how to write a cs paper - purdue university
TRANSCRIPT
Mo<va<on
• Wri<ngapaperisdifficult– Complextopic– Newresults
• Paperwri<ngrarelytaughtexplicitlyingraduateschool– Learnedbyreadingpapers– Learnedthroughpainfultrialanderror
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Misconcep<onsaboutpaperwri<ng
• “Wri%ngapapertakesacoupleofhours”– No.Ittakesanexperiencedwriteraweekw/sleepand36hw/osleeptowriteapaper.
• “Wri%ngapapertakesliterarytalent”– No.Keeppoetryandmetaphorsoutofthepaper.
• “Wri%ngapaperisamysterious,amorphousprocess”– No.Thereisamethodforwri<ngpapers.
• “Englishproofreadingservicescanfixapoorlywri?enpaper”– No.Englishproofreadingfixeslanguageproblems,notexposi<onproblems.
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Whentostartwri<ng
• Op<on1:onceyouhaveproofofconcept– Pro:plentyof<meavailableforwri<ng– Con:notallresultsavailable,wri<nghastoan<cipateresults,wri<ngcannotaccuratelyemphasizestrengthsdemonstratedinresults
– Recommendedforconferencesubmissions,andfornovicewriters
– Mightrequireasecondwri<ngpass(i.e.amajorrevision)tofinetunepapertofinalresults
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Whentostartwri<ng
• Op<on2:onceallresultsareobtained– Pro:wri<ngreflectsresultswithhighfidelity,includinginabstractandinintroduc<on
– Con:li]le<meavailableforwri<ng,duetoimminent(conference)deadline
– Recommendedforconferencesubmissionsforexperiencedwriters,andforjournalsubmissions(noharddeadline)
– Warning:canleadtosubmissiondelays
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Forma_ng
• Usetemplateprovidedbytargetedvenue– Word– LaTex
• Formatfromthebeginning– Accuratees<mateofpaperlength– Avoidsforma_ngnightmaresclosetothedeadline
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Tellastory
• Awellwri]enpapertellsastory• Thestoryhasto– flowfromthe“introduc<on”sec<onallthewaytothe“conclusionsandfuturework”sec<on
– beeasytoread– beexci<ng– clearlystatecontribu<ons– notoverstatecontribu<ons– providesufficientdetailforreproducibility– notfollowthework<melinepropor<onally
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Tellastory
• Thestoryhasto– reiterateimportantpoints(<tle,abstract,introduc<on,method,andconclusions)withoutbeingrepe<<ve
– beconsistent,nocontradic<ons– containnoambigui<es;no“would”,“could”,“should”,“might”;everythingdescribedoutsidethefutureworksec<onshouldhavebeenactuallyimplemented;nospecula<ons
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Figures
• Wheneversomethingishardtodescribe,useafigure(i.e.diagram,image,graph)
• Haveenoughfigures,withdetailedcap<ons– Someonelookingonlyatfiguresshouldgetthemainideaofthepaper
• Figuresshouldbeofveryhighquality– Useprofessionalsogware,e.g.Visio– Bepreparedtoinvest<me(mul<plehours,revisions)– Startwithcanvasoffinalsize– 8ptfontinthefinalpaperlayout(noscaling)
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Philosophy
• Yourmethodisassumedtobebadun<lyouprovethatitisgood
• Yourpaperisassumedtoberejectedun<lyouproveithastobeaccepted
• Itisnotenoughtonotprovidegoodreasonsforthepapertoberejected
• Youhavetoprovidegoodreasonsforthepapertobeaccepted
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Papercomponents• Title• Authorslist• Abstract• Keywords• Introduc<on• Priorwork• Methodoverview• Methoddetails1• Methoddetails2• …
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• Resultsanddiscussion
• Conclusionsandfuturework
• Acknowledgments• References• Appendices• Video
Title• Important
– Firstthingareadersees– Togetherwithabstractandkeywordsusedtodecidereviewers
• Desiredquali<es– Informa<ve– Accurate– Nottoolong– Catchy,easytoremember,impressive
• Forma_ng– Capitalizeeverywordexceptforpreposi<ons– “Reflected-SceneImpostorsforRealis<cReflec<onsatInterac<veRates”
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Titlearchitecture• Mostfrequently– Nickname:New-ThingforWhat
