Writing a Databases Research Paper
Damian Gordon
Introduction
Database research is at an exciting crossroads, unlike many areas of study in computing, database research and their application in the world of business have a very strong cross-fertilisation.
With the development of Data mining and warehousing, XML, temporal databases, Data Visualization, Open Source, etc. the range of possible ways that an organisation can design, implement, store and retrieve their data has changed significantly.
Introduction
A detailed discussion related to some of the latest topics can be found in “The Claremont Report on Database Research”
Agrawal, R., et al., “The Claremont Report on Database Research”, ACM Comms., 52(6), June 2009.
Who are ACM ?
The Association for Computing Machinery, or ACM, is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009. ACM is organized into over 170 local chapters and 35 Special Interest Groups (SIGs), through which it conducts most of its activities. Many of the SIGs, like SIGGRAPH, SIGPLAN, SIGCSE and SIGCOMM, sponsor regular conferences which have become famous as the dominant venue for presenting new innovations in certain fields. The groups also publish a large number of specialized journals, magazines, and newsletters.
ACM SIGs SIGACCESS - Accessible Computing SIGACT - Algorithms and Computation Theory SIGAda - Ada Programming Language SIGAPP - Applied Computing SIGARCH - Computer Architecture SIGART - Artificial Intelligence SIGBED - Embedded Systems SIGCAS - Computers and Society SIGCHI - Computer-Human Interaction SIGCOMM - Data Communication SIGCSE - Computer Science Education SIGDA - Design Automation SIGDOC - Design of Communication SIGecom - Electronic Commerce SIGEVO - Genetic and Evolutionary Computation SIGGRAPH - Computer Graphics and Interactive
Techniques SIGIR - Information Retrieval
SIGITE - Information Technology Education SIGKDD - Knowledge Discovery in Data SIGMETRICS - Measurement and Evaluation SIGMICRO - Microarchitecture SIGMIS - Management Information Systems SIGMM - Multimedia SIGMOBILE - Mobility of Systems, Users, Data
and Computing SIGMOD - Management of Data SIGOPS - Operating Systems SIGPLAN - Programming Languages SIGSAC - Security, Audit and Control SIGSAM - Symbolic and Algebraic
Manipulation SIGSIM - Simulation and Modeling SIGSOFT - Software Engineering SIGSPATIAL - SIGSPATIAL SIGUCCS - University and College Computing
Services SIGWEB - Hypertext, Hypermedia and Web
ACM SIGs SIGACCESS - Accessible Computing SIGACT - Algorithms and Computation Theory SIGAda - Ada Programming Language SIGAPP - Applied Computing SIGARCH - Computer Architecture SIGART - Artificial Intelligence SIGBED - Embedded Systems SIGCAS - Computers and Society SIGCHI - Computer-Human Interaction SIGCOMM - Data Communication SIGCSE - Computer Science Education SIGDA - Design Automation SIGDOC - Design of Communication SIGecom - Electronic Commerce SIGEVO - Genetic and Evolutionary Computation SIGGRAPH - Computer Graphics and Interactive
Techniques SIGIR - Information Retrieval
SIGITE - Information Technology Education SIGKDD - Knowledge Discovery in Data SIGMETRICS - Measurement and Evaluation SIGMICRO - Microarchitecture SIGMIS - Management Information Systems SIGMM - Multimedia SIGMOBILE - Mobility of Systems, Users, Data
and Computing SIGMOD - Management of Data SIGOPS - Operating Systems SIGPLAN - Programming Languages SIGSAC - Security, Audit and Control SIGSAM - Symbolic and Algebraic
Manipulation SIGSIM - Simulation and Modeling SIGSOFT - Software Engineering SIGSPATIAL - SIGSPATIAL SIGUCCS - University and College Computing
Services SIGWEB - Hypertext, Hypermedia and Web
Who else ?
Another significant group are IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) called “eye-triple-e” is a professional organization for the advancement of technology, it also publishes a number journals
IEEE Transactions IEEE Computational intelligence and AI IEEE Transactions on Computers IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence IEEE Transactions on Services Computing IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing IEEE Transactions on Haptics IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing IEEE Transactions on Multimedia IEEE Transactions on Nanobioscience IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking
IEEE Transactions IEEE Computational intelligence and AI IEEE Transactions on Computers IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence IEEE Transactions on Services Computing IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing IEEE Transactions on Haptics IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing IEEE Transactions on Multimedia IEEE Transactions on Nanobioscience IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking
Good Sources ?
Journal Papers Conference Papers Textbooks Other Books Company Whitepapers Company Websites Blogs Wikis
Introduction
Another approach to identifying up-to-the-minute info is to look at Database Conferences, e.g.
