W11 - Writing Scientific Texts

Technical Writing and Presentation 2016
Scientific Writing for Computer Science

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC BÁCH KHOA HÀ NỘI
HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
1. How to write scientific texts in computer

science?
Technical Writing and Presentation
2. How to write in English?
Writing scientific text in computer science 3. How to write a technical report / thesis?
SOICT - 2020
© SoICT 2020 Technical Writing and Presentation 2
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Contents General style
General style What is style?

References and citations Scientific writing style
Acknowledgements
Formatting
Use of tables, figures, and similar elements.
Mathematics
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Genre (style) Scientific writing style
The manner of expression is the Fundamental aims of science writing: to

writing style: how well you be exact, clear, and compact.
communicate with likely readers. Compact is usually clear!
Scientific writing must be plain and Other desirable properties: smooth and
straightforward but not dull. It can objective
have style.
Good style makes your writing easy
to understand. It can persuade
readers that work is of value.
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Exact Avoid ambiguity
Word choice Example

Avoid vague expressions which are typical An inverted list for a given term is a sequence of pairs, where the
first element in each pair is a document identifier and the second is
for the spoken language the frequency of the term in the document to which the identifier
corresponds.
Make clear what the pronouns refer to An inverted list for a term t is a sequence of pairs of the form
(d, f) where each d is a document identifier and f is the frequency
Avoid ambiguity of t in d
Many terms have well-defined mathematical meanings and
Avoid illogical comparisons are confusing if used in another way.
For example,
Correct grammar Formula, expression, equation
Average, mean
Subset, proper subset, strict subset.
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Use Words Efficiently Clear
Never use two words when one word will do. Use illustrative titles which describe the essential in a
chapter or a section.
Example 1: The relationship between the Write a brief introductory paragraph in the beginning
nature of salt water to fresh water in the of each chapter or section with subsections.
Divide the text logically into sentences and
Edgartown Great Pond that fluctuates often paragraphs.
is extremely important to everyone including Place the adjective or the adverb as close as possible
scientists, residents, and environmentalists to the word it modifies.
Avoid scientific jargon = continuous use of technical
on Martha’s Vineyard. vocabulary when it is not relevant.
Example 2: The fluctuating salinity of EGP Write numbers as digits when they refer to sizes or
exact measurements.
concerns many environmentalists, scientists, Use punctuation to support meaning.
and residents.
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Avoid jargon Define the Unfamiliar
Jargon: a vocabulary particular to a place • If you must abbreviate, define the term in its first
of work (abbreviations, slang) occurrence, and put abbreviations in parentheses
Audience familiarity with the topic Example: Edgartown Great Pond (EGP) is a vital body
determines appropriate use of jargon of water. Unfortunately, due to an unpredictable
influx of saltwater, the delicate ecosystem is in danger
For the first year, the links with SDPC and the
HAC were not connected, and all required OCS of destabilizing.
input data were artificially loaded. Thus • Italicize first occurrence of unfamiliar terms and
CATCH22 and MERWIN were not available. define them right away
Because some of the links in the computer Example Retina is a light-sensitive tissue, found at
system were not connected the first year, we the back of the eye, that converts light impulses to
could not run all the software codes. nerve impulses.

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Compact Smooth
Say only what needs to be said! Verbs: Stay within the chosen tense! No
Short words and short sentences are unnecessary shifts in verb tense within – the
always easier to comprehend same paragraph – in adjacent paragraphs
Weed out too detailed descriptions. Use verbs rather than their noun equivalents
Don’t describe irrelevant or trivial Prefer active to passive voice
observations Avoid long noun strings!
Avoid wordiness, Use no more words than
Each pronoun should agree with the referant
are necessary. Redundant words and
phrases should be omitted. in number and gender.
Avoid too long sentences and paragraphs Transitional words help to maintain the flow
of thought
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Smooth Active voice
Notice: some transitional words (while, since) Use direct statements and expressions
can be used in several meanings → limit their involving “we” or “I”—that is, the active
use to their temporal meaning! voice—to make reading more pleasant
Use abbreviations sparingly, especially the and to help distinguish new results from
abbreviations which you define yourself for
technical terms. old.
Do not use emphasis (italics) when it is not
needed. Use syntax to provide emphasis.
Metaphors can sometimes help to simplify
complex ideas. However, – Avoid overuse
metaphors and cliches
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Example: active voice vs passive voice References and Citations
References and citations

