Approaches will vary somewhat from person to person and will depend on one's experience in writing. However, when writing a conference style paper, the format is fairly predictable and the structure will not vary much from that described here. You may already feel quite comfortable writing and if so, you will have a definite feel for what works for you. If, on the other hand, writing is still a challenge or you do not seem to be getting the marks you feel your efforts deserve, then you are encouraged to follow the advice in section 2 on preparation and research. The same applies to section 3 on structure and content, and section 4 on presentation and style, particularly if you are not used to academic writing. The contents of these sections can also serve as a basis for self assessment even for the experienced before that final draft is submitted. Section 5 on stylistic conventions should be paid special attention by everyone as there is little scope for flexibility within a particular academic discipline.

This may not fully apply to every scientific field, but an element of appropriateness will always be expected. Finally, a checklist is provided and you should make yourself aware of the school of computing's policy on plagiarism. If you work on your written submission right till the deadline, there is a very high likelihood that you will not have done yourself or the paper justice. Aim to have what you subjectively feel is a `final' draft at least 2 days before the submission deadline. A paper that reports work on a project contains an account of some task that is carried out. Therefore it is vital that both the carrying out of the work and the the write up is budgetted for in your timetable.

It is quite easy to get carried away with the project execution, and simply rush the write up. Remember, no matter how many wonderful tasks or experiments you carry out, you will not do your efforts justice unless they are reported well. It is often advisable to start writing when your timetable states you should, even if the project work falls behind schedule or is not completed. Firstly: plan ! do not simply start writing, and hope that it will work out first time: many people find that their ideas and arguments develop during the process of planning and/or writing. The whole process is very much an iterative one and you should expect to be writing more than one draft. As you are required to word process your work, editing and re drafting is a relatively easy task. Make sure that you read the question/problem thoroughly and are sure about what it is asking you before you start tackling the task that the paper is based on.

It is your responsibility to make sure that the correct task is carried out and/or your procedural instructions are followed carefully. It is all too easy to misinterpret instructions, which gives another reason for planning your time well and giving youself ample contingency time. Results not being quite what as you expect may be a prompt to double check that the instructions were followed as intended, and redoing some or all of the task if necessary. If the task has a high level description allowing for flexibility in design and implementation you need to allow time to research the task, ask questions, etc. While you are doing background reading, bear in mind what sort of material you are looking for.

Even if you do come across a lot of interesting material when researching the topic, be selective. Interesting material will not gain you extra marks unless it is relevant to the task often you will simply not have enough space. Why and how the work is carried out must be included as well as the results and discussion of them. Examples given in the discussion are almost exclusively drawn from the results of your experiment rather than the results of others except in the case of comparative studies.

While some variation in the section tiltles is allowed, you will almost invariably be expected to use the following sections. Try to look at examples of published conference papers in the field for exampls of structure, as you will learn much from real life examples. It is not an introduction! it should briefly state the problem, how it was tackled and the conclusions drawn. The introduction usually describes the background of the project with brief information on general knowledge of the subject. This sets the scene by stating the problem being tackled and what the aims of the project are.

The background section presents related or similar work and provides the reader with brief summaries of any principles, laws, and equations that underly the work. Unfamiliar terms may be explained and where space is an issue, direct the reader to references for further explanations. Method should outline how the task/experiment was carried out, including rationale for any decisions made. Basically, you should include enough information, so that the reader could duplicate as much of the experimental conditions or design details as possible. This section includes presentations of the data and results in graphical and/or tabular form.