The Proper Way to Write a Paper

Contrary to how most people wrote papers, Lu Zhou could solve any problem through system points. So coming up with the right idea was far more important than implementing it.

So the key was choosing a topic.

Lu Zhou's standards for selecting a topic were simple.

Since he was going to be a disruptive force in academia, he would pick whichever field was easiest to pad with fluff! Whichever journal was easiest to get accepted by!

It was worth mentioning that, as the engineering discipline with the second-highest amount of fluff in its papers, Information Technology was fairly easy to find journals for padding out submissions.

Just as a new solution to a single Mathematics proof problem could be published as a paper, in Information Technology, a unique algorithm could also be published as a paper.

He remembered that back in 2013, when Elon Musk was interviewed by the founder of Khan Academy, he had joked that "ninety percent of academic papers in IT are worthless" and "how many PhD papers have actually been used by anyone?" His remarks had received support from nearly a hundred tech elites in Silicon Valley.

Of course, there had also been plenty of criticism.

The statement was indeed somewhat biased, but it also reflected certain problems from the side.

Internet information security and artificial neural networks were still relatively normal, but big data and cloud concepts had become disaster zones. Artificial Intelligence was even worse, so flooded with fluff that even amateur researchers could chime in with a few words. And this was not limited to China; it was the same overseas. It was a common problem among all "young disciplines."

Taking that into consideration, after weighing his options, Lu Zhou chose Artificial Intelligence as his general direction.

Of course, Artificial Intelligence was far too broad a field. From video games to automatic variable-frequency toothbrushes, if one insisted on saying so, it had long since seeped into every aspect of society. It was only a matter of degree.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Zhou typed a line into a Word document.

[Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Geographic Information Systems]

From mobile navigation to intelligent driving, from traffic management to autonomous drone pathfinding.

And what he chose was the latter, which happened to fit the emerging concept of "drone logistics."

Of course, that direction was still broad, but that was fine. He had to publish nine papers, after all!

This drop of water tossed into the ocean of academia—he planned to split it into nine portions with a dropper and drip them in one by one.

So his fingers tapped across the keyboard as he continued writing.

[A Pixel Analysis Algorithm Based on Artificial Intelligence]

[An Optimization Algorithm for Artificial Intelligence Recognition of Dynamic Images]

[An Automatic Human Body Feature Measurement Method Based on Artificial Intelligence Algorithms]

[An Automatic Delivery Address Recognition Algorithm Based on Artificial Intelligence Algorithms]

[An Artificial Intelligence-Based...]

He did not merely need to come up with titles. He also needed to write the abstracts and provide specific descriptions of the projects. After all, the "simple computer" from Red Alert and Iron Man's "JARVIS" both fell under the category of "AI." Lu Zhou did not expect the system to accurately understand the difference between the two.

So he not only needed to write the abstracts, but also clearly describe in words the ideas that would not normally appear in the body of the papers.

By the time he finished all of that, the library was nearly closing.

He packed all the files, along with the Mathematics paper topic, into the same folder. Lu Zhou stretched lazily, leaned back in his chair, recalled the documents he had just written, and silently muttered in his heart.

"System, appraise my damn papers."

The system was indeed the system. It quickly responded to his question.

[Total problems: 10. Total cost: 210 points. Confirm exchange?]

The average cost was 21 points each, leaving him with only 125 points. However, completing the mission guaranteed an 800-point reward, and an S rating would bring additional rewards. Either way, he definitely would not lose out!

"Confirm exchange!"

Lu Zhou closed his eyes. Soon, an electric shock-like sensation crawled up his spine and into his brain, followed by a massive stream of information flooding in.

Although his Information Science experience had not changed at all, as he gradually absorbed the information, he felt that his understanding of Artificial Intelligence had improved by another step.

Exchanging points was also a process of absorbing knowledge, except compared with studying on his own, it was much simpler and more forceful.

Of course, fully digesting all of that knowledge would probably still take quite some time.

But just for writing papers, it was already enough!

Taking a deep breath, Lu Zhou opened his eyes, fighting spirit blazing like flames in his pupils.

Ten papers.

At most one month.

He would finish all of them!

The next day, Lu Zhou barely managed to get up early. After brushing his teeth, washing his face, and getting dressed, he stumbled out of the dormitory in a daze.

