Many scientists and engineers consider themselves poor writers or find the writing process difficult. The good news is that you do not have to be a talented writer to produce a good scientific paper, but you do have to be a careful writer. In particular, writing for a peer-reviewed scientific or engineering journal requires learning and executing a specific formula for presenting scientific work. This book is all about teaching the style and conventions of writing for a peer-reviewed scientific journal. From structure to style, titles to tables, abstracts to author lists, this book gives practical advice about the process of writing a paper and getting it published.
This is an open access book. The book provides an overview of the state of research in developing countries – Africa, Latin America, and Asia (especially India) and why research and publications are important in these regions. It addresses budding but struggling academics in low and middle-income countries. It is written mainly by senior colleagues who have experienced and recognized the challenges with design, documentation, and publication of health research in the developing world. The book includes short chapters providing insight into planning research at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, issues related to research ethics, and conduct of clinical trials. It also serves as a guide towards establishing a research question and research methodology. It covers important concepts such as writing a paper, the submission process, dealing with rejection and revisions, and covers additional topics such as planning lectures and presentations. The book will be useful for graduates, postgraduates, teachers as well as physicians and practitioners all over the developing world who are interested in academic medicine and wish to do medical research.
This book takes an integrated approach, using the principles of story structure to discuss every aspect of successful science writing, from the overall structure of a paper or proposal to individual sections, paragraphs, sentences, and words. It begins by building core arguments, analyzing why some stories are engaging and memorable while others are quickly forgotten, and proceeds to the elements of story structure, showing how the structures scientists and researchers use in papers and proposals fit into classical models. The book targets the internal structure of a paper, explaining how to write clear and professional sections, paragraphs, and sentences in a way that is clear and compelling.
This book covers all essential aspects of writing scientific research articles, presenting eighteen carefully selected titles that offer essential, “must-know” content on how to write high-quality articles. The book also addresses other, rarely discussed areas of scientific writing including dealing with rejected manuscripts, the reviewer’s perspective as to what they expect in a scientific article, plagiarism, copyright issues, and ethical standards in publishing scientific papers. Simplicity is the book’s hallmark, and it aims to provide an accessible, comprehensive and essential resource for those seeking guidance on how to publish their research work. The importance of publishing research work cannot be overemphasized. However, a major limitation in publishing work in a scientific journal is the lack of information on or experience with scientific writing and publishing. Young faculty and trainees who are starting their research career are in need of a comprehensive guide that provides all essential components of scientific writing and aids them in getting their research work published.
Gábor Lövei’s scientific communication course for students and scientists explores the intricacies involved in publishing primary scientific papers, and has been taught in more than twenty countries. Writing and Publishing Scientific Papers is the distillation of Lövei’s lecture notes and experience gathered over two decades; it is the coursebook many have been waiting for. The book’s three main sections correspond with the three main stages of a paper’s journey from idea to print: planning, writing, and publishing. Within the book’s chapters, complex questions such as ‘How to write the introduction?’ or ‘How to submit a manuscript?’ are broken down into smaller, more manageable problems that are then discussed in a straightforward, conversational manner, providing an easy and enjoyable reading experience. Writing and Publishing Scientific Papers stands out from its field by targeting scientists whose first language is not English. While also touching on matters of style and grammar, the book’s main goal is to advise on first principles of communication. This book is an excellent resource for any student or scientist wishing to learn more about the scientific publishing process and scientific communication. It will be especially useful to those coming from outside the English-speaking world and looking for a comprehensive guide for publishing their work in English.
"Margaret Cargill's background as a linguist and research communications educator and Patrick O'Connor's experience as both research scientist and educator synergize to improve both the science and art of scientific writing. If the authors' goal is to give scientists the tools to write and publish compelling, well documented, clear narratives that convey their work honestly and in proper context, they have succeeded admirably." Veterinary Pathology, July 2009 "[The book is] clearly written, has a logical step-by-step structure, is easy to read and contains a lot of sensible advice about how to get scientific work published in international journals. The book is a most useful addition to the literature covering scientific writing." Aquaculture International, April 2009 Writing Scientific Research Articles: Strategy and Steps guides authors in how to write, as well as what to write, to improve their chances of having their articles accepted for publication in international, peer reviewed journals. The book is designed for scientists who use English as a first or an additional language; for research students and those who teach them paper writing skills; and for early-career researchers wanting to hone their skills as authors and mentors. It provides clear processes for selecting target journals and writing each section of a manuscript, starting with the results. The stepwise learning process uses practical exercises to develop writing and data presentation skills through analysis of well-written example papers. Strategies are presented for responding to referee comments, as well as ideas for developing discipline-specific English language skills for manuscript writing. The book is designed for use by individuals or in a class setting. Visit the companion site at www.writeresearch.com.au for more information.
