Write as you move

Writing is a key component of research. Asked by Time Magazine why he kept a journal, Mr. Obama answered: writing keeps his mind clear. So does writing for a researcher. When we write, we think in more details with logic. It is the first step: literature survey and the final outcome: publications.


Take the example of literature review: this is an important skill for a researcher. Review has to be adequate and thorough. In this first example, a student is is working on developing an impedance model for a device. He needs to write an introduction in his paper to say what has been done for this kind of research problems. People may have not exactly use the word "impedance model". However, the related research counts. The related research includes: developing analytical model of this type of device, developing small signal model and etc. These papers should be read along with the research and it is expected that you keep a document of paper review. I prefer Latex for documenting since citations can be directly downloaded from Xplore or google scholar and embedded in your document. Save you time when you start to write a journal paper.

Take another example: a student is working on model predictive control for battery. Just searching MPC+ battery is not enough. We need to understand the similar research people have conducted in the field. For example, key words such as dynamic programming + energy  storage, MPC+ smart grid should be searched to have an overview of the application in smart grid area. If we find an in-depth paper, we go down to the math and understand the problem formulation.

When you write the paper review, write as you are explaining to an audience and expect questions such as: what is the essence of the paper? what is the problem formulation? what are the key conclusions? if some figures are very important, copy and paste in your latex. You can of course write a review after you read a couple of papers with similar topic. It will be nice to do a comparison and make analogy.

Your document will save you time when you start to write a paper. In the introduction, you are expected to tell the readers a decent story about your research and the evolution of this research problem. Once you build a strong argument, the rest of the project is to work out the details of your argument.