1

Ming-Ting SunProfessor

Department of EE University of Washingtonsun@ee.washington.edu

Visiting ProfessorDepartment of CSIE

National Chung Cheng University

A Personal Perspective in Research

and Journal Paper Publication

2

Research and Journal Paper Writing

Passion, Motivation, Curiosity, Observation,

and Imagination are essential to research

Good writing skills are critical to journal

paper publications

3

Daily Life of a Researcher

Reading

Thinking

Discussing

Simulations

Writing

Presenting

4

My View

There is no easy formula for research and

publishing journal papers.

Keys for good research:

- Work hard!

- Work smart!

- and a little bit of luck!

5

Two Concrete Suggestions

6

THE END

Thank You!

7

Outline

How did I find a research topic?

Getting new ideas and developing results

Writing a journal paper

Other issues

8

How Did I Find a Research Topic?

9

Research Topics

Should be simple to state

Not obvious how to do it

Clear benefit

Can be broken into steps

Progress and solution is testable

10

How Did I Find a Research Topic?

From advisors, students, collaborators

Brainstorming with colleagues

Review papers, listen to research talks

Teach a course/Give a talk: forced to understand the details and think hard to prepare for tough questions

Hot emerging fields that could lead to many publications or easier funding

…

11

Should be of interest to both you and your advisor The work could lead to a well defined set of

results Often can be formulated as a constrained

optimization problem Timely, useful Work on the significant parts,

ask: If you are successful, so what?

Good Research Topics

12

Getting New Ideas and Developing Results

13

Starting

Starting is most difficult. A lot of frustrations.

Literature search:

* know state-of-the-art * read a lot * read selectively

Discuss with advisors and colleagues

14

Ask:

- What is the historical background of the paper?- What is the motivation of the paper?- What are the contributions of the paper?- What else can I do?- Can I do better?

Get more info from the references.

When Reading a Paper

15

Do Something!

Don’t just keep reading paper forever!

Try to do something – learn from failures. Implementing state-of-the-art techniques to gain insights.

Learn as much as you could, do as much as you could. If you don’t do it, you never get there! Give seminars, force you to think deeply and prepare for tough questions.

16

Getting New Ideas (1/2)Getting New Ideas (1/2)

Brainstorming with your colleagues

Consider different constraints from new technologies or applications

Combining knowledge from different fields

It is o.k. to start from something small. A small idea may grow big.

17

Getting New Ideas (2/2)Getting New Ideas (2/2)

Make sure it is really a new idea. Talk to experts early, don’t just depend on your own thinking.

Make sure your assumptions and understandings are correct

Analyze and develop theoretical support

Generalization/Abstraction

18

Collaborations (1/2)

More success comes from working with others:

Discuss your idea with your advisor and peers

- discussing help clarify what your idea really is

- get constructive feedback

Regular schedule of meetings

Carefully consider criticism from others

三个臭皮匠顶个诸葛亮

19

Collaborations (2/2)

Collaborate with experts, learn from experts.

Collaborations are not easy. Different personalities, different styles, different opinions, different ways of doing things.

Don’t worry too much about credits. You establish yourself through your long term contributions.

20

SimulationsSimulations

Ideas need to be simulated, cannot just depend on intuition

Make sure all the assumptions are valid and sound

Get quantitative comparisons

Make sure the comparisons are fair

Interpret simulation results. Every behavior needs to be explained. This often leads to extra insights and new ideas.

If something work, there must be a reason behind. If something doesn’t work, there must be a reason behind.

21

Keep notes about your work regularly. Write up each possible piece of the work for publication.

Documenting is not writing final journal papers. Don’t worry about polishing the wording.

Keep documenting could minimize the pain of writing the final paper.

Keep Documenting

22

Writing A Journal Paper

23

• A paper is to present NEW and BETTER techniques for solving a PROBLEM, so, … always keep in mind:

- What is the PROBLEM?

- What is NEW?

- Why BETTER?

- HOW MUCH BETTER?

• Emphasize your salient points, summarize YOUR contributions

Presenting Research Results

24

Good writing is essential !!!

Take a technical writing course

Read a lot: Learn how to tell a good story; Learn how to write a good paper

Technical Writing

25

Writing a Journal Paper (1/6)

Logical presentation with good English - use top-down organization, outline, logic flow, … - use other good papers as “samples” Clearly separate previous works and your own contributions. Focus on your own contributions.

