The purpose of writing a research paper is NOT to ask the readers to FIND your contribution, BUT to SHOW your contribution to the readers. It is YOUR responsibility and only you can do it.
Three steps toward a scientific report/paper
Step 1: one sentence
Use one sentence to summarize your research by filling the following template.
"This study, for (1), based on (2), proposed (3) and obtained (4), proving (5)."
- (1): the problem or the issue etc that this study wants to solve
- (2): the previous studies that this study was based on or motivated from
- (3): the theory, method, algorithm etc that this study proposes
- (4): the result, observation etc that this study obtained
- (5): the hypothesis, research question etc that this study wanted to prove.
Step 2: an abstract
Expand the sentence in Step 1 to an abstract (one to two pages) following the next structure.
- Front matter: Title, Your name, Date of writing/Last-updated date
- Problem definition: What is the problem this study want to solve?
- Previous studies: How did previous researchers or existing studies (may) help to solve this problem and why they are not enough?
- Research question: Based on the observation of the above study, make a clear and concise statement of the research question of this study (what is the focus of this study).
- Proposal: To solving the research question, what is the theory and/or algorithm (method) this study propose?
- Proof and/or Implementation: Prove the theory and/or show the implementation of the algorithm (method).
- Empirical studies: If not a pure theoritical study, show the results of experiments and use them to prove the proposed theory and/or algorithm (method) worked to solve the problem that this study want to solve. If it is not enough to answer the research question, analyze its limit and discuss possible future solutions.
- Conclusion and future works: Conclude the above study (notice: not a summary but a conclusion) and point out some future works.
- References: List the references used in state the problem, previous researches, etc.
Step 3: a full paper
The following shows a common template of a paper (6 to 15 pages usually).
- Abstract: (a shorted version of the abstract in Step 2)
- Introduction
- research question (1 or 2 paragraphs, in detail)
- why consider it (application, history (older better), etc)
- previous studies (a few paragraphs. If long, a few paragraphs here and open a new section to describe)
- related works (a few paragraphs. Related but not so direct)
- proposal (detail)
- finding
- conclusion
- paper structure
- Previous studies (optional if long)
- Model or Theory or Proposal etc
- description
- proof of correctness
- remark etc
- Empirical studies
- experiments setting (data set, software/hardware, condition, etc)
- results
- observation/discussion
- Conclusion and future works
- conclusion
- further discussion and future works
- Acknowledgement (no section number)
- References (no section number): usually 10 to 30 (depending on the paper) sorted by the family name (or other if required) and MUST be cited in the paper, MUST follow the same format (e.g., the order of first name and family name)!
- Appendix (optional, no section number)
Common rules in writing a beautiful paper
If you don't know how to write a beautiful paper, follow the next rules.
- Use latex instead of Word.
- Use vector images instead of pixel images (tgif, inkscape, etc)
- For each section, always summarize it with the first paragraph.
- For each paragraph, always summarize it with the first sentence.
- A paragraph should be not too long and not too short.
- Leave some space (using Figure, Table, etc) in each page.
- Use italic to emphasize important words or sentences ({\em important words} in latex)
- Pay attention to the space after punctuation!