A few of my favorite things
These are a few of my favorite papers and books, as general references
for me and my students... as researchers, writers, and reviewers.
And, some useful career advice as well!
-- David Kotz
You can also grab the BibTeX file.
- Experimental technique
- Vern Paxson.
Strategies for sound internet measurement.
In Proceedings of the Internet Measurement Conference, Taormina,
Sicily, Italy, October 2004.
An excellent paper, worthy of reading by all experimentalists,
especially those that conduct measurements.
- Edward R. Tufte.
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.
Graphics Press, 1983. Still the best book about visualizing data.
- Edward R. Tufte.
Envisioning Information.
Graphics Press, 1991. Not quite as relevant to researchers.
- Writing and reviewing
- Robert A. Day.
How to write a scientific paper.
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, PC-20(1):32-37, June
1977.
A fun read; although old and not specific to computer science, it
still has a lot to say. He later wrote a full book on the subject,
which I have if you'd like to see it.
- Lyn Dupré.
Bugs in Writing: A Guide to Debugging Your Prose.
Addison Wesley, 1995.
One of the better books for general guidance to the English language,
and common mistakes we all make.
- Roy Levin and David D. Redell.
An evaluation of the ninth SOSP submissions; or, how (and how not) to
write a good systems paper.
ACM Operating Systems Review, 17(3):35-40, July 1983.
Still a must-read for anyone writing a systems paper.
- Peter Gutmann
Common Problems with Conference/Journal Papers.
Online.
- Alan Jay Smith.
The task of the referee.
IEEE Computer, 23(4):65-71, April 1990.
Read this before you review conference or journal papers.
- Harold S. Stone.
Copyrights and author responsibilities.
IEEE Computer, 25(12):47-51, December 1992.
Useful explanations and advice about copyright law and about
what you can and cannot use in your scientific papers.
- Speaking
- Patrick Winston.
How to speak: Lecture tips from Patrick Winston.
Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University.
A great resource for learning how to give a good talk.
Bruce Donald has a copy of this video tape.
- Careers
- Edward D. Lazowska.
The Ph.D. Job Hunt - Helping Students Find the Right Positions
- Marie desJardins.
How to Succeed in Graduate School:
A Guide for Students and Advisors
(Part 1),
(Part 2).
ACM Crossroads Magazine, Volume 1
number 2 (Winter 1994) and
number 3 (Spring 1995).
- David A. Patterson.
How to have a bad career in research/academia.
Invited presentation at OSDI 1994, October 1994.
Funny and informative.
- John Wilkes.
Is work hell? life in industrial research.
Technical Report HPL-SSP-97-1, HP Laboratories, January 1997.
Slides for a presentation at CMU's `emigration course'.
A great complement to Patterson's lecture.