Technical Paper Writing

What is a Technical Paper ?

Technical paper is a concise report of your project work carried out as a part of M.Sc. (Engg). It must represent the essence of your work and must be complete in all terms making it an independent self-explanatory report.

Why a Technical Paper ?

It is an opportunity for the students to practice writing a concise technical paper using the results originated from a technical project work The selected papers will be published in the in-house technical journal, SASTECH Journal; a pride for the student
SASTECH Journal will be the jump board for your

paper to get published in conferences and journals

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What is the size of a Technical Paper ?

Limit your paper to eight pages in A4 inclusive of figures, references and the main text. For publishing requirement, limit the paper to four, six or eight pages in total. It is really challenging to prepare a concise report reflecting all your efforts of complete project work which would have been carried out for six months or more.
Page: 210x297 mm, Margins: Top, Bottom: 25.4 mm, Inside: 36mm, Outside: 18 mm, (mirror margins) Gutter: 0 mm, Header: 12.7 mm, Footer: 12.7 mm
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What is the structure of Technical Paper ?

The paper shall contain
The title, the authors name and affiliation. Abstract, Keywords, Nomenclature Abbreviations Text sections: Introduction, Literature Review, Problem Evolving/Definition, Methodology/Simulation/Solution Procedure, Validation Studies, Results and Discussions, Conclusions
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Title, Authors Names and Affiliation

The Title must be self explanatory and complete by itself. (TNR, 20, bold, Title Case, centered) The first author is the student himself, second author is the internal guide and the third author is the industrial guide (TNR, 12, centered) Affiliation: the designation, department and office affiliation (TNR, 9, centered)
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Abstract
Abstract should be around 250 words with three paragraphs; first paragraph giving the introduction, second paragraph describing the methodology adopted and the third paragraph discussing the main results and conclusions. (word Astract in TNR, italics, 12, justified; text in TNR, 9, justified) Abstract must be self explanatory and complete by itself. Since it represents everything contained in the paper, great care must be taken to choose appropriate words and phrases.
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Key Words
Key words are used to facilitate electronic search by other researchers. Since the words in the Title are already included in the search, you can choose other important words and phrases, which would attract researchers to pin pointedly select your paper for further reference. The keywords may be limited to six in number.
Caption Key Words in TNR, 9, bold, title-case; words in TNR, 9

Structure of the Paper

The section including Title, Authors name affiliation, Abstract and keywords will be printed in full width of the page. (width: 156 mm) Remaining text including figures will be printed in double column format.
(width: 71.6 mm, spacing:12.7 mm) In special case, wherein figures/tables cannot be accommodated within a single column, they can be placed in single column format but placed at the beginning or end of the page.
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Nomenclature/Abbreviations
Nomenclature includes the explanation for all the symbols used in the paper. The symbols must be listed in the alphabetical order; capitals first and lower case letters next; lastly the Greek and special symbols. Include the units as well. Abbreviations gives the expansions for acronyms or short names used in the paper.
The title Nomenclature and Abbreviation in TNR, 9, bold; the symbols and text in TNR 9
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Text Sections
The main text shall contain the sections like Introduction, Problem definition, Methodology, Design/Simulation, Solution Procedure, Validation Studies, Results and Discussions and Conclusions. Continuity must be established between paragraphs, sections and subsections. Main-headings in CAPS case, TNR, 10, Bold and numbered sequentially Sub-headings in TITLE case, TNR, 10, Bold and numbered sequentially Text in TNR, 9
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Text Sections (Contd..)

The proportions for each section are roughly as shown below: Introduction: about 1,000 words Problem Definition: about 75 words Methodology/simulation/solution procedure: about 1000 words, Validation studies/Results and discussions: about 2000 words Conclusions: about 100-150 words (preferably in bulleted formats)
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Main Text
Section Introduction: In this section, give a general introduction to the topic within two or three sentences and then discuss the developments (literature) and identify the need for the study undertaken and finally mention the work carried out in the current study in brief. Problem definition/formulation can be included as the final paragraph in this section.
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Main Text (contd..)

