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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: "Writing Advice for Machine Learning Researchers" |
| 3 | +description: "Some bullet-point advice regarding paper-writing I would give to my younger self." |
| 4 | +publishDate: 2024-08-30 00:00 |
| 5 | +--- |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | +import BlogImage from "@/components/BlogImage.astro"; |
| 8 | + |
| 9 | +## General protips |
| 10 | + |
| 11 | +- **DO:** Write before you even do any experiment. |
| 12 | +- **_DON’T_:** Leave everything to the last minute, esp. writing. |
| 13 | +- **DO:** _Obsess_ over styling (see below). |
| 14 | +- **DO:** Read _widely_ and _a lot_ (in English!): novels, nonfictions, |
| 15 | + popular science, etc. |
| 16 | +- **DO:** Read math books and appreciate the typography & styling. |
| 17 | + |
| 18 | +## LaTeX protips |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | +- **One line = one sentence** |
| 21 | + - This will make debugging easier, due to how LaTeX shows errors |
| 22 | +- **Quotation marks:** Instead of `"something"`, write ` ``something'' ` |
| 23 | + (2 backtics & 2 standard ticks) |
| 24 | +- **Math macros:** Use this and add your own often-used math definitions |
| 25 | + https://github.com/goodfeli/dlbook_notation/blob/master/math_commands.tex |
| 26 | + - So, gone are the days where you need to write `\mathbf{x}` again and again. |
| 27 | + Instead you could just write `\vx`. |
| 28 | +- **Citation:** Always use `natbib`! Two ways of citing: |
| 29 | + - "... has been done before [4]." --- in this case, you use `\citep` |
| 30 | + and write `... has been done before \citep{someone2024}`. |
| 31 | + - "Someone et al, 2024 has done ..." --- in this case, you use `\citet` |
| 32 | + and write `\citet{someone2024} has done ...` |
| 33 | +- **Table:** Always use booktabs instead of standard table. |
| 34 | + - https://nhigham.com/2019/11/19/better-latex-tables-with-booktabs/ |
| 35 | +- **Style tips:** |
| 36 | + - Figures must always fill the full paper width (or column width). |
| 37 | + - Use my library: https://github.com/wiseodd/pub-ready-plots |
| 38 | + - https://github.com/wiseodd/pub-ready-plots?tab=readme-ov-file#creating-a-figure-with-multiple-subplots |
| 39 | + - Tables, likewise, must also always fill the full width. |
| 40 | + - https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/240154/setting-table-width-exactly-to-linewidth |
| 41 | + - If you think they are not appropriate for full width, use wrapfig and wraptable: |
| 42 | + - https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Positioning_images_and_tables |
| 43 | +- **Bibliography:** |
| 44 | + - Don't just copy-paste from Google Scholar! Always recheck & edit! |
| 45 | + - E.g. make sure the proper capitalization: |
| 46 | + - Instead of: `title={Introduction to Bayesian optimization}` |
| 47 | + - Write this: `title={Introduction to {B}ayesian optimization}` |
| 48 | + - I.e., always surround the character that needs to be capitalized |
| 49 | + with `{ }` |
| 50 | + - Venue precedence if a publication appears in multiple venues |
| 51 | + (top = most prioritized): |
| 52 | + 1. Journal |
| 53 | + 2. Conference |
| 54 | + 3. Workshop/symposium |
| 55 | + 4. ArXiv/preprint |
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