20803820
English for
Computer Science
Lecture 14
Writing CS Papers (1)
Abstract
Introduction and Conclusion
Main Body
References
Writing Practice
Abstract
 An abstract is the
advertisement of your
paper.
 An abstract is a concise
paragraph summary of
the entire paper.
 Your reader will decide
whether to read/accept
your paper by reading
only the abstract.
Abstract
 Example
In this paper, we present a semi-supervised
method for automatic speech act recognition in
email and forums. The major challenge of this task
is due to lack of labeled data in these two genres.
Our method leverages labeled data in the
Switchboard-DAMSL and the Meeting Recorder
Dialog Act database and applies simple domain
adaptation techniques over a large amount of
unlabeled email and forum data to address this
problem. Our method uses automatically
extracted features such as phrases and
dependency trees, called subtree features, for
semi-supervised learning. Empirical results
demonstrate that our model is effective in email
and forum speech act recognition.
Introduction and Conclusion
 Introduction gives an
overview of your paper. It
usually provides a
background, presents
problems/challenges, and
explains why your work is
significant and novel.
 Conclusion summarizes
what has been done. It
usually restates your main
contributions and points
out future directions.
Introduction and Conclusion
 Caveats
 Introduction should not copy from the abstract, and your
abstract, introduction, conclusion should all be different
from each other.
 Many of your readers (including me) will only read the
abstract, introduction, and conclusion of your paper
before deciding to invest time on your technical details.
So make them readable and meaningful.
 Example
 Textbook, pp. 10 – 11
In-Class Exercise
 What is the best place to outline the structure of your
paper, abstract, introduction, or conclusion? Write
down your reasons.
Main Body
 The main body consists of
related work, method,
(experimental) result, and
discussion.
 Now you should give all
the technical details. Be
careful with every symbol,
equation, table, and
figure. Explain everything
in detail.
References
 If you use anyone’s idea
or work, do cite and list it
in the references. Failure
to do so is plagiarism.
 A list of references is not a
decorative appendix.
Your reader may
understand what your
work is based on by
reading the references.
References
 Caveats
 Reference works are usually sorted alphabetically. But
some journals may have special requirements, e.g.,
sorted according to their first citation order.
 Include a work in the references if and only if it is cited in
your paper.
 References should follow some formats, such as APA and
MLA. To appropriately format your references, study a
published paper in that journal or follow the journal’s
specific directions.
Writing Practice
“ The best way to
become acquainted
with a subject is to
write a book about it.
”
Benjamin Disraeli
See you next time.