Purpose of Conference Paper? (Strategy for writing one?)

[JesseC]

Didn't really know what board to put this post on, but anyway...

After finishing a 10 day lab project, I'm expected to produce a 2 (possibly 3) page conference paper about it. Having never written a conference paper before I'm not too sure what to include and what not to...

I have experience of writing university lab reports, which are very rigid. Abstract. Introduction. Theory. Method. Analysis. Conclusions. References. Normally these stretch onto 8 pages and are around 2000 words long. Typically these are aimed at someone of the level of undergrad students, so they need to be quite explicit.

I won't be able to fit all of that into something the size of a conference paper including figures. So what is the best plan?
- Be super concise?
- Not report all results?
- Assume reader knows more and write less theory?
- Not include any figures?

 

[Vanadium 50]

The best thing to do is to read proceedings from previous years conferences and see what is traditional for your subfield.

 

[JesseC]

Thanks, I've been reading from quite a lot of journals lately. Conference proceedings take a while to search for on data-bases and websites so I had a chat with my professors.

Thought I might as well share what info I got. Seems I'll just be answering my own question...

1) For a two page paper just put the very best of the interesting results. Don't bother with the rest.
2) Concentrate on presenting results extremely well and clearly - then coming to conclusions.
3) Make a catchy title which people will notice.
4) Followed by an easily readable abstract.

According to one of my professors, he just goes for the most interesting titles, reads the abstract then skims the results to see if its worth attending a talk...

The rest of the paper ought to be bulked out with background and information on how the experiment was performed.

I have noticed over the course of my degree that the markers personal preferences in style and presentation make a lot of difference to the final result.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Conference proceedings take a while to search for on data-bases and websites .

Well, there are these things called "books"...

 

[JesseC]

Well, there are these things called "books"...

Sorry you lost me there :S

 

[Vanadium 50]

Proceedings are printed. Your library gets them for many conferences.

 

[Astronuc]

Thanks, I've been reading from quite a lot of journals lately. Conference proceedings take a while to search for on data-bases and websites so I had a chat with my professors.

Concentrate on what Vanadium50 mentioned about the previous conference. Ostensibly there is a published proceedings. Follow that model. Most conferences in which I participate have a template or authors guide. The technical societies in which I participate have author guides for different conferences or journals.

Thought I might as well share what info I got. Seems I'll just be answering my own question...

1) For a two page paper just put the very best of the interesting results. Don't bother with the rest.
2) Concentrate on presenting results extremely well and clearly - then coming to conclusions.
3) Make a catchy title which people will notice.
4) Followed by an easily readable abstract.

According to one of my professors, he just goes for the most interesting titles, reads the abstract then skims the results to see if its worth attending a talk...

The rest of the paper ought to be bulked out with background and information on how the experiment was performed.

I have noticed over the course of my degree that the markers personal preferences in style and presentation make a lot of difference to the final result.

The content of an article or paper in a conference proceedings depends on the size. The transactions of the ANS (US) used to be summaries that were little more than abstracts. One could include a picture or two, and one to a few references. Now with on-line publishing or CDs, whole papers of 5-10+ pages are the norm. I don't look for catch titles as much as papers that are relevant to my work. I also look for particular authors in my field or institutions that do research in my field.

In a paper, it is important to provide some relevant background and then key findings of the research, and how the research answers some questions or issues in the field.

As V indicated, other than journal articles, which could be 10 pages to 30 or 40 or 50 pages, books are the media in which to elaborate - or publish a thesis/dissertation/manuscript.