Detailed Author Guidelines

This document provides supplementary information for authors writing submissions to OSDI 2000 beyond that provided in the Call For Papers. Please read and follow both the instructions in the Call for Papers and these guidelines carefully. We have written them to help you give your submission its best possible chance to be accepted.

How Should I Prepare and Deliver My Manuscript?

Submission of all papers must be made in both paper and electronic form, with the electronic copy being in PostScript or PDF format.

To minimize printing problems your PostScript should use only standard fonts, be completely self-contained, and use only portable constructs. (Some PostScript generators produce non-portable output that we may not be able to print. For example, lots of software generates PostScript that can only be printed on Apple LaserWriters.) If you send PostScript, remember the following:

• Use only the most basic of fonts (TimesRoman, Helvetica, Courier, and Symbol).  If you must use non-standard fonts please include their definitions in your generated PostScript. Other fonts are often not available with every printer or previewer.
• PostScript that requires a special prolog to be loaded into the printer won't work for us. Don't send it.
• Please print your PostScript on a basic PostScript printer before sending it, to make absolutely sure that the PostScript is portable.

Overseas authors should make sure that their submission prints properly on US-style 8.5 x 11 inch paper. Please make sure that you leave enough room for top and bottom margins.

Do not send files meant for word-processing packages (Word, WordPerfect, MacWrite, etc.).

If you can't generate Postscript or PDF, contact the chairs in advance to discuss alternatives, such as providing Microsoft Word or LaTeX input.  NOTE: No extensions will be granted in cases of non-standard formats; if you need us to do something special, we absolutely need everything from you by the April 25 deadline.

If you are using Microsoft Word, Troff, LaTeX, or Framemaker, please make use of these templates and sample first pages (two-column format), if possible:

MS Word 6.0

Troff

LaTeX and style file

Framemaker

More Information is Available

Lots of papers and books have been written about how to write a good paper. We strongly suggest that you read a paper called

An Evaluation of the Ninth SOSP Submissions; or, How (and How Not) to Write a Good Systems Paper.

This was written by Roy Levin and David D. Redell, the program committee co-chairs for SOSP-9, and first appeared in ACM SIGOPS Operating Systems Review, Vol. 17, No. 3 (July, 1983), pages 35-40.

Another helpful paper is:

The Science of Scientific Writing, George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan, In American Scientist, Vol. 78, No. 6 (Nov-Dec, 1990), pp. 550-558.

This article describes not how to write an entire paper, but how to write sentences and paragraphs that readers can understand. Unfortunately, due to copyright restrictions we cannot make this available online or send you photocopies, but almost any library should have copies of this magazine.

For matters of English usage, style, and taste we strongly recommend that you purchase and consult this gem of a little book:

The Elements of Style. William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. Macmillan Publishing Co., New York, 1979.

Finally, if you have any other questions, feel free to send mail to the Program Chairs at osdi2000chairs@usenix.org.

Good Luck!
The Program Committee