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The8ElementsofanEffectiveAbstract|theaugmentedtrader

The8ElementsofanEffectiveAbstract
PostedonFebruary7,2012byTuckerBalch

Howtowriteacompellingabstract:Myformulaforconcreteabstractsuccess.
readrelatedarticles
Manywriterssavetheabstractforlast.Idont.Iwritetheabstractfirst.Iftheabstractisntinteresting,compelling,
downrightexciting,peoplearentgoingtoreadthepaper.Usetheabstracttosettheintellectualgoalsforyour
paper.Butthepaperhastoliveuptothepromiseyouset.Itisacontractwiththereader.
Isetoptimisticgoalsformyselfwiththeabstract.ButasIwrite,IconsultittomakesureImontrack.IfIfindI
cantdeliveronapartofthatpromise,Irevisetheabstractaccordingly.Irarelyextendtheclaimsmadeinthe
abstract.
So,craftinganabstractisafirststepinpaperwriting(andsometimesafirststepinresearchtoo).Buttheabstract
isntstatic,itmustevolveasthepaperevolves.Itsaprocess.Givemyprocessatry.Letmeknowhowitworksfor
you.
Overview:Stepthrougheachoftheelementsbelowandcreateoneortwosentencesperelement.Dontworryabout
connectingthesesentencestogetherfornow.Savethatforlater.Also,alltheseelementsdontmakesenseforall
papers:ItisOKifyoudonthaveasentenceforsomeelements.
1.Problem:Whatistheproblemyourpaperaddresses?Avoiddescribingthesolutionhere.
Weaddresstheproblemofrobotnavigationacrossunmappedroughterrain.

2.Importance:Howwouldasolutiontothisproblemchangetheworld?Rememberthatitsnotobviousto
everyoneelsehowimportantthisproblemis.
Asolutiontothisproblemwillenablemorerapidvalidationoftheefficacyofsleep
medication.

3.Newcapability:Whatcanwedonowthatwecouldntdobefore?Quantifyifpossible.
Ourapproachenablesrobotstoclimbtreesfivetimesmorequicklythanwaspossible
before.

4.Challenge:Whyisthisproblemhard?and/orWhatdifficultydoothersolutionsface?
Inordertosolvethisproblemarobotmustknowitslocationtowithin1mm.
Traditionalapproachestothisproblemareexponentialinthenumberofobstaclesinthe
environment.
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The8ElementsofanEffectiveAbstract|theaugmentedtrader

5.Background:Asentenceortwoaboutotherapproachesyoursorothers.
SmithandJonesaddressthisbybuildingapolygonalmodeloftheobstaclefield,creating
avisibilitygraph,thenapplyingDijkstrasalgorithm.

6.Insight:Whatdidyoudiscover?orHowdidyouapproachtheproblemdifferently?
Byframingtheproblemasanoptimizationtask,weareabletoleveragealineartime
algorithm.

7.Solution:Providesomespecificdetailaboutthesolution.
Ouralgorithmmeasuresthestandarddeviationofthequantitativefeaturesineach
dimension,thensortstheresult,providinganoptimalsolution.

8.Evidence:Summarizetheevidenceyouhaveforyourapproach:Aproof,animplementation,orquantiative
results.
Thealgorithmwasimplementedonamonkeybasedrobotandshowntoperform17%
fasterthanadogofsimilarmass.

Nowthatyouhavesometextforeachelementabove(ormostofthem),trypiecingthemtogether.Myorderaboveis
atypicalwaytoorderthings,butitisntnecessarythatyoukeeptheorderIhave.Onceyouhaveagoodorder,read
itoverandover.Smooththeroughedges.
Youwillfindthatyouneedtoaddsomeglueverbiage.Itsusuallynecessary,forinstance,toprovidealittlemore
backgroundinformationtohelptheelementshangtogether.
Readthroughtheabstractandreviseit,polishit.Avoidrepeatedwords.Haveotherpeoplereadit.Thisisthemost
importantparagraphofyourpaper.
Goodluck!
PhillipKoopmanatCMUhasasimilarview.

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