Writing a paper is rarely easy, especially in computer science, where we mix theory, code, mathematics, and systems into a single narrative. Over the years, I collected a series of practical tips that help keep papers clean, readable, and publishable.
This article is still evolving, but I hope it can be useful to students, colleagues, and anyone writing technical articles.

General Tips

1. Don’t plagiarize — cite properly

It should go without saying, but it must be said: never reuse text from papers or books without citation.
If you quote something, use quotation marks. If you reuse an idea or structure, cite the source. Academic publishing has become extremely good at detecting plagiarism.

2. Fight typos and strange sentences

Typos and awkward constructions interrupt reading flow and sometimes even change the meaning of a sentence.
I am not a native English speaker, so I always run my drafts through a writing assistant (Grammarly, LanguageTool, ChatGPT, …). They catch the obvious issues and sometimes offer improvements.
But never auto-apply everything and always do a final manual proofreading.

3. Use simple English

Many researchers are non-native speakers. Simple sentences tend to be clearer, shorter, and harder to misinterpret. You don’t need fancy words.

4. Use examples generously

Examples are the best tools to explain a complex concept. They work everywhere: in the introduction, in the motivation, in the experimental section, and even when presenting limitations.
I especially like showing actual system outputs, because they make your contributions concrete and much less abstract than tables of numbers.

5. Use high-resolution, readable figures

Pixelated or tiny-font diagrams ruin an otherwise good paper.
Whenever possible, use vector images (PDF/SVG).
For diagrams, I like https://app.diagrams.net. I export as PDF, crop them, and embed them directly in LaTeX.

6. Capitalize titles and section names

This is not always intuitive, especially if your native language does not use title case. Tools like https://capitalizemytitle.com/ can help.

7. Keep a consistent style

Small inconsistencies (capitalization, punctuation, variable naming, plot style, …) quickly add friction to the reading experience.
Pick a style and stick to it.

LaTeX Tips

1. Fix errors and warnings

LaTeX is powerful but not magical. If it raises an error or a warning, it is usually trying to tell you something important.
Always look at the compilation log and fix issues as soon as they appear.

2. Split your paper into multiple files

Use \input{...} or \include{...} to organize your content.
I often put sections (and sometimes subsections) in separate files, and I isolate big tables into their own files. Then, I put sections, tables, and images in different directories. This makes it much easier to navigate your paper and make clean modifications.

3. Structure your references (labels)

Use consistent prefixes for labels:

  • sec: for sections
  • fig: for figures
  • tab: for tables
  • ch: for chapters

This makes cross-referencing much easier.

4. Use the same font in your text and your figures

It’s a small detail, but it makes your paper look more polished. The LaTeX default (Computer Modern) is perfectly fine.

5. Use the proper quotation marks

Avoid using the default keyboard double quote ".
In LaTeX:

  • Opening quotes: ````
  • Closing quotes: ''

6. Use non-breaking spaces for citations

Always write ~\cite{...} and ~\ref{...} to prevent citations and numbers from drifting to the next line.

Use:

\usepackage[backref=page]{hyperref}

and/or

\href{http://...}{link text}

It helps readers and reviewers enormously.

8. Write clean raw LaTeX

Your .tex files should be readable without compiling. Avoid breaking sentences in strange places, avoid over-commenting, and try to keep an indentation that reflects structure. This also makes spell-checking much easier.