Seminar: Writing Technical Papers

Dr. Nizar Zarka Telecom Department, HIAST 2013

Grade Distribution
Supervisor: 30 Evaluator : 20 Language: 25 Coordinator: 25

Criteria:
Report-Presentation-Discussion-

Timing
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Structure of a Technical Paper

Title Authors Table of Contents List of Figures List of tables List of abbreviation Abstract [Keywords] Optional 1. Introduction 2. State-of-the-Art 3. Implementation Description 4. Results & Analysis 5. Conclusions Acknowledgements References [Appendix] Optional

About 20 pages

Structural Components
Title

Title of the seminar

Student Name, Supervisor Name

Dr. Nizar Zarka & Mrs. Nada Muhana

and Semester
4

Structural Components

Table of Contents List of Figures List of tables List of abbreviations

No Page Number (or use small roman number i,ii,iii,)

Structural Components
Add Page Header (page number, Title)
Abstract

Basic Problem
Hint on solution approach Most important results

Limited to about (5%) No references or figures

[Keywords]

Selected to facilitate computer search

Structural Components
1.

Introduction
Problem background and importance Brief description of proposed solution How is it different and superior to other solutions Main results, no detail Summary of report organization Limit to more or less 10% of document length

2.State-of-the-Art (related works)

Discuss ALL related work

Structural Components
3.

<Implementation Description>
Can have one or several sections and subsections Describe proposed model or approach

Assumptions, conditions

Provide theoretical foundations and analytical derivations Exploit the power of graphics, Figures, tables

About 30% of the document length

Structural Components
4.

<Results and Analysis>

Describe your experimental design Validation Present the results Perform analysis and discussion of results

Focus achievements and limitations

About 30% of the document

Structural Components
5.

Conclusions (and Future Work)

Why is it worthwhile

What is to be done next

About 10% of the document

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Structural Components
Acknowledgements

Acknowledge those who helped you

Bibliography

Provide complete list of references cited in the report

[Appendix]

Essential materials for completeness: detailed proofs Special graphs or plots

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References

Students should read literature and afterwards write in his own words. It is forbidden to copy all text from other sources. The supervisor has the right to reject any seminar that contains several copied text, more than 20% of the seminar. It is necessary to cite every copied sentence, e.g. [SWT06]

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References

Only the mentioned references in the report are included in the list
Reference list should contain mostly journal and conference papers, books, standards, white paper.

Wikipedia: No guarantee about correctness of information.

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References

[GM05] Goossens, M.; Mittelbach, F.: LaTeX-Begleiter. 2nd Edition, Pearson Studium, 2005. [JRM04] Jaeger, M.; Rojec-Goldmann, G.; Mhl, G.: QoS Aggregation for Web Service Composition using Workflow Patterns. Proceedings of the 8th International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference (EDOC 2004), Vol. 4, pp.126-130, Monterey, California, USA, 2004. [SWT06] Seipold, T.; Wienzek, R.; Thien, D.: DOs and DONTs for seminars. http://www-i4.informatik.rwthaachen.de/content/teaching/seminars/dodont_e.html, 2006

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References
For a book give: the author, the title, and the edition number if there is one, the name of the publisher, the year of publication
[GM05] Goossens, M.; Mittelbach, F.: LaTeX-Begleiter. 2nd Edition, Pearson Studium, 2005.

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References
For a journal paper or conference give: the names of the authors, the title of the paper, the title of the journal, the volume number of the journal, the first and last page numbers of the paper. the place of the conference the year of publication,
[JRM04] Jaeger, M.; Rojec-Goldmann, G.; Mhl, G.: QoS Aggregation for Web Service Composition using Workflow Patterns. Proceedings of the 8th International Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference, 16 Vol. 4, pp.126-130, Monterey, California, USA, 2004.

References
For an internet reference give: the author of the web page, the title of the web page, the complete URL. the date of the web page
[SWT06] Seipold, T.; Wienzek, R.; Thien, D.: DOs and DONTs for seminars. http://www-i4.informatik.rwthaachen.de/content/teaching/seminars/dodont_e.html, 2006

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General Guidelines for Documents

A4 paper format
borders like 2,54cm

Usual Text

should be in Times New Roman12pt, or Arial font type font size of 11pt. blocked text alignment (alignment to left and right) blank line between the paragraphs.

Use

Insert Use

punctuation
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Figures and Tables

You should use figures and tables for explanation Figures & tables should be numbered independently as Figure x: Title (aligned as centered) Do not include a figure/table without explanation in the text Reference all tables/figures like , see fig1., as shown in table2.

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Figures and Tables

Figure should be of good quality Sometimes it is necessary to copy figures (simulation results) If you copy figures you have to make clear from which source

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Readability

Core statements should be emphasized by using an italic or bold style Each paragraph should have emphasized word Give the seminar to the English teacher for grammar correction.

It is not acceptable to deliver a work full of mistake. In such a case, the supervisor is allowed to reject your seminar
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General rules on writing

If it is necessary to bring in your own opinion, you can use: In the author opinion Avoid some formulations like: I will try, Im not sure, Use only formulations which make the paper sound well-stated.

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Dos and DONTs

It is Not possible to do the seminar work in a few days! Do not vanish into space for month and come back only a few days before the deadline

Plan a schedule for working at the beginning:

discussion with the supervisor literature survey Read the basic material and understand it designing a document template, writing chapters in own word (Do not copy text from other sources!) discussion with the supervisor

Give written feedback to the supervisor/English teacher and

Do not run to the supervisor for each small problem

Writing Guidelines
Brainstorm

your ideas

Writing

Order

1. Sate-of-the-Art 2. Implementation Description 3. Results and Analysis 4. Conclusions 5. Introduction 6. Abstract 7. Title 8. The rest of the document

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Writing Guidelines
Avoid

Wordiness

One sentence = 15-20 words One idea = one sentence

Always define acronyms before use

GSM (Global System for Mobile) except the widely known: IBM, 5VDC, VLSI, CAD

Link

ideas and paragraphs

also, although, and, as, because, but, despite, first, however, if, next, now, second, then, therefore, third, until accordingly, as you are aware, consequently, for this reason, furthermore, hence, in addition, inasmuch as, likewise, more specifically, moreover, nevertheless, nonetheless 25

Writing Guidelines
Read, read, and then read again Nothing better than the human touch Have someone else read The hardest the better

your paper and criticize it

When
When

reporting, stick to past tense

writing in future tense, first person, future formed with shall rather than will

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