How to write
scientific papers
Claudio Casetti
Why are we here?
• The acceptance rate of non-mother English tongue
authors is generally a lot lower than for native English
tongue authors.
• The scientific quality of an article is the principal
reason for publication
• However, is editorial rejection purely on scientific
grounds?
• http://cardiovascres.oxfordjournals.org/content/
53/2/279.long
General Advice
• Write for your readers
• Write for your reviewers
• Think in English as you write in English
• After writing the paper, read it!
• Run a spell checker!
The Title
• As Robert Day (author of “How to Write a
Scientific paper”) puts it:
“The title should be the fewest words that
adequately describe the content of the paper”
Choosing a good title
• Don’t be afraid to be creative
• Titles must not look like random sets of
keywords:
A Joint Analysis of Cellular Small Cells and
! WiFi Networks
When Cellular Meets WiFi in Wireless Small Cell
!
Networks
Choosing a good title
• Don’t be afraid to be creative
• Titles must not look like random sets of
keywords:
Quality of Service in Video Streaming over the
! Internet
Streaming Videos over the Internet: Are They
!
Worth the Wait?
Choosing a good title
• Don’t be afraid to be creative
• Titles must not look like random sets of
keywords:
! Evaluation of non-Optimal Multicast Routing
! How bad is a Naïve Multicast Routing?
Choosing a good title
• Don’t get carried away!
TCP-Smart Framing: A New, Exciting Addition
! to the TCP Universe
TCP Smart Framing: a Segmentation Algorithm
! to Reduce TCP latency
Choosing a good title
• Do not pile up terms in attributive position
1 2 3
High-throughput Receiver-oriented Multicast
! Delivery Protocols
4 5
High-throughput Protocols for
! Receiver-oriented Multicast Delivery
1 2 3
Choosing a good title
• Stress what’s novel by placing it at the end
• Readers implicitly assume the last words are
more important
Gateway-based User Management in Wireless
Home Networks
User Management in Wireless Home Networks:
The Gateway View
Structuring a paper
Abstract
How do you get from here to there?
Conclusions
The abstract
• After the title, it is you business card
• Often, the first thing a reviewer reads
• Aim at making a lasting impression from the
outset
The abstract
• Ideally, a scientific paper
abstract should provide 5 key
pieces of information
• Motivation:
Why do we care about the problem and the
results? If the problem isn't obviously
"interesting" it might be better to put
motivation first; but if your work is
incremental progress on a problem that is
widely recognized as important, then it is
probably better to put the problem
statement first to indicate which piece of
The abstract
• Ideally, a scientific paper
abstract should provide 5 key
pieces of information
1. Motivation
• Motivation:
Why do we care about the problem and the
results? If the problem isn't obviously
"interesting" it might be better to put
motivation first; but if your work is
incremental progress on a problem that is
widely recognized as important, then it is
probably better to put the problem
statement first to indicate which piece of
The abstract
• Ideally, a scientific paper
abstract should provide 5 key
pieces of information
1. Motivation
2. Problem statement
The abstract
• Ideally, a scientific paper
abstract should provide 5 key
pieces of information
1. Motivation
2. Problem statement
3. Approach
The abstract
• Ideally, a scientific paper
abstract should provide 5 key
pieces of information
1. Motivation
2. Problem statement
3. Approach
4. Results
5. Conclusions
}
The abstract
• This is an abstract
you do not want to write
• no discernible structure
• no context
• unfocused problem statement
• just a list of paper content
The abstract
• Aim for an abstract that is at most 250 words
• Do not state anything which is not in the paper
Structuring a paper
Abstract
Introduction
Conclusions
The “Introduction”
• Capture the readers’ (and reviewers’) attention!
• Structure the Introduction in an easily
recognisable format:
• General statements, scope and context
• Focus on the problem you are about to tackle
• Outline your contribution: methodology and
results
The “Introduction”
General statement
The “Introduction”
• The General Statement is usually where you
want to flaunt your creativity…
“It is a truth universally acknowledged,
that a single man in possession of
a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
The “Introduction”
Getting your work into focus
The “Introduction”
Getting your work into focus
The “Introduction”
Getting your work into focus
The “Introduction”
Outlining your contribution
Structuring a paper
Abstract
Introduction
Related Work
Conclusions
Related Work
• You must not only list literature works that are
related…
• …but also explain how they are related, how
they differ from your paper
Related Work
• Related work is mostly about citations
• know how to cite other works in your paper
• know how to list citations in the bibliography
Related Work
• Only cite primary sources
• Avoid, unless strictly necessary, to cite:
• papers in press or, worst, submitted only
• web sites
• technical reports (especially if a “shortcut”
against page limit)
Related Work
• Be detailed in your citations
• Give credit to the authors of the papers you cite
!
would you like your work
to be cited in this way?
