HOW TO WRITE A GOOD PAPER Jehan-François Pâris

Introduction You have interesting results You have learned to write correct English Now your adviser tells you it is time to write a paper  What should you do?

What I will tell you today We will  Tell you how to present your results  Cover the basic parts of a scientific paper Focus on what to say in each of them  Review a few basic rules to follow

How to present your results Your results should be interesting  Improve upon the state of the art  In a significant manner It is your job to explain that to the reader

Things to do Present you results in the most positive way  Do not tell that the hit ratio of your cache went from 98 percent to 99 percent  Tell instead that the miss ratio of the cache was cut in half Show how your approach differs from those of previous authors.

Things to avoid Never make overstated claims Never try to hide the weaknesses of your method Never make unrealistic assumptions  If you absolutely need to make one, Acknowledge it Explain why it is necessary

Your future paper Five parts 1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. Review of previous work 4. Your own contribution 5. Conclusion Followed by a list of references

The abstract (I) Not an introduction A very brief summary of the results of the paper  Describe the problem  Sketch the approach  Present you best results

The abstract (II) No need to explain why the results are important  Introduction is there for that! Abstract must be self contained  No unexplained acronyms  No references!  Use very sparingly mathematical symbols

The introduction (I) Should present the topic and the scope of your paper Key objectives are  explaining what you will do (and not do)  making it sound interesting captatio benevolentiae = getting the goodwill of the reader

The introduction (II) Main difficulty  Must describe the problem and your results in very general terms Must simplify things without being inaccurate Some authors end the introduction by a roadmap of the paper  Section II of this paper reviews …

The review of previous work Mention previous work that is relevant to your paper  The key word is “mention”  You should not describe in any detail any previous work unless it is necessary for the understanding of your own work  Do not sweat it!

Your own contribution Explain in a few lines its scope:  You will investigate an idea that you find interesting  You have a better idea that solves of the problems other proposals did not solve

Checklist (I) Do not forget to mention the limitations of your approach  Markov models of disk arrays must assume that disk repair times follow an exponential distribution Not true! Necessary for having a tractable model

Checklist (II) Be sure you present your results the best you can  Tables  Graphs Do not forget to label the axes and the curves and to indicate the units

Checklist (III) Use an equation editor for your equations  Avoid ax^2 + bx + c All variables used in the text must be italicized  The number n of disks in the array

The conclusion Should summarize the results of the paper  Overlaps with abstract Often written in perfect tense Research papers often include directions for future work Many people read the conclusion first before deciding if the whole paper is worth their time  Make it informative

The list of references (I) Normally appears as an unnumbered section Very important part of paper  indication of good scholarship Format obeys to strict conventions  another indication of good scholarship Take it very seriously

The list of references (II) Always cite papers describing “pioneering work”  First paper on broadcasting for video-on- demand was by Viswanathan and Imielinski  Must be cited even though much better techniques have been devised In case of doubt, cite the papers that other people cite

Writing the paper (I) Avoid the passive voice  BAD: Three different block sizes were selected for our experiments  BETTER: We selected three different block sizes for our experiments

Writing the paper (II) Use short sentences Uses figures whenever it helps  You can borrow figures as long as you acknowledge your source Figure 9. A page table (from [9]) where [9] is a reference to a paper you cite

Tables and figures (I) Tables have titles that are above the table

Tables and figures (II) Figures have captions below them Make your table titles and figure captions as self-explanatory as possible  Many readers will look at the tables and figures before reading the text

Other rules to follow (I) Spell numbers at the beginning of a sentence  BAD: 52 % of the observations …  BETTER: Fifty-two percent of the observations…

Other rules to follow (II)  AWFUL: 3 different block sizes were selected …  BAD: Three different block sizes were selected …  BETTER: We selected three different block sizes …

Other rules to follow (III) Spell out percent everywhere in your text  BAD: We observed a 20% increase  BETTER: We observed a 20 percent increase

Other rules to follow (IV) It’s is not a possessive  BAD: It’s main disadvantage  BETTER: Its main disadvantage It’s is a contracted form of “ it is” Most good writers avoid these forms in scientific papers and reports:  you’re, can’t

A last word Good writing is a craft  You must exercise it to become better at it Good writing takes time and effort  Will become more enjoyable as you progress