Writing a scientific paper

UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA SALESIANA

March 2014

Dr. DANIEL CARDENAS
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Write a paper, why?
Share your research work
Disseminate your findings
Establish milestones
Finding answers. or questions
Publish a paper in a scientific journal or
conference
High quality
They are a reference (Indexed)
Impact factor



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But..
Time consuming
Easy? no way!
Many papers do not communicate your
research (if accepted)
They are not cited later on
Emphasis on authors, not readers
Redundant info (not useful)
A good paper: interesting!
And useful to many more people


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Exercise

Why do you think the papers you have
brought are well/bad written?
Discuss it in your group

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What will we see
Organize the content (structure)
Prepare a draft
Revise

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Structure
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What for?
A paper can show your original work, e.g.
I had an idea, I though about a feasible solution
Or review someone elses research
e.g. telecom operators
This is what we expect for the future
These are the problems will face and the research
trends
Science evolves in previous findings
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And therefore a paper..
Needs to (must, should) INFORM
Not impress!
Be READABLE (CAC)
Clear
Accurate
Concise
NOT an enigma, or author centered
Ex: SI definition of second
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Those ones
SI Definition of second
The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770
periods of the radiation corresponding to the
transition between the two hyperfine levels of
the ground state of the cesium 133 atom.
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INFORM WHO?
Not only the reader (of the journal)
Remember: The ones who will cite your paper
or not
But firstly the referee
Remember: The one who suggest the editor
whether your paper should be published
or not
Mmmm about referees.
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Those ones
.DSP will never be used on optical
communications
A referee when rejecting one paper at the dawn of
proposing using DSP for expanding even more the
capacity of optical links
Today, there is practically no optical
communications without DSP.
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INFORM
Easy pissy!
Present a very well detailed description of my
research work!!

NOOOO!!!!
Well. NOT ONLY THAT!

Convince them that IT IS IMPORTANT !!
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And
Done. It is important. What else?

Show them that is RELEVANT!!.
To the respective community

In other words, show:
WHY IS IMPORTANT and WHY YOU SHOULD
CARE


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We are talking about
MOTIVATION
OUTCOME
E
v
i
d
e
n
c
e


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Structure
Usually in chronological order

Introduction
Methodology
Results (& Discussion)
Conclusion

we will talk about the ABSTRACT later on..

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Structure
Introduction
Explains the motivation!
States what is to come
Presents the structure of the paper
Methodology
Gives detailed (enough) information about your
work and how others can replicate it
If too much info, some of it can be placed in the
appendix
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Structure
Results & Discussion
Present the results (what you found) and discuss
them (what they mean)
Usually both things into one section,
Tick: What would you do?
Remember, readers did not do your work, seldom they
make sense of your results
You have to interpret them.
TELL THEM WHAT THEY MEAN!!


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Structure
Conclusion
The outcome
Interpret the results.
Again? What is the difference?
Example: Moore law & demand
Relates the results to the Introduction


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Abstract
Basically, it is a summary of the MOTIVATION
and OUTCOME of your work

Beginning and the end
Very though
No redundant information!


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Introduction
Presents the motivation and structure of the
paper
Components:
Context, to establish the importance of the work
Need of your work, what we have and what we
want
Task, to address that need
Object, what the paper reports


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Exercise

Identify these components in the introduction
of your papers (groups)
Context
Need
Task
Object

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Introduction
Context and need
start BROAD and finish NARROW on the issue
under research providing a good motivation
The fact that it has not been studied before
is NOT a good reason to study it !
Write it to capture a broad range of readers
Provide useful and importance context (info
that help to understand the NEED)

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Introduction
Consider putting the context in time
Recently, since 2000, etc,
Or in space
Mainly research field (or geographically)
State the actual situation WHAT WE HAVE
(state of the art)
And the desired one (WHAT WE WANT)
Emphasize the contrast
But, unfortunately, however, etc


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Introduction
If possible, combine the need with the task in
one sentence. Write first the objective (need)
and then the action taken (task)

To confirm this assumption, we studied

To assess ., we analyzed

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Introduction
Task and object

The task emphasizes the authors contribution
The object is what the paper covers
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Introduction
TASK

Use we or the authors as the subject of the
sentence
Use a research action verb
In past tense!
We measured, we analyzed, etc

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Introduction
TASK, examples:

To confirm this assumption, we studied the
effects of

To address this issue, we developed a new
algorithm

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Exercise

List research action verbs (in groups)
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Some research action verbs
Apply Develop
Assess Evaluate
Calculate Explore
Compare Implement
Compute Investigate
Derive Measure
Design Model
Determine
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Introduction
OBJECT

Use the document as the subject of the sentence:
this paper, this report, etc
Use a communication action verb
In present tense!
This paper discusses. and then shows.
This report clarifies

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Exercise

List communication action verbs

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Some communication action verbs
Clarify Present
Describe Propose
Detail Provide
Discuss Report
Explain Summarize
Offer
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Introduction

Analyze vs analyse ??

Summarize vs summarise ??

Organize vs organise ??