The results show that, for the given data, less
memory is likely to be required by the new structure, explain the relationship of your new work to
depending on the magnitude of the numbers to be existing works.
stored and the access pattern. how your work was built on previous
knowledge and how it differs from
The results show that less memory was required contributions in other paper
by the new structure. Whether this result holds for
other data sets will depend on the magnitude of the References must be in standardized
numbers and the access pattern, but we expect that format
the new structure will usually require less memory
than the old.
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Purposes of references An appropriate reference is
Demonstrate that your work is new Relevant

up-to-date
Demonstrate your knowledge of the reasonably accessible
research area Refer to the original paper
Help the reader to judge whether your well-written material
book, conference paper, journal article in preference
statements are reliable. to a workshop paper
Pointers to background reading. workshop paper in preference to a manuscript
formally published documents rather than Web
pages
Avoid reference to private communications and
information provided in seminars or talks
Don’t cite to support common knowledge.
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Examples Citations
Refer to a result in an inaccessible paper, do

not refer to it directly: Citations should be punctuated
According to Kelly (1959; as quoted by Dawson Never treat a bracketed expression,
1981), stable graphs are closed
whether a citation or otherwise, as a
When you use results from other papers, be
sure to show the relationship to your own word.
work: In [2] such cases are shown to be rare.
Marsden [16] has used an approach in whichN Such cases have been shown to be rare [2].
Other work (Marsden 1991) has used an
approach in whichN
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Citations Acknowledgements
Should thank everyone who made a contribution,

• The cite should be close to the material it relates to whether advice, proofreading, coding, or whatever
Two common forms of acknowledgement
The original algorithm has The original algorithm has list the people who have helped
asymptotic cost O(n2) but asymptotic cost O(n2) but explain each person’s contribution
low memory usage, so low memory usage
it is not entirely superseded (Keele 1989). Thus it is not Write “I am grateful to” , “I thank” or “Thanks to”
by Ahlberg’s approach, entirely superseded by instead of “I would like to thank” or “I wish to thank”
which although of cost Ahlberg’s approach
O(n log n) requires a large (Ahlberg 1996), which,
in-memory array (Ahlberg although of cost O(n log n),
1996; Keele 1989) requires a large in-memory
array

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Formatting Fonts
Fonts Standard choices: Times New Roman,

Indentation Cambria.
Layout Three fonts for computing and
Headings mathematical writing : plain, italic, bold
Numbering Underlining is used for emphasis.
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Indentation Layout
Indentation is used to indicate the start of The appearance of a report is no less

a new paragraph important than its content.
An attractive, clearly organised report stands
Use right-justified as well as left-justified a better chance of being read.
Pages should be numbered Use a standard, 12pt, font, such as Times
New Roman, for the main text.
Use different font sizes, bold, italic and
underline where appropriate but not to
excess.
Too many changes of type style can look
very fussy.
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Headings Numbering
Use heading and sub-headings to break The use of numbering and type size and
up the text and to guide the reader. style can clarify the structure as follows;
They should be based on the logical
sequence which you identified at the
planning stage but
With enough sub-headings to break up
the material into manageable chunks.
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Use of tables, figures, and similar elements Figures and tables
Figures and tables General rules

Diagrams Vector graphics
Graphs Captions
Lists Expressions
Algorithms
Examples and definitions
Equations
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General rules Vector graphics

Figures illustrate the models or the results, and Use vector graphics, not raster graphic
tables give summaries.
(bitmaps)! There is a big difference in quality:
Two rules for displaying figures and tables
1. All figures and tables must be referred in the text.
2. There is no sense to express trivial things as a
figure or a table
If there is no need to refer to a figure/table in the
text, the figure/table is probably not needed!
Avoid repeating the same data in several places.
Discuss only the most important items of the table
in the text.
A figure should be easy to understand..
If two tables/figures should be compared, position
them next to each other.
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Tables Captions
Is a table the best way to present your Each table or figure should be
information? understandable by its own. Give a brief but
Consider graphs, bar charts or pie charts. clear explanation or a title in the caption.
Dependent tables (small) can be placed within Explain all special abbreviations, symbols,
the text, even as part of a sentence. special use of underlinings, dashes,
Independent tables (larger) are separated parantehses, etc.
from the text with table numbers and captions. Use the same style in all tables.
Position them as close as possible to the text If you copy (draw again) a table or a figure
reference. from some other source, then give a
Complicated tables should go in an appendix. reference to the original source in the end of
caption.
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Expressions Diagrams
When you refer to figures and tables you Keep them simple.
can use the following expressions: Draw them specifically for the report.
The results are summarized/reported in
Table 1 Put small diagrams after the text
reference and as close as possible to it.
The results are represented in
Figure 2 illustrates Think about where to place large
diagrams.
In the Figure we observe
The model is given in Figure 7
etc.
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Graphs Lists
Graphs must be used particularly when trends are Lists are not separate objects, and they
shown or series of data are compared. are introduced in the text.
Graphs containing data that need to be compared
must be combined in the same figure so that the Use list only when they are necessary!
reader can make a direct comparison between the E.g. ”The main criteria of X are (the following):”
values. – Criterion 1
The quantity of information in one graph must be – Criterion 2 – ...
limited so that the different symbols can be clearly Or ”The method consists of five steps:” + a list
distinguished.
The axes of a graph must be named in words, in If you list only a couple of items, you can
conjunction with units. usually write them without a list. Use lists
when the clarify things!
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Algorithms Example of Algorithm
Give only the main algorithms in the text, and in

