Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

1
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions
2
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• Why these need special attention
• Each of them help to sell your paper
• Title - your initial "sales pitch
• Abstract - your "advert" for your work
• Introduction - the reader's first impression of
  your work is formed here. Get this wrong and
  there is a chance they may not bother to read the
  rest.

3
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• Titles
• Some Guidelines
• Describe the paper
• Include key words
• Short (there may be a limit)
• Most of all - make sure it gets attention for
  your work. Possibly more important for a
  conference paper than a journal paper.
• A provocative title may help get people to your
  session at a conference

4
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• Example Titles
• How the Regulation of Software Engineering and
  the Texas Licensing Model May Act as Catalysts
  for Greater Professionalism, Ethical Attitudes
  and Higher Software Quality
• Three Steps Forward and Two Steps Back (Progress
  on the Road to a Software Engineering Profession)
• Should the Actions of the Texas Board of
  Engineers and Others Inspire Us?
• (A Review of Movements Towards a More
  Professional Discipline)
• The latter was for a conference named INSPIRE,
  Hence the title!

5
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• AbstractsGuidelines
• Intended to be read separately
• Not an Introduction
• A summary
• An advert
• Avoid future tense - the paper exists
• Avoid This paper
• No cross references
• Usual style is present tense, passive voice
• Most importantly
• An abstract is a summary of your work.
• It is intended to be read in ISOLATION from the
  rest of the paper.
• See it as a sales pitch and an advert for your
  work

6
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• Examples
• The issue that Software Quality is more related
  to people than product or process is explored and
  that there are dangers if the human aspects are
  neglected is made clear. Formal aspects of
  professionalism and developments in the
  regulation and certification of Software
  Engineers are reported. Particular attention is
  paid to the Texas model for licensing Software
  Engineers. The broader aspects of professionalism
  and ethics education are discussed. Ethics and
  social responsibility plus educational approaches
  that relate to software improvement in the long
  term are also examined. Finally overall
  conclusions regarding quality and the future of
  the industry are presented.

7
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• Examples (continued)
• An evaluation of the current state of
  developments in the field of Software Engineering
  Professionalism is presented. Particular
  attention is paid the effect of ACM withdrawing
  from the IEEE-CS/ACM Software Engineering
  Coordinating Committee. An examination is made of
  the projects concerned with defining a Software
  Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional
  Practice and a Software Engineering Body of
  Knowledge. The significant successes and major
  problems associated with each are highlighted.
  Details are then presented on a project supported
  by the International Federation of Information
  Processing that could now be very relevant to
  re-establishing progress on the road to a SE
  profession. Overall conclusions and
  recommendations are also presented that may
  improve the situation in the future.

8
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• This paper re-examines the work of Thompson and
  Edwards (1997) showing that much of what they had
  claimed may not actually be true.
• Why should the writer have avoided
• This paper or The Paper?
• Cross References?

9
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• Introductions
• Guidelines
• Place the paper in context
• Set the scene
• Introduce major concepts
• Outline any Hypothesis
• Make clear what is coming next 
• Introduction should answer the questions
• Why am I reading it?
• What is it all about?

10
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• Introductions
• Guidelines
• Place the paper in context
• Set the scene
• Introduce major concepts
• Outline any Hypothesis
• Make clear what is coming next 
• Introduction should answer the questions
• Why am I reading it?
• What is it all about?
• Most importantly, ensure that the introduction
  sets the scene AND introduces the rest of the
  report

11
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• Example (First it sets the scene and introduces
  the major concepts. Finally it tells the reader
  what they will find in the rest of the report)
• 1. Introduction
• The software industry, when considering quality,
  has tended to concentrate on two aspects the
  product itself (the software) and the processes
  involved in producing that product. The
  international standards ISO 9126 and 12119
  provide for software product quality (ISO 9126
  Information Technology- Software Product
  Evaluation - Quality Characteristics and
  Guidelines for their Use, and ISO 12119
  Information Technology - Software Packages -
  Quality Requirements and Testing). However,
  organisations have in general directed their
  efforts to consideration of tangible processes
  rather than the more intangible products. They
  have relied on arguments to support this type of
  approach along the lines of (Thompson et al,
  1996)
  a quality process should lead
  to the production of a quality product

12
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• With regard to process, the relevant
  international standards are the ISO 9000 series
  of Standards for Quality Management Systems (in
  particular ISO 9001 Quality Systems - Model for
  Quality Assurance in Design, Development,
  Production, Installation and Servicing and ISO
  9000-3 Guidelines for the Application of ISO
  9001 to the Development, Supply and Maintenance
  of Software). An alternative to the rigour of the
  ISO 9000 series of standards for Quality
  Management Systems are the various software
  process assessment and improvement models that
  have been developed both in the USA and Europe
  over the past 15 years. Best known of these is
  Capability Maturity Model (CMM) from Carnegie
  Mellon Universitys Software Engineering
  Institute (Humphrey, 1989) where five levels are
  used to evaluate the maturity of an
  organisations software process and for judging
  its software capability. In Europe the BOOTSTRAP
  model (Kuvaja, 1994) has taken the CMM as the
  basic reference but extended it using other
  standards (including the ISO 9000 series),
  allowing for greater satisfaction of users needs
  and more integration of assessment and
  improvement. Other CMM related process models and
  frameworks in common use are Trillium (Bell
  Canada, 1994) produced for the telecommunications
  industry, and SPICE (Software Process Improvement
  and Capability Determination) which is the
  emerging standard (ISO 15504) for software
  process and improvement (Kitson, 1996).

13
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• Yet despite the promotion of all these standards
  and approaches the industry is still in a
  position where low quality software continues to
  be a major problem. We need to recognise that no
  matter how well the above argument concerning
  process and product may apply to traditional
  production line processes it is not a Holy
  Grail with regard to software. Instead, what is
  very clear from case study literature is that,
  whether one is concerned with product or process,
  a third vital ingredient is people. It is thus
  people rather than product or process that should
  be regarded as fundamental to any quality regime.
  Other engineering disciplines, which may be
  considered analogous to that which supports
  software, have one prime feature with regard to
  staffing - that at the appropriate levels they
  have professional staff who are formally licensed
  or accredited within their discipline. This is
  simply not the case within the software industry.
  However, at the Millennium we are at last seeing
  moves to regularise the Software Engineering (SE)
  discipline and licensing of Software Engineers
  has commenced in parts of the United States. This
  licensing and associated regulation of the SE
  profession is likely to lead to major changes
  relating to computer personnel and the ways in
  which they work. It should also lead to clear
  improvements in software quality. In section two
  of the paper we consider formal aspects of
  professionalism with regard to regulation and
  certification developments and facts covering
  Software Engineering Licensing in Texas. Then in
  section three we highlight how non-professional
  attitudes really do impinge on quality and we
  discuss approaches, especially with regard to
  education, that will improve matters. Finally in
  section four we present our overall conclusions
  regarding the future of the industry.

14
Titles, Abstracts and Introductions

• Note that the latter part of the introduction
  tells the reader what they will find in the rest
  of the report i.e.
• In section two of the paper we consider
  formal aspects of professionalism with regard to
  regulation and certification developments and
  facts covering Software Engineering Licensing in
  Texas. Then in section three we highlight how
  non-professional attitudes really do impinge on
  quality and we discuss approaches, especially
  with regard to education, that will improve
  matters. Finally in section four we present our
  overall conclusions regarding the future of the
  industry.