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Tutorial to all Students of my Courses: Writing IT Papers. Dickson K.W. Chiu PhD, SMIEEE. Writing a Paper – Process Overview. Step 1 - Getting Started Step 2 - Discovering and Choosing a Topic Step 3 - Looking for and Forming a Focus Step 4 - Gathering Information - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Tutorial to all Students of my Courses:
Writing IT Papers
Dickson K.W. ChiuPhD, SMIEEE
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-2
Writing a Paper – Process Overview
Step 1 - Getting StartedStep 1 - Getting Started
Step 2 - Discovering and Choosing a TopicStep 2 - Discovering and Choosing a Topic
Step 3 - Looking for and Forming a FocusStep 3 - Looking for and Forming a Focus
Step 4 - Gathering InformationStep 4 - Gathering Information
Step 5 - Preparing to Write Step 5 - Preparing to Write
Step 6 - Writing the PaperStep 6 - Writing the Paper
Reference: Reference: A Plus Research and Writing
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-3
1. Getting Started
1.1 Understand the task and requirements (also the audience)
1.2 Consider the process (e.g., the steps outline in this set of slides) you'll use
1.3 Set deadlines and roadmaps for each step of the process
1.4 Think about possible topics within the constraints of 1.1
1.5 Info Search - browse, read, relax 1.6 Relate your prior experience and learning1.7 Jot down your questions and ideas about possible
topics1.8 Brainstorm, alone and with others
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-4
2. Discovering and choosing a topic
2.1 Info Search - read for overview of various topics
2.2 Continue thinking and jotting down questions and ideas in your notebook
2.3 Info Survey - what print and electronic resources are available
2.4 Try and think “what-if” on different topics preliminarily
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-5
3. Looking for and Forming a Focus
Goal: Exploring your topic, finding and forming a focus3.1 Info Search - exploring your topic 3.2 Info Search - preliminary note taking
Record the info source for citation
3.3 Purposeful thinking about possible focuses Try to focus on something new, useful, and interesting Think about justifications for your focus Other directions / alternatives not used - comparison,
future work
3.4 Choosing a focus or combining themes to form a focus
Considering your output size and time
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-6
4. Gathering Information
4.1 Info Search - finding, collecting, and recording record your sources in the bibliographic format
required for citation
4.2 Think about clarifying or refining your focus
4.3 Start organizing your notes into logical groups
4.4 Think about your thesis statement - the main point of your finding or the main contribution of your paper
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-7
5. Preparing to Write
5.1 Analyze and organize your information 5.2 Construct a thesis statement
Boil down the main point of your paper to a single statement
declares the position you are taking in your paper
sets up the way you will organize your discussion
points to the conclusion you will draw
5.3 Weed out irrelevant information 5.4 Info Search - fill in the gaps
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-8
6. Writing the Paper
6.1 Think about the assignment, the audience and the purpose
6.2 Prepare an outline6.3 Make your designs and diagrams6.4 Write the rough draft 6.5 Know how to use your source
materials and cite them 6.6 Have others read and critique the
paper6.7 Revise and proofread
Consider using Powerpoint slides
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-9
Paper Structure Title, Abstract, Keyword Introduction Background of the problem Related work (other papers or systems) Elaborate your problem statement Detail your solution of the problem Formal evaluation of your solution (if any) Discussions (qualitative evaluation) Conclusion and Future Work References Appendices
Ref: J. W. Chinneck, “How to organize your thesis”
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-10
Paper - Title, Abstract, Keyword
Title reflect problem statement and thesis sentence
Author in the order of contribution to the work
Abstract communicate the important ideas of the paper write the abstract before the paper and even the outline focuses your attention on the main ideas you wants to
convey Keyword / Index terms
on your topic used for indexing in digital libraries include especially those not in the title or abstract
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-11
Paper - Introduction
Problem Statement Thesis sentence Motivate your paper
Briefly, why existing systems / approach are inadequate
There are needs for your work Why / when / how your work is useful
Introduce the contribution of your paper Main advantage of your approach Point out any novelty
Introduce the paper structure very briefly Refrain from detail background information to
the next section
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-12
Paper - Background Depends on your audience Especially necessary
if your work spans two or more traditional fields About a certain specific industry or application domain (e.g.,
SME brokerage in HK) Introduce definitions, jargons, etc. Case study or motivating example Requirements – highlight new ones Stakeholders (cf. use case analysis) Inadequacy of existing approach Justify a new approach
Introduce (briefly) the new approach / technologies that you propose to use
their general advantages with reference to the above Consider a more specific section title
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-13
Paper – Related Work
Review of the State of the Art Organize this section by idea Cite other related works / systems /
websites Compare your approach with others Organize in subsections if necessary
too long better / highlight classification
Demonstrate the novelty or merit of your work by comparison
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-14
Paper – Elaborate your problem statement
Detail what your problems are, referring to background and related work
Model your problem Use diagrams to conceptualized your
problem UML Class diagrams UML activity diagrams to show business
process …
Formal / mathematical models (!)
