How to Write a Scientific Paper Prof. Bruno Castro da Silva - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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How to Write a Scientific Paper Prof. Bruno Castro da Silva - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Dec 05, 2023 449 likes •1.34k views

How to Write a Scientific Paper Prof. Bruno Castro da Silva Institute of Informatics - UFRGS Heavily based on http://www.meneguzzi.eu/felipe/presentations/paper-writing.pdf Report for a Class Project vs. Scientific paper Report for a Class

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How to Write a Scientific Paper

  • Prof. Bruno Castro da Silva

Institute of Informatics - UFRGS

Heavily based on http://www.meneguzzi.eu/felipe/presentations/paper-writing.pdf

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SLIDE 2

Report for a Class Project Scientific paper vs.

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Report for a Class Project Scientific paper

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Report for a Class Project Scientific paper

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  • Science is about being skeptical
  • when trying to understand something about the world

  • You don't need to believe in other scientists
  • It’s their duty to convince you
  • And you should be able to reproduce their findings

  • Scientific papers are the way scientists do this
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SLIDE 7
  • Science is about being skeptical
  • when trying to understand something about the world

  • You don't need to believe in other scientists
  • It’s their duty to convince you
  • And you should be able to reproduce their findings

  • Scientific papers are the way scientists do this
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SLIDE 8
  • Science is about being skeptical
  • when trying to understand something about the world

  • You don't need to believe in other scientists
  • It’s their duty to convince you
  • And you should be able to reproduce their findings

  • Scientific papers are the way scientists do this
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SLIDE 9

A Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 10

A Scientific Paper

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  • Why? To propose an idea to solve a problem

A Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 12
  • How? You need to convince other people
  • (1) That it’s worth it (the problem is relevant to someone)

  • (2) That the problem has not yet been solved
  • or that you can solve it better than other people

  • (3) And that you really did (at least partially) solved it
  • or that you found a better way of solving it
  • Why? To propose an idea to solve a problem

A Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 13
  • How? You need to convince other people
  • (1) That it’s worth it (the problem is relevant to someone)

  • (2) That the problem has not yet been solved
  • or that you can solve it better than other people

  • (3) And that you really did (at least partially) solved it
  • or that you found a better way of solving it
  • Why? To propose an idea to solve a problem

A Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 14
  • How? You need to convince other people
  • (1) That it’s worth it (the problem is relevant to someone)

  • (2) That the problem has not yet been solved
  • or that you can solve it better than other people

  • (3) And that you really did (at least partially) solved it
  • or that you found a better way of solving it
  • Why? To propose an idea to solve a problem

A Scientific Paper

Jiwon Han (…) received this prize for studying the movement of coffee when a person carries it while walking backwards
 
 Han demonstrated his findings – that we are more likely to spill coffee when walking backwards with it – on stage during the ceremony, holding a disposable cup of coffee

(Ig Nobel Prizes 2017)

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SLIDE 15
  • How? You need to convince other people
  • (1) That it’s worth it (the problem is relevant to someone)

  • (2) That the problem has not yet been solved
  • or that you can solve it better than other people

  • (3) And that you really did (at least partially) solved it
  • or that you found a better way of solving it
  • Why? To propose an idea to solve a problem

A Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 16
  • How? You need to convince other people
  • (1) That it’s worth it (the problem is relevant to someone)

  • (2) That the problem has not yet been solved
  • or that you can solve it better than other people

  • (3) And that you really did (at least partially) solved it
  • or that you found a better way of solving it
  • Why? To propose an idea to solve a problem

A Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 17
  • How? You need to convince other people
  • (1) That it’s worth it (the problem is relevant to someone)

  • (2) That the problem has not yet been solved
  • or that you can solve it better than other people

  • (3) And that you really did (at least partially) solved it
  • or that you found a better way of solving it
  • Why? To propose an idea to solve a problem

A Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 18
  • Title
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • The problem
  • My idea
  • The details
  • Related work
  • Conclusions and further work

Structure of a Scientific Paper

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  • Title (1000 readers)
  • Abstract (4 sentences, 100 readers)
  • Introduction (1 page, 100 readers)
  • The problem (1 page, 10 readers)
  • My idea (2 pages, 10 readers)
  • The details (5 pages, 3 readers)
  • Related work (1-2 pages, 10 readers)
  • Conclusions and further work (0.5 pages)

Structure of a Scientific Paper

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  • Title (1000 readers)
  • Abstract (4 sentences, 100 readers)
  • Introduction (1 page, 100 readers)
  • The problem (1 page, 10 readers)
  • My idea (2 pages, 10 readers)
  • The details (5 pages, 3 readers)
  • Related work (1-2 pages, 10 readers)
  • Conclusions and further work (0.5 pages)

(1,2,3) (1,2,3) (1,2) (3) (3) (2) (1,2,3)

(1) - What is the problem + why it’s worth it
 (2) - Why it hasn’t been completely solved yet
 (3) - How I did solve it (partially?)

