2025S Technical Writing (+ Research Methodology)

Course Description:

This course has three goals. (1) Develop & practice effective technical writing skills (English) for publishing high-quality academic research papers in Computer Science (or CS-related fields), so that your papers have a high chance of gaining acceptance to top CS conferences (e.g., ACM SIGs). (2) Learn how to evaluate/critique strengths and weaknesses of research papers. (3) Revise/rewrite/write your research papers (and/or master/PhD theses).  

This course covers two essential aspects of strong writing: paper structure (論文結構) and research content (研究內容). On paper structure, this course explains how to break down a paper's structure, and how to extract paper structure (e.g., from an award-winning paper) that can be replicated in writing your papers. On research content, this course explains basic research steps/components necessary to provide content in writing a research paper, and/or how to extract content from your existing research work to fill into different sections/paragraphs outlined by your paper structure.  You will learn that paper/thesis writing (and research method) is mechanical. By following steps, anyone can learn to be competent in writing quality research papers. 

This course is NOT about teaching general English writing (e.g., vocabulary, spelling, grammar, etc.) Students are expected to have basic competence in English writing and reading. 

This course has two parts: regular lectures and (one-on-one) writing studios. For studio sessions, you are expected to bring your research projects/ideas to write (i.e., thesis, conference, journal, etc.). This course is best suited for: (1) You want to revise and re-submit a rejected paper. You have completed most of the research work, from which you have completed almost all content to writing in a paper. (2) You want to write a new paper. You have decided on a research problem with your advisor, and have done enough research (e.g., with a partial build and evaluation) from which you can extract most (e.g., over 50%) content to writing a paper.  (3) You want to write a new research proposal/plan. You have identified a research problem with your advisor, you may have some proof-of-concept feasibility study, and you want to work backward, i.e., writing a research plan first and see whether this idea could lead to a good enough paper?

Prerequisite:

• Basic English skill (readings are in English)

Teaching Staff: 

• Instructor: 朱浩華 (Hao)

• email: haochu@ntu.edu.tw

Class Schedule:

2/18/2025. Classroom: 資 310

Lecture: Introduction

2/25/2025.  Classroom: 資 310

Lecture: How to structure a research paper?

Papers:

•  Ho-lin Chang, Jr-ben Tian, Tsung-Te Lai, Hao-Hua Chu, Polly Huang, Spinning Beacons for Precise Indoor Localization, ACM SenSys 2008, November 2008. [acceptance rate 16%] (pdf)

• Chuang-Wen You, Kuo-Cheng Wang, Ming-Chyi Huang, Yen-Chang Chen, Cheng-Lin Lin, Po-Shiun Ho, Hao-Chuan Wang, Polly Huang, Hao-Hua Chu, SoberDiary: A Phone-based Support System for Assisting Recovery from Alcohol Dependence, ACM CHI 2015, April 2015.  [acceptance rate 23%] Awarded Best Paper Honorable Mention (pdf)

• Jon Froehlich, Eric Larson, Tim Campbell, Conor Haggerty, James Fogarty, Shwetak Patel. HydroSense: infrastructure-mediated single-point sensing of whole-home water activity, ACM UbiComp 2009. (pdf)

3/4/2025.  Classroom:  資 310

Lecture: Continue from previous topic (How to structure a research paper?)

• Assignment #1 Out (assignment in the lecture slides). 

• Paper for Assignment #1: Yu-Chen Chang, Jin-Ling Lo, Chao-Ju Huang, Nan-Yi Hsu, Hao-Hua Chu, Hsin-Yen Wang, Pei-Yu Chi, Ya-Lin Hsieh, Playful toothbrush: UbiComp technology for teaching tooth brushing to kindergarten children, ACM CHI 2008, Florence, Italy, April 2008, pp 363-372. (pdf) (video)

3/11/2025. Online Class/Google meet: (https://meet.google.com/awj-hqvj-pwz)

Lecture: Continue from previous topic (How to structure a research paper?)

3/18/2025. Online Class/Google meet link: (same as before, https://meet.google.com/awj-hqvj-pwz)

Lecture: What is typical (ACM) paper review process? 

Assignment 1 Due

Assignment 2 Out

3/25/2025. One-on-One meetings

Assignment 2 Due

Assignment 3 Out

4/1/2025. Online Class

Lecture: How to develop paragraphs?

4/8/2025. One-on-One meetings

Lecture: How to review papers?

Assignment 3 Due

4/15/2025. Online Class

Lecture: How to review papers?

Assignment 4 Out

4/22/2025.  One-on-One meetings

Assignment 4 Due

4/29/2025. One-on-One meetings

5/6/2025.  Online Class

Lecture: How to choose evaluation/experimental methods?

5/13/2025. Online Class

Lecture: TBD

5/21/2024 One-on-one meetings.

5/28/2024. Online Class

Lecture: TBD

Project:

• Assignment #1: Dissect Playful Toothbrush paper. 

• Assignment #2: Select your best/most favorite paper (also shares similar type of research with your work) for dissection.

• Assignment #3: Dissect and extract your best paper's structure. 

• Assignment #4: Write a review of your best paper. 

• Assignment #5: Write your paper by filling in content from your paper outline.