Writing a Research paper

Research PublishingBy

Dr. Manuj DarbariAssoc. Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering,BBD University, Lucknow.Before starting to writeThink early about what you want to communicate. Identify main aim & message of your paper. Wait with writing until you get final or almost final results.It is inefficient to write, to rewrite & re-rewrite as the results evolve. Even if you have final results, you will often find that you need to redo some work once you start to write.Start writing soon after getting your results. It is surprising how quickly one forgets the detailsDiscuss with your supervisor. He/she can judge best whether it is a good time to start writing. 2Before starting to writeWhat kind of publication is it? E.g. Journal paper, review paper, conference proceedings paper, etc.? Contents, format (& partly style) differ. Possibilities:Journal paper: presents final original results, careful description of technique etc., refereed Review paper: summarizes, evaluates and synthesizes results already published elsewhere.Conference paper: Often preliminary results, usually short, sometimes speculative (not as important as a journal paper)PhD thesis: Combination of above. 1st chapter like review paper, later chapters like journal papers (or parts of journal papers). 3Before starting to writePut together structure of the paper:Title, authors, addresses, possibly key words, etc.Abstract1. Introduction2. Methods & Materials3. Results4. Discussion & ConclusionsAcknowledgementsReferencesIMRaD is a typical structure (AIMRaDAR). In some cases other structures may be more appropriate. Divide long sections into subsections4Before starting to writeSelect which results to showOften a good idea to choose the figures to be publishedCriteria: Does the figure show something new? Is it important to understand technique or results?Remember: your interest in the details of your work is larger than that of the reader choose!

Find the order of writing the various parts of the paper that is most natural for you5Searching Databases and Articles One can start searching form the free sites like EBSCO, PROQUEST and DOAJ. On Subject tab in the menu bar, click on your research area. You will find a list of recommended databases on with QuickStart guides you on your research project.

E.g. Click on Main Topic Area of Study Subtopic6

Input 1 concept / boxIf necessary, select a more specific field after initially searching all of the fields.Limit results further by choosing the following options above7

Results are few because terms do not include variantsUse variant terms to increase resultsUse Select a Field, unless there are too many results and you are sure of the Subject Heading 1 2

Finding a Print Journal

Search for the thesis titleAccess to Thsis10

Click on the pdf link to open the thesis.11

Full-Text?E-Mail or Export the document!12Approaches to ProceedMAP approachMATRIX approachDELTA approachDROP approach1. MAP ApproachTo start a research, initially, you have to read a lot of papers .Good for a survey paper a MAP for future readersTo be publishable, your survey must have novel view-point, taxonomy, comprehensive analysis, or all of them Good target: List of Journals listed in Thomson, Cabell s Dictionary or Cambridge Scientific Abstract.2. MATRIX ApproachNow, You have read a lot of papersDraw a MATRIX on a specific problem, and map the paper that you read to cells of matrixAt the end, non-filled cell is the missing work that no one has done But wait first make sure that: The hole is worthwhile to fill in Doable (good as my research topic? )3. DELTA ApproachPick one paper of your interest Read a lot more than 10 timesFind limitations , Search from its reference list and Extend it by DELTAProve or demonstrate that the limitation that you pointed out The more well-known work you choose, the harder to improve, but the better for your reputation Eg. E.F. Codds relational model is insufficient to handle semi-structured model because The bigger the DELTA is, the better your paperWhich DELTA to Choose

Pick the DELTA that is the most significant Some criteria are: Have practical values Has motivational scenario as of NOW, or Predicted to be useful in N years Non-trivial

4. DROP ApproachPick a simple but fundamental line to startDROP the rest

Avoid Some Notorious Venues

Randomly generated paper got accepted to a conference MIT Prank (slashdot, 2005)Eg, The World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI)Be careful if the venue is not well-known many of them are NON-REVIEWED, and mostly Profit-Oriented19

