“defined as the fewest possible words that adequately describe the contents of the paper”
Good title is precise and inviting
“an abstract is a succinct and stand alone description”
Reading the rest of the paper should not be necessary to get the gist
The Abstract should
“motivates the contribution of the paper, places it in context”
Questions to be addressed in succinct and informal manner:
– ends with a short summary of the rest of the paper.
“First chance of making first impression”
– writing style – overall quality – analytical skills – confidence in idea
“is a broad and shallow account of the field, which helps to place the contribution of the paper in context”
describes previous work in more technical detail, as far as needed for a paper understanding of the contribution of the paper
describes the underlying theory of techniques or system – where appropriate uses a mathematical style of definitions
formally specifies techniques that underlie the implementation – states the requirements of the implementation
gathers evidence to support or refute the research question – compare on dimensions typically of Behaviour, Coverage, Efficiency, Dependability, Maintainability, Security, Usability – experimental results are often best presented graphically
“Represents the moral of the story” Not a summary – different from abstract and introduction
The importance of the conclusions is indicated by the fact that they should be said thrice: in abstract introduction and in the discussion
Presenting evolution of ideas | Right choice of Content |
---|---|
Perspectives | Motivation, Background, Challenge |
Problem Definition | Why is this an important problem? |
Key Ideas | Basics of the hope of a solution, Approach of the solution |
Key Contributions | Researcher’s claim to fame |
Development of the key issues | The researcher has succeeded if readers reach here |
Conclusions | Honest analysis of work done. The moral of the story |