This is a note on how to do science reading, writing, and presentation.

Scientific Reading, Writing and Presenting ¹

Literature Search

How do I find relevant literature?

If you don’t have a starting point (paper) yet, use keyword based search

• Google Scholar
• SemanticScholar

If you found an interesting paper, you can use forward and backward search

• For finding new papers that cite this paper, click the “Cited by” on Google Scholar
• For finding older papers cited by a paper, read related work section (references)

Use online tools

• Connected Papers
• Research Rabbit
• Find author’s homepage and check their publications

Is a paper worth reading?

• In general, it’s difficult to say before reading
• You must invest time, it’s a hard work

How do I organize my literature?

Citation and reference management software

• JabRef (offline)
• Mendeley (offline / online)
• Zotero (offline / online)

Scientific Reading

How to read a paper?

• Unless 100% sure the paper is relevant, don’t read it linearly from start to end
• Instead, take a quick look at abstract, contributions, teaser, results (~ 10 min)
• Take notes, summarize and decide if you want to read it in depth (~ 2h)

Keep notes

• Highlight important passages
• Add comments, take notes
• Mark what you did understand and what you didn’t
• Summarize in your own words

Understand the content deeply

• Look up unknown concepts
• Read prior work if necessary

Scientific Writing and Reviewing

How to write a report?

Start early and iterate

• Writing needs time
• Ideas form while writing
• Problems surface while writing
• It’s important to start writing early on and iterate
• Start with a longer text and shorten it later
• Be inspired by the papers you read, adopt good writing styles
• Make sure language and grammar are correct, avoid colloquial language (use tools like Grammarly for finding and fixing typos)

Come up with a good structure

• Abstract - Motivation and key messages? (200-400 words)
• Introduction - What is the problem? Where does it occur?
• Motivation - Why should we care? What applications?
• Background - Which background knowledge is necessary?
• Approach - How does it work? How do different methods compare?
• Results – What has been achieved? What works and what doesn’t? Why?
• Summary – What should we have learned? Future work?
• References – Use the \cite command

Follow good scientific practice

• Your text should be your own exposition and explain things in your words
• Don’t copy sentences 1:1 from your sources (unusual in natural science)
• Whenever stating a fact that is known, add the corresponding citations
• Make sure all related work is cited appropriately (otherwise: plagiarism)
• Citations are added before punctuation marks
• Use Latex in combination with Bibtex to manage your citations and bibliography
• Use the cite package to format the bibliography alphabetically

Figures help understanding

• Place figure outside running text, usually at top of page
• Adjust font size to font size of main text
• Caption should describe figure concisely to be understood stand-alone
• When using a figure or table from another source, cite the source in the caption
• Make sure all figures and tables are referenced from the main text
• You can reference the same figure or table multiple times

What is a review?

Reviews are a core element of the scientific process

• Provide feedback to the authors prior to publication, including: Language, clarity, math, rigor, references, experiments (and novelty)
• They serve to improve the manuscript ⇒ make concrete suggestions
• Reviews are objective and state both pros and cons
• Reviews judge the quality of a paper and if it gets accepted
• Area chairs / associate editors make final decision based on reviews
• Often the authors and reviewers don’t know each other (double blind)
• Sometimes the reviewers can see the author’s names (single blind)

Your review provides value

• What is the report about and why is the problem relevant?
• Is the structure of the report appropriate or could it be improved?
• Is the problem description clear? Is it easy to follow?
• Are related works cited appropriately? Are citations missing?
• Are the related works clustered in groups / a taxonomy? Can it be improved?
• Does the report discuss pros and cons of the presented methods?
• Is the problem described formally? Is the math correct? Can it be improved?
• Are all symbols / formulas explained? Common notation? Easy to follow?
• Are the methods well illustrated? If not, what is missing / what can be improved?
• Do the table / figure captions help understanding the tables / figures?
• Is the the language clear and correct? Are there typos?
• Is the experimental setup properly explained?
• Are all utilized datasets, baselines and metrics explained?
• Does the report present qualitative and quantitative results?
• Are the results discussed in an objective manner (pros and cons)?
• Provide both positive and negative feedback, be constructive

Where should I start?

• LaTex is a standard tool for academic typesetting
• Latex allows for professional typesetting of text, formulas, illustration and tables
• Overleaf is an online Latex editor: no installation required, good for beginners

Scientific Presenting

What should I pay attention to?

• Remember that you know more about your subject than anyone else
  • Never assume knowledge of your audience
  • Pitch your talk such that experts and non-experts (your friend) can understand
• Come up with a good structure
  • Introduction – What is the problem? Why should we care? Applications?
  • Approach – How does it work? How do different methods compare
  • Results – What has been achieved? What works and what doesn’t? Why?
  • Summary – What should we have learned? Pros and Cons? Future Work?
• Finalize your talk well in advance

How should I prepare my slides?

• Your story matters
  • A common mistake is to create too many slides
  • Make sure you spend at least 1 minute per slide (less slides than minutes)
  • Keep slides simple and clean to not distract the audience from your message
  • Use a simple template, avoid excessive decoration / logos
  • Use a large font size
  • Use simple and consistent color scheme
  • Use a homogeneous background
  • Add your name, presentation title and page number to the footline

Focus on the Core Message

• Simplicity is key
  • Remember that you can convey only 1 message per slide
  • Use maximally 3 bullets per slide, short sentences and simple figures
  • Avoid big tables, try to use simple diagrams or bar / pie / curve plots instead
  • Highlight important parts of a diagram / illustration as you go through it
  • Avoid long text, use keywords instead and explain while presenting
  • Your slides should support and illustrate your message, not replace it
  • But it is important to explain all baselines / metrics / symbols that you show
  • Avoid animations unless important to ease understanding (but then use them)

Language

• Your language matters
  • Make sure language and grammar are correct
  • Use simple yet precise language
  • Avoid colloquial language
  • Avoid unnecessary complicated language
  • Use tools like Grammarly for finding and fixing typos

Formulas

• Formulas are tough
  • Formulas are challenging as they can become complex
  • However, they can help to make your message more precise
  • Distill the core ideas into the most relevant formulas
  • Remove unnecessary symbols (indices, etc.)
  • Make sure your notation is consistent across your presentation
  • Explain mathematical content slowly and step-by-step
  • Show formula side-by-side with a simple example
  • Often its easier to understand by example

Which presentation tool should I use?

• Use any tool you get along with (PPT, Beamer, etc.)

How should I practice my talk?

• Practice is everything
  • Present your talk to yourself several times before giving the talk
  • While practicing, keep track of your time and adjust presentation
  • If possible, present to others with no expert knowledge to get feedback
  • Avoid using presenter’s notes (and under no circumstances read them)
  • Plan your presentation without laser pointer or file cards
  • Instead, practice free speech and highlight items directly on the slide
  • Show bullets / illustrations one-by-one, highlight key numbers / plots, etc.

What should I do if I get nervous?

• Being nervous is normal
  • Adrenaline helps to be present in the moment
  • Setup your laptop prior to your session and make sure video / audio works
  • Try to remember you first 3 sentences by heart, this helps getting started
  • Avoid using presenter’s notes (and under no circumstances read them)
  • Instead, practice free speech, every time you will become better

What should I do during the talk?

• Capture your audience
  • Keep eye contact with your audience
  • Speak slowly, pause from time to time (i.e., after important points)
  • Explain the content of every slide, do not leave things out
  • Avoid using pointing devices (mouse / laser pointer / hands) too much
  • Be excited about the topic that you are presenting (fosters interest)
  • Keep track of the time (put a timer, e.g., mobile phone, in front of you)