Preparation for MCM/ICM Writing

-- by Chance Zhang $1^{st}ed$

key words: MCM/ICM, format, phrases, tools

Preparation for MCM/ICM Writing

This document is a basic note in preparation of MCM/ICM

Format

The Basic Format

Three separated pages including:
- one page of Commitment in Chinese
- one page of Summary page with headings
  
  restatement of the question
  
  explain assumptions and rationale/justification
  
  include the model design and justification
  
  describe the result of the model testing and sensitivity analysis
  
  discuss the strengths and weaknesses
- one page of Content of the paper
Less than 23 pages of the main body including:
- Introduction
  
  description of the model, question and the background information(significance)
  
  -> Put forward questions in a way that is easy to model(Restatement of the problem)
  
  Previous Research (Assumptions, Theories, )
  
  Our Work (Brief Summary+Significance)
- Assumption and Justifications
  
  All the Variables + Their Notations (maybe in a table)
  
  Assumptions and Related Mathematical Equations
  
  (Lessen the number of variables here.)
  
  (Check the dimensions of the equations here, the notations should be clear enough to read)
  
  the assumptions should be summarised into 3~5 pieces so that the reader can remember
- Model Designs
  
  several paragraphs of models
  1. Choose some models for the question, forming them into Model Series,checking the textbook for classic models
    
    (the design or choice of the models, the thesis of them, flow chart, name of the software with reasons for the choice)
    
    (necessary equations or theorems)
  2. Restate the questions in the form in accordance with the models chosen
    
    (Record any additional assumptions made in this section)
  3. Use the models to solve the questions
    
    flow chart, math,
    
    some results that are not necessary mustn't be listed
    
    mathematic solutions to the given problems
- Model Test
  
  Sensitivity Analysis
  
  Strength
  
  Limitations(View the posted question as a special case of certain general question)
- Practical Applications+ Further work
  
  Explain the conclusion in an easy-to-understand way, trying to avoiding the technical notations, (graphs, data tables or flow charts may be used to be more vivid )
  
  The applications can come form both the modelling result and the sensitivity analysis
  
  do not use new terms in the analysis of further work
Attachments
- Reference
  
  (IEEE style?)
- Appendices
  - Codes
  - Data Tables
    
    the details
  - Figures

Sometimes a letter is required to be attached to certain person -> use the result from the sensitivity analysis to give suggestions

Overall, the page limit is around 40 pages including three head pages, main body less than 23 pages and attachments.

Style and Layout

Before conducting your paper, you should check previous papers to get some basic idea of the layout.

The template could be found in the 'Tool' section of this article.

The paper should be:

easy to understand so that the reader would not waste time on understanding English
brief and concise
good at cohesion and coherence
in active voice, present tense, first plural person (we find that ...)
of simple sentences and short graphs

Tips:

No symbols in title. The title should get straight to the point.
Mathematical symbols should be in Italics.
In texts, mathematical symbols should be in words.
$x,y$ is better than $x_1, x_2$ in understanding and memorising.
Figures should be labelled and properly cites. Note that if no comment on a given figure, this figure would be meaningless.
Mathematical equations should be considered as a part of the sentence.

Phrase bank


Verbs	seek, explore, design, devise, tackle, solve, approach, propose,

Adding Ideas	Additionally, Furthermore, Another ..., Moreover, and, as well as,
Further Explanation	result in, cause, as a result of, for example, consequently, as a consequence, namely, as an illustration, ... which means that, to be more precise, more specifically/precisely, to elaborate, as, to illustrate,
Different Ideas	in contract, on the contrary, conversely, In comparation to, However, but, while, whereas, Nevertheless/Nonetheless, In particular,

Connecting Ideas	starting with ..., ... so that ..., this means that ..., Once ..., to+verb ..., following that ..., which means ..., this leads to..., on completion of ..., when ..., after ..., this allows us to..., the next step ..., could be helpful in ..., fails to ..., the final stage ..., Additionally, However, Therefore, As an alternative to ..., Furthermore, [and the phrases above if needed]

Adjectives	appropriate, proper, suitable, effective, feasible, valid, applicable, useful, beneficial, advantageous, incorrect, inappropriate, unsuitable, improper, important, significant, impractical, identical, resembling, same, functional, operative, challenging, demanding, malfunctional, faulty, time-consuming, time-wasting, specific, exact, definitive, explicit, precise, specialized highly, notably, greatly, abundantly,

Describing Numbers	just under, less than, fewer than, well under, below, just above, more than, greater than, exceeding, over, surpassing, just, as few as [countable noun], as little as [uncountable noun] the amount of [countable noun], many, much, a considerable number of, a great amount of,

Now	Nowadays, In recent years, Recently, Currently,

Text Above	preceding, previous, former, prior, above-stated, before,

Check UoM Academic Phrasebank to find more.

Tools

Codes

A basic editor: Notepad++

Latex

Though Overleaf is recommended as the editor, it does no harm to download a TeX Live on your PC. Instructions are given in Liam's blog.

There's a MCM/ICM template created by Zhaoli Wang and Liam Huang. Check their website to download. Instructions are given in Liam's another blog.

A brief intro to latex has been provide in overleaf, check this. By the way, I will probably write another blog on this. I will then post it here.

Table & Figure

Online Table Generator

python matlab

Finding Data

If possible, use a crawler.

The most powerful ~ simply Google it.

Or try Wikipedia.

Then,

Books: Library Genesis,
Sci-related: Google Scholar, CiteSeerX, ELSEVIER, Bielefeld Academic Search Engine, ideas, arXiv,
The Official Websites: MCM, UN, Datagov, Physical Science Laboratory,
Data Base: NYC,

You may also need a tool to scan texts: Tiantuoocr.

Collaboration Tools

Checking Grammar: Grammarly

Collaboratory Latex Editor & Compiler: Overleaf

Repository to Control Editions: Github

Markdown Editor: Typora

Reference

[1] 贝朗格，王杰.正确写作美国大学生数学建模竞赛论文：Write right for the American mathematical contest in modeling[M].高等教育出版社，2013.

[2] UoM Academic Phrasebank

[3] https://www.zhihu.com/question/356442620/answer/902204735 作者: 异教徒平台: 知乎

[4] https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/107590650 作者: 卿本佳人, 平台: 知乎

[5] https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/34183146 作者: 张浩驰, 平台: 知乎

[6] Academic Writing class provided by UESTC-UoG.