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-15
Paper – Detail your solution Solution overview
May be in the form of a methodology (stepwise recipe)
System architecture Algorithms and other detailed design
UML activity diagram – flowchart UML sequence diagrams – protocol Summarized code / XML listing (only very necessary) …
Detailed data structures (only very necessary) From formal / mathematical models, derive
useful properties (!) Justify them as your present them
Compare alternative design choices
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-16
Paper - Formal evaluation of your solution (if any)
Experiment quantitative measurement of prototype
(e.g., performance) Gathering users’ experience
Simulation Survey Mathematical proofs (!) Less formal and practical: proof-of-
concept prototype …
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-17
Paper - Discussions (qualitative evaluation)
Convince the readers that you answered the question or solved the problem
Based of quantitative results or qualitative discussions or both
What you did is relevant and effective Systems meet the requirement of stakeholders Studies meet the objectives Technical, economical, managerial merits of your approach …
Experience you gained from your work (e.g., system implementation)
Applicability of your results and whether your result can be generalized, scale-up, etc.
State any limitations of your current work and suggest improvements for future work
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-18
Paper - Conclusions
Conclusions short, concise statements relate to your
research question and discussion Summary of Contributions, e.g.,
Novel system, architecture, methodology New business models and functions Practical and more effective solutions with
new technologies …
Future work
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-19
Paper - References Closely tied to the review of the state of the art Cite other work to justify major assumptions and
claims (e.g., which issue / aspect / strategy is the most important for a certain industry / system / problem domain)
Source for technical references (e.g., BPEL) All references given must be referred to in the
main body (different from bibliography) Different publisher has different reference (and
paper) formatting styles American Psychological Association (APA) style
Not only the format but also how to refer See: Nuts and bots of college writing
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-20
Paper – Appendices
Any material which impedes the smooth development of your presentation, but important to justify the results gives the impression that you have done solid
work Code listing, database schema, diagrams Immense tables of data Lengthy mathematical proofs or
derivations …
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-21
Publications Workshop proceedings
Usually preliminary new ideas Very focused topic
Conference proceedings Varies in content and quality On a certain area Usually quick new results or ideas
Journals and Transactions Polished research results Some have surveys (e.g., ACM Computing Surveys) Usually a longer turn-around time and a few review cycles Many have (occasional) special issues of new topics Cite a journal instead of a conference / workshop proceeding for
the same work Magazines (e.g., Communications of the ACM)
quick new ideas, results, review on hot topics interested to a large community of readers
Book Chapters – collection of papers on a specific (usually new) topic
Dickson Chiu 2005 CSIT600c 03-22
Read and evaluate a paper Original Ideas Reality Lessons Choices Context Focus Presentation Writing Style
The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. Reference:
How (and How Not) to Write a Good Systems Paper by Roy Levin and David D. Redell
Writing Good Software Engineering Research Papers, by Mary Shaw