Structure of a Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 21

A Scientific Paper

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A Scientific Paper

Fallacy
 You need to have a fantastic idea 
 before you can write a paper

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A Scientific Paper

you

Fallacy
 You need to have a fantastic idea 
 before you can write a paper

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Structure of a Scientific Paper

Ultimate goal is to convey an idea

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Structure of a Scientific Paper

Ultimate goal is to convey an idea

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Structure of a Scientific Paper

Ultimate goal is to convey an idea

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SLIDE 27

Structure of a Scientific Paper

Ultimate goal is to convey an idea

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SLIDE 28

Structure of a Scientific Paper

Ultimate goal is to convey an idea

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SLIDE 29

Structure of a Scientific Paper

Ultimate goal is to convey an idea

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SLIDE 30

Structure of a Scientific Paper

Ultimate goal is to convey an idea

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SLIDE 31

Structure of a Scientific Paper

Ultimate goal is to convey an idea

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SLIDE 32

Structure of a Scientific Paper

Ultimate goal is to convey an idea

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SLIDE 33
  • Title (1000 readers)
  • Abstract (4 sentences, 100 readers)
  • Introduction (1 page, 100 readers)
  • The problem (1 page, 10 readers)
  • My idea (2 pages, 10 readers)
  • The details (5 pages, 3 readers)
  • Related work (1-2 pages, 10 readers)
  • Conclusions and further work (0.5 pages)

(1,2,3) (1,2,3) (1,2) (3) (3) (2) (1,2,3)

(1) - What is the problem + why it’s worth it
 (2) - Why it hasn’t been completely solved yet
 (3) - How I did solve it (partially?)

Structure of a Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 34
  • Title (1000 readers)
  • Abstract (4 sentences, 100 readers)
  • Introduction (1 page, 100 readers)
  • The problem (1 page, 10 readers)
  • My idea (2 pages, 10 readers)
  • The details (5 pages, 3 readers)
  • Related work (1-2 pages, 10 readers)
  • Conclusions and further work (0.5 pages)

(1,2,3) (1,2,3) (1,2) (3) (3) (2) (1,2,3)

Structure of a Scientific Paper

Learning Unknown Markov Decision Processes: A Thompson Sampling Approach The Expxorcist: Nonparametric Graphical Models Via Conditional Exponential Densities

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  • Title (1000 readers)
  • Abstract (4 sentences, 100 readers)
  • Introduction (1 page, 100 readers)
  • The problem (1 page, 10 readers)
  • My idea (2 pages, 10 readers)
  • The details (5 pages, 3 readers)
  • Related work (1-2 pages, 10 readers)
  • Conclusions and further work (0.5 pages)

(1,2,3) (1,2,3) (1,2) (3) (3) (2) (1,2,3)

(1) - What is the problem + why it’s worth it
 (2) - Why it hasn’t been completely solved yet
 (3) - How I did solve it (partially?)

Structure of a Scientific Paper

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Abstract

  • Used by peers to decide which papers to read

  • Four sentences:
  • State the problem
  • Say why it’s an interesting problem
  • Say what your solution achieves
  • Say what follows from your solution
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Abstract

  • Used by peers to decide which papers to read

  • Four sentences:
  • State the problem
  • Say why it’s an interesting problem
  • Say what your solution achieves
  • Say what follows from your solution
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SLIDE 38

Abstract

  • Used by peers to decide which papers to read

  • Four sentences:
  • State the problem
  • Say why it’s an interesting problem
  • Say what your solution achieves
  • Say what follows from your solution
  • Example

  • Robots cannot fly
  • This is a pity, because flying robots would be useful to deliver mail
  • We propose a method by which humanoid robots can fly at subsonic speeds by using 


a magic engine

  • We compare our method with two sample state-of-the-art techniques and show that 

  • urs perform better when there is no wind. We expect our method will allow for faster 


mail delivery

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  • Title (1000 readers)
  • Abstract (4 sentences, 100 readers)
  • Introduction (1 page, 100 readers)
  • The problem (1 page, 10 readers)
  • My idea (2 pages, 10 readers)
  • The details (5 pages, 3 readers)
  • Related work (1-2 pages, 10 readers)
  • Conclusions and further work (0.5 pages)

(1,2,3) (1,2,3) (1,2) (3) (3) (2) (1,2,3)

(1) - What is the problem + why it’s worth it
 (2) - Why it hasn’t been completely solved yet
 (3) - How I did solve it (partially?)