Section: Methodology/Simulation/Solution Procedure This section explains the methodology or solution procedure followed in the study without ambiguity. All the technical details must be included. Figures and tables may be used to make the explanation easier to understand. On the whole the reader must be given the complete information so that he/she can reconstruct or re-do the entire study.
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Main Text (contd..)

Section: Validation studies
In case of simulations, it is preferable that validation studies are carried out to prove the credentials of your study. Validation studies include the repetition of work reported in the literature, using the methodology/tool used in the study.
Clearly bring out the similarities or differences in the results derived and reported. Give suitable explanations for the differences found if any.
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Main Text (contd..)

Section: Results and Discussions
1. 2. This section describes the output of your hardship. Record all important results derived and support them with proper scientific and technical notes. Use the graphs, tables and mathematical models to describe the results. Comparisons of the results obtained and bringing connectivity to the published literature would increase the gravity of the result.

3.
4.

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Main Text (contd..)

Section: Conclusions
Conclusion is not a summary of the work, but a listing of major outcomes derived from the study. Therefore do not state as what has been done in your work, instead bring out the outcome of the results and discussions in terms of statements. Many a time, the abstract and conclusions are referred for a quick assessment of the usefulness of the paper by the readers. Hence these sections must be written with upmost importance.
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Tables
Tables are used to display a collection of data in any section of the paper. The tables must be prepared so that they are self explanatory with proper titles. Tables must be constructed using the table-tool available in MS-Word only. Do not include image of tables created in other applications. Tables must be numbered sequentially. The font for table text: TNR, 9, centered The caption in the table columns: TNR, 9, bold, centered The title of the table: TNR, 9, bold, centered Include the units of measurements in the table text wherever the variable list is used.
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Tables (Contd..)
In case the tables cannot be accommodated in the space within single column of two-column format, place the table in full page width (with single column format for the whole page) at the beginning or end of the page.

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Figures
Figures must be self-explanatory and proper caption must be given at the bottom of the figure. A graph, picture, copy of photograph are all considered as figures. The graphs and contour plots are required in black and white mode and not in colour mode. The centred symbols, curves, values on the axes shown in the graph must be distinct, legible and readable in the size it is printed.
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Figures (Contd..)
Figures must be clear and the texts in the figures must be readable with minimum font size of 9 in TNR or equivalent. All the symbols used in the graph must be labeled either within the frame of the picture or in the caption of the figure. The axes of the graph must be labeled and quantified. The units of the quantities used must be mentioned.
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Figures (Contd..)
Figures must be labeled in TNR, 9, bold, centered Avoid figures extending beyond the column width of the two-column format In case the figure cannot be accommodated within the single column of two-column format, place it with single-column format wide across the page in the beginning of the page as is done in case of table. The graphs must contain the axis label with units for the axes; the label and the number must be readable with minimum font size of 9 in TNR or equivalent.
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Figures (Contd..)
All figures and tables must be cited in the text. Avoid snapshots of windows, poor images and big-in-size pictures. The text and numerals if any in the picture must be of readable size.

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Equations
All equations must be typed using Equation Editor/Math type and must be numbered sequentially Put the equation numbers right justified and within the brackets, for ex (1)

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References
References must appear in the reference list in the order of appearance in the paper. Each reference must be cited at least once in the text of the paper. An example for citing a paper in the text is shown in the following example.
.The independent research works carried out by many investigators [1, 4-8] have shown the impact of dynamic forces and couples on the stability of the vehicle
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References (Contd..)
Include references at the end of the paper. The referencing style for journal papers, conference papers, textbooks and websites are shown in the next slide.

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References (Contd..)
[1] N. Dombrowski and W. R. Johns (1963), The Aerodynamic Instability and Disintegration of Viscous Liquid Sheets, Chem. Eng. Sci., vol. 18, pp. 203-220. [2] N.A.Chigier (1991), The Physics of Atomization, Proceedings of Fifth International Conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems, July 15-18, 1991. [3] Whitfield A and Baines N C(1990), Design of Radial Turbomachines, Longman Scientific Technical, New York. [4] www.unknown.com (browsed on 12th Dec 2007).

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