Related Work
• Be detailed in your citations
• Give credit to the authors of the papers you cite
!
Related Work
• Be detailed in your citations
• Give credit to the authors of the papers you cite
! this works too!
Bibliography
• Some simple rules:
• list citations in… citing order
• you can be minimalist… up to a point
!
!
Bibliography
• Some simple rules:
• list citations in… citing order
• you can be minimalist… up to a point
• don’t be sloppy or inconsistent
Bibliography
• Some simple rules:
• list citations in… citing order
• you can be minimalist… up to a point
• don’t be sloppy or inconsistent
• all items in the bibliography must be cited
somewhere in the paper
Structuring a paper
Abstract
Introduction
Related Work
Technical Background
Your Proposal
Conclusions
Background and Proposal
• This is the crucial section, and the hardest for
which to provide advice
• General advice:
• be as sequential, logical as possible
• watch your grammar and syntax
Structuring a paper
Abstract
Introduction
Related Work
Technical Background
Your Proposal
Results and discussion
Conclusions
Results and discussion
• Usually divided into two parts:
• description of the settings, or scenario, of the
performance evaluation and experiments
• presentation of results and comments on their
significant
Results and discussion
• How to present the data:
• if you use an analytical approach, always state
any simplifying assumptions
• If you use simulation, report the confidence
interval
• If you use real implementation, comment on
external factors affecting results (human,
environmental factors etc.)
Structuring a paper
Abstract
Introduction
Related Work
Technical Background
Your Proposal
Results and discussion
Conclusions
Conclusions
• Conclusions are usually the last thing you write,
but may be the first thing a reviewer reads
• Summarize topic, methodology and main results
but…
• …make sure it isn’t the abstract in the past tense!
Writing correctly
and
with style
Compound nouns and
adjectives
• Compound nouns and adjectives (of two or even
three parts) are common in English
• They may be merged into a single word
• timespan, framework, outliers…
• or be joined by a hyphen and used as attributes
• mind-blowing, prize-winning, modulation-based
• two-part experiment, three-mile track
Compound nouns and
adjectives
• A typical case occurs when nouns or adjectives
are compounded in attributive position
• Look at these examples:
An important results was achieved in these test
attributive
The results achieved in these tests was important
predicative
Compound nouns and
adjectives
• When a noun is in attributive position to another
noun, it usually specifies the latter
a mobility model —> a model of mobility
Compound nouns and
adjectives
• Beware of piling up more than three compound terms
• Compounding three nouns is “borderline”, it’s best if one of
them is an adjective
• The use of hyphens helps clarifying the meaning
! a multiple-input board
! an eye-opening experiment
! user-friendly interface
A network paradigm shift -> A shift in network paradigm
Exceptions
• Some notable exceptions exist (often due to
common compound usage of two terms):
a computer science networking course
a multicast congestion control protocol
The Genitive
• The use (or, rather, misuse) of genitive forms is
frequent in scientific papers
• 90% of it is used improperly
• When in doubt, DO NOT USE IT!
The Genitive
• General rule: the genitive can be used
• for people
• for other living creatures
• and only when it indicates possess
! The dog’s food is in that bowl
! You can find bones in the dog food aisle
! There are many dog’s species
The Genitive
• Special cases in which the genitive can be used:
• collective nouns (the reviewing board’s decision, the army’s
departure)
• manufacturer names (Apple’s latest OS, Intel’s fastest processor,
Nokia’s field trials)
• geographical reference (Hong Kong’s future, Italy’s foreign
policy)
• time reference (one minute’s delay, a month’s time)
• some fixed expressions (at arm’s length, the earth’s surface, the
journey’s end…)
The Genitive
• Genitive with non-living things is usually wrong
(unless you’re certain it is a fixed expression -
learn from experience or google it…)
• Always best to use the ‘of-construction’
• Particles’ traces -> traces of particles
! !
• Current’s values -> values of current
! !
• Algorithm’s output -> output of the algorithm
! !
Nouns in attributive position
• The ‘of-construction’ for non-living things can
sometimes be replaced by attributive positions
• traces of particles -> particle traces
• the design of the algorithms -> the algorithm design
• the modulations of the signals -> the signal modulations
singular!