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Exercise

Identify these components in the introduction of
your papers (again)
Context
Need
Task
Object
And/or improve it!!

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The body of the paper
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Body
Usually organized in sections and possibly
subsections

Typically:
Methodology
Results & Discussion
Conclusions
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Body
As in the object at the end of the
Introduction that organize the body in
sections, you can prepare the reader for
subsections by a first general paragraph
(between the headings of a section and the
subsection)
Explicitly it would be:
This section first , then and finally

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Methodology
Usually boring
What can make it more interesting?
=> Explain the choices you have made
What justifies a given component? Test bench?
What is special about your approach?
And mention them EARLY in the paragraph
(First sentence if possible)

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Methodology
DO NOT ALLOW READERS GUESS!!!
The first sentence should give a clear idea of
what the paragraph is about (the main idea!)
Consider using tables or a schematic diagram
The first sentence, if needed, refers to a figure
and/or a reference
If you want, the rest of the paragraph can be
written in passive voice

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Methodology
Remember that it should contain the needed
information so that your reader can replicate
the experiment or be aware of the
conditions/characteristics of your work
Consider the jargon of your community, e.g.
when using abbreviations, would the reader
read it as such or say its full name?
By the way, every abbreviation should be
explained the very first time is written in the
paper
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Exercise

Can you identify in your paper(s) a good
paragraph about methodology?

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Results & Discussion
Usually combined as results cannot be well
better understood by (most of) your readers if
they are not interpreted
Do not go through everything you have done
in chronological order!
Again, state the message of each paragraph
right away.
The first sentence should contain the main idea of
the paragraph


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Results & Discussion
The rest of the paragraph explains better the
main idea and should contain only the
information that you consider relevant to
convince your reader
Remember:
The so what? should be stated first!

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Results & Discussion
Example: Figure 1a-c show the theoretical results for.
whereas figures 2-4 show the experimental curves
obtained when It can be seen that both curves,
theoretical and experimental have a similar behaviour
and are in good agreement We conclude that as
numerical calculations and experimental results are in
agreement, the effect is indeed .

Be careful with the figures, you should not
describe them but make your point (result)
upfront and refer to them if useful.

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Results & Discussion
Example: Numerical calculations agree with experimental
results and therefore the effect is The theoretical results for
(Figure 1a-c) show a similar behaviour to experimental plots
(Figures 2-4)

The sentences should make sense for the
readers even if they do not want to look at the
figures

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Exercise

Can you identify in your paper(s) a good
paragraph about Results & Discussion?

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Conclusion
Write the most important outcome of the
paper
Do not summarize the items in the body but
interpret the results at a higher level
Show whether you have addressed the need
stated in the introduction
Focus not just on the results but on what they
mean to the community
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Conclusion
Use a language to make it interesting (result
and implications)
Make it memorable
If comparing with reported results or
theoretical calculations, avoid vague
comparisons (good, better, low, etc) and try to
quantify them (10x, 3dB, etc)

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Conclusion
At the end, include some further work on the
issue, either that you intend to do it yourself
(in the short term we will; we are now
designing) or leave it open for others.
Provided that the Introduction was well
written, do not repeat it in the Conclusion (do
not say again what your paper has done)
Rather, focus on your findings and especially
what they mean

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Conclusion
If you had a rich discussion of the results, your
conclusion does not need to be long
A longer conclusion does not necessarily mean
that is more impressive

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Exercise

Can you identify in your paper(s) a good
Conclusion?
Why do you think it is a good conclusion?

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Exercise

Compare the papers you have brought and
give suggestions of how can they be
improved.
Remember on what we have seen so far
(Introduction, Methodology, Results & Discussion
and Conclusions)

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Exercise

Apply what you have learnt so far in the paper
you intend to or are currently writing, has
something changed?

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ABSTRACT
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Abstract
Maybe the most difficult part of the paper
Often people will read only the abstract and
the conclusions in order to decide if they will
read the whole paper
They read the abstract to decide if they want to
buy the paper or not.
The abstract also prepares them for what is to
come in detail
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Abstract
Since readers want to know the motivation
and outcome, they will find that information
in the Introduction and Conclusions sections
Only then, people in the same field of expertise as
yours might read the details of your paper
Thus, the abstract resembles the Introduction
and Conclusion!
Or you can think of it as two parts: motivation and
outcome
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Abstract
MOTIVATION: Follow a similar structure as in
the Introduction
Context, need, task and object

OUTCOME: State your findings and mainly
their interpretation (so what)

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Abstract
BUT.
Bear in mind that it will be read by a broader
audience (different levels of specialization among
your target audience), so anyone should be able
to understand:
Why you carried out that work
Why it is important (need)
What you did (task)
What the paper reports specifically
What you found
What do your results mean


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Abstract
Avoid quoting references and figures
Quantify your results!
Avoid vague words (low, good, etc)

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Exercise

From the papers you have brought, which one
do you think is a good abstract and why?
Do you think they can be improved?

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Exercise

Write a 35 word abstract for the paper you are
writing
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