• “TheWarpEngine:AnArchitectureforthePost-PolygonalAge”
• “GEARS:AGeneralandEfficientAlgorithmforRenderingShadows”
– New-ThingforWhat• “Simplifica<onofNodePosi<onDataforInterac<veVisualiza<onofDynamicDatasets”
• “Reflected-SceneImpostorsforRealis<cReflec<onsatInterac<veRates”
– Whatby(using)New-Thing• “CADVisualiza<onbyOutsourcing”
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Titlearchitecture
• New-Thing– Anewparadigm;radicallynewapproachtosolvingaproblemorsetofproblems
– “ForwardRasteriza<on”– “CameraModelDesign”
• What– Abreakthrough:finallyasolu<ontoalongstandingproblem
– “EfficientLarge-ScaleAcquisi<onofBuildingInteriors”
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Authorslist• Typicallysortedoncontribu<on– Rarelydonealphabe<cally(inourfield)
• Firstauthorshould– Understandalltheworkreportedinpaper– Beabletopresentthepaper– Knowhoweveryaspectofthemethodworks
• Collaboratorstoinclude– Anyonewhohascontributedasignificantidea– Thisleavesoutthosewhosecontribu<onisexclusivelyintheimplementa<on,inmakingfigures,orincollec<ngdata(theygoinacknowledgmentsec<on)
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Abstract• Thelongertypeofabstract– Twoparagraphs– Firstparagraph
• Problem• Problemimportance• Whyproblemisdifficult• Limita<onsofstateoftheart
– Secondparagraph• Briefdescrip<onofmethodcontributedbypaper• Methodscope(i.e.inputforwhichitworks,assump<ons)• Briefdescrip<onofmethodevalua<on• Resultshighlights
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Abstract
• Theshortertypeofabstract– Justthesecondparagraphofthelongertype
• Briefdescrip<onofmethodcontributedbypaper• Methodscope(i.e.inputforwhichitworks,assump<ons)• Briefdescrip<onofmethodevalua<on• Resultshighlights
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Abstract
• Lengthofabstractisusuallyregulated• Abstractsareexpectedtobedense– Startfromsomethingtwiceaslongandcondense– Tip:youcouldwritetheintroduc<onfirstandthencondensethatintoanabstract
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Keywords
• Usedtodeterminereviewers• Usedforreaderstofindyourpaperinfuture• Someconferences/organiza<ons(e.g.ACM)providelisttochoosefrom– Choosecarefully– Addyourownifatallpossible
• Sortbasedongenerality– Usuallyascendingorder
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Papercomponents• Title• Authorslist• Abstract• Keywords• Introduc<on• Priorwork• Methodoverview• Methoddetails1• Methoddetails2• …
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• Resultsanddiscussion
• Conclusionsandfuturework
• Acknowledgments• References• Appendices• Video
Introduc<on
• Themostimportantpartofthepaper– Ogentheonlypartofthepaperareader/reviewerwillreadcloselyfrombeginningtoend
– Manyreviewersdecideonacceptancebytheendoftheintroduc<onandusetheothersec<onsasasourceofevidencefortheirdecision
– Bepreparedtospendalong<mewri<ngit(oneday)andrevisingtheintroduc<on(throughoutthewri<ngprocess)
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Introduc<onformula
• Fiveplustwoparagraphs• Togetherwith<tle,teaserfigure,authorlist,keywords,abstractshouldcoveratmostthefirsttwopagesofpaper.
• Paragraph1– Problem– Problemimportance
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Introduc<onformula
• Paragraph2– Whyisproblemhard?– Summaryofpriorworkapproachesandoftheirshortcomings• OKtohavereferences• Iprefernottohavereferences
– Askreader/reviewertoextendtheirtrustun<lpriorworksec<onwhereallpriorworkclaimsarebackedupwithreferences
– Thisallowsreader/reviewertofocusonstory
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Introduc<onformula
• Paragraph3– Detailsonshortcomingsofpriorartthattakesimilarapproachastakenbypresentpaper
– Whataretheproblemsthatneedtobesolved,fortheapproachtosucceed?
– Thisshouldleadtoinsightthatcreatedmethoddescribedincurrentpaper.Clearlyunderstandingtheproblem,indetail,leadstoinspira<on,togoodidea.