The article
• Proper use of articles is perhaps the single
most-valuable skill for a non-English writer
• English tends to use no articles (the “zero
article”)
• Look at how we used them in this slide…
The article
• General rules:
• articles are used when the following noun is specified
by other words (i.e., before or later)
• articles are generally not used with plurals
• articles are generally not used with uncountable nouns
TCP is a transport-layer protocol. The protocol is used by
every Internet host.
Protocols are used by every Internet host.
The article
• General rules:
• articles are used when the following noun is specified
by other words (i.e., before or later)
• articles are generally not used with plurals
• articles are generally not used with uncountable nouns
Optimisation is a powerful tool when dimensioning networks
The optimisation used in the paper is quite trivial
Structuring a sentence
• Affirmative English sentences usually have a
‘rigid’ structure:
Subject + verb + (object) + everything else
! We show in Figure 7 a logarithmic plot
! We show a logarithmic plot in Figure 7
Active and passive voices
• It can be argued that the passive voice is more
elegant
• However, the active voice is more concise and
direct
• General rule:
• use the passive voice sparingly
• do not alternate passive and active voices
Using the passive voice
• …when the subject is unknown, cannot be
named or does not need to be named
We ran a large number of tests and they showed
! that algorithm C was faster
We ran a large number of tests and algorithm C
! was shown to be faster
Go easy on nominalisations
• A nominalisation occurs when a noun is used to
describe an action
• It usually leads to confusing multiple specifications
• Too many nominalisation result in awkward
sentences
! The definition of the pattern of detection is crucial
! Defining the pattern of detection is crucial
Go easy on nominalisations
• A nominalisation occurs when a noun is used to
describe an action
• It usually leads to confusing multiple specifications
• Too many nominalisation result in awkward
sentences
! The did a review of the introduction of optimisation in…
! We reviewed the introduction of optimization in…
Go easy on nominalisation
• Removing nominalization makes sentences
crisper: watch for excessive use of prepositions
A revision of the approach in the algorithm will
result in an increase of the efficiency in the
computation of entropy
Go easy on nominalisation
• Removing nominalization makes sentences
crisper: watch for excessive use of prepositions
! A revision of the approach in the algorithm will
result in an increase of the efficiency in the
computation of entropy
Go easy on nominalisation
• Removing nominalization makes sentences
crisper: watch for excessive use of prepositions
! A revision of the approach in the algorithm will
result in an increase of the efficiency in the
computation of entropy
! Revising the approach in the algorithm will result in
increased efficiency when computing entropy
Clauses with
Relative pronouns
• People: who, that
• Animals, things: which, that
! Our approach follows Smith et al., which
introduced the Laplacian in the formulation of…
Clauses with
Relative pronouns
• People: who, that
• Animals, things: which, that
! Our approach follows Smith et al., who
introduced the Laplacian in the formulation of…
Clauses with
Relative pronouns
• People: who, that
• Animals, things: which, that
! Our approach follows the one by Smith et al., which
introduced the Laplacian in the formulation of…
Relative pronouns:
which or that?
• Look at these sentences:
The proofs that we skipped can be found in the
Appendix
The proofs, which we skipped, can be found in the
Appendix
Relative pronouns:
which or that?
• “The proofs that we skipped can be found in the
Appendix” is an example of a so-called ‘relative
clause’ (because it relates to the preceding
noun)
• In relative clauses:
• both ‘that’ and ‘which’ can be used
• no comma must be used before the pronoun
Relative pronouns:
which or that?
• “The proofs, which we skipped, can be found in
the Appendix” is an example of a so-called
‘incidental’ or ‘non-defining clause’ (because it
provides additional, non essential information)
• In incidental clauses:
• ONLY ‘which’ can be used
• the clause must be inside commas (or brackets)
More on relative/incidental
clauses
• The principle applies to other relative pronouns
as well:
The signal, whose irregular shape is shown in Fig.2,
can be computed as… [only one signal in Fig.2
and, by the way, it has an irregular shape]
The signals whose irregular shape is shown in Fig.2
can be computed as… [multiple signals in Fig. 2]
Gerund clauses
• Subordinate clauses starting with when, since,
as, because, can be replaced by a gerund
clause
Since we derived a compact expression, we can
write the formula as follows…
!
