How to Write a Great Research Paper

Here are some nice thoughts on direction and steps for writing a good research paper. In particular, certain traps that most researchers can fall into. I know for me remembering to write a paper (at least a draft) right after I come up with an idea will give me much better direction when actually implementing/testing the idea.

How to write a great research paper(PDF). (Simon Peyton Jones, Microsoft Research)

Note: Here is the listed reference.

Computer Vision Job Listings

Here are a few site that list Computer Vision related positions to be filled. These are certainly not new, but are listed here for reference. Feel free to add others in comments.

• ECVision: Cognitive Computer Vision Jobs
• Vision Science Jobs
• The VISLIST
• phds.org
  

Keeping an Annotated Bibliography

As a continuation of helpful things for researchers, here is another hint Dr. Marian Petre reminds us to keep in mind when researching/writing.

One of the things that established researchers have is a working knowledge of the relevant literature. Most established researchers have a core repertoire of some 100-150 works on which they can draw readily. These are a useful selection from the hundreds or thousands of articles and books the researcher has digested over time. The annotated bibliography is an effective mechanism for facilitating this acquisition and for keeping record of the majority of papers that fall outside the core.

What the annotated bibliography should include

It should include, as a minimum:

• the usual bibliographic information (i.e., everything you might need to cite the work and find it again)
• the date when you read the work
• notes on what you found interesting / seminal / infuriating / etc. about it. (The notes should not just be a copy of the abstract; they should reflect your own critical thinking about your reading. They can be informal, ungrammatical, even inflammatory as long as they retain meaning about your reading. If you read a paper more than once and get different things from it, then add to the notes but do keep the original notes, which can prove useful even if you've changed perspective or opinion.)

It can include many other useful things, e.g.:

• where the physical copy of the work is (e.g., photocopied paper, book borrowed from the library, book in one's own collection)
• keywords, possibly different categories of keyword
• further references to follow up
• how you found the work (e.g., who recommended it, who cited it)
• pointers to other work to which it relates
• the author's abstract

Generic Viva Questions

I found some useful information for PhD students and researchers in general from the SIGCSE Doctoral Consortium. These are excerpts from a compilation by Dr. Marian Petre, March 1999.

• How did you come to research this topic in this manner?
• What are the main achievements of your research?
• What has your thesis has contributed to our knowledge in this field?
• What are the major theoretical strands in this area: what are the crucial ideas, and who are the main contributors?
• What are the main issues (matters of debate or dispute) in this area?
• Where is your thesis 'placed' in terms of the existing theory and debate? How would the major researchers react to your ideas?
• Whom do you think will be most interested in this work?
• Why did you choose the particular research methodology that you used?
• What were the crucial research decisions that you made?
• If you were doing this research again, would you consider using any other research methodology?
• What do you see as the next steps in this research?
• What was the most interesting finding in your results?
• Isn't this all obvious?
• Were you surprised by any of your results (if so: why, and what was surprising)?
• What advice would you give a new student entering this area?
• What is your plan for publication?
• What haven't I asked you that I should have, and what would your answer have been