07 technical report

7/29/2019 07 Technical Report

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Writing Technical Proposal

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Lecture Overview

z Purpose of Technical Writing

z Proposal Characteristics

z General Tips on Default Style

zTips on Prose Style


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Purpose of Technical Writing

z Present a new idea, product or result

z to an audience that can make use of it

z in a level of detail appropriate for that audience

zTypes of results

z Algorithm

z System component (hardware, software, protocol)

z Performance eval. (analytical, simulated,measured)

zTheoretical framework (theorems, lemmas, etc)

z System model (way of looking at an object)

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Many Types of Technical

Documents

zJ ournal Article or Conference Paperz Tends to be very formal and precise style (3rd person)

z Novelty of results is of interest to a large audience

z Review Papers/Tutorialsz Like above

z Synthesize existing results for researchers or students

zTechnical Reportz Often precedes formal publication; also formal and precise

z Results may be of interest only in-house

z Grant Proposalz More proactive, positive style (1st person)

z Must sell the idea on its technical merits


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Proposal Characteristics

z Straightforward document

z No extraneous or irreverent material

z Dont tell us why you became interested in the topic

z The first words you write are the most important ones

z Not a literary production

z Clear, sharp and precise

z economy of words; no rambling sentences

z Clearly organized

z Outlined with proper use of headings and subheadings

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Typical Proposal Outlinez Title, Abstract, Keywords (problem statement)

z Introduction and Overview

z Background information; problem description in context

z Hypotheses or objectives

z Assumptions and limitations

z Significance or Importance and benefits

z Related Work/Literature Review

z Research Methodology

z

Plan of Work and Outcomes (deliverables, schedule)z Conclusions and Future Work

z References

z Budget (appendix)


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Abstract

z Must be clear and concise (typ. 50 - 200 words)z Reader must be able to quickly identify content

z Helps reader decide whether to read the paper

z Briefly summarizez problem

z significance

z approach

z results

z Do not cite references (abstract may be published

alone)

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Problem Statement

z Convince the sponsorto continuereading the proposal

z know the dilemma, its significance and whysomething should be done to change thecurrent status quo


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Research Objectives

z Flows naturally from the problemstatement

z state your hypotheses clearly

z give the reader a concrete, achievable goal

z Verify the consistency of the proposal

z checking to see that each objective isdiscussed in the research design, data

analysis and results sections

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Literature Review

z Recent or historically significant researchstudies

z Always refer to the original source

z Discuss how the literature applies, showthe weaknesses in the design, discuss

how you would avoid similar problemsz How is your idea different/better?


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Importance/Benefits of the Study

z Importance of the doing the study now

z What are the potential impact on

z Research in the area

z Applications

z Larger community

z If you find this difficult to write, then most

likely you have not understood theproblem

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Research Design & Methodology

z What you are going to do in technical terms.

z May contain many subsections

z Be specific about what research methodology youwill use and why

z Provide details of your proposed solutions to theproblem and sub-problems

z Provide information for tasks such as sample

selection, data collection, instrumentation,validation, procedures, ethical requirements


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Schedule or Planning

z Include the major phases of the project

z exploratory studies, data analysis, reportgeneration

z Critical Path Method (CPM) ofscheduling or Gantt chart may help

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Deliverables

z Measurement instruments

z computer program

z other technical reports


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Conclusions and Future Work

z Conclusions and future work

z drive the results home clearly and concisely

z restate your main results

z restate their significance

z a reviewer or reader may start by reading theIntroduction and Conclusions first

z Clearly state where we can go from here

z shows the work has a future

z invites participation from the readers

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Budget and Resources

z Access to special systems or computers

z specialized computer algorithms

z Itemized Budget

z Budget Narrative

zThis part is usually an appendix


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Figures and Tables

z All objects and fonts must be clearly readablez if a figure is too big, break it into smaller figures

z add a figure to hierarchically decompose it

z All must be accompanied by explanatory textz walk the reader through the figure or table

z clearly state the results you want the reader to see

z clearly state the relationships between related figures

z Know what you want each figure to illustratez one good figure really is worth a thousand words

z a thousand bad figures are worth nothing

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Figures and Tables

z Try to embed figures and tables in the main textz if necessary, insert special section after References

z Use graphical software if at all possiblez use hand-drawn figures only as a last resort

z Must be numbered & referred to by number in the textz Locate figure after paragraph containing 1st reference

z Do notrefer to the following figure(they may move)

z All figures and tables need a short numbered caption,z e.g., Figure 1: 1998 Gnu-to-Gnat Population Ratios

z Generally located under a figure but above a table


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Appendices

z Use for long complex data of peripheral interest

z Data that would disrupt the flow of the main text,

z Data the casualreader does not need, e.g.

