Lecture 5: Part B

Using tables, figures, examples, and similar elements

Figures and tables

• Notice: all graphs, pictures or drawings are called figures.

• Figures illustrate the models or the results, and tables give

summaries.

• Usually there are never too many figures and tables

• All figures and tables must be referred in the text.

• There is no sense to express trivial things as a figure or a table.

Figures and tables

• If there is no need to refer to a figure/table in the text, the

figure/table is probably not needed.

• Avoid repeating the same data in several places.

• Discuss only the most important items of the table in the text.
Figures and tables

• A figure should be easy to understand. Do not present any

unnecessary details.

• If two tables/figures should be compared, position them next to each

other.
Vector graphics
• Draw the figures by a tool which uses vector graphics, not raster
graphic (bitmaps).
Captions

• Each table or figure should be understandable by its own.

• Explain all special abbreviations, symbols, special use of underlings, dashes,

etc.

• Use the same style in all tables.

• If you copy (draw again) a table or a figure from some other source, then
give a reference to the original source in the end of caption, e.g. ”Table 5.
Plaa-plaa-plaa. Note. From [ref].”
Expressions

• The results are summarized/reported in Table 1

• The results are represented in

• Figure 2 illustrates

• In the Figure we observe

• The model is given in Figure 7

• Notice the capital letters!

Useful expressions to refer to chapters or
sections
• The problem is discussed in Chapter X

• We will return to this topic in Section Y

• This problem is analyzed in ...

• Notice the capital letters!

Algorithms
• Give only the main algorithms in the text, and in an appropriate abstraction level (pseudocode)

• Fix the pseudocode notation and use it systematically

• Simple methods can be described by a numerated list of steps

• Logical and set operations are often useful when you describe algorithms in an abstract level

• If you write longer algorithms, insert them into a figure or an environment of their own. Now
they can be referred like tables and figures: ”The EM algorithm for probabilistic clustering in
given in Alg. 1”
Definitions

• A good definition
• explains the defined concept.

• is not a circular argument

• is not expressed by negative terms, if possible.

• doesn’t contain unclear, vague, or descriptive language (i.e. is exact).

• defines only what is needed (i.e. the scope is restricted).

Definitions

• Expressions for referring to a definition

• The definition of ... is the following:

• The definition of ... is as follows:

• Formally, we define
Grammar with style notes
Verbs

• The number of subject determines the number of verb

• Do not mix inconsistent tenses

Number and person

• When the subject is singular third person (she/he/it), the verb needs
suffix -s (in the present, positive sentence).

• Be careful with special phrases:

• ”A number of new experiments were done” (plural)

• ”Plenty of time was spent...” (singular)

• ”A few data points belong to cluster X” (plural)

Number and person

• when the subject is composed of a singular and a plural noun by ”or”

or ”nor”, the verb agrees with the noun that is closer.

• If the number of the subject changes, retain the verb in each clause.
• E.g. ”The positions in a sequence were changed and the test rerun”

• ”The positions in the sequence were changed, and the test was rerun.”
Tenses (temporal forms)

• Default: the present

• Past or present prefect (but not both) when you describe previous
research (literature review)

• Past tense to describe the experiments and their results

Active or passive voice

• In active voice the actor is known, while in passive voice it is unknown.

• Expressing the actor is always more informative

• It is often recommended to prefer active voice, but in scientific writing

passive voice is sometimes convenient. It allows us to draw the reader’s
attention to the phenomenon or the event, instead of the actor.

• do not overuse passive, and do not chain passive expressions.

Other passive expressions

• ”We” can be used as passive.

• E.g. ”In Chapter X, we define the basic concepts.” However, it is better to say
”The basic concepts are defined in Chapter X.”

• ”You” is sometimes used as passive, especially in manuals. Don’t use it in

scientific text!

• ”People” when you refer generally to people. Quite a vague expression,

not recommendable!
Person?

• Basic rule: avoid the first person (no opinions, but facts). However,
sometimes we can use ”we” as a passive expression.

• Referring to yourself: you can talk about ”the author”.

