How to Write Research Papers for Publication In English

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How to Write Research Papers for Publication (In
English)

• Won Kim
• December 18, 2008

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Contents

• Publishing Papers
• Paper Writing Techniques
• Contents
• Style
• English Skills
• Using English
• Learning English

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Publishing Papers
4
Why People Publish Papers

• To Advance Existing Knowledge
• To Set the Direction of a Field
• Significance of the Contributions Is Important
• not the number of papers

5
Selecting a Venue

• Considerations
• venues main theme
• venues competitiveness
• venues review cycle
• papers strength
• travel budget
• Your Advising Professor Should Decide.
• top SCI journal
• accidental SCI journal
• top intl conference
• intl conference in an exotic location
• Korea journal
• Korea conference

6
Managing Paper Submission

• Check Paper Status After Submission.
• Decision
• Thank the editor.
• Revision
• Address every single comment from the reviewers.
• Offer clear explanations for those comments you
  will not accept.
• Thank the editor and referees.

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Submitting a Paper Cover Letter

• Dear Prof. (Dr.) EDITOR or PC CHAIR
• We hereby submit a paper titled TITLE, authored
• by AUTHORS, for publication consideration in
• JOURNAL or CONFERENCE.
• Thank you for your consideration.
• Sincerely,
• CONTACT AUTHOR

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Claims Not To make

• The Reviewers and/or Editors Misunderstood Your
  Paper.
• Your paper Was Rejected Due To Poor English or
  Because You are an Asian.
• The reason is poor contents and/or poor overall
  presentation.

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Paper Writing Techniques
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Contents
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To Appeal to Reviewers

• Make It Easy to Understand
• what the paper is about
• (what the problem is)
• that the paper has merit
• (what your solution is)
• (how much better your solution is)
• (that you have validated your solution)
• that the work is original

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To Make the Paper Easy to Understand

• Organize the Results
• Organize the Paper
• Follow the Guidelines for Each Part of the Paper
• Use Good Style
• Use Clear English

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Organizing a Paper to Appeal to Reviewers

• Good Title
• Good Abstract
• Perfect Introduction
• ??? ???? ??? ??
• Good Main Body
• Good References

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Successive Condensing of a Paper

• Main Body
• Introduction
• Abstract
• Title
• Write Paper In This Order

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Writing Guidelines (1/4)

• Title
• (grab readers attention)
• 1 line
• Abstract
• brief highlight of the problem and solution and
  merit of the solution
• avoid undefined terms, concepts, mention of
  future research
• under 10-15 lines

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Writing Guidelines (2/4)

• Introduction
• (determines the fate of the paper)
• describe the problem area
• describe the problem
• provide a brief hilight of key prior art
• describe the solution (approach)
• describe the results and merit of the results
• describe the applicability of the solution
• list key assumptions
• organization of the paper
• keep under 1-3 pages

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Writing Guidelines (3/4)

• Main Body
• (organize, present, and illustrate the results)
• break into multiple parts
• move gradually from easy simple concepts to
  difficult complex details
• use a simple but encompassing running example to
  illustrate key concepts and definitions
• use visual aids to summarize key concepts and
  results
• make the entire main body flow from start to end
• include clear references to and distinction from
  prior art

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Writing Guidelines (4/4)

• Conclusion
• (not so important)
• brief summary of the problem and solution and
  merit of the solution
• subjects of/directions for further research
• References
• (demonstrate sound knowledge of the prior art)
• include all major, recent, relevant work
• include relevant key papers by anticipated
  reviewers
• include only publicly accessible work (exclude
  confidential reports, payment-required manuals,
  etc.)

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Style
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?? ?? ??

• ?? ?? ? ?? ??, ??, ?? ??
• ???? ??, ??, ??, ??, ??, ??, ????, Subsection,
  Section, ? ??

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?? ??, ??, ?? ??

• ?? ?? ??
• Parsing ??
• ??? ??? ??

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????

• Layout, Spacing, Font ??
• ??? Consistency ??
• Appearance ?? ??

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Spacing

• Indentation for Paragraphs.
• no indentation for the first paragraph in a
  section/subsection.
• Spacing Between Sections/Subsections.
• Spacing Between a Visual Aid and Main Text.
• Margins
• top, bottom, left, right

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Consistency (1/2)

• Spacing, Paragraph Indentation, Font Size
  Style, Colors, Use of English or Korean,
• Column Format (Justify, Left/Right Ragged,
  Center), Figure Numbering Captioning,
• (When Using English) Upper Case and Lower Case,
  Acronyms,

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Consistency (2/2)

• Headers for Sections and Subsections
• capitalization
• formatting
• Visual Aid Captions
• top or bottom of the visual aid
• centerize

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Appearance ??

