Tik-76.650

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Tik-76.650 Software Engineering
SeminarWriting the Seminar Paper Tips and
Guidelines

• http//www.soberit.hut.fi/T-76.650/
• Casper Lassenius
• Casper.Lassenius_at_hut.fi

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Seminar Purpose

• To prepare you for writing your M.Sc. thesis
• Picking a subject
• Doing a literature search
• Academic writing style
• Process writing drafting, writing, rewriting,
  rewriting, and revising ?
• Working with a supervisor
• To teach you about a specific, modern topic
• Agile software development processes

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Picking a seminar subject

• Requirements for a good subject
• interesting
• provocative
• DOABLE!
• Define
• research problem state research questions
• research objectives
• methods
• scope
• Literature study vs. empirical subject
• Literature study strongly recommended!
• Empirical study is hard to do within the time and
  hours available
• Ideas
• Contrast two or more approaches
• Search for empirical evidence for or against some
  approach

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Writing the Seminar Paper

• The style should be scientific
• Formal
• Logical, Coherent and Internally consistent
• Critical
• Humble but Convincing
• Simple, Clear, Precise and Readable
• Explicit presuppositions (to a degree ?)
• Clearly separate your own ideas, opinions and
  experiences from those of others and beware of
  conclusions that dont follow from the data,
  unsubstantiated claims and unfounded speculation
• Dont write a consultancy report!

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Typical Paper Structure

• Title page
• 1 page executive summary
• Introduction
• Body
• Summary and Conclusions
• References

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Typical Paper Structure

• Introduction
• Background
• why is the research done provide motivation!
• Research problem research questions
• what is the paper looking at / trying to solve
• Objectives
• what is the main objective of the paper
• Scope
• what is included in / excluded from the study
• Methodology
• how was the research carried out?
• Structure of the report

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Typical Paper Structure

• Body
• Description of existing knowledge (cite
  references)
• Analysis / synthesis of existing knowledge
• Use e.g. table to summarize
• Discussion
• what did you learn/do you think based upon the
  existing knowledge
• Summary and Conclusions
• restatement of most important findings (no new
  ones!)
• practical/theoretical recommendations
• evaluation of the research (strengths,
  weaknesses)
• ideas for future research

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Typical Paper Structure

• References
• Use author-date in-text citation style
• Agile Software Development (Cockburn, 2001) is a
  new approach...
• The Goal/Question/Metric approach (Basili
  Rombach, 1984)...
• It has been claimed (Kellner et al., 1994) that
  software process modelling...
• Use author-date ordered bibliography
• Anonymous. 1980. A Good Book on an Interesting
  Topic. Boston, MA, HBS Press. 294p.
• Beck, K. 2001. An Overhyped Phenomenon Thoughts
  on eXtreme Programming. In Proceedings of the 3rd
  International Conference on Modern Approaches to
  Software Engineering Hype, 121-1121. Los
  Alamitos, CA IEEE Computer Society Press.
• Heck, M. 2002. I can code better than you no
  more pair programming! IEEE Software (June-July),
  12-13.

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About the Writing Process

• Start early
• Do a lousy first draft
• Rewrite
• good writers rewrite more than bad ones
• Writing is thinking
• Many authors recommend writing every day

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Working with a supervisor

• The supervisors job is to help you
• will point you in the right(?) direction
• Dont expect the supervisor to do the job for you
• e.g. literature search, structuring, etc.
• Meet the deadlines
• Come well prepared to the meetings
• Ask questions
• Take the comments and suggestions seriously

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26 rules for writing...

• 1. Interest, inform, persuade
• 2. Write for the reader
• 3. Write clearly
• 4. Eliminate unnecessary redundancy
• 5. Avoid digressions
• 6. Dont overexplain
• 7. Avoid overstatement
• 8. Avoid unnecessary qualifiers
• 9. Use the precise word
• 10. Prefer simpler to complicated words
• 11. Use concrete words and examples
• 12. Prefer simpler to more complicated sentences
• 13. Use the active voice

• 14. Prefer affirmative to negative constructions
• 15. Avoid dangling constructions
• 16. Avoid participles without referents
• 17. Avoid pronouns without antecedents
• 18. Avoid the indefinite this
• 19. Avoid split infinitives
• 20. Use summary statements
• 21. Use transitions
• 22. Place yourself in the background
• 23. Cite sources as well as findings
• 24. Proofread
• 25. Request a critical reading
• 26. Avoid sexist language

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Tips to Gain Acceptance

• 1. Start strong (not previous research...)
• 2. Tell readers why they should be interested
• 3. Write what you say you will do
• 4. Write a focused, complete and balanced
  literature review
• 5. Explain what the results mean
• 6. Consider alternative interpretations
• 7. End strongly

• 8. Write clear and readable sentences
• 9. Emphasize logical flow and organization
• 10. Explain what, say it, restate
• 11. Be creative, give concrete examples
• 12. Dont assume people will know what you mean
  no jargon or abbreviations
• 13. Write to be interesting
• 14. Write for a broad audience
• 15. Avoid autobiography

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References

• Hirsjärvi, S., Remes, P., Sajavaara, P. 2000.
  Tutki ja Kirjoita. Helsinki Tammi.
• Kakkuri-Knuuttila, M. (toim.). 1998. Argumentti
  ja Kritiikki lukemisen, keskustelun ja
  vakuuttamisen taidot. Helsinki Gaudeamus.
• Kauranen, I., Ropponen, P., Aaltonen, M. 1993.
  Tutkimusraportin kirjoittamisen opas. Otaniemi
  TKK.
• May, E. 1993. Tiedettä Englanniksi akateemisen
  kirjoittamisen käsikirja. Jyväskylä
  korkeakoulujen kielikeskus.
• Sternberg, R.J. 1993. The psychologist's
  companion a guide to scientific writing for
  students and researchers. Cambrige Cambridge
  University Press.
• Uusitalo, H. 1991. Tiede, tutkimus ja tutkielma
  johdatus tutkielman maailmaan. Helsinki WSOY.