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Introduc<onformula
• Paragraph4– Introducemethodpresentedbypaper– Startwith“insight”,“inspira<on”,“keyobserva<on”
– Noimplementa<ondetails,justhighlevelideasandconceptsused
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Introduc<onformula
• Paragraph5– Summaryofexampleswheremethodwastested– Summaryofresults– Ifyouhaveanaccompanyingvideo,men<onitexplicitly—otherwisereviewersmightmissthevideo!
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Introduc<onformula
• Paragraph6(op<onal)– Listofcontribu<ons– Atleasttwo,atmostthree,bulletsrecommended– Simplifiesreviewer’sjobfindingthecontribu<ons(theyareaskedbythereviewformtolistcontribu<ons)
– Wellwri]enparagraphs4and5couldmakethisparagraphunnecessary
– Reviewerscouldbeannoyedbythelistofcontribu<ons• contribu<onsofawellwri]enstrongpaperareself-evident• explicitlistofcontribu<onscanbeinterpretedasana]empttomanipulatereviewers
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Introduc<onformula
• Paragraph7(op<onal)– Paperorganiza<on(listsec<on<tlesandwhateachsec<ondoes)
– Moreusefulwhentherearemul<ple“methoddetails”sec<on(i.e.longerpapers)
– Usuallyomi]edforshorterpapers
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Priorwork
• Oneofthemostboringsec<onstoareader– Typicallyverypoorlywri]en
• Priorworksec<onshouldbe– Wellorganized– Comprehensive– Relevanttopaperathand– Fair
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Priorwork
• Convincereviewersthatareexpertintheareathatyoutooareanexpertinthearea
• Helpreviewersoutsidetheareacatchuponthestateoftheart
• Nothingworsethanapoorlywri]enpriorworksec<on– Noknowledgeofpriorwork– Nounderstandingofpriorwork– Nogooddelimita<onofthecontribu<onsofthecurrentpaper
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Annotatedbibliography• Youwriteali]lebitofthepriorworksec<onevery<me
youreadapaper– Collectanannotatedbibliography– Foreverypaperyouread
• Collectthecita<on• Writeasummaryparagraph• Writeastrengthsparagraph• Writeaweaknesses/limita<onsparagraph
– Theannotatedbibliographywillbeaninvaluablehelpwhenwri<ngpriorworksec<ons,yourthesis,etc.
• Startfromrecentmajorconferencesandvenues• Takeonestepback(i.e.lookattheirreferences)• Takeseveralstepsbackforthemostrelevantwork
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Priorwork• Organizepriorworksec<ononapproaches
– Defineeachapproach– Citeearly,recent,andbestknownpaperforeachapproach– Foreachpapercitedwriteasentence
• Onwhatitdoes• Anotheroneonwhatitexcelsat• Andanotheroneonitsshortcomings
• Endapproachdiscussionwithsummaryofstrengthsandweaknesses– Ifyourpapertakesdifferentapproach,contrastapproaches– Ifyourpapertakessameapproach,contrastyourmethodwithothermethodsintheapproach
– Devotemorespacetotheapproachtowhichyourmethodbelongs
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Priorwork
• Donotreusepriorworkfromotherpapers– Priorworksec<onshouldbedesignedanddetailedforthepresentpaper
• Priorworksec<onshouldbeaboutonepage– Youneverlosepointsfortoomanyreferences– Youcanlosepointsifreferencesarenotenough– However,thetotallengthofthepaperhastobecommensuratetocontribu<on
– Priorworkcanbecondensed– Donotuseareferenceasanoun
• “[2]describesamethod”,“sameapproachasin[2]”areincorrect
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Papercomponents• Title• Authorslist• Abstract• Keywords• Introduc<on• Priorwork• Methodoverview• Methoddetails1• Methoddetails2• …
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• Resultsanddiscussion
• Conclusionsandfuturework
• Acknowledgments• References• Appendices• Video
Overview
• Givesahigh-levelviewofyouren<remethod• Useadiagram– Blocksforthevariousstagesofyourmethod– Arrowsindica<ngthedataflow– Labelarrowswiththetypeofdata
• Useapseudocodedescrip<onofthemainstepsofyouralgorithm
• Eachstageorstepislaterdescribedinasec<on– Refertothefuturesec<on
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Overview
• Givesreviewersessen<alhelp– Reviewersvolunteertheir<me– Youareresponsibleformakingtheirjobaseasyaspossible
– Donotexpectreviewerstospendhoursandhourstryingtomakesenseofyourpoorlywri]enpaper
– Reviewerswillsimplysayinthereview:“ItriedbutIcouldnotunderstandthepaper,andIamanexpertinthearea;whatchancesdoesaregularreaderhave?”