Focus on the novel parts

Be concise, to the point

26

Writing a Journal Paper (2/6)

You know your work, but the reviewers and the readers may not! Reviewers/Readers: in the same broad area, but may not have worked on your specific problems Precise and clear definition of terms

Motivations and rationales

Pose potential questions and answer them, give intuitions

27

Writing a Journal Paper (3/6)

A reviewer’s check list (partial): Does the paper introduce a new problem or provide a new solution to an existing one? What is the main result of the paper? Is the result significant? Is the paper technically sound (assumptions? correct? …) ? Does the paper provide an assessment of the strengths and limitations of the techniques/results? Is the paper clearly written? Does the paper reference appropriate related work?

28

Any not-so-obvious statement should be supported by references or simulation results

Avoid using many adjectives (how large is “very large”?)

Give right level of details

Spell out your points, don’t let your reader guess

Always check spelling. Use “cheap” English proof-reader.

Writing a Journal Paper (4/6)

29

Pay attention to packaging. Use block-diagrams, equations, figures, pictures, tables, simulation curves, …

Class Symbols Bits Class I P0, P1, P2, L0, L1, S1, S2 30 bits Class II L2, L3, GB1, GA1, GB2, GA2 24 bits Class III C1, C2 26 bits

Writing a Journal Paper (5/6)

30

Revise, revise, and revise. Imaging you are a reviewer trying to critically criticize the paper. Read it word by word.

To get a well written paper, early drafts may often be completely re-written! Revise carefully > 3 times, total > 5 times.

Get others to help. It is hard to find own mistakes.

Publish fast before it becomes obsolete. Research is never ending. In many cases, writing a paper when you have enough contributions, don’t need to wait when the solution is perfect.

Writing a Journal Paper (6/6)

31

Template - Organizations

Abstract Introduction

- background and previous work Your work

- may split into multiple sections Experimental results, comparisons and interpretations Conclusion (Acknowledgements) References (Appendix)

32

Template - Abstract

Purpose: Give overall picture, entice reader

Do: Be brief Give relevant high-level descriptions Indicate why your work is new, better

Don’t: Repeat introduction or conclusions Give details

33

Template - Introduction

Motivation of your work: problems to solve, why they are important, why they are hard

Review previous works (don’t just give references, give one or two sentences summarizing the key points), what are their problems you will address

Explain why your work is different and better: very briefly summarize your new ideas, give intuitions why they are good

Summarize your contributions Provide a roadmap to your paper:

organization of rest of the paper

34

Template - Your Work

Clean problem formulations, clean notations, clean solutions.

Focus on your own work, don’t include background material or other people’s work here

Try to be as general as possible

Limit the complexityLimit the complexity: don’t put up things unrelated to : don’t put up things unrelated to the main points of your contributionsthe main points of your contributions

More significant part first

Put less important details (e.g. proof of a theorem) into appendix

35

Template - Experimental Results

Clearly state the complete simulation conditions so that others can compare your work

Need quantitative performance evaluation

Don’t just describe, interpret

Elaborate effects of assumptions

Any magic number needs to be justified

Draw conclusions

36

Template - Conclusions

Repeat what is great about your work

Summarize your contributions

Mention how general the work is

Hint on future work

37

Template - References

Include references for mentioned previous work

Be careful about the correct format

38

Paper Review (1/2)

About 3-4 months after acknowledgement from EIC, if you don’t receive review results, check with the AE politely.

After receiving the review: fix the problems if you agree with the reviewers’ comments.

Reviewers are experts. Even if the you don’t agree with the reviewers’ comments, those points represent parts that you can improve (make it more clear).

Reviewers are not always correct. It is o.k. to disagree with the reviewers and clarify the misunderstandings.

Write detailed “response to the reviewers”. Address every point raised. Try to be constructive

and positive.

39

• No matter how harsh the reviewers’ comments, don’t get frustrated. Don’t use emotional words..

• Be patient. The paper may go through three or four review cycles.

• Thank the reviewers.

• Resubmit in two months.

Paper Review (2/2)

40

Other Issues

Rebuttal and Appeal process

Be aware of overlength page charge

Conference papers vs. journal papers

Double submission

41

Summary

Imagination, Composition skills, Hardwork, Passion are essential

Finding a research topic? - discuss with collaborators, review papers, teach courses, work on emerging fields, … Getting new ideas and developing results - search literature, implement existing techniques, brainstorm with colleagues, give seminars, combine different fields, do simulations, … Writing a journal paper - articulate your contributions, good writing, take a technical writing course, … Other issues