CSIT600c: Web Services Programming
Writing IT Papers
Dickson K.W. Chiu
PhD, SMIEEE
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Writing a Paper – Process Overview
Step
Step
Step
Step
Step
Step
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2
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4
5
6
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Getting Started
Discovering and Choosing a Topic
Looking for and Forming a Focus
Gathering Information
Preparing to Write
Writing the Paper
Reference: A Plus Research and Writing
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-2
1. Getting Started
1.1 Understand the task and requirements (also the
audience)
1.2 Consider the process (e.g., the steps outline in this set
of slides) you'll use
1.3 Set deadlines and roadmaps for each step of the process
1.4 Think about possible topics within the constraints of 1.1
1.5 Info Search - browse, read, relax
1.6 Relate your prior experience and learning
1.7 Jot down your questions and ideas about possible topics
1.8 Brainstorm, alone and with others
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-3
2. Discovering and choosing a topic
2.1 Info Search - read for overview of various
topics
2.2 Continue thinking and jotting down questions
and ideas in your notebook
2.3 Info Survey - what print and electronic
resources are available
2.4 Try and think “what-if” on different topics
preliminarily
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CSIT600c 03-4
3. Looking for and Forming a Focus
Goal: Exploring your topic, finding and forming a focus
3.1 Info Search - exploring your topic
3.2 Info Search - preliminary note taking
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Record the info source for citation
3.3 Purposeful thinking about possible focuses
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Try to focus on something new, useful, and interesting
Think about justifications for your focus
Other directions / alternatives not used - comparison, future
work
3.4 Choosing a focus or combining themes to form a focus
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Considering your output size and time
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-5
4. Gathering Information
4.1 Info Search - finding, collecting, and recording
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record your sources in the bibliographic format
required for citation
4.2 Think about clarifying or refining your focus
4.3 Start organizing your notes into logical groups
4.4 Think about your thesis statement - the main
point of your finding or the main contribution of
your paper
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-6
5. Preparing to Write
5.1 Analyze and organize your information
5.2 Construct a thesis statement
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Boil down the main point of your paper to a single
statement
declares the position you are taking in your paper
sets up the way you will organize your discussion
points to the conclusion you will draw
5.3 Weed out irrelevant information
5.4 Info Search - fill in the gaps
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-7
6. Writing the Paper
6.1 Think about the assignment, the audience
and the purpose
Consider using
6.2 Prepare an outline
Powerpoint slides
6.3 Make your designs and diagrams
6.4 Write the rough draft
6.5 Know how to use your source materials and
cite them
6.6 Have others read and critique the paper
6.7 Revise and proofread
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-8
Paper Structure
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Title, Abstract, Keyword
Introduction
Background of the problem
Related work (other papers or systems)
Elaborate your problem statement
Detail your solution of the problem
Formal evaluation of your solution (if any)
Discussions (qualitative evaluation)
Conclusion and Future Work
References
Appendices
Ref: J. W. Chinneck, “How to organize your thesis”
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CSIT600c 03-9
Paper - Title, Abstract, Keyword
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Title
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Author
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in the order of contribution to the work
Abstract
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reflect problem statement and thesis sentence
communicate the important ideas of the paper
write the abstract before the paper and even the outline
focuses your attention on the main ideas you wants to convey
Keyword / Index terms
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on your topic
used for indexing in digital libraries
include especially those not in the title or abstract
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-10
Paper - Introduction
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Problem Statement
Thesis sentence
Motivate your paper
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Introduce the contribution of your paper
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Briefly, why existing systems / approach are inadequate
There are needs for your work
Why / when / how your work is useful
Main advantage of your approach
Point out any novelty
Introduce the paper structure very briefly
Refrain from detail background information to the next
section
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-11
Paper - Background
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Depends on your audience
Especially necessary
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Introduce definitions, jargons, etc.
