@inproceedings{ng-etal-2025-understanding,
title = "Understanding Writing Assistants for Scientific Figure Captions: A Thematic Analysis",
author = "Ng, Ho Yin Sam and
Hsu, Ting-Yao and
Min, Jiyoo and
Kim, Sungchul and
Rossi, Ryan A. and
Yu, Tong and
Jung, Hyunggu and
Huang, Ting-Hao Kenneth",
editor = "Padmakumar, Vishakh and
Gero, Katy and
Wambsganss, Thiemo and
Sterman, Sarah and
Huang, Ting-Hao and
Zhou, David and
Chung, John",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Intelligent and Interactive Writing Assistants (In2Writing 2025)",
month = may,
year = "2025",
address = "Albuquerque, New Mexico, US",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2025.in2writing-1.1/",
doi = "10.18653/v1/2025.in2writing-1.1",
pages = "1--10",
ISBN = "979-8-89176-239-8",
abstract = "Scientific figure captions are essential for communicating complex data but are often overlooked, leading to unclear or redundant descriptions. While many studies focus on generating captions as an `output', little attention has been given to the writer{'}s process of crafting captions for scientific figures. This study examines how researchers use AI-generated captions to support caption writing. Through thematic analysis of interviews and video recordings with 18 participants from diverse disciplines, we identified four key themes: (1) integrating captions with figures and text, (2) bridging gaps between language proficiency and domain expertise, (3) leveraging multiple AI-generated suggestions, and (4) adapting to diverse writing norms. These findings provide actionable design insights for developing AI writing assistants that better support researchers in creating effective scientific figure captions."
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%0 Conference Proceedings
%T Understanding Writing Assistants for Scientific Figure Captions: A Thematic Analysis
%A Ng, Ho Yin Sam
%A Hsu, Ting-Yao
%A Min, Jiyoo
%A Kim, Sungchul
%A Rossi, Ryan A.
%A Yu, Tong
%A Jung, Hyunggu
%A Huang, Ting-Hao Kenneth
%Y Padmakumar, Vishakh
%Y Gero, Katy
%Y Wambsganss, Thiemo
%Y Sterman, Sarah
%Y Huang, Ting-Hao
%Y Zhou, David
%Y Chung, John
%S Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Intelligent and Interactive Writing Assistants (In2Writing 2025)
%D 2025
%8 May
%I Association for Computational Linguistics
%C Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
%@ 979-8-89176-239-8
%F ng-etal-2025-understanding
%X Scientific figure captions are essential for communicating complex data but are often overlooked, leading to unclear or redundant descriptions. While many studies focus on generating captions as an ‘output’, little attention has been given to the writer’s process of crafting captions for scientific figures. This study examines how researchers use AI-generated captions to support caption writing. Through thematic analysis of interviews and video recordings with 18 participants from diverse disciplines, we identified four key themes: (1) integrating captions with figures and text, (2) bridging gaps between language proficiency and domain expertise, (3) leveraging multiple AI-generated suggestions, and (4) adapting to diverse writing norms. These findings provide actionable design insights for developing AI writing assistants that better support researchers in creating effective scientific figure captions.
%R 10.18653/v1/2025.in2writing-1.1
%U https://aclanthology.org/2025.in2writing-1.1/
%U https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2025.in2writing-1.1
%P 1-10
Markdown (Informal)
[Understanding Writing Assistants for Scientific Figure Captions: A Thematic Analysis](https://aclanthology.org/2025.in2writing-1.1/) (Ng et al., In2Writing 2025)
ACL
- Ho Yin Sam Ng, Ting-Yao Hsu, Jiyoo Min, Sungchul Kim, Ryan A. Rossi, Tong Yu, Hyunggu Jung, and Ting-Hao Kenneth Huang. 2025. Understanding Writing Assistants for Scientific Figure Captions: A Thematic Analysis. In Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Intelligent and Interactive Writing Assistants (In2Writing 2025), pages 1–10, Albuquerque, New Mexico, US. Association for Computational Linguistics.