some paper writing tips

I have been doing some research on criteria for acceptance of a paper for a conference or journal publication (OOPSLA site). Following are some things you want to do to explain the contribution of your paper and convince the program committee that your work is correct.

Have your paper reviewed by colleagues. This is important to get expert advice on the topic or problem you are writing about. Opinions of others in the community and profession will always make you think about the details of you research such as 'did I cover everything?'.

Tips on getting a theoretical paper accepted:
- Motivate and analyze the significance of the topic being theorized
- Give paper a clear focus, a single idea that is thoroughly discussed
- State thesis carefully, be sure to support it and make it easy for the reader to find quickly
- Theory must prove or disprove something of interest to the community
- Answer the question of ‘what does x provide that was lacking in a previous analyses?’ explain how things can be done differently

Tips on getting an experience paper approved:
- Tells an informative story on some aspect of development, delivery, design, or architecture on an application
- Present a single topic or case study and then reflect on broader issues
- Present ideas clearly and succinctly
- Don’t discuss areas of future research
- Include relevant facts, sum up key points and cite related ideas when appropriate
- Provide enough details to relate the experience to the readers
- Present lessons learned to compare with other’s experiences
- Don’t include too detailed of coding examples
- Summarize highlights and amplify a few keys points

Here is a good check list, advice to follow by Kent Beck:
“The rejection rate for OOPSLA papers in near 90%. Most papers are rejected not because of a lack of good ideas, but because they are poorly structured.”

So by following some simple steps in writing a paper, it will dramatically increase your chances of acceptance.

Start the paper quickly and get o the point in the first page as you want to grab the interest of the reader right away. There are many steps to get a paper approved and many readers
Ensure your paper has a ‘spark’ to keep an expert reading it until the end. Think of one startling sentence to get attention and then make your case

Convince the reader of the truth of your amazing statement. Formalize your argument into 4
sections in terms of problem, solution, defense, related work.
- Problem – describe why it is a problem and what the problem is
- Detail how your solution solves the problem
- Defend the solution and convince the reader that the problem is actually solved. Show that you have thought of all reasonable counter arguments
- Describe what other people have done in the area to convince the reader that what you have done is novel
Abstract – begin with a four sentence summary of the conclusions of your paper. This is important to get your paper into the ‘A’ pile which will be passed on to the next phase of approval

Well this is the end of today’s research on how to write a good paper.