Data Management, Information Quality and Data Warehouse & Business Intelligence Conference 2010, 3-5 November 2010, London, UK
Look at the topics
Information and Data Quality Business Intelligence Data Warehousing Dimensional Modelling Metadata Metadata Management Data Integration Data Architecture Definitions Management Data Modelling Analytics Corporate Data Strategy Cloud Computing
Open Source Data Migration Data Model Scorecard Business Semantics Operational BI Unstructured Data XML Mashups Agile EIM Corporate Data Management Latest Trends Agile Data Warehousing
How do we find good info?
The Library
The Web– Google– Google Scholar– Citeseer– Conferences– Researcher’s websites
synonyms
acronyms
polysemy
single-conceptprinciple
neologisms
monosemyabbreviations
quasi-synonyms,or near-synonyms
pseudo-synonyms,or false synonymsantonyms
phraseologism
hyponyms
hypernyms
collocation Cross-
references
PROBLEMS WITH USINGA SEARCH ENGINE AS THE SOLE SOURCE OF
INFORMATION
tautonyms
Other really good sites
http://arxiv.org/archive/cs
WebLenshttp://www.weblens.org/scholar.html
INFOMINE
DBLP
Gartner
Bibliographical Software
Free
Free
Free
BibTeXFree
PybliographerFree
Biblioscape
EndNote
Mendeley
Qiqqa
Reference Manager
What is a Research Paper?
Research Paper
A typical research paper (from a conference or journal) consists of the following parts;
– Title, – Abstract, – Introduction, – Methodology, – Results and – Bibliography.
Research Paper
You will encounter new terminology when reading papers It is important that you note it down, and find out what it means. You can do this by looking it up on the web or in a textbook, if it
is an acronym, synonym or a related term to your research topic,
BUILD A LEXICON. This is a very important step, since any new term could be
central to your research, it may describe a mathematical technique or it could be a
synonym for the research domain itself, whatever the case.
Research Paper
At the beginning of the research process you will be deluged with new terminology, the important thing is to hang in there,
DON’T GET OVERWHELMED BY IT ALL, the more papers you read, the less new terms you will be
encountering, the more of an expert you will become. As you are learning more about the papers it is very important
that you update the records you are keeping about this particular paper, in particular, the research topic or keywords sections.
Research Paper
Title Abstract Introduction Methodology Analysis Conclusions Bibliography
Title
What do it tell you about the paper?
Is it – “The Development of…” – “An Investigation of…” – “The Design of…”
Abstract
Usually answers the following questions1. What is the area of study?2. What is the problem being tackled?3. What does the literature say?4. How did you tackle the problem?5. How did you implement the solution?6. What results have you gotten?
Introduction
Sets the scene for the paper Identifies what is in the rest of the paper More importantly says what is not being covered in
the paper, sets the research scope or research boundary
Review some of the important background literature.
Tells the reader why this research is important
Introduction
Topic?Importance?
Introduction
Arrangement?Background?
Methodology
Your research method is called “Desk-based research” in this section you identify how you undertook your research process, what resources you identified, and how you review them.
Analysis
For this assignment this is the big part of the paper, based on the references you have read :
– What is this topic about ?– Why has this technology been developed?– What are the important trends in industry?– What are the important trends in research?– Where is this going?
Analysis
organised by ideas, research trends NOT chronologically or by author
Conclusions
What are you overall impressions of this topics, what are its strengths and weaknesses?
Where do you think it’s going from here? What did you learn?
Bibliography
List of papers you read, in the following format;
Reviewing a paper
ResearchQuestion
ExperimentResults
Reviewing a paper
Do all three match?
It’s surprising how often they don’t
Some points on writing a paper
It’s and its Perpendicular pronoun and passive voice Possession and plural Try to avoid mixing tenses Punctuation ( . ; : - ) et al.
Some points on writing a paper
I keep six honest serving-men(They taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who.I send them over land and sea,I send them east and west;But after they have worked for me,I give them all a rest.
I let them rest from nine till five,For I am busy then,As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,For they are hungry men.But different folk have different views; I know a person small-She keeps ten million serving-men,Who get no rest at all!
She sends'em abroad on her own affairs,From the second she opens her eyes-One million Hows, two million Wheres,And seven million Whys!
Some points on writing a paper
The four C’s:• Clarity -- it is easily understood by your intended
audience• Comprehensiveness -- all of the necessary
information is present• Conciseness -- it is clear without excess
verbiage• Correctness -- it is grammatical and follows
conventions
Some points on writing a paper
• Write positive language.– Don’t use: Access to student information is not authorized for any
parties except Enrollment Services. Employees who have access to student information are not allowed to share that information with non- affiliated third parties if you have not authorized it.
– Do use: Access to student information is authorized only for Enrollment Services purposes. Employees who have access to student information are required to protect and keep it confidential.
• DON’T WRITE IN UPPER CASE FOR MORE THAN A WORD OR TWO.
Your audience
At the very beginning… think about your likely audience.
The word selection, level of motivation, and background required for a report (or a presentation) depends greatly on the background of the audience.
Over to you...