Structure of a Scientific Paper

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Introduction

  • Describe the problem

  • State your contributions

  • Restate key items from the abstract
  • (motivation/why the problem is interesting, etc)

  • And use intuitive language
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SLIDE 41
  • Describe the problem

  • State your contributions

  • Restate key items from the abstract
  • (motivation/why the problem is interesting, etc)

  • And use intuitive language

Introduction

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SLIDE 42
  • Describe the problem

  • State your contributions

  • Restate key items from the abstract
  • (why the problem is interesting, etc)

  • And use intuitive language

Introduction

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SLIDE 43
  • Describe the problem

  • State your contributions

  • Restate key items from the abstract
  • (why the problem is interesting, etc)

  • And use intuitive language

Introduction

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SLIDE 44
  • Describe the problem

  • State your contributions

  • Restate key items from the abstract
  • (motivation/why the problem is interesting, etc)

  • And use intuitive language

Introduction

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SLIDE 45
  • Describe the problem

  • State your contributions

  • Restate key items from the abstract
  • (motivation/why the problem is interesting, etc)

  • And use intuitive language
  • Write a list of contributions first

  • The list of contributions drives the entire paper
  • the paper substantiates the claims you have made

  • Readers think 


“gosh, if they can really deliver this, that’d be exciting. I’d better read on"

Introduction

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SLIDE 46
  • Describe the problem

  • State your contributions

  • Restate key items from the abstract
  • (motivation/why the problem is interesting, etc)

  • And use intuitive language

Introduction

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SLIDE 47
  • Describe the problem

  • State your contributions

  • Restate key items from the abstract
  • (motivation/why the problem is interesting, etc)

  • And use intuitive language

Introduction

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SLIDE 48
  • Describe the problem

  • State your contributions

  • Restate key items from the abstract
  • (motivation/why the problem is interesting, etc)

  • And use intuitive language

Introduction

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SLIDE 49
  • Title (1000 readers)
  • Abstract (4 sentences, 100 readers)
  • Introduction (1 page, 100 readers)
  • The problem (1 page, 10 readers)
  • My idea (2 pages, 10 readers)
  • The details (5 pages, 3 readers)
  • Related work (1-2 pages, 10 readers)
  • Conclusions and further work (0.5 pages)

(1,2,3) (1,2,3) (1,2) (3) (3) (2) (1,2,3)

(1) - What is the problem + why it’s worth it
 (2) - Why it hasn’t been completely solved yet
 (3) - How I did solve it (partially?)

Structure of a Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 50

The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

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SLIDE 53

The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

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SLIDE 56

The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

(btw, gender neutral language/no assumptions)

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The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

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The Problem + Idea + Details

Experiments

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The Problem + Idea + Details

Experiments

  • Set-up (description of the experiment)

  • Details: how you applied your method 

  • Methodology
  • what evaluation metrics will be being used?

  • Results
  • comparison (qualitative and quantitative) with selected


state-of-the-art and baseline methods

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The Problem + Idea + Details

Experiments

  • Set-up (description of the experiment)

  • Details: how you applied your method 

  • Methodology
  • what evaluation metrics will be being used?

  • Results
  • comparison (qualitative and quantitative) with selected


state-of-the-art and baseline methods

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SLIDE 67

The Problem + Idea + Details

  • If a reference is relevant to be cited
  • it’s relevant to your results
  • cosmetic list of references without comparisons = reviewer fury!

Experiments

  • Set-up (description of the experiment)

  • Details: how you applied your method 

  • Methodology
  • what evaluation metrics will be being used?

  • Results
  • comparison (qualitative and quantitative) with selected


state-of-the-art and baseline methods

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SLIDE 68
  • Title (1000 readers)
  • Abstract (4 sentences, 100 readers)
  • Introduction (1 page, 100 readers)
  • The problem (1 page, 10 readers)
  • My idea (2 pages, 10 readers)
  • The details (5 pages, 3 readers)
  • Related work (1-2 pages, 10 readers)
  • Conclusions and further work (0.5 pages)

(1,2,3) (1,2,3) (1,2) (3) (3) (2) (1,2,3)

(1) - What is the problem + why it’s worth it
 (2) - Why it hasn’t been completely solved yet
 (3) - How I did solve it (partially?)

