**M4: Outline + Draft Introduction** CS 190 For this milestone, you will complete two writing tasks: 1. A full outline of your 190 paper. 2. A draft of the introduction to your paper. These instructions contain general writing advice that you can apply to any technical writing task. Please remember that your task this semester is to either write a *project proposal* or begin working on your *thesis*. If you are completing a computer science senior thesis, then you must coordinate among your thesis advisor(s) and your seminar instructor regarding the expectations for your submission. # Full Draft Outline Writing a your article will be much easier if you start from a detailed outline. Specifically, a good outline will help you: - organize your thoughts, - order your arguments and supporting evidence, - develop relationships among your topics, and - direct your literature review. Here are three sources for advice on how to outline a technical report: - [Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates](https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/dissertation-thesis-outline/) - [How to Create a Structured Research Paper Outline | Example](https://www.scribbr.com/research-paper/outline/) - [Outlining - Writing a Paper - Academic Guides at Walden University](https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/writingprocess/outlining) The following are some example generic templates for outlines of various types of papers. ## Technical Articles The following is a general template for technical articles, such as the ones you have read for your 190 section. 1. Title 2. Introduction (e.g., problem statement, motivation, and thesis) 1. Introductory sentence 2. Supporting paragraphs (e.g., citation, quote, and data) 3. Thesis 3. First body section (e.g., background and related works) 1. Topic related to first point of thesis 2. Supporting paragraphs 4. Second body section (e.g., methodology) 1. Topic related to second point of thesis 2. Supporting paragraphs 5. Third body section (e.g., results, deliverables, success criteria, and challenges) 1. Topic related to second point of thesis 2. Supporting paragraphs 6. ... 7. $n^\text{th}$ body section 1. Topic related to nth point of thesis 2. Supporting paragraphs 8. Conclusion 1. Restated thesis 2. Highlighted points 3. Future work and additional questions ## Project proposals If you are not already committed to doing a senior thesis or a senior project, you will be writing a project proposal. In that case, your outline might look something like this (note that this is an example, not a structure you strictly need to follow): 1. Title 1. Abstract (see [How to write a good abstract...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3136027/)) 2. Introduction 1. Discuss the significance and topic motivation, potentially including your motivation 2. Preview key things about the structure of your literature survey 3. High-level description of your proposed new project 4. Literature Survey 1. one to five sub-sections (however you see fit to organize and discuss the literature about topic) 2. Provide an organized presentation and categorization of existing work 3. Include your own commentary and assessments 5. Proposal for New Contribution 1. Motivation/Aims/Objectives 2. Research Design and Methods (including data sources, technology stack, and evaluation metrics) 3. Design/methods will likely have multiple bullet points 6. Ethical Considerations ### Literature Survey We expect proposal papers to be similar to traditional survey papers but with the addition of a proposal for a new research project at the end. So what is a "survey paper"? > "A survey article ... should provide a comprehensive review of developments in a selected area, covering its development from its inception to its current state and beyond, and illustrating its development through liberal citations from the literature." > > -- [IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/aboutJournal.jsp?punumber=9739) > "A paper that summarizes and organizes recent research results in a novel way that integrates and adds understanding to work in the field. A survey article assumes a general knowledge of the area; it emphasizes the classification of the existing literature, developing a perspective on the area, and evaluating trends." > > -- [ACM Computing Surveys](https://dl.acm.org/journal/csur/editorial-charter) Here are a few recent survey papers that may serve as useful examples: - [A Review on Fairness in Machine Learning | ACM Computing Surveys](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3494672). - [A Survey of Machine Learning for Computer Architecture and Systems | ACM Computing Surveys](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3494523) - [Security and Privacy in Machine Learning](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8406613) - [Technical Implementation and Human Impact of Internet Privacy Regulations](https://ebac2018.sites.pomona.edu/docs/Oakland24-PrivLawSoK.pdf) - [Data Privacy in Virtual Reality](https://petsymposium.org/popets/2024/popets-2024-0003.pdf) - [Content Moderation for End-to-End Encryption](https://petsymposium.org/popets/2023/popets-2023-0060.pdf) Survey papers will often include definitions and figures copied from other papers (cited, of course). As you read the articles you've accumulated, you should start organizing them into areas. The [Research Paper Rubric](https://www.pomona.edu/administration/tlc/resources/research-paper-rubric) will give you a good idea regarding how I will evaluate your report. If you want more information, then it won't hurt to skim through [Procedures for Performing Systematic Reviews](Kitchenham-2004-Systematicreviewsv4.pdf) by Barbara Kitchenham. ### Research Proposal Note that the details of your proposal sub-sections will depend on the type of project you are proposal. For example, if you are proposing a systems project, you will spend time discussing your technology stack, data sources, and evaluation metrics. If your propose a user study, you will spend time discussing study design, recruitment, and data analysis. The methodology sections of the papers you survey may provide a good model for how to structure this section. ## Senior Thesis For those of you planning on completing a thesis next semester, you should provide an outline of your full senior thesis. To the degree that there is a "typical" thesis, it might look like this: 1. Abstract (problem statement, methodology, main finding, main conclusion) 2. Introduction (broad territory, your niche/questions, foreshadowing) 3. Literature review (broken down by topic areas) 4. Methodology (processes and techniques used for collection and analysis) 5. Results 6. Discussion (layout claim, state implications, provide recommendations) 7. Conclusion 8. Acknowledgements 9. References 10. Appendices ## An Example Outline Here is a concrete example from [Indeed's advice on writing a paper outline](https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-write-a-research-paper-outline), but please remember that you are likely writing a *project proposal* or *CS senior thesis*, so your outline may not follow the same high-level structure. 