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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