Training: How to Make a Good Rebuttal

No matter how much time and effort you have invested in your paper, it frequently comes down to a few lines of rebuttal text, your response to reviewer concerns, that decide whether your paper will be accepted. Rebuttal writing is a key skill to acquire during a PhD and a good rebuttal can make a big difference. I can't say I've figured it all out, but I've learned much about rebuttal writing from advice and discussions with my mentors & colleagues. Together, we've managed to turn a few borderline scores around, e.g. 3/5/5/7 into 5/6/7/8 (accepted @NeurIPS) and 4/6/7 into 7/8/8 (Oral @ICLR). While there is always a good deal of luck and reviewer goodwill involved, there are also some general patterns that can be successfully applied. In this tutorial, I will go over the different aspects that contribute to rebuttal success: preparation, strategy, organization, content & style patterns, as well as folk psychology (e.g. priming). The tutorial will be somewhat biased towards machine learning conference rebuttals, but some general patterns are also applicable to other venues like journals. After the ~50min tutorial, we will conclude the session with a discussion on best practices / Q&A where you could share some of your personal insights.

This event is open to all IMPRS-IS scholars. We will send the link to join via our IMPRS-IS mailing list. With questions, contact us at imprs@is.mpg.de

Photo credit: Adobe Stock / itchanzong