Structure of a scientific paper

TitleCompose a title that is simple, attractive and accurately reflects the investigation (Phrases to avoid: Investigation, Study, Novel, etc)AbstractFirst couple of sentences should focus on what the study is about. Include major findings in a style that a general readership can read and understand .IntroductionStart the section with a general background of the topic.Point out issues that are being addressed in the present work

Methodology Explain the procedures to be used for analyzing the sources; Identify the criteria for evaluating the information found. Analysis and Discussion (General points to consider) Present evidence and ideas from sources Concepts are organized by sub-topics Conclusions and Recommendations Systematically answer your research questions Provide recommendations for Future research References List each of your references using APA format The Title The title should be attractiveThe title should not be too long It should reflect the general field of the paper. It should be as precise as possible (without forgetting the points above).22The Title Examples of titles. Which are good ones, which ones should you avoid using?Planetary atmospheres (too general) (e.g.) Turbulence in the atmospheres of terrestrial planetsNew light on the heart of darkness of the chromosphere (solar missing) New light on the heart of darkness of the solar chromosphere (eye-catching, but tricky) Velocity and temperature in solar magnetic elements from a statistical multi-line centre-to-limb analysis (too long, boring) Centre-to-limb analysis of solar magnetic elements23Authors & AffiliationsAffiliation: Give the whole address when writing the affiliation of each author. E.g. BBD University, Faizabad Road, LucknowA request: please use full name of the Institute in your papers, to ensure that the institute is recognized in publication statistics (increasingly important for funding etc.) E-mail address is also very useful (increasingly required by journals)24AbstractStructure of abstracts: condensate of paper in one paragraphStart with typically 1-2 sentences on background & aimsFollowed by a very short description of what has been doneFinally bring the main results & major consequences

No figures, no tables, no references (usually), no footnotes, avoid abbreviations, equations and symbols, make sentences short.25An example of abstract Introduction Method Results

There are many methodological approaches for Agent-Oriented Software Engineering, each one focusing on some features of multi-agent systems, but leaving others underdefined. For this reason, it would be interesting to have the possibility of applying different methods, according to their suitability to each particular problem domain and system view. Here, a key issue is how to integrate the information resulting from different methods in a common specification. We propose the use of an intermediate language called UML-AT, which would enable bidirectional transformations between models in different languages. These transformations allow representing views of those models in the language of choice at every moment. UML-AT is a UML profile based on the Activity Theory (AT) framework, which includes the concepts to describe societies of actors that are both autonomous and intentional. The translation with UML-AT mappings makes the integration process independent of any given methodology. At the same time, these mappings can be a basis to study missing features in design languages, according to what is needed in the study of the intentional and social aspects in multi-agent systems and human organizations following AT. 26The IntroductionIn the introduction you describe the background and context of your work, i.e. what has been done before.. Say why the present work needs to be done. Some criticism of earlier work may be necessary. Definitely needed: Goals of your paper. If similar papers exist: what is new in the method or results.Often done, but not necessary: give structure of remaining paper in last paragraph of introduction.27Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) are used in heterogeneous application domains. Generally, a MAS is considered as a group of intentional autonomous entities (agents) that interact to satisfy some goals. Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) includes methodologies that, for instance, focus on goals (e.g. KAOS), the mental state of agents (e.g. AAII/BDI). This specificity makes sense to explore concrete aspects of MAS. Our proposal is the result of experience in its use for validation of intentional and social properties of MAS. Moreover, we offer tool support named OPAT, which serves to facilitate its application and to validate the specification of UML-AT. MethodologiesThis section describes the techniques and data used. It can be called differently or can be broken into 2 or more sections.Examples of alternative titles:Computational technique (appropriate for a numerical paper)Instrument and measurements (e.g. if a new instrument is being described or used, or an instrument is used in a non-standard mode)Data and analysis technique (e.g. if the special technique of analysing the data is essential for the results)Instrument and observations + Method of analysis (Section broken into 2 sections)29Example on MethodologyMAPPINGS OF MAS WITH UML-AT Mappings contain the information required to transform the specifications of a MAS between UML-AT and the language of an agent-oriented method. A mapping is a correspondence from structures in a source language to structures in a target language, where both patterns can contain constant and variable values. These structures exchange information through shared variables. The mapping from a relationship defined with the MAS methodology to UML-AT. Types of FiguresX-Y line graphsIf (more than two) data points are linked together by a line (shows dependence of one variable on another, with a particular order of the points)Scatter plotsSame as X-Y line graphs, but if the points are in no particular orderContour plots, surface plots, imagesWays of representing 3-D data sets.Histograms, bar charts, pie chartsWays of representing distributions, fractions and their evolutionSimulation software easiesPlease dont pick overly ambitious topics; instead identify a realistic size problemGather the Matlab files available in the Internet that is related to your topic and simulate it for the claimed resultsPlease dont expect the Mfiles readily available for a solution published in a paper. But you can make it of your own by modifying and adding.Believe me, Matlab is a very easy tool! Once you are able to get the simulated outputs of your solution, you can carry on for making a paper out of it.

