10-717 The Art of the Paper
6 units, Carnegie Mellon University
Scientific arguments, including both technical claims and normative positions e.g., on what science is worth conducting are expressed primarily through writing. The product of a successful scientific career tends to be a collection of influential papers and superior writing skills often differentiate influential scientists from their peers, enabling them to articulate broad research visions, marshall funds, and distill knowledge from the noisy literature. Surprisingly, the craft of scientific writing remains neglected at every stage of training. Writing is often lumped under presentation skills, and writing assistance is often remedial in nature. While papers sometimes must present material expressed more directly elsewhere e.g., in proofs or code and some budding scientists do require remedial assistance, the role of scientific writing is far greater. Prose is the sole vehicle for expressing whole categories of scientific expression, and failures of writing nearly always bely failures of critical thinking. This class will tackle scientific writing from several angles. First, we will tackle general principles, including i the forms of scientific claims ii pedagogical strategies and iii the technical nuts and bolts. Next, we will then tackle the genre of the ML conference paper, including a the sectionbysection architecture of the archetypal paper b strategies for communicating complex technical ideas to distracted and temperamental reviewers c the appropriate ways to articulate contributions and set expectations and d heuristics for successfully navigating the rebuttal process. Finally, we will focus on the principles that govern writing honestly while reaching a general audience. Class begins on March 15th
Prerequisites: none listed
Courseweave needs JavaScript to show sections, workloads and planning tools.