STRUCTURE OF A PAPER OR A REPORT (not a thesis)


ABSTRACT:

- State the domain 
- State the question addressed
- State the solution proposed
- State the assumptions made
- State the limitations of the proposed solution
- State the evaluations of your idea
- State the results of the evaluations (progress made)


INTRODUCTION:  

Do not introduce formal definition, but describe
informally AND briefly the following: 

- (re)State the domain
- (re)State the question addressed
- Motivate the pertinence/importance of the question (why is worth
  your time to study it and write about it)
- State the gap (missing tile) in the current state of the art.
- (Relate to previous work)
- Describe your perpective/approach/the angle from which you are addressing
  the problem
- (Relate to previous work)
- State your solution and its limitations
- Summarize the results 
- ***GIVE A ROAD MAP to the paper, IN PASSIVE FORM.*** A typical road
  map looks as follows:

  "This paper/thesis is structured/organized as follows.
  Section/Chapter X introduces Y. Section Y discusses
  Y. Section Z shows Z and its relation to X and Y. It uses method W
  under the assumptions V.  Section T demonstrates the effectivness of
  R using the criteria S and U.  Finally, Section M concludes the
  paper and draws directions for future research.  In Appendix A we
  provide B, and in Appendix C we discuss D."


MOTIVATION & BACKGROUND:

- Describe why you think it is important to do the research you are doing.
- (re)Describe how you did it.
- Introduce all known concepts on which you build, possibly in subsection. 
  Here, you can start with formal definitions...

.... more as time permits...



____________________________________________


Your committed advisor,

-Berthe Y. Choueiry
choueiry@cse.unl.edu