Anatomy of a Figure

Figure 1. Solar cycle period vs. latitudinal drift velocity at cycle maximum, taken from an aW-dynamo model. The dots represent the data of 28 simu-lated cycles and the line denotes a linear least-square fitY axisMajor tickMinor tickDataAxis labelX axisTitle?SymbolCaption33An Example

34What to observe when plotting figures Line and character thickness Labels, character size, font Number and size of major and minor ticks Axis range, linear/log scale, x axis Line style, color, symbols Key to symbols Caption: Should give all the information needed to understand the figure, but is not a discussion (exceptions are possible; e.g. main results). 35TablesMake a table if you have multiple numbers to show and you cannot put them into a figure, or if the exact numbers are importantA table may also be useful in the Methods section e.g. a table of observations. Each table must be referred to in the text. Describe the different columns of the table, either following the title (some journals do not allow this) or in the main text. Some journals publish very long tables electronically only. Possibly put them in appendix.36An example of a short TableTable1. Descriptive caption above table.

37What to observe when making a Table Figure versus table Title or caption above table (depends on journal) Column headings (including units) Alignment of columns in table body Lines of demarcation Footnotes (e.g. sources of data)38Analysis and DiscussionThe core of the paper, where the results obtained during the long labour of research are presented.

Be concise. Pre-select the results (i.e. identify the important and new results) before writing about them in the results section.

Avoid repetition! .39ConclusionIn this section the already presented results are discussed and conclusions are drawn from them.

It may be appropriate to repeat the MAIN results (but definitely not all of them), but this is not the aim of this section and is not necessary.

This is often a difficult section to write, since drawing conclusions from the given data or theoretical results is not always straightforward.

Drawing conclusions is an exercise in logic, requires some knowledge of the literature and some experience of the object being studied. 40Conclusion This paper presents a framework for the integration of different agent-oriented methods in MAS development. It allows the use of the best-suited method to specify every aspect of a MAS. Mappings use as an intermediate language UML-AT. The main advantages of the proposed integration architecture over others are: 1) it is independent of any agent-oriented methodology, as it is based on the neutral language UML-AT; 2) the pattern matching process gives simple explanations about the correspondences applied in the translation Future work includes two main lines of research. The first one is the creation of mappings for new methodologies, which will enrich UML-AT with new concepts. The second one is the study of agent-oriented methodologies from the AT perspective AcknowledgementsThe acknowledgements are placed between the end of the regular text and the references. People who have contributed to the paper, but not by a sufficient amount to be included in the author list, should be thanked in the acknowledgements.

Eg. This work has been funded by the BBD University,Lucknow, India under research grant number # 1234542ReferencesFirst and most important rule: Check the style manual of the journal to which you are submitting the paper. Different journals have different styles for the references.In General it is alphabetical.