1. Why Schools Should Use Technology for Educational Purposes 2. Introduction 1. The increasing role of technology in careers 2. The need for technologically literate citizens 3. The role of educators to prepare students must include technology literacy 4. The benefits of technology for students include: 1. Allows for new types of assignments 2. Allows for remote learning 3. Reflects modern careers 3. Body paragraph 1 1. Technology allows for simulations, games, and programming 2. Examples of simulation 3. Examples of games 4. Examples of programming 4. Body paragraph 2 1. Technology allows for distance learning 2. Examples of remote learning 3. Example of hybrid learning (Students at school and at home) 4. Examples of remote collaborations (Across cities, states, districts) 5. Body paragraph 3 1. Technology is an important part of many careers 2. Technology prevalence in work (cite Johnson, et. al., 2018) 3. Examples of school projects that mimic work projects (STEM Camp, Boulder Schools, 2012) 4. Examples of schools using technology for problem-solving 6. Conclusion 1. Three reasons to encourage technology in school 1. Problem-solving 2. Remote learning 3. Preparation for careers 2. Summary of innovative uses of technology 3. Summary of support for using technology in schools 1. Belcher (2016) found increased technology use led to better math scores on PSAT 4. Ideas for future research 1. More studies on the effect of technology and test scores 2. Using technology as an intervention for struggling students # Introduction Section You do not have to write your introduction in any specific format, but you might find Dr. Stirewalt's 5-paragraph rule for writing Introductions helpful: 1. **Introductory paragraph**: What is the problem and why is it relevant to the audience? Moreover, why is the problem hard, and what is your solution? You must be brief here. This forces you to boil down your contribution to its bare essence and communicate it directly. 2. **Background paragraph**: Elaborate on why the problem is hard, critically examining prior work, trying to tease out one or two central shortcomings that your solution overcomes. 3. **Transition paragraph**: What keen insight did you apply to overcome the shortcomings of other approaches? Structure this paragraph like a syllogism: Whereas $P$ and $P => Q$, infer $Q$. 4. **Details paragraph**: What technical challenges did you have to overcome and what kinds of validation did you perform? 5. **Assessment paragraph**: Assess your results and briefly state the broadly interesting conclusions that these results support. This may only take a couple of sentences. I usually then follow these sentences by an optional overview of the structure of the paper with interleaved section callouts. Since most of you are writing a *project proposal* and not a completed technical article, a few modifications to the above structure might be helpful. For example, you will not have results to discuss, but you could talk about possible results and what they would mean for the field. You could also discuss possible challenges you might face in the project and how you would plan to overcome them. You may also find the introductions to the example survey papers (linked above) to be useful examples. ## General Writing Advice Some quick tips from us profs: - Clearly state your thesis. - Provide clear evidence supporting your thesis. - Write a bold beginning. - Write a provocative ending. - Vary sentence and paragraph length. - Check for sentence and paragraph transitions. - Maintain a consistent tense and voice. - Use present tense. - Get into a writing routine. Write a small amount (20 to 30 minutes) three days a week for the entire semester. - Jot down disparate sentences and combine them together as is useful. - Outline sections headings and then write the first sentence of each paragraph for each section. - Esthetics are important. + Use descending style elements (`\section`, `\subsection`, `\subsubsection`, `\paragraph`) for headings, subheadings, etc. + Use bold or italics to draw attention to important points (but be sure to use consistently). + Add figures and tables to summarize and break-up text. Here are some tips from [Some "Tips from a Pulitzer prizewinner" (US novelist Cormac McCarthy) written up by Van Savage and Pamela Yeh](http://web.stanford.edu/group/nusselab/cgi-bin/lab/sites/default/files/d41586-019-02918-5.pdf): - Use minimalism to achieve clarity. - Decide on your paper's theme and two or three points you want every reader to remember. - Limit each paragraph to a single message. - Keep sentences short, simply constructed, and direct. - Don't slow the reader down. - Don't over-elaborate. - Don't worry too much about reads who want to find a way to argue about every tangential point and list all possible qualifications for every statement. - Spoken language and common sense are generally better guides for a first draft than rule books. - Commas denote a pause in speaking. - Dashes should emphasize the clauses you consider most important---without using bold or italics---and not only for defining terms. - Inject questions and less-formal language to break up tone and maintain a friendly feeling. - Choose concrete language and examples. - Avoid placing equations in the middle of sentences. - Red your work aloud to yourself or a friend. # What to Submit You should submit your project milestone as a pdf to [Gradescope](https://www.gradescope.com/) following any section-specific instructions provided there.