Having derived a compact expression, we can
write the formula as follow
Gerund clauses
• Subordinate clauses starting with when, since,
as, because, can be replaced by a gerund
clause
Since the simulation proved our assumption, we
implemented the proposed solution…
! no identity of subject!
Having the simulation proved our assumption, we
implemented the proposed solution…
Gerund clauses
• Subordinate clauses starting with when, since,
as, because, can be replaced by a gerund
clause
Since the simulation proved our assumption, we
implemented the proposed solution…
!
Having proved our assumption by simulation, we
implemented the proposed solution…
Gerund clauses
• Present participle clauses can be used to
improve the flow of sentences
We adopt a random spacial model and we can
easily determine the average antenna distance
Having adopted a random spacial model, we can
easily determine the average antenna distance
remember identity of subject
Organizing sentences
• Non-English writers often craft long-winding,
convoluted sentences.
• Good English uses concise, crisp sentences
• Rule of thumb: aim at writing sentences of at
most 25 words.
Organizing sentences
• Short sentences need some ‘linking’
• Enumerate concepts:
• First of all (firstly) … Secondly … Lastly
• On the one hand … On the other (hand)
Organizing sentences
• Use bridging expressions to link short sentences:
(sentence 1) bridge (sentence 2)
However,… Thus,….
Arguably,… Therefore,…
As a consequence,… Furthermore,…
As a matter of fact,… Nevertheless,…
Additionally,… In other words,…
Examples
Given the infeasibility (in terms of complexity and delay) of
centralized control for resource allocation and power
! control to mitigate interference between the coexisting
network entities, cognition via spectrum sensing is foreseen
as a potential distributed solution for spectrum access.
Centralized control for resource allocation is infeasible in
terms of complexity and delay. So is the use of power
control to mitigate interference between coexisting network
! entities. As a consequence, cognition via spectrum sensing
is foreseen as a potential distributed solution for spectrum
access.
Examples
We focus on the hard decoder in this paper since its delivery rate
can be estimated accurately whereas our experiments show that
! the delivery rate of a soft decoder (with or without combining)
depends on not only effective SNR but also the mapping between
symbols and SNR and is much harder to estimate in these
conditions.
In this paper, we focus on the hard decoder, since its delivery rate
can be accurately estimated. Conversely, our experiments show
that the delivery rate of a soft decoder (with or without combining)
! depends not only on effective SNR but also on the mapping
between symbols and SNR. Additionally, the delivery rate of a soft
decoder is much harder to estimate in these conditions.
Inversions
• Formal English requires a special construction
called inversion when certain words are placed
at the beginning of a sentence
• Inversions lend a certain formality to sentences,
make them more dramatic or rethorical
• Should be used with care (and sparingly)
Inversions
• Some words that must be followed by inversion
• Never (have we seen) / Nowhere (will you find) /
Seldom (do you observe) / Rarely … / Only then …
• Not only… but () also
• No sooner … than …
• Scarcely/hardly … when/before …
• Not until (this happened), did we notice [2nd sentence inverted]
Inversions
• Inversions are done by transforming a positive
sentence in a false interrogative sentence
! Rarely such loss rate has been reported
! Rarely has such loss rate been reported
Inversions
• Inversions are done by transforming a positive
sentence in a false interrogative sentence
No sooner we had discovered the bug, than we
! corrected it.
No sooner had we discovered the bug, than we
! corrected it.
Inversions
• Inversions are done by transforming a positive
sentence in a false interrogative sentence
Stochastic geometric models not only account for
! random locations of network entities, but they also
provide tractable results for performance metrics
Not only do stochastic geometric models account for
! random
locations of network entities, but they also
provide tractable results for performance metrics
Correcting
Common English
Mistakes
Recommendation
• To recommend something, you can use
to recommend, to suggest, to advise
• however, they are used differently when you
specify whom the recommendation is for
Recommendation
• To advise somebody to do something
!
We advise the reader to skip to the next section
Note: the verb is “advise”,
the noun is “advice”
• To advise doing something
!
The success of the experiment advised pursuing
the development of such strategy
Recommendation
• To recommend somebody to do something
!
We recommend readers to pay attention to…
• To recommend that somebody does something
!
We recommend that readers pay attention to…
Recommendation
• To suggest somebody to do something
! We suggest researchers to comply to guidelines
• To suggest that somebody does something
!
We suggest that researchers comply to
guidelines
Permission - 1
• In a similar vein, beware of the construction of
“to allow”:
!• To allow to do something
! • To allow somebody/something to do something
direct object needed!
