Crafting a Research Paper/Talk
Prasun Dewan
FB 150, Sitterson, 11-12:15
962 1823
dewan@unc.edu
Which is Research?
IPHONE
VISTA
SIDEBAR
What is Research?
Research (in Computer Science)
Collaboration
Toolkit
AsynchronousLogic Chip
Software
Hardware
• Novel concrete or abstract
CS-related artifact?
• Argument made why
significant and interesting
– Paper
– Talk
• It is the argument that
must be new, not
necessarily the artifact
IPhone
– New artifact does help
increase significance
GPU-based
Algorithm
Algorithm
Measurement of
Network Traffic
Measurement
• Research done in the
process of arguing it!
• Most things we learn
should apply to any
engineering field
– Maybe not science
iPhone as Research
• Research implies a an
analysis of previous
work (survey/related
work discussion)
• Will focus on surveys
– Hardest part of
paper/talk
Paper/Talk
• Paper: document
created
• Talk
– Slides and/or
Delivery
– Some talks do
not have slides!
– Talk = Recording
Crafting
The passive voice should
not be used!
Use light text on dark
background !
• In the small
– Grammar, PPT Animations
– Style, PPT Color Choices
– Analogous to defining an object
• In the large
Have an abstract,
introduction, body ,
conclusions and future
work
Have a title, outline, body,
conclusions , and future
work
– Composition of prose and slide
items
– Analogous to design principles
and patterns
• Assume proficiency in design in
the small
Software Design Pattern
Model
Notification
View
(Performs Output)
Read
Method
Write
Method
Controller
(Performs Input)
• Arguably good
composition
techniques
• Situational
• Examples!
• Practice
Design pattern found in many applications
State of the art in Software
engineering
• Arguably good
composition
techniques
• Situational
• Examples!
• Practice
Design pattern found in many applications
State of the art in Papers/Talks
• Arguably good
composition
techniques
• Situational
• Examples!
• Practice
State of the art in Papers/Talks
• Arguably good
composition
techniques
• Situational
• Examples!
• Practice
No one seems to have addressed !
Such Principles/Patterns Exist
Each student seems to make the same kinds of mistakes!
Have compiled mistakes made by students of last class
Even if you disagree with class
patterns/principles
•
•
•
•
Practice
Practice
Practice
Most of talk practice done
offline using recordings
• Office 2007
• LiveMeeting
• Good also for audience
– Viewing a good talk can
inspire and teach
– Easier to see others’ mistakes
Why Integration of Talk/Paper
Have an abstract,
introduction, body,
conclusions and future work
Have a title, outline, body,
conclusions , and future
work
• Research done in the process
of arguing it!
• At an abstract level, argument
in talk and paper not that
different
• Abstract argument is most
important
• Concrete recommendations
may also be very similar
Difference?
• Paper usually has more details
– More true for journal paper
– Which details to omit an important
issue in giving talks
• Talk an advertisement for paper
• Talk is less formal
• Can afford to make grammar
mistakes
• Easy to lose concentration in a talk
– Can re-read paper
– Papers usually do not have as good
a flow
• In this course, paper is almost a talk
transcript
Which comes first: Paper?
• Usually conference
paper before talk
• Get the details before
abstracting (bottom-up
approach)
• Can answer detailed
questions in talk
Which comes first: Talk?
• Interview talk before thesis written
• Get the abstraction/outline first
– Top-down approach
– Paper is an expanded version of
the talk
• Easier to get reviewer of talk than
paper
– Quality of main argument better
evaluated
• When integrating papers, details
already there, so no advantage in
going to paper first
• Can use figures of talk in paper
• Maybe easier to go from informal
(conversational) to formal.
– Often people end up reading
paper in talk.
Which is harder: Paper?
• More details
– More things to go
wrong
– Wrong proofs common
in papers
Which is harder: Talk?
• Abstraction is harder
– “I am sorry I did not have time for
a shorter letter”
– “Length is used to compensate for
lack of depth”
• Once talk is made, paper is easy
• Will spend much more time on
talks
– More of an in-class activity
Series of Talk-Paper Pairs
Talk
Paper
• First give a talk on
some topic.
• Then write a paper
that has the same
content and flow (it
may even be a
transcript of the talk)
Research Interest
3 minute talk on
research interest
Paper on
research interest
Talk principles
10 minute talk
on talk
principles
Paper on talk
principles
Seminal Paper
20 minute
summary of
seminal paper
Summary of
seminal paper
Survey
Create recording
of 45 min
survey
Review partner’s
recording
Paper
Present revised
talk
Revised Paper
Lots of work!
Student Level
• 2nd year student
– Ph.D. qualifying talk and paper
• 1st year RA
– Allows you to abstract out and understand what you are doing
• 1st year TA
– Allows you to explore an area
• Student writing thesis/proposal
– Hardest part of your career
• Master’s student
– Integrative comprehensive paper
Previous Skills Matter?
• No matter how good you are, much scope for
improvement
– How many talks do you listen to with rapt attention and
understand?
– How many papers have you enjoyed reading?
• Students expected to start with varying skills
and background
• Graded mostly on how much improvement
you show