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Methoddetailsk• Thesesec<onsaretheeasiestonestowrite– It’syourwork,it’swhatyoudid,youknowitalltoowell
– Youlovewhatyoudid,andyoucan’twaittotellpeopleaboutit
• Levelofdetail– Sufficientforaskilledgraduatestudenttoreproduceyourwork
– Notoverlyverbose—conciseandtothepoint– Noinnova<onshouldbelegunexplained– Nosimpleimplementa<ondetailsshouldbeprovided
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Methoddetailsk
• Usereferenceswhenyouuseanexis<ngtool– Makesureyouexplainwhatthealgorithm/tooldoes
– OKtosummarize(inonesentence)howthetooldoesittomakepaperselfcontained
• Usefigures• Usepresenttense
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Methoddetailsk
• Remember,donotuse“can,could,should,would”– Nothingworsethangivingtherevieweranuneasyfeelingthatsomeoftheworkdescribedisonlyproposedandthatitwasnotactuallydone
• Donotoveruse“very”,“highly”,theyendupweakeningwhatisclaimed– E.g.“veryaccurate”islessaccuratethan“accurate”
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Methoddetailsk
• Double-blindreview– Youcannotdiscloseyouriden<ty– OKtoreferenceyourpriorwork– Usethirdperson
• “theydidthisandthat”not“wedidthisandthat”– Donotinclude10referencestoyourwork
• Itwillamounttoablatantdisclosureofyouriden<ty
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Papercomponents• Title• Authorslist• Abstract• Keywords• Introduc<on• Priorwork• Methodoverview• Methoddetails1• Methoddetails2• …
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• Resultsanddiscussion
• Conclusionsandfuturework
• Acknowledgments• References• Appendices• Video
Resultsanddiscussion
• Youtalkedthetalk,nowyouwalkthewalk• Everythingyoupromisedhastobesubstan<atedbyresults– Highqualityshouldbesupportedbyhighquality– Interac<veratesshouldbesupportedbyinterac<verates
– Overcomingshortcomingsofpriorartshouldbesupportedbyafavorablecomparisontopriorart
– Anydiscrepancysubstan<allyweakensthepaper
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Results
• Firstparagraphs– Describeapplica<onsandsceneswhereyoutestedyourmethod
– Describemachinesonwhichyoucollected<minginforma<on
• Subsec<on1:quality• Subsec<on2:performance• Subsec<on3:comparisontopriorart• Subsec<on4:limita<ons
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Resultsanddiscussion:quality
• Provideevidenceastohowwellyourmethodworks
• Ifyourmethodresortstoapproxima<on,resorttotruth
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Resultsanddiscussion:performance
• Measureperformanceaccurately– Relevantdatasets
• Measureperformancethoroughly– Iden<fyparametersaffec<ngperformanceandmeasureperformanceforvariousvalues
– Discussnumbersobtained;discussbestandworstcases
– Whenappropriatederiveasympto<ccostofyourmethod
• Showperformancewithgraphsandtables
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Resultsanddiscussion:performance
• Givesomeinforma<ononimplementa<on– Highlevel,donotgiveboringdetails– Getintodetailsonlyifyoudidsomethingverycleverthatbroughtalotofperformancegain
• Remember– Paperdoesnotcoverlinearlytheworkyouputin– Thingsthattookmonthstoimplementmightnotevenbemen<oned
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Resultsanddiscussion:comparisontopriorart
• Trytofindimplementa<onsofmostprominentpriorartmethods– Itsavesyouhavingtoimplementthem– Itbringsmorecredibilitytothecomparison– Askauthorsiftheyarewillingtosharetheircode
• Showqualityandperformancedifferences– Conductathoroughanalysis– Donotavoidcaseswhereyourmethoddoesn’tdosowell– Performanceanalysisforsamequality– Qualityanalysisforsameperformance
• Discussthecomparison– Explainthedifferences– Explainthetradeoffs—e.g.morespeed,lessquality
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Resultsanddiscussion:limita<ons
• Reviewershavetolistthelimita<onsofyourmethod• Astrongpaperisexpectedtoself-reportitslimita<ons• Fundamentallimita<ons,whichyoumightinheritfromthegeneral“approach”taken,andsayso
