CSCE 481 Lecture 8

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Writing for CS and CE

Different types of writing:

• Research Papers
• Reports
• Technical Documentation
  • Design
  • Development (The mythical man-month)
  • User Manuals
• White Papers
• Memos
• Web Sites

Audience

the most important thing you have to consider

Determines everything from structure to word choice

• background and prior knowledge
• expectations of reader
• "Why am I reading this?"
• The life of the document (future audience; changes)

Organization

Structure has more impact than actual sentences

Prevent tl;dr syndrome.

How Papers are read:

• Not novels (not cover-to-cover)
• Title; Abstract; Figures & captions; citations; small excerpts
• only really interested people read the paper

How Documentation is Read

• Title; Index; ToC; sections/subsections w. specific material

Hints:

• Use white space
• Keep paragraphs short
• Use lists and bullets
• Use clear section headings
• Attract attention, create interest, and convey info as quickly as possible (in that order)
• Have a purpose (do the research for a research paper)

Sections

• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Previous Work (background info)
• Main Work (ideas, theory, and exposition)
• Implementation (if needed)
• Results (possibly combined in main work)
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• References
• Appendices