This second edition of How to Write and Illustrate a Scientific Paper will help both first-time writers and more experienced authors, in all biological and medical disciplines, to present their results effectively. Whilst retaining the easy-to-read and well-structured approach of the previous edition, it has been broadened to include comprehensive advice on writing compilation theses for doctoral degrees, and a detailed description of preparing case reports. Illustrations, particularly graphs, are discussed in detail, with poor examples redrawn for comparison. The reader is offered advice on how to present the paper, where and how to submit the manuscript, and finally, how to correct the proofs. Examples of both good and bad writing, selected from actual journal articles, illustrate the author's advice - which has been developed through his extensive teaching experience - in this accessible and informative guide.
From Research to Manuscript, written in simple, straightforward language, explains how to understand and summarize a research project. It is a writing guide that goes beyond grammar and bibliographic formats, by demonstrating in detail how to compose the sections of a scientific paper. This book takes you from the data on your desk and leads you through the drafts and rewrites needed to build a thorough, clear science article. At each step, the book describes not only what to do but why and how. It discusses why each section of a science paper requires its particular form of information, and it shows how to put your data and your arguments into that form. Importantly, this writing manual recognizes that experiments in different disciplines need different presentations, and it is illustrated with examples from well-written papers on a wide variety of scientific subjects. As a textbook or as an individual tutorial, From Research to Manuscript belongs in the library of every serious science writer and editor.
What if writing scientific papers was faster, easier, and a bit less painful? This book provides a step-by-step, top-down approach that makes it easier to turn your hard-won results into research papers that your fellow scientists want to read and cite. "I just wrote a (rough) first draft of a paper during a 3-hour flight, and if it wasn't for these teachings, this would have taken me days (if not weeks)!" -Talayeh Aledavood, James S. McDonnell Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Helsinki The book's systematic approach builds on what I've learned through coauthoring close to 100 research papers with students. You'll learn how to outline your paper from top to down, how to develop your story, and how to think about what to write before you write it. You'll also learn how to deal with many issues that writers of science commonly face, from the fear of the blank page to dealing with critical reviews. Here's what you get: A complete step-by-step plan for writing a scientific paper, from choosing which results to include to wrapping up the paper in the Discussion section Concrete, actionable, and practical advice, from a paragraph-level template for the Introduction to guidance on preparing plots and figures Lots of writing tips, from placing signposts in your text to shortening and straightening your sentences This book has been written for the PhD student who is aiming to write a journal article on her research results, but it should also be useful to any scientist who has ever found writing difficult. Whatever the stage of your career, if you'd like to learn how to write research papers systematically and efficiently, this is the book for you! The book includes PART I: STORY 1. How To Choose The Key Point Of Your Paper 2. How To Choose The Supporting Results 3. How To Write The Abstract 4. How To Choose The Title PART II: OUTLINE 5. The Power Of Outlining 6. How To Write The Introduction, Part I: Structure 7. How To Write The Introduction, Part II: A Four-Paragraph Template 8. How To Write The Introduction, Part III: The Lede 9. How To Write The Materials And Methods 10. How To Write The Results, Part I: Figures 11. How To Write The Results, Part II: Text 12. How To Write The Discussion PART III: WORDS 13. How Does Your Reader Read? 14. How To Write Your First Draft 15. How To Edit Your First Draft 16. Tips For Revising Content And Structure 17. Tips For Editing Sentences PART IV: IT'S NOT OVER YET 18. How To Write The Cover Letter 19. How To Deal With Reviews About the author I am a professor of computational science and an experienced academic with around 100 published papers. My research is interdisciplinary, to say the least: I have studied the social fabric of smartphone users, the genetic structure of ant supercolonies, the connectome of the human brain, networks of public transport, and the molecular biology of the human immune system, to name a few. So one could say that I have a broad range of scientific interests (or that I simply cannot choose). But that's exactly the way I like it!
