Performing Research
Reference: The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis by Raj Jain
Good researchers pay great attention to detail…
- when designing and running experiments
- when analyzing data
- when creating graphs
- when writing papers
- when preparing and giving presentations
You must have a plan
- State goals and define the system
- List possible outcomes
- List possible parameters and variables
- Select metrics to study
- Select input model
- Design experiments
- justify parameter settings
- Analyze and interpret data
- do the results make sense?
- can you explain them?
- Present results
Documentation is essential
- Get a lab notebook and use it!
- Document experiments
- why was the experiment run?
- what were the expected results?
- what were the experiment parameters?
- what were the results?
- write a one-page summary before presenting results to your advisor
Reading Papers
Note: To access papers from ACM Digital Library and IEEE Xplore when off-campus, append 'proxy.lib.odu.edu' to the hostname in the URL. You'll then be prompted for your ODU UIN and password before proceeding.
Reference: How to Read a Research Paper by S. Keshav
First Pass
- title, abstract, introduction, section headings, conclusions, references
- answer 5 Cs: category, context, correctness, contributions, clarity
Second Pass
- entire paper, ignoring details such as proofs
- look at figures, graphs
Third Pass
- entire paper, identify and challenge every assumption in every statement
Reference: How to Read an Engineering Research Paper by William Griswold
Answer these questions:
- What are the motivations for the work?
- What is the proposed solution?
- What is the evaluation of the work?
- What are the contributions?
- What are the future directions for this research?
Links
Writing Summaries
Reference: Summary of a Scientific Article, George Mason Biology Dept.
- Turn answers to the questions into a summary
- summary must be in your own words
- Don’t “cut and paste” the article
- If your summary is a "jumble of statements nearly straight from the article", then you haven't really understood what the article was about.
Writing Papers
Reference: Writing for Computer Science by Justin Zobel
Organization
- Abstract
- single paragraph
- readers use it to determine if article is relevant
- concise summary of aims, scope, conclusions
- Introduction
- describe topic, problem/motivation, approach, scope, conclusions
- clearly tell reader what is novel
- Related Work
- Approach and Results
- Conclusions and Future Work
Style
- Be clear, simple, correct, interesting, direct
- delete unneeded words, simplify sentence structure, establish logical flow
- Be objective and accurate
- primary objective is to inform, not entertain
- Don’t use contractions or slang
- Use examples when needed for clarification
- Link text together as in a narrative
- each section should tell a clear story
Style Specifics
- Every sentence in a paragraph should be related to the paragraph’s topic
- Don’t italicize words unnecessarily.
- Don’t use capitalization for emphasis, only for abbreviation
Editing
- Your first draft is not your final draft!
- The goal is to make the paper clear and readable
- There is no excuse for spelling errors!
- Double-check noun-verb agreement
- Double-check bibliography - make sure that the citations match your list of references
- Make sure that you have been consistent throughout the paper
- If you are unsure of grammar usage, look it up!
Citation Style
- Don’t use the citation label (e.g., [16]) as a noun
- et al. (‘and others’) is an abbreviation. It should be italicized because it’s a foreign language phrase
- et means ‘and’ - no period
- al. is an abbreviation for alii, meaning ‘others’
- Provide a complete a citation as possible
- include page numbers, dates, etc.
- follow conference/journal guidelines
- don’t just copy from citeseer, use citation in ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, or author’s webpage
Improving Your Paper Reference: A Referee's Plea by Mark Allman
- Use the spell checker (and grammar checker)!
- Sloppy papers take away from the content
- Don’t rely on color graphs
- everything should be readable in black & white
Links
Presenting Data
Reference: The Elements of Graphing Data by William S. Cleveland
The Data is the Most Important Part
- Don’t make the reader work to understand your graph.
- don’t allow labels to interfere with the data
- plotting symbols should be easy to distinguish
Graphs in Papers
- Each figure or graph should be numbered with an informative caption
- Write descriptive x and y axis labels that include units. Use large fonts.
- Don’t make readers flip backwards to find your figure
- If you use a figure from another source, give attribution in the caption
Links
Giving Presentations
Reference: Writing for Computer Science by Justin Zobel
- Consider the audience
- don’t bore them with background they already know
- Think about what you want the audience to walk away knowing
- Keep in mind your time limit
- Don’t provide too much detail
- Start with motivation
- First slide should always contain the title, your name (and names of your collaborators), and your affiliation
- Proof-read your slides
- Check consistency in capitalization and font usage
- Keep slides clean and simple
- Make transitions between topics smooth
- don’t just read the title of each slide as a transition
- Speak clearly and slowly
- Face the audience
- Practice! Practice! Practice!
Links
Professional Communication