• Lead-In?? ?? Section/Subsection
• Widow
• section header at the end of a page
• a single line of a paragraph at the end of a page
• a figure caption separated from the figure in a
  different page
• ???? ?? Visual Aids
• ? ??? ???
• ??? ?? ?????
• ??? ??? ?? ??, acronym ?? ???
• ???? Reference?? ?? Visual Aids

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Paper Writing Process

• 0. Create a Skeletal Structure for the Main Body.
• 1. Write the Main Body (and Appendixes).
• 2. Write the References
• 3. Write the Introduction.
• 4. Write the Abstract.
• 5. Pick a Title for the Paper.
• 6. Write the Conclusion.
• 7. Write the Acknowledgments, Keywords
• 8. Run the Paper Through Spell-Checker.
• 9. Forget About the Paper for a Few Days.
• 10. To Review and Edit the Entire Paper, Repeat
  Steps 1-9, Once or Twice.
• Fix all mistakes and make presentation
  improvements conceptual mistakes, typing
  mistakes, presentation shortcomings,

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English Skills
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Using English
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Stretch Limited English Skills (1/2)

• Make Sure Each Sentence/Paragraph is
  Understandable to Someone Who Knows Less Than
  You.
• Avoid Using English.
• Make Effective Use of Visual Aids (Figures,
  Tables, Charts)
• A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
• Write in Korean
• Translate Korean Paper to English Paper.
• Do not drop sentences or paragraphs.
• Keep Sentences Short.
• Keep grammatical structure simple.
• Keep each sentence within 1-2 lines.

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Stretch Limited English Skills (2/2)

• ?? ??? ?? ?? ???
• ??? ???? ??? ??,
• ??? ? ?? IQ?? ????,
• ??? ??????,
• ?? ??? ???)
• Respect the Basic English Grammar
• Avoid Elementary Mistakes
• Respect the Prepositions (??)
• Respect the Articles (???)

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Learning English
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Observe and Imitate

• Learning a Foreign Language Takes Imitating the
  Natives.
• how they write
• how they pronounce
• slang expressions
• body language

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Elementary Mistakes by Korean Students

• Nonsense/Bizarre Sentences
• In an information society, information systems
  are important.
• Non-Existent Plural Forms of Nouns
• The followings are
• We made researches on ...
• For future works ...
• There are many informations
• many softwares and hardwares
• Non-Existent Phrases
• list up, pass over, version up, level up

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The Preposition Problem

• Use of Wrong Prepositions
• uncomfortable, dumb, or hilarious
• sit on the table
• look for me vs. look at me
• come for me vs. come at me

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To Survive the Preposition Problem

• Memorize About 200 Expressions with Frequently
  Used Prepositions
• research into (on)
• discussion of (on)
• is comprised of, is composed of, consists
  of
• take into account, accounts for
• amenable to
• is transformed into, is converted to

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The Deadly Article Problem

• A (An), The, (absence of A, The)
• An Incurable Korean National Disease
• We are preparing for the landing.
• Use of a computer has changed world during last
  20 years.
• White House scrambled to cover bases in wake of
  national calamity.

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To Survive The Article Problem

• Perfect Solution
• Be Born and Raised in the US
• Americans rule on the use of articles
• It is correct if we feel comfortable.
• Approximate Solution
• Memorize about 500 cases from good papers.
• When outside these cases, evade the problem.
• If everything fails, take a 33 gamble and pray.

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Evading the Article Problem (1/3)

• Use a pronoun or adjective
• We will present the results of our research.
• We will present our research results.

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Evading the Article Problem (2/3)

• Use the plural form
• The mission of the CDC is to combat disease.
• The mission of the CDC is to combat all types of
  diseases.

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Evading the Article Problem (3/3)

• Use alternate words or expressions
• The popularity of Internet-based auctions has
  exposed the need for trusted payment schemes.
• The popularity of Internet-based auctions has
  made trusted payment schemes necessary.

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End of Presentation
Good Luck with Your Research And Paper
Publication.
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Abstract Nouns

• Do not use a (or the plural s)
• information, research, evidence, knowledge,
  common sense, comfort, support, progress, power,
  peace, happiness,
• audio, video, software, hardware, legislation,
• But
• a (push, pull, willingness, understanding,
  excitement,) (no plural form)
• video(s)

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Expressions

• take a walk (hike)
• keep an eye out
• ring a bell
• in a sense
• at a loss
• at a cost
• out on a limb

• combat disease
• go to war
• go to prison (jail)
• come in contact
• run for re-election
• file for bankruptcy protection

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Specific Concept/Object

• the best (worst)
• the first (last, final)
• the ..est (smartest, busiest,)
• the most (least)
• the next (above, previous)
• the former (latter)
• the only (sole)
• the (zenith, summit, pinnacle, nadir, center,
  epicenter, centerpiece, crux, core, root,)
• the (limit, final, capital, edge, periphery,
  essence, top, bottom,)

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The _ Of _ (90 Rule)

• the number of apples
• the power of music
• He is a man of his words.
• She is in a position of influence.

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Special Nouns

• the Internet
• Internet technology
• the (World Wide) Web
• the state of the art
• in the literature
• on (to) the left (right)
• the world (globe)
• the same
• the whole
• the entire

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Special Nouns

• the sky
• the air
• the wind
• the clouds
• (over) the rainbow
• the sun (moon, Red planet)
• the Earth (earth)
• the stars
• the planets
• the universe
• the space

• the West (East, Mid-West, north, south,)