Abstract%20Writing%20Workshop

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Abstract Writing Workshop
Grady Gauthier Jason I. Hong EECS
Department University of California at Berkeley
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Getting Your Research Out There

• Posters
• Workshops
• Short papers
• Tech reports
• Conference papers
• Journal articles
• Web Sites and Web-Based Databases

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What are Research Abstracts?

• Abstracts are stand-alone summaries of a research
  project, giving an overview of the problem, what
  you did, what you learned
• Abstracts are important because
• Some conferences ask for abstracts first
• Workshops / poster sessions ask for abstracts
• They are the first thing people read in a paper
• They are used in collections of papers
• They are used in searchable databases
• Is this research interesting to me?

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Workshop Format

• How to write abstracts
• How to get your research out there
• (And a little bit about how research is done)

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(No Transcript)
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Example Abstract

• Through a study of web site design practice, we
  observed that web site designers design sites at
  different levels of refinementsite map,
  storyboard, and individual pageand that
  designers sketch at all levels during the early
  stages of design. However, existing web design
  tools do not support these tasks very well.
  Informed by these observations, we created DENIM,
  a system that helps web site designers in the
  early stages of design. DENIM supports sketching
  input, allows design at different refinement
  levels, and unifies the levels through zooming.
  We performed an informal evaluation with seven
  professional designers and found that they
  reacted positively to the concept and were
  interested in using such a system in their work.
• (CHI2000)

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Example Abstract

• Through a study of web site design practice, we
  observed that web site designers design sites at
  different levels of refinementsite map,
  storyboard, and individual pageand that
  designers sketch at all levels during the early
  stages of design. However, existing web design
  tools do not support these tasks very well.
  Informed by these observations, we created DENIM,
  a system that helps web site designers in the
  early stages of design. DENIM supports sketching
  input, allows design at different refinement
  levels, and unifies the levels through zooming.
  We performed an informal evaluation with seven
  professional designers and found that they
  reacted positively to the concept and were
  interested in using such a system in their work.
• (CHI2000)

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What are Research Abstracts?

• Abstracts should have
• Objective the problem
• Methods how you approached the problem
• Results interesting results, the facts
• Conclusions what we think the results mean

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Example Abstract

• Caspase 8 is a cysteine protease regulated in
  both a death-receptor-dependent and independent
  manner during apoptosis. Here, we report that the
  gene for caspase 8 is frequently inactivated in
  neuroblastoma, a childhood tumor of the
  peripheral nervous system. The gene is silenced
  through DNA methylation as well as through gene
  deletion. Complete inactivation of CASP8 occurred
  almost exclusively in neuroblastomas with
  amplification of the oncogene MYCN. Caspase
  8-null neuroblastoma cells were resistant to
  death receptor- and doxorubicin-mediated
  apoptosis, deficits that were corrected by
  programmed expression of the enzyme. Thus,
  caspase 8 acts as a tumor suppressor in
  neuroblastomas with amplification of MYCN.
• (Nature, May 2000)

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Example Abstract

• Caspase 8 is a cysteine protease regulated in
  both a death-receptor-dependent and independent
  manner during apoptosis. Here, we report that the
  gene for caspase 8 is frequently inactivated in
  neuroblastoma, a childhood tumor of the
  peripheral nervous system. The gene is silenced
  through DNA methylation as well as through gene
  deletion. Complete inactivation of CASP8 occurred
  almost exclusively in neuroblastomas with
  amplification of the oncogene MYCN. Caspase
  8-null neuroblastoma cells were resistant to
  death receptor- and doxorubicin-mediated
  apoptosis, deficits that were corrected by
  programmed expression of the enzyme. Thus,
  caspase 8 acts as a tumor suppressor in
  neuroblastomas with amplification of MYCN.
• (Nature, May 2000)

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Structure of Research Papers

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Background and Related Work
• Description of Your Work
• Results
• Discussion
• Future Work
• Conclusion

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Structure of Research Papers

• Both present an overview of the research
• Abstracts versus Introductions
• Introduction is longer
• Abstract describes specific problem, intro needs
  to have a stronger, broader problem motivation
• Introduction provides some background info,
  describing the research area
• Abstracts should not have
• References
• Background info
• Information that is not in the paper itself

