Research advice guides

February 1, 2026

Collection of how-to guides about various research related topics.

✴️ Important notice

This resource has moved to Awesome Research Guides.

Scientific Writing

Advice to Authors of Extended Abstracts - William Pugh
How to Read a Paper (source) - S. Keshav
How to Read a Technical Paper - Jason Eisner
How to Write Mathematics - P. R. Halmos
How to Write a Technical Paper - Michael Hicks
Imagine the Reader (slides) - (video) - Benjamin Pierce
Mathematical Writing - Knuth, Larrabee, and Roberts
Shitty First Drafts - Anne Lamott
What it's like to be a POPL referee; or how to write an extended abstract so that it is more likely to be accepted - Mark Wegman
Writing Good Software Engineering Research Papers - Mary Shaw
Writing Papers (video) - Leslie Lamport
Writing and Speaking with Style - Benjamin C. Pierce and Rajeev Alur

Giving Talks & Presentations

Giving Technical Talks (source) - Scot Drysdale
How (not) to give a great research talk (slides) - (video) - Leonidas Lampropoulos
How I Give a Talk - Javier Esparza
How to Present a Paper in Theoretical Computer Science - Ian Parberry
How to give a good research talk - Simon Peyton Jones
How to give a technical presentation - Michael Ernst
Making a technical poster - Michael Ernst
Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides - Kristen M Naegle

Artifact & Technical Guides

ACM Artifact Review and Badging - Current ACM badging guidelines
Benchmarking Crimes - Gernot Heiser
Can you trust your experimental results? - Evaluate Collaboratory Technical Report
EAPLS Artifact Badges - European badging scheme
Empirical Evaluation Guidelines - ACM SIGPLAN checklist
Empirical Standards for Software Engineering research - ACM SIGSOFT
Guidelines for Proof Artifacts - by Marianna Rapoport
Reliable benchmarking: requirements and solutions - Beyer, Löwe & Wendler
STABILIZER: Statistically Sound Performance Evaluation - Curtsinger and Berger
Scientific Benchmarking of Parallel Computing Systems - Best practices guide

Review & Publishing

A Guide for New Referees in Theoretical Computer Science - Ian Parberry
Beall's List - potential predatory journals and publishers
Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors - the ICMJE recommendations
How NOT to review a paper (source) - Graham Cormode
Low-CO₂ research paper initiative - TCS4F
Mistakes Reviewers Make - Niklas Elmqvist
No free view? No review! - peer reviewer pledge
Some Lessons on Reviews and Rebuttals - David Stutz
The Task of the Referee - A.J. Smith

Grants & Funding

How to write a great research proposal - Simon Peyton Jones
Want to Get a Grant? Change Your Style - Mathilda Harris

Meta Reflections

Getting Your Research Adopted (video) - Emery Berger
How Science Goes Wrong - The Economist, 19 Oct 2013
How to Succeed in Graduate School: A Guide for Students and Advisors - Marie desJardins
The Three Golden Rules for Successful Scientific Research - EW Dijkstra

Academic Job Search

Demystifying PhD Admissions in Computer Science - ThanhVu Nguyen
Exploring the postdoctoral path - Jennifer C. Sullivan.
Faculty Job Interview Questions - a handout from Gursimran Walia
Getting an academic job - Michael Ernst
Negotiating Your Job Offer(s) Inside & Outside Academia - Gaeun Seo