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Suggestions for better papers. What the judges look for in a paper Why judges reject papers. Suggestions for better papers. What the judges look for in a paper: Objectives that are clearly stated in the introduction Concise methods that are logical and free from jargon
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Suggestions for better papers • What the judges look for in a paper • Why judges reject papers
Suggestions for better papers What the judges look for in a paper: • Objectives that are clearly stated in the introduction • Concise methods that are logical and free from jargon • Results that relate to the objectives • Conclusions that are justified by the results
Organization • Introduction • Materials and methods • Results • Discussion • Conclusion
Introduction • Include some background • State your objectives • Explain why the research is important • If your research is similar to something published, explain how your work is different • We often reject papers that are “copies” of published work
Materials and Methods • Should be a logical description of what you did • Make sure that a lay person would understand your methods • Explain how your methods will allow you to meet your objectives • Do not list materials used in your project
Results • The most important section of your paper (and your presentation) • Should be easy to interpret by all judges • Emphasize the important points of your results (don’t make us guess)
Results: Figures • Usually better than tables • Make sure that figures can stand alone • Make sure that the figures clearly indicate something important • Each figure should be referenced in the text of your results
Discussion and Conclusion • Should relate to the objectives stated in the introduction • Should be clearly tied to your results and should not go beyond your data
Why judges reject papers • Literature searches • Work that is a repeat of something published and does not expand beyond the original work • Poor study design • If we cannot interpret your results • If we do not understand what the figures are supposed to indicate
Problems in Study Design • Sample size insufficient to indicate a trend • Samples insufficiently distributed on the x-axis • Samples should usually be randomly drawn and independent of one another
Sample insufficiently distributed on the x-axis r2=0.78, F1,4=6.07, P=0.032
Balanced Linear Regression r2=0.89, F1,38=389, P=0.000
Sample insufficient across the x-axis r2=0.01, F1,38=.07, P=0.841
When are non-independent samples are OK? • Multiple measurements on an individual to track a response • Before and after measurements on subjects • Can be dealt with statistically (repeated measures ANOVA or paired t-tests)
Statistical outliers • What do we do with outliers? • Do nothing when you can’t justify deleting • In regression, conduct “robust regression” • Delete if you can justify
Examples from previous speakers • To illustrate some common problems
Low PP accumulators High polyphenol accumulators Medium polyphenol accumulator Low pp accumulators Radical scavenging activity (µ mole Trolox/mg dry leaf powder) and total polyphenol (g/100 g dry leaf powder) in the leaves of 60 sweetpotato genotypes
Linear correlations between the total polyphenol contents (g/100g dry matter) and radical scavenging activities (RSA; mol Trolox/g DM) of sweet potato leaves
Photomicrographs A and B show crystals produced by 500 µM melamine and 500 µM cyanuric acid in H20 (sample 11), at 400X magnification and 40X magnification, respectively. Photomicrographs C and D show crystals produced by 500 µM melamine and 500 µM cyanuric acid in artificial urine (Sample 6), at 400X magnification and 40X magnification, respectively.