How to Write a (Journal)
Paper
After Reading the Instructions for
Authors
Don Ylvisaker, UCLA
Writing
Have something to say?
If so, want people to read it?
Writing
Have something to say?
If so, want people to read it?
How to Write
Keep it short and to the point!
(Say it well!)
Writing
Something to say?
Writing
Something to say?
E. J. G. Pitman
21 papers and a monograph
Exponential families and sufficiency
Pitman efficiency
Pitman closeness
Pitman estimator
Writing
Something to say?
l. J. Good
“Shorter publications list” runs to 2,378 items
Cryptography
“Estimation of Probabilities” book
Contingency tables
Writing
Want people to read it?
Writing
Want people to read it?
Start with the title!
Brad Efron
- "Better Bootstrap Confidence Intervals”
Writing
Start with the title!
Brad Efron
- "Better Bootstrap Confidence Intervals”
Ed Leamer
- “Let’s Take the Con Out of Econometrics”
Writing
Start with the title!
Brad Efron
- "Better Bootstrap Confidence Intervals”
Ed Leamer
- “Let’s Take the Con Out of Econometrics”
Andy Gelman
- “Ethics and the statistical use of prior information”
Writing
Start with the title!
Brad Efron
- "Better Bootstrap Confidence Intervals”
Ed Leamer
- “Let’s Take the Con Out of Econometrics”
Andy Gelman
- “Ethics and the statistical use of prior information”
Xiao-Li Meng
- “Statistics Departments: Time for a Second Divorce?”
How to Write
Keep it short and to the point!
How short is short?
Lengths of published papers in Statistica Sinica
If we look at the median number of pages over a year’s volume, we find:
Year
Median
1996
1997
16
17
2001
2002
17
18
2006
2007
19
20
2011
2012
23
24
Journal/Year
Annals of Statistics
1981
10
1996 2011
18
28
JRSS B
14
22
Statistica Sinica
16
23
How to Write
Keep it short and to the point!
Some words and phrases can be omitted!
A few specifics
Borrowing from Andy Gelman – remove all
contentless words and phrases, such as:
- “Of course” - “Note that” - “Interestingly” “very” - “nice” - “We can see that” - “It is
important to note that”
I would add:
- “Let us”
- “Real-life”
And suggest light use of:
- “Recall that”
- “Becomes”
- “The following”
- “That is”*
- “Define”*
- “May”
- “Will”
How to Write
Keep it short and to the point!
Write short sentences!
Use plain language!
For notational simplicity, we shall drop the
.
subscript A such that f always refers to the
derivative with the maximum order in A.
For notational simplicity, we shall drop the
.
subscript A such
that f always refers to the
derivative with the maximum order in A.
For simplicity, we drop the subscript A from fA.
However, such assumption may not be always
realistic because (the variables) are vulnerable
to the presence of outlying observations.
However, such assumption may not be always
realistic because (the variables) are vulnerable
to the presence of outlying observations.
However, this is not always realistic because of
outlying observations.
How to Write
Keep it short and to the point!
Omit some text!
Omit extraneous text!
“For a ____ random vector we establish the
following proposition which is important for our
further research.”
“The extensions to arbitrary censoring are
immediate. For example . . .
“We first introduce some necessary notation for
the theorem below.”
“This theorem is very useful and crucial when we
derive the rate of convergence for the above MLE in
Section 3.4.”
“The following corollary establishes the asymptotic
properties of the estimator based on (10).”
“We show that XXX can be represented by a
quadratic term plus a remainder with order op(1),
that is, XXX = ____.”
Taken together, in the words of a
writing instructor:
“Each sentence, each word, must pass this
test: does the reader need to know this?”
How to Write
Keep it short and to the point!
Some suggestions
Treat space as a scarce commodity!
Limit the discussion to your work!
Limit references to the directly
relevant!
Reference rather than repeat results!
How to Write
Keep it short and to the point!
Further suggestions
Number and display only as necessary!
Keep assumptions and theorems short!
Keep asides to a minimum!
(Simulations were carried out!)
Writing
Some general advice
Respect the reader’s ability to think, to read, to recall!
- Repetition gets boring, Repetition gets boring, . . .
- cf. Abstract to Introduction to Conclusion
- Most readers know some literature!
Stick to your story!
- Don’t dwell on the shortcomings of other procedures!
- Let the reader judge yours!
- Avoid unnecessary excursions!
Consider the Supplementary Materials option!
Rethink text as to content
(during and after writing it)
Read text aloud for its cadence
(under your breath, if out in public)
Recruit a writing referee
(as thought useful)