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Ming-Ting SunProfessor
Department of EE University of [email protected]
Visiting ProfessorDepartment of CSIE
National Chung Cheng University
A Personal Perspective in Research
and Journal Paper Publication
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Research and Journal Paper Writing
Passion, Motivation, Curiosity, Observation,
and Imagination are essential to research
Good writing skills are critical to journal
paper publications
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Daily Life of a Researcher
Reading
Thinking
Discussing
Simulations
Writing
Presenting
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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!
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Two Concrete Suggestions
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THE END
Thank You!
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Outline
How did I find a research topic?
Getting new ideas and developing results
Writing a journal paper
Other issues
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How Did I Find a Research Topic?
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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
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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
…
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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
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Getting New Ideas and Developing Results
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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Writing A Journal Paper
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• 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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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)
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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)
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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)
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Template - Organizations
Abstract Introduction
- background and previous work Your work
- may split into multiple sections Experimental results, comparisons and interpretations Conclusion (Acknowledgements) References (Appendix)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Template - Conclusions
Repeat what is great about your work
Summarize your contributions
Mention how general the work is
Hint on future work
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Template - References
Include references for mentioned previous work
Be careful about the correct format
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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.
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• 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)
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Other Issues
Rebuttal and Appeal process
Be aware of overlength page charge
Conference papers vs. journal papers
Double submission
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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