Writing for Computer Science

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Justin Zobel

   Pages 1-6

3. Good style

   • Justin Zobel

   Pages 7-28

4. Style specifics

   • Justin Zobel

   Pages 29-58

5. Punctuation

   • Justin Zobel

   Pages 59-67

6. Mathematics

   • Justin Zobel

   Pages 69-81

7. Graphs, figures, and tables

   • Justin Zobel

   Pages 83-113

8. Algorithms

   • Justin Zobel

   Pages 115-128

9. Editing

   • Justin Zobel

   Pages 129-135

10. Writing up

    • Justin Zobel

    Pages 137-156

11. Doing research

    • Justin Zobel

    Pages 157-183

12. Experimentation

    • Justin Zobel

    Pages 185-204

13. Refereeing

    • Justin Zobel

    Pages 205-214

14. Ethics

    • Justin Zobel

    Pages 215-224

15. Giving presentations

    • Justin Zobel

    Pages 225-248

16. Back Matter

    Pages 249-270

    PDF

Writing for Computer Science is an introduction to doing and describing - search. For the most part the book is a discussion of good writing style and effective research strategies. Some of the material is accepted wisdom, some is controversial, and some is my opinions. Although the book is brief, it is designed to be comprehensive: some readers may be interested in exploring topics further, but for most readers this book should be suf?cient. The ?rst edition of this book was almost entirely about writing. This e- tion, partly in response to reader feedback and partly in response to issues that arose in my ownexperiences as an advisor, researcher, and referee, is also about research methods. Indeed, the two topics—writing about and doing research— are not clearly separated. It is a small step from asking how do I write? to askingwhatisitthatIwriteabout? As previously, the guidance on writing focuses on research, but much of the material is applicable to general technical and professional communication. Likewise, the guidance on the practice of research has broader lessons. A pr- titioner trying a new algorithm or explaining to colleagues why one solution is preferable to another should be con?dent that the arguments are built on robust foundations. And, while this edition has a stronger emphasis on research than did the ?rst, nothing has been deleted; there is additional material on research, but the guidance on writing has not been taken away.

• Design
• Edition
• Experiment
• Performance
• Quotation
• Style
• Text
• algorithms
• coding
• editing
• organization
• visualization

From the reviews of the second edition:

"Zobel emphasizes that clarity … . my review would read as follows: buy this book. … The contents of the book are valuable, both as a reference … . has tailored his book quite specifically to computer science researchers. He presents valuable examples drawn from computer science papers … . This book is best suited to individual use. However, it could also serve as a supplementary text for a course on research methods. …" (Max Hailperin, Computing Reviews, February, 2005)

"I decided to recommend Zobel’s work to my advanced students and Ph.D. candidates. … An extra goody are the twenty exercises. They constitute a good start into raising many of the issues treated in the book. Many chapters give check-lists or lists of good practice. … His own way of writing demonstrates that there are helpful rules no writer should disobey. … Good writing, even in computing science, remains a process of experience and dialectics. Zobel’s book proves the point." (Frieder Nake, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1106 (8), 2007)

• School of Computer Science and Information Technology, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

  Justin Zobel

Policies and ethics