an appropriate abstraction level (pseudocode)
Fix the pseudocode notation and use it
systematically
Simple methods can be described by a
numerated list of steps
Logical and set operations are often useful when
you describe algorithms in an abstract level
E.g. for all xi ∈ X, T = T ∪ {pi}, find such S ⊆ T that
q(S),...
If you writer longer algorithms, insert them into a
figure or an environment of their own.”
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Definitions Expressions for referring to a definition
A good definition The definition of ... is the following:

explains the defined concept. The definition of ... is as follows:
is not a circular argument (where x is defined Formally, we define N
by y and y by x).
is not expressed by negative terms, if
possible.
doesn’t contain unclear, vague, or descriptive
language •
defines only what is needed
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Equations Equations
Without equation numbers With equation numbers

Remember the full stop in the end of the equation,
if the sentence finishes!
“The prior probability of X is updated by Bayes rule,
given new evidence Y :
” If you want to refer to some previous

equation, you have to give it a label like
If the sentence continues, then you need comma:
”The dependency is described by equation for examples.
< equation >,
where a is sg. and b is sg.”
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Mathematics Mathematics (continued)
Mathematical notation can be used to

Only use mathematics where it is the most describe algorithms, data structures,
automata, or any of the objects in
efficient way to convey the information.
computer science
Longer mathematical arguments, if they A lot of difficulties for readers if the
are really necessary, should go into an mathematics is badly presented
appendix. There are conventions of presentation for
mathematics and mathematical concepts.
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Theoremes Readability
Details of the proof can often be omitted in a Mathematics is usually presented in italics, to
distinguish it from other text.
paper.
If a displayed formula is sufficiently important it
Theorems, definitions, lemmas, propositions should be numbered,
and key examples should be numbered. Notations should follow the conventions of your
area rather than invent your own.
If the proof need lemmas, put them at the
Use appropriate brackets, braces, parenthesis
right place for readability. Sentences should begin with a word, not digits or
When stating your proof in a paper, Use mathematics
means to convey your argument with the Do not use a long stream of complex expression
greatest possible clarity Avoid unnecessary subscripts
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Example
Should be replaced with
© SoICT 2020 Technical Writing and Presentation 51 52
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Lecture materials derived from:

Justin Zobel (2014), Writing for Computer
Science, Springer.
Wilhelmiina Häamäläinen(2006), Scientific
Writing for Computer Science Students,
Course material, University of Joensuu.
Nicole Kelley (2006), Basics of Technical
Writing, slides of MIT course.
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Technical Writing and Presentation 2016

Scientific Writing for Computer Science

1. How to write scientific texts in computer

© SoICT 2020 Technical Writing and Presentation 2

Contents General style

General style What is style?

Genre (style) Scientific writing style

The manner of expression is the Fundamental aims of science writing: to

Exact Avoid ambiguity

Word choice Example

Use Words Efficiently Clear

Avoid jargon Define the Unfamiliar

© SoICT 2020 Technical Writing and Presentation 12

Smooth Active voice

Example: active voice vs passive voice References and Citations

References and citations

Purposes of references An appropriate reference is

Demonstrate that your work is new Relevant

Refer to a result in an inaccessible paper, do

Should thank everyone who made a contribution,

© SoICT 2020 Technical Writing and Presentation 23

Fonts Standard choices: Times New Roman,

Indentation is used to indicate the start of The appearance of a report is no less

Use of tables, figures, and similar elements Figures and tables

Figures and tables General rules

General rules Vector graphics

Algorithms Example of Algorithm

Give only the main algorithms in the text, and in

Definitions Expressions for referring to a definition

A good definition The definition of ... is the following:

Without equation numbers With equation numbers

” If you want to refer to some previous

Mathematics Mathematics (continued)

Mathematical notation can be used to

Should be replaced with

© SoICT 2020 Technical Writing and Presentation 51 52

Lecture materials derived from:

© SoICT 2020 Technical Writing and Presentation 53

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