1. CSC 682: Advanced Computer Security
Reading Papers
CSC 682: Advanced Computer Security

2. Topics
How to read a paper
Types of publications

3. Where to start? Start by reading Find the central point of the paper
Abstract
Introduction
Section headings
Conclusions
Find the central point of the paper
Problem statement
Research questions
Then read the paper from beginning to end

4. Context How does this work fit into the research community?
Background section
Useful but often absent in short conference papers.
Related Work
Often its own section.
But may be included in other sections.
Look for many citations to References.
References
Review paper’s References section.
Look at Google Scholar’s “cited by” feature to see who referred to paper after publication.

5. Methodology Section describes how authors evaluation their solution.
May be included in other sections.
Evaluation techniques
Data mining
Experiments
Mathematical proofs
Simulations

6. Results Statement of new contributions to the field.
Often its own section.
Summary of results in Abstract, Intro, Conclusion.
What is the take-away?
What are the big ideas that you should take away from the paper?
These are often broader than the specific results in the paper.

7. Answer these Questions as you read
What problem does this work attempt to solve? What are the research questions?
What solution(s) does the work propose for the problem?
How does the work evaluate the proposed solution(s)? Is the evidence for the solution convincing?
What are the most important novel contributions described in the paper?
What modification would most significantly improve the research?

8. Publication Types Technical Reports (not peer reviewed)
Workshop Papers
Conference Papers
Journal Papers
Books (not peer reviewed)

9. Technical Reports
Internal publications associated with university or other organization.
Why publish Technical Reports?
Show when an idea was developed, which is important in patents and for disputes about precedence.
Provide a longer more in-depth description of an experiment or idea than can be published in a conference or journal paper.
Demonstrate activity in an area on your CV.

10. Workshop Papers
Workshops are smaller, less formal gatherings than conferences that typically have a focus on a smaller topic area.
Papers are typically shorter and less mature works.
Workshop papers are good for
Establishing when an idea was developed.
Exchanging ideas with researchers working in your area.
Introducing a new area of work.
Publication process
Workshop issues a Call for Papers (CFP) once each year.
Authors submit papers by CFP date.
Papers are reviewed by 3-4 reviewers.
Final accept/reject decision in 1-3 months.

11. Conference Papers
Unlike other disciplines, conference papers in computer science are peer reviewed, have the highest prestige and are often more difficult to publish than journal papers (<10% acceptance rate in top venues.)
Authors have a minute slot to present their work.
Papers are typically published in conference proceedings by professional societies like ACM or IEEE.
Publication process
Conference issues a Call for Papers (CFP) once each year.
Authors submit papers by CFP date.
Papers are reviewed by 3-5 reviewers.
Top papers discussed and chosen by Program Committee.
Final accept/reject decision in 2-4 months.

12. Journal Papers Archival long works that take years to publish.
Extremely mature work, the culmination of work begun in workshop and conference papers.
Longer than conference papers, but length not unlimited due to physical publication of journals.
Publication process
Unsolicited manuscripts sent to editor.
Editor chooses 3-5 reviewers.
Reviews may require minor or major revisions.
Each revision cycle takes several months.

13. Books Books are the largest and most time consuming publication.
Broadly address an area of research, usually describing work performed by many authors.
Not required for tenure and promotion in computer science.
Types of books
Topic book: book on a specific area of research.
Edit collection: consists of solicited chapters by authors on their areas of expertise.
Encyclopedia: many short articles in a broad area of research.

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