the reader that a paper is worthless, nothing is more certain than a display of ignorance. An example of this is when much of a paper is spent explaining an elementary concept that will be familiar to any likely reader and maybe even to undergraduates. While a few lines of review may be appropriate.
Motivation Many authors take considerable trouble over the structure of their papers but don’t make the structure obvious to the reader. Not only should the parts of a paper be ordered in a logical way, but this logic needs to be communicated. The introduction usually gives some indication of the organization of the paper, by outlining the results and their context, and may include a list of the parts of the paper. Link text together as a narrative each section should have a clear story to tell. The connection between one paragraph and the next should be obvious. This principle is sometimes expressed as: Tell the reader what you are going to say, then say it, and then tell the reader that you have said it. A common error is to include material such as definitions or theorems without indicating why the material is useful. Motivate the reader at each major step in the exposition: explain how a definition (theorem, lemma, whatever) is to be used, or why it is interesting, or how it fits into the overall plan. Balance Within a paper, each topic should be discussed to a similar depth. An algorithm that is only sketched does not merit twenty graphs and tables; an algorithm that is described in detail needs a substantial analysis or other justification. The length of a paper is a consequence of how much material is included and of how much detail is given, that is, the depth to which each topic is discussed. When a paper must be kept within a length limit, some compromise is required. Some of the discussion must be omitted, or the graphs selected more carefully, or the text condensed. Voice Avoid excessive use of indirect statements (passive voice), particularly descriptions of actions that don’t indicate who or what performs them. The direct style (active voice) is often less stilted and easier to read. Another unpleasant indirect style is the artificial use of verbs like “perform” or “utilize”, perhaps in the false belief that such writing is more precise or scientific. These words can often be removed. Change of voice sometimes changes meaning and often changes emphasis. If passive voice is necessary, use it. Complete absence of active voice is unpleasant, but that does not mean that all use of passive voice is poor.
The Upper Hand Some authors seem to have a superiority complex a need to prove that they know more or are smarter than their readers. Perhaps the most appropriate word for this behavior is swagger. One form of swagger is implying familiarity with material that most scientists will never read.Another form is the unnecessary inclusion of difficult mathematics, or offhand remarks. Yet another form is citation of obscure, inaccessible references. This kind of showing off, of attempting to gain the upper hand over the reader, is snobbish and tiresome. Since the intention is to make statements the reader won’t understand, the only information conveyed is an impression of the author’s ego. Obfuscation Obfuscation is the making of statements in ambiguous or convoluted terms, with the intention of hiding meaning, or of appearing to say much while actually saying little. It can be used, for example, to give the impression of having done something without actually claiming to have done it. Obfuscation can arise in other ways: exaggeration, omission of relevant information, or bold statements of conclusions based on flimsy evidence. Use of stilted or long-winded sentences often due to an unnecessary attempt to introduce formality can obfuscate.Some obfuscation arises because processes are unnecessarily complex, are presented in unnecessary detail, or are outright unnecessary. Analogies ▪ Analogies are curious things: what seems perfectly alike or parallel to one person may seem entirely unalike to another. ▪ For an analogy to be worthwhile, it should significantly reduce the work of understanding the concept being described. ▪ Simple analogies can undoubtedly help illustrate unfamiliar concepts. Reference and Citation You need to explain the relationship of your new work to existing work, showing how your work builds on previous knowledge and how it differs from contributions in other, relevant papers. The existing work is identified by reference to published theses, articles, and books. All papers include a bibliography, that is, a list of such references in a standardized format, and embedded in each paper’s text there are citations to the publications. References, and discussion of them, serve three main purposes. They help demon strata that work is new: claims of originality are much more convincing in the context of references to existing work that appears to be similar.
Chapter 8 Fonts and Formatting
Question:
What are the key principles for choosing and using fonts and visual elements in
mathematical or computing documents to ensure readability and professionalism?
- Limit the Number of Fonts: Use three to four fonts at most (plain, italic, bold, and optionally fixed-width for code) to avoid a messy appearance.
- Sparingly Use Emphasis: Use bold and italic fonts sparingly, as overuse can be distracting. Avoid underlining for emphasis as it is considered obsolete.
- Choose Readable Fonts: Standard fonts like Times-Roman and Cambria are recommended for text. Avoid fonts like Helvetica and Courier as they are harder to read, and sans-serif fonts like Calibri may not seem serious enough for formal documents.
- Avoid Visual Clutter: Eliminate unnecessary graphic devices, excessive punctuation, and overuse of emphasis to maintain a clean and professional look.