• Limita<onsspecifictoyourmethod,explainwhatyougainforthoselimita<ons,i.e.thetradeoff
• Beunapologe<c—yourmethodworksforsometypesofinput,andit’sOKthatforsomeitdoesnot
• Explainhowsomelimita<onsmightberemovedthroughfuturework
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Conclusionsandfuturework
• Closingargumentsindefenseofyourpaper– Closingstatement.Thelast<meyoutalktoreviewers– Remindthemhowgoodyourpaperis
• Stateonemore<meverysuccinctlywhatthemethoddoes– Emphasizethestrengths– Emphasizethedifferencetopriorart
• Summarizethecomparisontopriorartonemore<me
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Conclusionsandfuturework
• Sketchdirec<onsforfuturework– Shorttermfixesandextensionswerealreadymen<onedinthelimita<onssubsec<on
– Donotmakeitsoundlike“paperisincomplete,butacceptthepaperplease,andwepromisewewilldoallthesethings”
– Thinkbigandthinkfarintothefuture• Bigimprovements• Applica<onsofmethodtonewcontexts
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Acknowledgments
• Withheldfordouble-blindreviews• Acknowledgeallwhohelped,indecreasingorderofcontribu<on
• Acknowledgeyourgroup• Acknowledgeyoursponsors
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References
• Formatwell• Donotincludereferencesnotusedinpaper• Includeallreferencesusedinpaper• Sortaccordingtoinstruc<ons(appearance,alphabe<cally)
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Appendices
• Putinanappendixtextthatisnotessen<altotheexposi<on– Proofs– Addi<onalresultstables– Commentsfromusers– Ques<onnaireusedinuserstudy
• Donotputinanappendixanythingthatyouwanttomakesureareviewerreads
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Papercomponents• Title• Authorslist• Abstract• Keywords• Introduc<on• Priorwork• Methodoverview• Methoddetails1• Methoddetails2• …
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• Resultsanddiscussion
• Conclusionsandfuturework
• Acknowledgments• References• Appendices• Video
Video• Typicalbutnotuniquetographicspapers• Alotofaddi<onalwork• Itcantakeaslongaswri<ngthepaper• Videoandpaperneedtobeconsistent– Emphasis– Methoddescrip<on– Resultillustra<on
• Title,introduc<on,andresultsofpaperononehandandvideoontheotherhandarestronglyinterdependent
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Video
• Length– Atmostfiveminutes– Someconferenceshavelimits,usually5min– Reviewerslosepa<ence– 5minareenoughtomakeyourpoint
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Mediumvideo
• Videocomponents– Split-screentwo-waycomparisonbetweenmethodandpriorart
– Or,split-screentwo-waycomparisonbetweenmethodandtruth
– Addi<onalexamplesofmethod
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Longvideo• Videocomponents– Limita<onsofpriorart– Previewofbestresults– Illustra<onofproposedmethod– Split-screentwo-waycomparisonbetweenmethodandpriorart
– Split-screentwo-waycomparisonbetweenmethodandtruth
– OrSplit-screenthree-waycomparisonbetweenpriorart,method,andtruth
– Addi<onalexamples– Conclusion
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Video
• It’snotanac<onmovie!– Camerashouldmoveveryslowly,andevenslowerinthecaseofsplitscreens
– Thesequencesshouldbeaslongaspossible– Gobackandforthseveral<mestomakeimportantpoints– Putaredboxaroundanimportantdetailyouwanttomakesuretheviewersees
• Forreal-<memethodsincludeareal-<mesequence– Sidebysidecomparisonsshouldbedonefroms<llsforperfectsynch
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Video
• Audiovoiceoverisessen<al– Videoisdifficulttounderstandwithoutaudio– Useaudiotoguidetheviewer’sa]en<ontothemostimportantquali<esofyourmethod
– Audiohastobewellsynchronizedtovideo• Men<oningaconceptshouldslightlyprecedethevisualillustra<onoftheconcept
– Audioscriptshouldbewellalignedwithpaperintroduc<on,results,andconclusions
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