[1] Malsch, T. Naming the Unnamable: Socionics or the Sociological Turn of/to Distributed Artificial Intelligence. Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 4 (3), 155-186. 2001. [2] Newell, A. The knowledge level. Artificial Intelligence, 18, 87-127, 1982. OMG. Unified Modelling Language Specification. Version 1.5 [Online]. Available: http://www.omg.org. 2003. [3] Omicini, A., Ricci, A., Viroli, M., Castelfranchi, C., and Tummolini, L. Coordination artifacts: Environment-based coordination for intelligent agents. In Proc. 3rd Int. Joint Conf. on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS2004) (New York, USA, July 1923, 2004), ACM Press, vol. 1, 286293. [4] Pavn J., Gmez-Sanz J., and Fuentes, R. The INGENIAS Methodology and Tools. In Henderson-Sellers, B., and Giorgini, P., editors: Agent-Oriented Methodologies. Idea Group Publishing, chapter IX, pp. 236276, 2005. [5] Vygotsky, L. S. Mind and Society. Harvard University Press, Cambridge,

43ReferencesOther possibility: number the references in the order in which they are referenced in the text. Either use automated numbering scheme or wait with numbering until the paper is ready for submission.

If you are using unpublished data or results of another researcher, then cite him/her in the text as, e.g., M. Darbari, 1999, private communication). Ask before you cite!

Papers that have been submitted, but not yet accepted for publication are cited as submitted, those that have been accepted as in press.44AppendicesMaterial that may be of interest for some readers, but not for most (e.g. lengthy tables, derivations of equations) can be put into an appendix or into multiple appendices.Most papers do not have an appendix.An appendix must be referred to in the main paper. E.g., The derivation of Eq. (15) is given in Appendix B.45StyleScientific publications have their own style, different from the spoken work, different from the style of newspapers, or most literature.The style should be clear, simple, concise and readily understandable. Golden rule of paper writing style No. 1: KISS : Keep It Short & Simple46Dont forget the readerThe 4 principles of writing for the reader:

The clarity principle: Make everything clear to the reader, but do not give more information than is necessary.The reality principle: Be sure to tell them anything that you believe that they may not know & need to know.The relevance principle: Stick to your topic and dont lose the aim of your paper from sight.The honesty principle: State only what you can provide evidence for.47Facts on Paper Reviews What to do if a paper gets rejectedDo not get discouraged. Read editorial comments and discuss with advisor/students/collaborators. Find out how you can make this study stronger and acceptable for publication.Do not just turn around and submit the paper to another journal.Review Process Read carefully the comments and find ways to improve the scientific quality of the papersCarry out additional experiments and improve the quality of scientific discussions. (Journals often look for papers with quantitative and mechanistic information that represent new physical insights )Rejected papers can be resubmitted if and only the concerns of the reviewers are adequately addressed and new results are included.

About Reviewers

In a Reputed Journal there are 15-20 papers per reviewer Reviewer cannot spend more than 5-10 hours per paper which means 20 X 10 = 200 hours = (40 hours X 5) = 5 weeks! No reviewers can afford thisGive a good impression in 1-2 hours! Impression matters the most Content comes next!How to Give a Good Impression in 1-2 hours

1. Good introduction Everyone reads it If not interesting, people stop reading2. Easy to read1. People should understand what you say2. Build an excitement and a strong case3. Narrow the references as broad reference sometimes kills a paperListening to your reviewersRead every criticism as a positive suggestion for something you could explain more clearlyDO NOT respond you even dont know this, I meant X. Fix the paper so that X is apparent even to the stupidest reader.Thank them warmly. They have given up their time for you.52

Plagiarism

Prominent Physicist Fired for Faking Data Constantinos V. Papadopoulos got caught plagiarism at EUROPAR (1995) 7 papers published and 8 under submission all plagiarized from Technical Reports http://www.sics.se/europar95/plagiarism.htmlNEVER, EVER, do these professional suicide !!Ten characteristics of an incredibly dull paper

Sand-Jenson (2007).1. Avoid Focus2. Avoid originality and personality3. Make the article really really long4. Do not indicate any potential implications5. Leave out illustrations (too much effort to draw asensible drawing)6. Omit necessary steps of reasoning7. Use abbreviations and technical terms that only specialists in the field can understand8. Make it sound too serious with no significant discussion9. Focus only on statistics10.Support every statement with a referenceThank you Any Discussions!