Writing for Computer Science

by Zobel, Justin

• ISBN13: 9781852338022
• ISBN10: 1852338024
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-04-23
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York Inc

Summary

The elements of good writing are an essential part of success in science. With comprehensive practical help for students and experienced researchers, Writing for Computer Science: - Gives extensive guidance for writing style and editing; - Presents sound practice for graphs, figures, and tables; - Guides the presentation of mathematics, algorithms and experiments; - Shows how to assemble research materials into a technical paper; - Offers guidelines and advice on spoken presentations. This second edition contains detailed new material on research methods, the how-to of being a scientist, including: - Development of ideas into research programs; -Design and evaluation of experiments; - How to search for, read, evaluate, and referee other research; - Research ethics and the qualities that separate good and bad science. Writing for Computer Science is not only an introduction to the doing and describing of research, but is a handy reference for working scientists in computing and mathematical sciences.

Table of Contents

Preface	v
Contents	vii
1 Introduction	1	(6)
Kinds of publication	2	(1)
Writing, science, and skepticism	3	(1)
Using this book	4	(2)
Spelling and terminology	6	(1)
2 Good style	7	(22)
Economy	8	(1)
Tone	9	(3)
Examples	12	(1)
Motivation	13	(1)
Balance	14	(1)
Voice	14	(2)
The upper hand	16	(1)
Obfuscation	16	(1)
Analogies	17	(1)
Straw men	18	(1)
Reference and citation	19	(5)
Quotation	24	(2)
Acknowledgements	26	(1)
Grammar	27	(1)
Beauty	27	(2)
3 Style specifics	29	(30)
Titles and headings	30	(1)
The opening paragraphs	31	(2)
Variation	33	(1)
Paragraphing	33	(1)
Ambiguity	34	(2)
Sentence structure	36	(4)
Tense	40	(1)
Repetition and parallelism	40	(2)
Emphasis	42	(1)
Definitions	43	(1)
Choice of words	43	(2)
Qualifiers	45	(1)
Misused words	46	(4)
Spelling conventions	50	(1)
Jargon	51	(1)
Cliché and idiom	52	(1)
Foreign words	52	(1)
Overuse of words	53	(1)
Padding	54	(2)
Plurals	56	(1)
Abbreviations	57	(1)
Acronyms	57	(1)
Sexism	58	(1)
4 Punctuation	59	(10)
Fonts and formatting	59	(1)
Stops	60	(1)
Commas	61	(1)
Colons and semicolons	62	(1)
Apostrophes	63	(1)
Exclamations	63	(1)
Hyphenation	64	(1)
Capitalization	64	(1)
Quotations	65	(1)
Parentheses	66	(1)
Citations	67	(2)
5 Mathematics	69	(14)
Clarity	69	(2)
Theorems	71	(1)
Readability	72	(2)
Notation	74	(1)
Ranges and sequences	75	(1)
Alphabets	76	(1)
Line breaks	76	(1)
Numbers	77	(2)
Percentages	79	(1)
Units of measurement	80	(3)
6 Graphs, figures, and tables	83	(32)
Graphs	83	(10)
Visualization of results	93	(6)
Diagrams	99	(1)
Tables	100	(11)
Captions and labels	111	(1)
Axes, labels, and headings	111	(4)
7 Algorithms	115	(14)
Presentation of algorithms	115	(2)
Formalisms	117	(1)
Level of detail	118	(1)
Figures	119	(4)
Notation	123	(1)
Environment of algorithms	123	(1)
Performance of algorithms	124	(2)
Asymptotic complexity	126	(3)
8 Editing	129	(8)
Consistency	130	(1)
Style	130	(1)
Proofreading	131	(2)
Choice of word-processor	133	(1)
An editing checklist	134	(3)
9 Writing up	137	(20)
The scope of a paper	138	(2)
Telling a story	140	(3)
Organization	143	(6)
The first draft	149	(1)
From draft to submission	150	(2)
Prepublication	152	(1)
Theses	153	(2)
A writing-up checklist	155	(2)
10 Doing research	157	(28)
Beginnings	158	(1)
Shaping a research project	159	(3)
Students and advisors	162	(1)
Finding research literature	163	(2)
Reading	165	(2)
Research planning	167	(2)
Hypotheses	169	(4)
Defending hypotheses	173	(2)
Evidence	175	(2)
Good and bad science	177	(3)
Reflections on research	180	(2)
A research checklist	182	(3)
11 Experimentation	185	(20)
Designing experiments	186	(3)
Measurements and coding	189	(2)
Describing experiments	191	(1)
Variables	192	(6)
Statistics	198	(5)
Intuition	203	(1)
An experimentation checklist	204	(1)
12 Refereeing	205	(10)
Responsibilities	206	(1)
Contribution	206	(2)
Evaluation of papers	208	(2)
Referees' reports	210	(3)
A refereeing checklist	213	(2)
13 Ethics	215	(10)
Plagiarism	217	(2)
Self-plagiarism	219	(2)
Misrepresentation	221	(1)
Authorship	222	(1)
Confidentiality and conflict of interest	223	(1)
An ethics checklist	224	(1)
14 Giving presentations	225	(24)
Content	226	(2)
Organization	228	(1)
The introduction	229	(1)
The conclusion	230	(1)
Preparation	230	(1)
Delivery	231	(2)
Question time	233	(1)
Slides	234	(1)
Slide tools	234	(2)
Text slides	236	(1)
Figures	237	(1)
A presentations checklist	237	(1)
Examples of slides	238	(11)
Afterword	249	(2)
Bibliography	251	(2)
Exercises	253	(10)
Index	263