About Writing Technical Papers: Organization, English, and Some Tips

1. About Writing Technical Papers:Organization, English, and Some Tips Michael R. Lyu October 3, 2005

2. Main Sections in A Scientific Paper • Introduction (Why?) • Methods (How?) • Results (What?) • Discussion (So what?)

3. Introduction • What is the overall purpose of the research? • How does the research fit into the context of its field? Is it, for example, attempting to settle a controversy? show the validity of a new technique? open up a new field of inquiry? • What is your rationale for studying the question in this way?

4. Methods • What is your approach? Do you describe each step clearly and comprehensively? • Are the methods and measurements appropriate for the questions you are approaching? • Are the methods and measures in this research related to the objectives you identified? • What is the innovation in your approach?

5. Experiments and Results • What is the one major finding? • Are enough of the data presented so that readers can judge how the experiment turned out? • Do you make use of figures and tables to clearly convey the results? • Do you see patterns or trends in the data that should be emphasized? Are there problems that are not addressed? • What is the significance of the results? • Do you compare with similar approaches and show advantages?

6. Discussion • Can you make convincing conclusions drawn from the data? • Are these conclusions over-generalized or appropriately careful? • Are there other factors that could have influenced, or accounted for, the results? • What further experiments would you think of, to continue the research or to answer remaining questions? • Do you clearly state your contribution of the paper?

7. Writing Style† • Write *below* the readers' reading level. The avg. person in the US reads at a 5th grade level (11 years of age). The avg. professional reads at about the 12th grade level (18 years of age). • Keep paragraphs short and sweet. Keep sentences shorter and sweeter. This means "concise," not cryptic. • White space is not wasted space – it greatly improves clarity. A blank line only adds a byte to the article length, so don't be stingy if it will help make your meaning clearer. • Pick your words carefully. Writing with precision is as important here as it is in any other kind of discourse. Consider carefully whether what you have written can be misinterpreted, and whether that is something you wish to have happen. †Intentionally stolen from Jeff Offutt – let’s see when he finds out. See http://www.isse.gmu.edu/faculty/ofut/hints-net-write.html

8. Writing Style (continued) • People can only grasp about seven things at once. This means ideas in a paragraph, major sections, etc. • Avoid abbreviations and acronyms, if possible, and define the ones you use. • There are several variations on any one sentence. A passive, questioning or negative sentence takes longer to read. • "Cute" misspellings are difficult to read, especially if the reader is not fluent in the language involved. †Intentionally stolen from Jeff Offutt – let’s see when he finds out. See http://www.isse.gmu.edu/faculty/ofut/hints-net-write.html

9. Pay Attention to Every Detail • Format. • Grammar. • Avoid klear errores;

10. Format • General You need a space after comma ",", a space before and after "=", and two spaces after period ".". • Avoid obvious grammatical mistakes. For example, “analyses” is a noun, not a verb. Its verb is “analyze.”

11. Count Them Right! • Some words are not countable • research • work • “Future Researches” is not English • Do not use the word "work" in plural, unless you mean "factory" "a piece of art". "Research works" is not a correct term.

12. Careful Use of Words: “Have” • Avoid using the word "have/has" unless it is used for a tense. • This book has three chapters -> this book contains three chapters • These models have the same property -> These models enjoy the same property.

13. Careful Use of Words: “To” Avoid using words "to" excessively. • Opinion is originally a 3-dimentional metric to represent belief or trust and is extended to contain a 4th redundant parameter in order to use in combination with logical operators • Opinion is originally a 3-dimentional metric in representing belief or trust and is extended to contain a 4th redundant parameter for simple usage in combination with logical operators

14. The Word “Useful" Is Not Useful • Choose word with concrete meaning for precise expression. • A word with too general meaning becomes meaningless. • You should provide a concrete word to say how "useful" is it. • “XML is useful in the Web.” • “XML is innovative in the Web.” • “XML is popular in the Web.” • “XML is powerful in the Web.”

15. Words and Sentences • Don't repeat words. Change them to their synonyms. (MS Word gives you a good tool for that.) • Make shorter sentences when possible. The longer the sentences you make, the more ambiguous they may sound. • “And” should connect sentences of the same tense. Bad: “Our solution is based on network models in [1] and we proposed a new approach for authentication.” Right: “Our solution is based on network models in [1]. We proposed a new approach for authentication.” Better: “Based on network models in [1], we proposed a new approach for authentication.”

16. Should I Include “The”? • All countable things need an article if they are not in plural. When you first mention a thing, use "a" as the article make that things plural. Since then, you use "the" as the article. • When in doubt, always use "the" as the article.

17. Acknowledgement • Acknowledge grant in the final camera-ready paper. For example: • "The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. CUHK4205/04E)." 

18. About Reference • Put reference in either appearance order or alphabetical order (according to the first author's last name). • Include your own related papers in the reference list. • No reference citation in abstract and conclusion. • Consistent reference format, including authors, paper title, proceedings names, issue number, volume, places, dates, page numbers. They not only need to be in a consistent sequence, but also with right fonts and punctuations.

19. How Do I Correct Your Manuscript? • "underline" means "in italic face" • "double underline" means "in bold face" • "triple underline" means "capitalize" • "/" means "in small case" • "ف" (a line or a circle with a curvy tail) means "delete" • "" means "undo" • "\/" or "/\" means "insert" • “ “ means "connect" • “small circle” (usually at the end of a word) means insert and connect • "P " means starting a new paragraph • "clouded quote " means "my comments" P

20. Summary • Read others’ published papers and study their good writing skills. • If you are writing your first paper, find a similar one and copy its style and organization. • Writing in English is tough but important. Keep writing until it is right. • Read the book “The Element of Styles” by Strunk & White