Because he had stayed up late last night, there were obvious dark circles beneath his eyes. On the way from the cafeteria to the teaching building, he had no idea how many times he yawned.

"Lu Zhou!"

Chen Yushan stood not far away with a shoulder bag slung over one shoulder. She smiled and greeted him. Seeing the dark circles under his eyes, she teased, "Oh? Where did this giant panda come from?"

"It escaped from the zoo next door... That joke was too cold. Not funny at all," Lu Zhou said with a yawn.

Chen Yushan was dressed as usual today, with thick round-framed glasses on her nose and long black hair simply tied behind her head. Come to think of it, he had only seen her once wearing light makeup and contact lenses. In an era when even young men had started applying face masks, a girl this "unkempt" was quite the oddity.

Since they were headed the same way, they walked together.

Chen Yushan asked, "Not going to the library today?"

Lu Zhou thought for a moment and said, "Maybe this afternoon. I have a Mathematical Modeling Competition training session this morning."

"The Mathematical Modeling Competition?" Chen Yushan nodded in realization, then immediately adopted the tone of someone experienced. "That competition carries quite a bit of weight. It'll be very helpful for your future employment, so you'd better work hard."

"You've participated before?"

"Are you kidding? I got second prize at the national level. I carried the whole team with my skills!" Chen Yushan proudly raised her eyebrows and patted her chest. "If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me. Don't be shy!"

"Impressive, impressive," Lu Zhou replied perfunctorily with a yawn.

It seemed this modeling competition really did not place much importance on mathematical ability...

That was a little troublesome.

Just as Lu Zhou was thinking that, Chen Yushan, walking beside him, suddenly spoke.

"Wait. Stand still."

"Hm?"

Chen Yushan opened the shoulder bag she carried with her and took out a pack of tissues.

Just as Lu Zhou was wondering what she was doing, she stepped closer, stared seriously at his face, then suddenly reached out and wiped his cheek.

"Ugh, disgusting. You really are sloppy, aren't you? You went out without even wiping away your eye gunk." Chen Yushan tossed the tissue into a nearby trash can and casually teased him.

What the hell?

Lu Zhou's cheeks instantly turned red, and all sleepiness vanished from his mind.

It was not because he felt embarrassed.

It was because...

I actually walked all this way with a huge clump of eye gunk on my face?

Lu Zhou's expression stiffened as he asked quietly, "It... wasn't very obvious, was it?"

Chen Yushan burst out laughing. "All right, all right. It wasn't that obvious, actually. But before you enter the classroom, I suggest you go wash your face in the restroom again."

Obviously, did she even need to say that?!

Lu Zhou wanted nothing more than to rush into a restroom, splash water onto his face, and scrub it hard three or five times.

After washing his face, he felt refreshed.

With his face still damp, Lu Zhou arrived at the classroom. When he entered, he found that there was only one other person inside.

Lu Zhou found a seat in the first row, sat down, and casually greeted him.

"Morning."

Noticing Lu Zhou, Wang Xiaodong's expression did not change much. He gave a slight nod in greeting, then continued flipping through the reference book in his hands.

Next week, every department would begin English exams one after another. Only a monster like Lu Zhou, who had chewed through an entire Level 4 preparation book and its appendix vocabulary list, was completely unconcerned at a time like this. After all, the required university English vocabulary and grammar patterns were basically at the Level 4 standard. As long as one had Level 4 vocabulary, getting a high score aside, passing with an 80 was no problem.

Sitting around doing nothing was boring, and chatting with Wang was even more boring. Lu Zhou took out his phone and began going through the materials he had not finished reading yesterday, slowly digesting the knowledge he had absorbed into his brain last night alongside those materials.

Fortunately, most Artificial Intelligence programs used C++ for their core, since it offered greater flexibility. The recently popular Python was at most used to write the outer shell. Google's first-generation Artificial Intelligence learning system, DistBelief, was the best example.

And the only programming language Lu Zhou could be considered somewhat familiar with happened to be C++, so understanding this knowledge was not too difficult.

When the time came, even if someone asked how exactly he had written those papers, he could still make up some nonsense to bluff them.

While the two of them each busied themselves with their own things, it soon became eight o'clock. Professor Liu Xiangping, the instructor for their Mathematical Modeling Competition, entered the classroom right on the dot as the bell rang.