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Abstract Lengths

• Length of abstracts vary
• 1 paragraph (4-7 sentences) for posters, tech
  reports, short papers, conference papers
• Some have strict word lengths, many do not
• 1-2 paragraphs for journal articles
• Some conferences / workshops ask for 1-2 page
  abstracts first, and then full papers later
• These kinds of abstract are different, as they
  explain what you want to do, why it's an
  important problem, and any early results

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Writing Research Abstracts

• Typically written after rest of paper is done
• Writing Tips
• Skim thru paper for the main points, including
  objectives, methods, results, and conclusions
• Remove any background info
• Remove info that is not in the paper itself
• Iterate
• Goals
• Make sure the abstract can be read by itself
  without the paper (People often read abstract,
  intro, and conclusions first, rest of paper last)
• Clear for your specific audience

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Example Abstract

• Algorithmic Issues in Large Scale Dynamic
  Networks
• We propose to develop a theoretically
  well-founded framework for the design and
  analysis of algorithms for large scale dynamic
  networks. In particular, for the Web and related
  dynamic networks, such as the underlying Internet
  topology and Internet-based peer to peer ad hoc
  networks. We plan to develop rigorous
  mathematical models that capture key
  characteristics and can make reliable predictions
  about features such as connectivity, information
  content, and dynamic of these networks. We plan
  to apply this framework to test existing
  algorithms and construct improved new algorithms.
• The main benefits of developing the mathematical
  models of the Web structure and dynamics will be
  the improved theoretical foundation for the
  design, analysis, and testing of algorithms that
  operate in the web environment. The tangible
  results of this work will therefore be models
  that can be subjected to experimental
  verification, analyses of algorithms based upon
  these models, new
• algorithms that benefit from these analyses, and,
  finally, proof-of-concept demonstrations and
  experimental evaluations of such
  algorithms. (NSF ITR 2001)

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Exercise

• 15 minute exercise
• Get in groups of 2-3
• Write a 1 paragraph abstract on research you are
  doing now (or a class project you are working on
  now or did in the past)
• Do either the "This is what I did" abstract or
  the "This is what I will do" abstract
• After you are done, pass your abstract to others
  in your group and get feedback

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Example Abstract

• Software support for making effective pen-based
  applications is currently rudimentary. To
  facilitate the creation of such applications, we
  have developed SATIN, a Java-based toolkit
  designed to support the creation of applications
  that leverage the informal nature of pens. This
  support includes a scenegraph for manipulating
  and rendering objects support for zooming and
  rotating objects, switching between multiple
  views of an object, integration of pen input with
  interpreters, libraries for manipulating ink
  strokes, widgets optimized for pens, and
  compatibility with Javas Swing toolkit. SATIN
  includes a generalized architecture for handling
  pen input, consisting of recognizers,
  interpreters, and multi-interpreters. In this
  paper, we describe the functionality and
  architecture of SATIN, using two applications
  built with SATIN as examples.
• (UIST2000)

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Example Abstract

• Software support for making effective pen-based
  applications is currently rudimentary. To
  facilitate the creation of such applications, we
  have developed SATIN, a toolkit designed to
  support the creation of applications that
  leverage the informal nature of pens. SATIN
  introduces a generalized architecture for
  handling pen input, consisting of recognizers,
  interpreters, and multi-interpreters. It also
  includes libraries for manipulating ink strokes,
  GUI widgets optimized for pens, and compatibility
  with Javas Swing toolkit. In this paper, we
  describe the functionality and architecture of
  SATIN, using two applications built with SATIN as
  examples.

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• Questions?

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Example Abstract

• Software support for making effective pen-based
  applications is currently rudimentary. To
  facilitate the creation of such applications, we
  have developed SATIN, a Java-based toolkit
  designed to support the creation of applications
  that leverage the informal nature of pens. This
  support includes a scenegraph for manipulating
  and rendering objects support for zooming and
  rotating objects, switching between multiple
  views of an object, integration of pen input with
  interpreters, libraries for manipulating ink
  strokes, widgets optimized for pens, and
  compatibility with Javas Swing toolkit. SATIN
  includes a generalized architecture for handling
  pen input, consisting of recognizers,
  interpreters, and multi-interpreters. In this
  paper, we describe the functionality and
  architecture of SATIN, using two applications
  built with SATIN as examples.
• (UIST2000)