Permission - 1
• In a similar vein, beware of the construction of
“to allow”:
Applying a low-pass filter allows to compute the
! impulse response
Applying a low-pass filter allows our software
!
to compute the impulse response
Permission - 1
• In a similar vein, beware of the construction of
“to allow”:
Applying a low-pass filter allows to compute the
! impulse response
Applying a low-pass filter allows the computation
! of the impulse response
Nominalisation
Permission - 1
• While we’re at it, these are wrong too:
Applying a low-pass filter allows computing the
! impulse response
Applying a low-pass filter allows for the
! computation of the impulse response
Permission - 1
• “Allow+to” can be used in the passive voice:
! We are allowed to make mistakes
Permission - 2
• As you know, ‘can’ can be replaced by
‘to be able to’, ‘to be capable of’
• However, prefer the use of can for the present
tense, and replace it only in past or future tenses
! Following (4), we are able to solve the integral
! Following (4), we can solve the integral
The trap of the ‘to’
• In English ‘to’ is both a preposition and part of
the infinitive…
• …they are two different words!
! In addition to simulate the web traffic…
! This expression is amenable to be maximized
! We are used to see smartphones on cars
! We look forward to have our paper reviewed
! Additionals tests are dedicated to verify…
all prepositions!
The trap of the ‘to’
• In English ‘to’ is both a preposition and part of
the infinitive…
• …they are two different words!
! In addition to simulate the web traffic…
! This expression is amenable to be maximized
! We are used to see smartphones on cars
! We look forward to have our paper reviewed
! Additionals tests are dedicated to verify…
all prepositions!
The trap of the ‘to’
• In English ‘to’ is both a preposition and part of
the infinitive…
• …they are two different words!
! In addition to simulating the web traffic…
! This expression is amenable to being maximized
! We are used to seeing phones in cars
! We look forward to having our paper reviewed
! Additionals tests are dedicated to verifying…
! to + nominalisation
The trap of the ‘to’
• Likewise, do not add ‘-ing’ when the infinitive is
required
Readers are advised to considering the
! implications…
Readers are advised to consider the
! implications…
The trap of the ‘to’
• When in doubt, get a dictionary and check the
construction of the verb you want to use
• If the verb is constructed with prepositions such
as ‘to’, ‘at’, ‘in’… remember to use the -ing
participle if you add another verb:
! We object to creating a new definition…
! The paper aims at investigating the properties…
! We are interested in testing the resilience of…
Formal and informal
• Usually, scientific papers are written using a ‘formal
register’
• It means, among other things:
• don’t use contractions: aren’t, won’t, can’t etc.
• 2nd rule: spell out small numbers (<100):
!
there are 3 three advantages
• also, do not start sentences with ‘So,’ - ‘But,’ - ‘Also,’
• ease up on phrasal verbs
Phrasal verbs
• Phrasal verbs are quite informal, and they
always have a more formal synonym
• Know when to use one or the other!
We picked up the signal from noisy background
We acquired the signal from noisy background
Phrasal verbs
• Phrasal verbs are quite informal, and they
always have a more formal synonym
• Know when to use one or the other!
We lay aside such concerns and reformulate…
We ignore such concerns and reformulate…
Passive phrasal verbs
• The passive of transitive phrasal verbs retains
the preposition:
The paper deals with the process of oxidation by
leveraging a well-known reduction…
The process of oxidation is dealt with in the
paper by leveraging a well-known reduction…
Passive phrasal verbs
• The passive of transitive phrasal verbs retains
the preposition:
We henceforth refer to ‘C’ as the capacity of the
system
The capacity of the system is henceforth
referred to as ‘C’
Miscellanea
• Beware of false friends:
• actually is not now
• sensible is not sensitive
• cancel is not erase
• employed is not used
Miscellanea
• ‘Hence’ means ‘And therefore’.
• Hence, don’t write ‘And hence’.
Miscellanea
• Last but not least… a common mistake:
• Incidental clauses introduced by ‘as’ lose the ‘it’
! As it is always the case, people make this mistake
! As is always the case, people make this mistake
Miscellanea
• Last but not least… a common mistake:
• Incidental clauses introduced by ‘as’ lose the ‘it’
! As we often remind our readers, rules are rules
Final Recommendations
• Writing in English is not about applying a set of
rules, but getting the hang of the language:
• READ READ READ
• Think in English as you write
• Curb your enthusiasm, stick to the rules
• When in doubt, check the dictionary or…google it
