research paper writing guide

How to Write/Review a
Research Paper
BPT Group
Winter Semester 2011/2012

2
Contents
§  Recommended reading & acknowledgments
§  Scientific paper goals
§  Document preparation systems
§  Paper structure
§  Related research
§  Paper style Do’s and Dont’s
§  Reviewing

3
Acknowledgements
Prof. Dr. Jan Mendling
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
www.mendling.com

4
Recommended Reading (I)
Ad Lagendijk
Survival Guide for Scientists Writing - Presentation – Email

5
Recommended Reading (II)
William Zinsser
On Writing Well

6
Recommended Reading (III)
William I. Strunk, E. B. White
The Elements of Style

7
Contents
§  Reviewing

8
Paper Goals
The primary goals of a scientific paper are:
§  maximize the number of readers
§  minimize the time to read your paper
§  maximize the fraction of satisfied readers
§  maximize the number of citations the paper will get
Make life easy and pleasant for your reader

9
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is „the wrongful appropriation, close imitation, or
purloining and publication, of another author's language, thoughts,
ideas, or expressions, and the representation of them as one's own
original work”.
„within academia … plagiarism is considered academic
dishonesty … punished by sanctions ranging from suspension to
termination, along with the loss of credibility and integrity”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism, accessed 10.5.11

http://de.guttenplag.wikia.com/wiki/GuttenPlag_Wiki
10
Plagiarism

11
Contents
§  Reviewing

12
Document Preparation
Systems

13
LaTeX References
Miktex distribution of Latex
www.miktex.org
Latex editor WinEdt
www.winedt.com
Latex editor TeXnicCenter
www.texniccenter.org

14
Springer LNCS Template
LNCS templates and instructions for:
§  Word
§  LaTeX
Link:
http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-7-72376-0

16
Contents
§  Reviewing

17
Paper Title
§  Indicates content and main discoveries
§  Attracts the reader’s attention
§  Should be simple (7-10 words)
§  Aims at specific audience
§  Should avoid complex grammar
§  Should be catchy

18
Paper Title Examples
§  Symbolic Execution of Acyclic Workflow Graphs
§  Structuring Acyclic Process Models
§  A Fresh Look at Precision in Process Conformance
§  BPM in Practice: Who Is Doing What?
§  How Novices Model Business Processes
BPM 2010 Proceedings

19
Abstract
§  Reflects the main story of the paper
§  Explains the findings and main conclusions
§  No citations, tables, graphs, equations

20
Paper Structure
§  Introduction
§  Background
§  Elaboration of Contribution
§  Related Research
§  Conclusion
§  References

21
Paper Structure: Introduction
Introduction
§  Problem motivation
§  Contribution outline
§  Funnel principle

22
Paper Structure: Background
Background
Preliminaries (optional)
Illustration (optional)
Example (optional)

23
Paper Structure: Conclusion
Conclusion
Summary
Limitations
Future research

24
Contents
§  Reviewing

25
How to learn about related
work?
Watch the grass grow Chase for trophy

26
Chase for Trophy
You are about to write a paper
You want to clarify the contribution
You want to assure that you don’t re-invent the wheel
You want to appreciate the work of your colleagues

27
Where do you want to
publish?
Who publishes in this journal or conference series?
What topics are published there?
Who is in the program committee or editorial board?
What concepts is the audience familiar with?
Your audience is irritated when you do not relate to seminal
work in the respective area.

29
Watch the Grass Grow
§  You work on a set of research topics
§  You want to keep up with recent developments
§  You want to learn what others work on
§  You want to plan your future contributions

30
Which outlet matters to me?
§  Which journals do relate to my work?
§  Which conferences do relate to my work?
§  Which communities and special interest groups are related
to my work?

32
Identify Conferences and
Journals

33
Quality Indicators (I)
How is the publication ranked according to:
§  ISI Web of Knowledge
§  AIS Journal Ranking
§  CORE.edu.au
§  WKWI Ranking (http://www.wirtschaftsinformatik.de/pdf/
wi2008_2_155-163_mitteilg-wkwi.pdf)

34
Quality Indicators (II)
What is the reputation of the author?
§  How many papers and books has s/he
published?
§  How often is s/he member of program committees?
How reputable is the paper itself?
§  How often is it cited?
§  How well is the contribution elaborated?

35
Writing the Related Work
Section
§  Organize the section according to topics
§  Discuss, don’t just list related work
§  Don’t exaggerate differences
§  Explain how your work complements the work of others

36
Related Work Checklist
§  What is my contribution?
§  How does my work relate to other contributions?
§  Have I checked the major outlets?
§  What is my audience familiar with?

37
Contents
§  Reviewing

38
General Do‘s and Don‘ts (I)
Paragraphs:
A paragraph containing more than 10 sentences is too long,
2 sentences too short
Spaghetti:
Do not continuously refer to earlier pages
Structure:
Do not surprise reader with original structure
Length of Sentences:
Try to keep sentences short. Replace dependent clause
(which, that) with sentence.

39
General Do‘s and Don‘ts (II)
Abstract:
Write the abstract last
Introduction:
Use the intro to describe the field
Conclusion:
A conclusion is not a summary. Sum up what you have
found, not what you have done.
References:
Citing papers that are not in English is futile

40
General Do‘s and Don‘ts (III)
Absolute statements:
Always relate to units
Highlighting:
no exclamation mark, use italic
Abbreviations:
Do not introduce new abbreviations

41
General Do‘s and Don‘ts (IV)
Every figure, table, and reference gets a unique id number
Every citation in the text is included in the reference list and
vice versa
Every figure and table needs to be referenced and described in
the text
Latex generates lists and references automatically

42
Footnotes
§  Important things must be put in the text
§  Footnotes stop readers
§  Footnotes should be used for things that the typical reader
genuinely can skip
§  Long lists of references, simple bits of algebra, or other type
of documentation are a candidate for footnotes

43
Figures
§  Be aware of printing resolutions
§  Papers are usually printed in black and white

44
Terminology
§  Introduce a term before use
§  Consistent use of terms

45
Spelling
Consistency
consistent spelling throughout the text
–  English spelling is different from American
–  use only one sort all over the text
Conventional abbreviations
(i.e. Figure -> Fig.) check these with the journal style
Non-alphabetic characters
use and instead of &; at instead of @

46
Talk vs. Paper
What's in a paper?
Evidence
Detail
Proof
Definitions
Formalizations
Statistics
What's in a talk?
Illustration
Visualization
Translation
Animation
Exaggeration
Provocation

47
Contents
§  Reviewing

48
Review’s Goal
§  Evaluate the paper quality
§  Help the author to improve

49
Review’s Format
1 page…
… of prose …
… with a verdict

50
Structure of a Review
§  Contribution summary (1 paragraph)
§  Contribution discussion (1 paragraph)
§  The use of figures and tables
§  The use of references
§  English language
§  Verdict (summarizing paragraph)

51
Contribution Discussion
§  Flaws
§  Feasibility of limitations and assumptions
Support your argumentation with
§  facts
§  reasoning
§  related work references

52
Reviewing: Verdict
Conference
Strong Accept
Weak Accept
Borderline
Weak Reject
Strong Reject
Seminar
1.0
…
…
…
5.0

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