Writing a Research Paper

1. Writing a Research Paper Paul Wagner (Student ACM Meeting, Spring 2004)

2. Major Messages • Follow the Major Research Work Areas • Major Sections: Abstract, Introduction/Background, Work Done/Contributions, Evaluation, Conclusion, Future Work, References • Outline First • Major Points => Paragraph Topic Sentences • Edit at the Outline Level • Much less work gets thrown away

3. Research Process (Methodology) • Initial Idea • Background Investigation • Refinement of Idea • Core Work • Investigation and Development of Ideas; Contributions • Prototype (if appropriate) • Evaluation • Identification of Future Work • Presentation

4. Research Paper Sections • Abstract • Condensed (one paragraph) version of paper • Write this last • Introduction • Statement of problem • Background • What others have done • Work Done/Contributions • What you have done to improve the situation; your contributions

5. Research Paper Sections (2) • Evaluation • How you know your work has been valuable • Perhaps the most difficult section… • Conclusions • Summary of your work and contributions • Future Work • What work is left for you and/or others • References

6. Writing a Research Paper • Writing Well • Takes practice • Takes organization • Takes thought • Goal • Find a process that is efficient • Leaves you more time for your work

7. Techniques - Outline • Outline Your Paper • By sections (as above) • Within sections • Major points within each section • Develop paragraph topic sentences for each point • A topic sentence around which you can write more detail

8. Techniques - Editing • Edit at Outline Level • Much more efficient than editing written text • Throw away much less • Maintain organizational structure much more easily • Goal – One Draft Paper • Once you get a good paragraph topic sentence outline, the rest is just adding on/filling in details

9. Techniques – Parallel Structure • Use Similar Forms/Structures Across Paper • Purpose: Help Readers Understand • Example (positive): • “We see three major benefits to this approach. First, …. Second, …. Third, …. “ • Example (negative) • “This approach helps in two ways: 1) it makes your writing more understandable; and 2) you have organized your thoughts more accurately…” • Example (positive) • Paper with multiple sections, each section having two subsections: 1) goals, and 2) structure.

10. Techniques – Active Voice • Active voice leads to more powerful, convincing writing • Example: • “We developed four database system projects.” • vs. • “Four database system projects were developed by us.” • All sentences (especially PTSs) should have active voice

11. Techniques – Quality Assurance • Use a spell checker • Use a grammar checker • Read it once more very carefully for anything the previous two checks missed • Then have someone else read it and consider their suggestions/comments • Point: good content is suspect if it’s not presented clearly and accurately

12. Techniques – Avoid Common Mistakes • Know and avoid the common usage mistakes; e.g. • Your vs. You’re • “We’re taking your word on this….” • “You’re the one implementing this system….” • Its vs. It’s • “It’s time to go….” • “I’ve seen its effects…” • Many others… • Making one or more of these mistakes detracts from your work

13. Paper Format • Usually constrained by receiving body • Make sure you understand and follow it • Areas: • Margins • Font size • Spacing • Columns • Reference format • Others….

14. Examples • http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/200000/199694/p1-astrachan.pdf?key1=199694&key2=4871367701&coll=portal&dl=ACM&CFID=17124641&CFTOKEN=23855863 • “Composite” paper with following: • Several typos and bad sentence structure • Fairly good ideas, but hadn’t actually done the work • Multiple major ideas within some paragraphs • Over the page limit • Confusing abstract