- Consistent Paragraph Indication: Choose either indentation or blank lines to indicate new paragraphs, but not both
Question What are the guidelines for using stops (periods) in sentences,
abbreviations, acronyms, and headings?
- Ending Sentences: Stops are used to end sentences.
- Abbreviations and Acronyms: Stops are used in abbreviations and acronyms.
- Ellipses: Stops are used in ellipses to indicate omitted text or a trailing off thought.
- Headings: It is not usual to put a stop at the end of a heading. For example, a heading should be written as "3. Neural Nets for Image Classification" without a period at the end.
- Examples of Usage:
- Abbreviations at Sentence End: "The process required less than a second (except when the machine was heavily loaded, the network was saturated, etc.)."
- No Extra Stop Needed: "The process required less than a second (unless, for example, the machine was heavily loaded or the network was saturated)."
Question: What are the primary uses of commas, and how can incorrect usage
affect the meaning of a sentence?
Answer: The primary uses of commas are as follows:
- Mark Pauses: helping to clarify meaning and improve readability.
- Correct Parsing: Commas help to correctly parse sentences
- Form Lists: Commas are used to separate items in a list.
- Parenthetical Remarks: Commas indicate that a phrase is a parenthetical remark.
Question: What are the rules for using apostrophes in singular possessives, plural
possessives, pronoun possessives, and contractions, and what common mistakes
should be avoided?
Answer: The rules for using apostrophes are as follows:
- Singular Possessives:
- Add an apostrophe and "s" to form singular possessives.
- Examples: "the student’s algorithm," "Brandt’s book," "Su and Ling’s method."
- For names ending in "s," you can optionally omit the "s" after the apostrophe.
- Examples: "Williams’s book" or "Williams' book."
- Plural Possessives:
- Add only an apostrophe to form plural possessives.
- Examples: "students’ passwords," "teachers’ lounge."
- Pronoun Possessives:
- Pronoun possessives do not require an apostrophe.
- Examples: "its speed," "hers," "theirs."
- Contractions:
- Use an apostrophe to indicate omitted letters in contractions.
- Examples: "it’s" (it is), "can’t" (cannot).
- Note: Contractions should be avoided in technical writing.
- Lowercase looks sloppy to some readers in technical contexts.
- Headings:
- Headings can be minimally or maximally capitalized.
- Minimal Capitalization: Words are capitalized as in normal text, except the word following a colon.
- Example: "The use of jump statements: Advice for Prolog programmers."
- Maximum Capitalization: Capitalize all words except articles, conjunctions, and prepositions, unless they are over three letters long.
- Example: "The Use of Jump Statements: Advice for Prolog Programmers."
- Captions and Titles of References:
- Apply the same capitalization rules as headings.
- Consistency:
- Be consistent in your style of capitalization.
- It is acceptable to use maximum capitalization for sections and minimum capitalization for subsections, but not the other way around.
Question: What are the guidelines for using punctuation with quotations, and how
do they apply in different contexts such as programming and literary quotations?
Answer: The guidelines for using punctuation with quotations are as follows:
- Punctuation Placement in Literary Quotations:
- One convention places some punctuation marks (such as commas and periods) inside the quotation marks, even if they are not part of the original material.
- An alternative approach places punctuation marks within the quotation marks only if they were part of the original text, particularly when quoting a complete sentence.
- Example:
- Paraphrasing and Omitting Quotes:
- It is not always necessary to use direct quotations, especially for dull or straightforward statements.
- Paraphrasing or simply omitting the quote symbols is acceptable and not considered plagiarism if the statement is a natural way to express the concept.
- Example: Instead of quoting Crosley’s statement directly, you can paraphrase: Crosley argues that open sets lack sufficient power.
- Punctuation in Programming Contexts:
- When quoting literal strings from programming languages, punctuation must go outside the quotation marks to avoid syntactic errors. To avoid confusion, you can rephrase to eliminate the quotation marks: One of the reserved words in C is for.
- Quotation Symbols:
- Use the correct type of quotation symbols: angled or smart quotation marks (“and”) are not the same as straight ASCII double-quote symbols (").
Question: What are the guidelines for using parentheses in writing, and what
common pitfalls should be avoided?
Answer: The guidelines for using parentheses in writing, along with common pitfalls to avoid, are as follows:
- Punctuation with Parentheses:
- A sentence should be punctuated as if the parenthetical statement is not there.
- Content of Parentheses:
- Parenthetical remarks should be minor asides that the reader can ignore.
- Do not introduce important information in parentheses that will be referred to later.
- Important text should not be hidden in parentheses.
- Footnotes:
- The same rule for parentheses applies to footnotes: avoid putting important information in footnotes.