z Huge figures

z Large tables of raw data

z Complete source code listings

z Limit each appendix to 1 major topic

z Each must be lettered, and cited in the text by letter

z Remember, page numbers must be globally unique

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References and Citationsz References are listed in the References

section

z Do not use footnotes for references

z Footnotes are used for parenthetical comments

z Options for order of the reference list:

z Alphabetical by last name of first author

z In order of citation in the paper

z Must have a consistent mapping

z All references in the list must be cited in the text

z All references cited in the text must be listed


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Plagiarism

zThe use of someone elses intellectualpropertywithout proper citation of the source.

z Includes:

zText: direct quotes or very close paraphrasing

z Ideas: concepts, definitions, observations, results,data, facts, claims, recommendations, etc.

z Figures or Tables: even if you redraw them

z When in doubt, cite the source!

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General Advice on Writing Style

z Read instructions to authors (!!!)

z Also, look at recent issues of the target publisher orother sample proposals.

z incorrect style may it is rejected without beingreadz especially true for grants & more competitive pubs

z no reviewer wants to read single-spaced 10-pt. font

z

Visual Presentationz should be clear, clean, professional

z avoid cutsy, artsy, or overly distractingcosmetics


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Default Style (unless otherwisedirected)

z 8.5 x 11 inch or A4 paper

z If single-sided, no garbage on the back side

z Double-sided OK to conserve paper

z One inch margins all around

z Single-column format

z Professional looking font

z e.g. Times New Roman orLaTeX \rmfont

z

12-point for normal textz Dark, black, letter quality print (no dot matrix)

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Default Style (unless otherwise

directed)

z Double-space or 1.5-space

z much easier to read

z allows room for reviewers comments

z Paragraphs

z Use some!

z Leave a blank line between paragraphs

z

Indenting the 1st line is optionalz Bind only in a 3-ring binder

z On-line submission even better


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Default Style (unless otherwisedirected)

z Numbering pages, figures, tablesz all numbers must be globally unique

z all must be in lexicographically increasing order, e.g.

z 1, 2, 3, 4

z I-1, I-2, I-3, II-1, II-2, II-3 (for very long reports)

z Numbering Chapters, Sections, Subsectionsz must be globally unique and hierarchical, e.g.

1.3 Gnus and Gnats I.C Gnus and Gnats

1.3.1 Gnus I.C.a Gnus

1.3.2 Gnats I.C.b Gnats

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Prose Style

z Generally use the third person

z Draws attention to the topic, not the author

z Passive voice is quite common,

z e.g. the intermediate results are then passedfrom the ALU to the register bank

z heavy use of forms of to beflags passive voice

z Active voice can be clearer and shorterz e.g. The ALU then passes the intermediate

results to the register bank

zJ ust beware of anthropromorphizations


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Prose Style

z Use the First Person to identify yourcontributions

z A gnus is defined asleaves doubt

z We define a gnu asleaves no doubt

z Generally Avoid Explicit Second Person:

z Readers dont like being given orders.

z Exceptions:

z

Paper navigation: Recall from Subsection3.3

zTutorials

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Prose Style

z Use consistent verb tense

z Present tense = default

z Past tense:

z referring to previous work

z backwards references in the paper,

z Future tense:

z Forward references in the paper

z Do not use contractions in formal writing


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Prose Style

z When used in-line, numbers 10 are spelledout

z Avoid excessive mathematics in-line

z Equations need some explanatory text

z Always define an abbreviation at its first use

z e.g. the Command and Control Bus (CCB)

z exceptions: universal terms (RAM, ROM, CPU)

z Again, know your audience (e.g. ATM)

z If you have not used a term for several pages,then redefine it when it is reintroduced.

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Prose Style

z Be absolutely consistent with important terms

z Use variation in the little grammatical stuff, e.g.

z e.g., = for example= such as

z Be careful with pronouns,

z their meaning can get lost easily

z Pay attention to your sentence structures

z Short clear sentences = good,z Long convoluted sentences = bad,

z Incomplete sentences = worse.


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Prose Style

z Use parenthetical remarks sparingly (as theytend to interrupt the flow of the sentence)

z keep them short,

z find the least disruptive place to put them in thesentence,

z Use footnotes for longer supplementaryremarks,

z Less disruptive than a parenthetical remark

z Still, use footnotes sparinglyz no more than 1 or 2 on a given page

z no more than a handful in the whole paper

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Closing Comments

z When in doubt, follow publishers instructions

z When in doubt, cite the source

z Spelling and Grammar checkers:

z Use them, but dont trust them implicitly

z Outside proofreaders:

z use one

z pick one whose English is better than yours

z Remember, the reviewer doesnt really want to readthis paper. Dont give him/her an excuse to quit.