Types of Research Papers

 Technical Report
 Workshop Paper
 Conference Paper
 Journal Paper
 Term Paper
 Position Paper
 Survey Paper
 Patent
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Qualitative categories of journals
 W- Category
– Having an Impact Factor
 X- Category
– Not having an Impact Factor
– Reviewed by at least one expert
 Y- Category
– Not having an Impact Factor
– Not reviewed by at least one expert
 Z- Category
– Not having an Impact Factor
– Not reviewed by at least one expert
– Not indexed by a recognized agency

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 Reading a research paper
 Read Critically
– Don’t assume that authors are always correct
– Ask appropriate questions
– Are they solving the right problem?
– Are there simple solutions the authors may not have
considered?
– Limitations of the solution (stated and unstated)

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 Reading a research paper
 Read Creatively
– What are the good ideas in the paper?
– Do these ideas have other applications or extensions?
– Can they be generalized further?
– Starting point for further research?

 Make notes as you read the paper.

 After the first read-through, try to summarize the paper
in one or two sentences.
 If possible, compare the paper to other works.

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 Reading a research paper
 Three pass approach

 First Pass
– Carefully read title, abstract, introduction
– Read section, and sub-section headings
– Read conclusions
– Skim through references
 Answer the five C’s
– Category
– Context
– Correctness
– Contributions
– Clarity
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 Reading a research paper
 Second Pass
– Read the paper with greater care
– Would take almost an hour or so

 Third Pass
– Virtually re-implement the paper
– Would take four to five hours for a beginner

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 Parts of a research paper

 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion

 References
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 Abstract
 1st model ~ systems kind of papers
– Background
– However, gab
– What we did ~ innovation
– Contributions
– What it means

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 Abstract
 2nd model ~ study/medical kind of papers
– Background & Purpose
– Methods
– Results
– Conclusions

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 Sample Abstract

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 Introduction
 Background
– Motivation – a real issue?
– What is the research context?
– What is the state-of-art?
 Hypothesis / Problem
– What is broken/missing (the ”gab”)
– Thesis or Problem statement

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 Introduction (Cont…)
 Goals and methods
– What are the operational goals of this paper?
– And how were they achieved?
 Results
 Contributions
 Paper overview
– Outline of the rest of the paper

Source: Saul Greenberg’s homepage.

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 Body + Conclusion
 Main body
– Section organization reflects how your argument unfolds
– Each section should have a main point
– Each paragraph should have a main point
 Summary/Conclusions
– Tell them what you’ve told them
 some people only read abstract, intro and conclusions

– Relate back to general area

– Introduce future work

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 Review of a research paper
 Summary of the paper
 A more extensive outline of the main points
– Assumptions made
– Arguments presented
– Data analyzed
– Conclusions drawn
 Any limitations or extensions
 Your opinion of the paper
– Quality of the ideas
– Potential impact

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