• E.g. ”All programs have been implemented by the author.”
Other notes

• Do not use short forms ”isn’t, can’t, doesn’t”, but ”is it, cannot, does
not”.

• ”be verb+ing” form when something is currently happening or takes

some time.
• E.g. ”Thread 2 can be started in the same time when thread1 is still running”
Other notes

• Some verbs require that the following verb is in -ing form:

• {enjoy, avoid, succeed in, finish, keep, mind, practice, risk, continue}+
verb + ing

• Similarly some phrases: ”it is worth remarking that...”

• Special phrases: ”be used to”, ”be (un)likely to”

Nouns

• Plural forms
• Irregular plural forms

• Singular words which look like plural forms

• Countable and uncountable nouns

• Extra: differences between British and American English

• Try to use systematically either British or American forms!

Compound words

• If the words have become one concept, they are usually written
together,
• e.g. ”software”, ”keyboard”, ”database”

• If the independent meaning of words is emphasized, they are

hyphened,
• e.g. ”non-smoker”
Compound words

• Hyphen is often used when the concept consists of more than two
words:
• ”depth-first search”, ”between-cluster variation”, ”feed-forward neural
network”, ”first-order logic”

• Multiple word adjectives are usually hyphened,

• e.g. ”data-driven”, ”model-based”, ”class-conditional”
Articles

• Basic rule: before the noun phrase (a noun + proceeding attributes)

• {what, such, quite, rather, half} + a/an + noun phrase

• {too, as, so, how, however} + adj. + a/an + noun

• {all, both, double, twice, half} + the + noun

Use of articles
Articles before variable names

• When you use the name without any modifying word -> no article

• ”X is independent from Y ”, ”S contains no outliers”

• When you use a modifying word like ”set”, vector”, ”model” etc. before
the name -> Two habits:
• No article when you mention the entity for the first time. After that use definite
article ”the”, or
• Never any articles.
Pronouns

• When a pronoun refers to a noun in the preceding sentence, make

sure that the referred is obvious!

• Each pronoun should agree with the referrant in number and gender.

• Avoid them, when possible! If you use them, always check twice that
the meaning is not ambiguous!

• Often you can replace ”this/these” + noun by ”the” + noun

Adjectives

• Do not use vague adjectives. Especially, the adjectives which describe

amounts (large, small, huge) are very context-sensitive

• The expressions become even vaguer, when you add modifiers

”quite”, ”rather”, ”very”, etc.

• Derive and use comparative and superlative forms

• When you use the comparative, make clear what you are referring
Parallel structures
• Semantically: the concepts referred by parallel items should be comparable, i.e. the
comparison should make sense.

• Syntactically: the items should have similar grammatic structure. All of them should
be either nouns, noun phrases, verb phrases, or clauses.

• In addition, they should be in the same form, e.g. you cannot combine ”to” + verb
and a verb without ”to”.
• ”The problem is both hard to define and solve”

• ”The problem is both hard to define and to solve”

Parallel structures

• Parallel items combined by conjunctions and, or, but

• Parallel items combined by conjunction pairs

• between...and, both...and, either...or, neither...nor, and not only...but.

• On the one hand – on the other hand

• can combine either clauses or parallel sentences! An affective way to describe opposite
points, like advantages and disadvantages!
Sentences

• always less than 30 words, preferably less than 20 words!

• 1-3 clauses

• expresses one idea

Word order

• E.g. ”There is, however, currently no information about the limitations of

quantum computers.”

• ”However, there is no current information about the limitations of analog

computers.”

• ”However, the limitations of current quantum computers are not known.”

• subject–predicate–object
Paragraphs

• Combining sentences in a paragraph

• Dividing a section into paragraph

• Logically structured disposition (topic outline) is the most important thing in
writing!
A paragraph

• topic sentence

• Never begin with unimportant words. The beginning of a paragraph is the

most important.

• Omit superfluous phrases like

• ”First let us consider...”

• ”An interesting example which must be mentioned in this context is...”

• ”Next it must be noted that...”

Summary

• Using tables, figures, examples, and similar elements

• Grammar with style notes