Transcript Writing and Citing for a Tech Audience

Writing Technical Papers
CSCI 327
Outline for Today
1. Finding Appropriate Sources
2. Document Formatting Standards
3. Appropriate Writing Style
4. Typical Technical Documents
Questions
• Where can you find technical
information?
• How do you know if those sources
are reliable?
Where to Find Information
• Web Sources
– Wikipedia
• how trustworthy is it?
– .com sites
• they have an agenda - don't trust them for opinions
– .edu sites
• Print Sources
– Papers in Academic Journals
• have been reviewed!!!!!!!
– Newspapers
• good for facts and quotes
• be aware of opinions
Example Search
1.
2.
3.
4.
Go to Winthrop's homepage
At bottom, select Library
At the Dacus site, select "Databases" then "A"
select ACM Digital Library
•
•
differences in Journals, Proceedings, etc.
Special Interest Groups
Formatting
Typical Outline of a Research Paper
1. abstract
•
short overview
2. introduction and background information
•
context of this investigation
3. new information
•
the "what we did"
4. analysis and conclusions
•
the "so what"
5. summary and future work
Formatting
• ACM SIG Format
• Section Headers
– number the sections so that the reader can
move back and forth
– number subsections as well
– refer to other sections
Formatting
• Figures and Tables
– a figure goes after the first reference
– number figures and tables, and include a title
– use courier font in tables
• References
– cite everything that was not your idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!
– make it crystal clear what is yours and what is theirs
– citing web sources…
Web Citations
• Important Information
• who
• when
• where
• Examples
Smith, Bob. "My Opinion about Open-Source Software."
Daily Tech Blog. July 14, 2014 <http://tech.blogspot.com>.
Building Poor Web Sites. June 14, 2015
<http://www.badweb.com/howto.htm>.
Writing Style
• Define terms
– on the first use of an acronym, spell it out
• Use formal language
– keep to the facts and analysis
– No slang terms
– Usually, No first person
• Use examples and figures to illustrate
your point
Tech Documents o' Plenty
• User Manual
• Project Proposal
• Statement of Work
• Software Project Management Plan
• System Requirements Specification
• System Design
Possible Format of a
Business Proposal
1. Executive Summary
2. Plan of Work
3. Corporate Qualifications
4. Staffing and Management Plan
5. Pricing and Contract Requirements
NSF Proposal Format
Cover Sheet
title
dates and total amount requested
signatures
Project Summary
one page max
"intellectual merit" and "broader impact"
Table of Contents
Project Description
15 page max
also includes results from prior support
References Cited
Biographical Sketches
Budget