Structure of a Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 69

Related Work

(ALMOST) NOTHING IS NEW!


 


  • A few truly unique and amazing results published once in a while

  • Most of our work is built on the work of others

  • Author’s obligation to establish the context in which the new work belongs
  • citation of appropriate references
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SLIDE 70

Related Work

(ALMOST) NOTHING IS NEW!


 


  • A few truly unique and amazing results published once in a while

  • Most of our work is built on the work of others

  • Author’s obligation to establish the context in which the new work belongs
  • citation of appropriate references
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SLIDE 71

Related Work

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SLIDE 72

Related Work

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SLIDE 73

Related Work

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SLIDE 74
  • Title (1000 readers)
  • Abstract (4 sentences, 100 readers)
  • Introduction (1 page, 100 readers)
  • The problem (1 page, 10 readers)
  • My idea (2 pages, 10 readers)
  • The details (5 pages, 3 readers)
  • Related work (1-2 pages, 10 readers)
  • Conclusions and further work (0.5 pages)

(1,2,3) (1,2,3) (1,2) (3) (3) (2) (1,2,3)

(1) - What is the problem + why it’s worth it
 (2) - Why it hasn’t been completely solved yet
 (3) - How I did solve it (partially?)

Structure of a Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 75

Things to be careful about

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SLIDE 76
  • Run a spell checker
  • But don't trust it completely:


Dew knot trussed spell chequers to fined awl miss steaks
 


  • Print & check for simple typos (“an" vs “and”, “the the”, etc)





  • Grammarly!



 


  • Avoid “don't", “can't", "won't", “it’s"
  • This paper's objective is → The objective of this paper is

Things to be careful about

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SLIDE 77
  • Run a spell checker
  • But don't trust it completely:


Dew knot trussed spell chequers to fined awl miss steaks
 


  • Print & check for simple typos (“an" vs “and”, “the the”, etc)





  • Grammarly!



 


  • Avoid “don't", “can't", "won't", “it’s"
  • This paper's objective is → The objective of this paper is

Things to be careful about

slide-78
SLIDE 78
  • Run a spell checker
  • But don't trust it completely:


Dew knot trussed spell chequers to fined awl miss steaks
 


  • Print & check for simple typos (“an" vs “and”, “the the”, etc)





  • Grammarly!



 


  • Avoid “don't", “can't", "won't", “it’s"
  • This paper's objective is → The objective of this paper is

Things to be careful about

slide-79
SLIDE 79
  • Run a spell checker
  • But don't trust it completely:


Dew knot trussed spell chequers to fined awl miss steaks
 


  • Print & check for simple typos (“an" vs “and”, “the the”, etc)





  • Grammarly!



 


  • Avoid “don't", “can't", "won't", “it’s"
  • This paper's objective is → The objective of this paper is

Things to be careful about

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SLIDE 80
  • Graphs with caption & labeled axes!

Things to be careful about

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SLIDE 81
  • Graphs with caption & labeled axes!

Time of the day Number of waffles on the moon

Things to be careful about

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SLIDE 82
  • Define everything!

  • All functions
  • Name them
  • What are the inputs and outputs?
  • All variables
  • Name them
  • Is it a scalar? A vector? A matrix?
  • etc

Things to be careful about

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SLIDE 83
  • Define everything!

  • All functions
  • Name them
  • What are the inputs and outputs?
  • All variables
  • Name them
  • Is it a scalar? A vector? A matrix?
  • etc

Things to be careful about

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SLIDE 84
  • W. Strunk Jr, E.B.White. The Elements of Style. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1999

Writing Style

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SLIDE 85

Remember what’s the goal of a paper…

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SLIDE 86
  • How? You need to convince other people
  • (1) That it’s worth it (the problem is relevant to someone)

  • (2) That the problem has not yet been solved
  • or that you can solve it better than other people

  • (3) And that you really did (at least partially) solved it
  • or that you found a better way of solving it
  • Why? To propose an idea to solve a problem

A Scientific Paper

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SLIDE 87

How to Write a Scientific Paper

  • Prof. Bruno Castro da Silva

Institute of Informatics - UFRGS

Heavily based on http://www.meneguzzi.eu/felipe/presentations/paper-writing.pdf