Case study or motivating example
Requirements – highlight new ones
Stakeholders (cf. use case analysis)
Inadequacy of existing approach
Justify a new approach
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if your work spans two or more traditional fields
About a certain specific industry or application domain (e.g., SME
brokerage in HK)
Introduce (briefly) the new approach / technologies that you propose
to use
their general advantages with reference to the above
Consider a more specific section title
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-12
Paper – Related Work
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Review of the State of the Art
Organize this section by idea
Cite other related works / systems / websites
Compare your approach with others
Organize in subsections if necessary
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too long
better / highlight classification
Demonstrate the novelty or merit of your work
by comparison
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-13
Paper – Elaborate your problem statement
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Detail what your problems are, referring to
background and related work
Model your problem
Use diagrams to conceptualized your problem
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UML Class diagrams
UML activity diagrams to show business process
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Formal / mathematical models (!)
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-14
Paper – Detail your solution
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Solution overview
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System architecture
Algorithms and other detailed design
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May be in the form of a methodology (stepwise recipe)
UML activity diagram – flowchart
UML sequence diagrams – protocol
Summarized code / XML listing (only very necessary)
…
Detailed data structures (only very necessary)
From formal / mathematical models, derive useful
properties (!)
Justify them as your present them
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Compare alternative design choices
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-15
Paper - Formal evaluation of your solution
(if any)
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Experiment
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quantitative measurement of prototype (e.g.,
performance)
Gathering users’ experience
Simulation
Survey
Mathematical proofs (!)
Less formal and pratical: proof-of-concept
prototype
…
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-16
Paper - Discussions (qualitative evaluation)
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Convince the readers that you answered the question or solved
the problem
Based of quantitative results or qualitative discussions or both
What you did is relevant and effective
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Systems meet the requirement of stakeholders
Studies meet the objectives
Technical, economical, managerial merits of your approach
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Experience you gained from your work (e.g., system
implementation)
Applicability of your results and whether your result can be
generalized, scale-up, etc.
State any limitations of your current work and suggest
improvements for future work
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-17
Paper - Conclusions
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Conclusions
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short, concise statements relate to your research
question and discussion
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Summary of Contributions, e.g.,
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Novel system, architecture, methodology
New business models and functions
Practical and more effective solutions with new
technologies
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Future work
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-18
Paper - References
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Closely tied to the review of the state of the art
Cite other work to justify major assumptions and claims
(e.g., which issue / aspect / strategy is the most
important for a certain industry / system / problem
domain)
Source for technical references (e.g., BPEL)
All references given must be referred to in the main body
(different from bibliography)
Different publisher has different reference (and paper)
formatting styles
American Psychological Association (APA) style
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Not only the format but also how to refer
See: Nuts and bots of college writing
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-19
Paper – Appendices
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Any material which impedes the smooth
development of your presentation, but
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important to justify the results
gives the impression that you have done solid work
Code listing, database schema, diagrams
Immense tables of data
Lengthy mathematical proofs or derivations
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Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-20
Publications
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Workshop proceedings
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Conference proceedings
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Polished research results
Some have surveys (e.g., ACM Computing Surveys)
Usually a longer turn-around time and a few review cycles
Many have (occasional) special issues of new topics
Cite a journal instead of a conference / workshop proceeding for the same
work
Magazines (e.g., Communications of the ACM)
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Varies in content and quality
On a certain area
Usually quick new results or ideas
Journals and Transactions
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Usually preliminary new ideas
Very focused topic
quick new ideas, results, review on hot topics
interested to a large community of readers
Book Chapters – collection of papers on a specific (usually new) topic
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-21
Read and evaluate a paper
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Original Ideas
Reality
Lessons
Choices
Context
Focus
Presentation
Writing Style
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The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.
Reference:
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How (and How Not) to Write a Good Systems Paper by Roy
Levin and David D. Redell
Writing Good Software Engineering Research Papers, by
Mary Shaw
Dickson Chiu 2005
CSIT600c 03-22