Elements of the scientific article

1. Elements of the scientific article Professor Magne Nylenna, M.D., PhD magne.nylenna@helsebiblioteket.no

3. Which articles would you like to read? • Clear message • Original • Topical • Reliable • Of interest and relevance • Well written • Short

4. Writing a paper

5. Other readers are just like you! • Imagine a personified reader (like yourself) when you write • What you would like to read would others like as well • Dilemma: • As readers we prefer short, clear texts • As authors we (often) prefer long, difficult texts

6. What are editors looking for? • Is it new? • Is it true? • Is it important? (Stephen Lock, BMJ)

7. ”The perfect paper” • Original • High scientific reliability • Clinical impact • Topicality • Well written • Brief

8. The basic element of a paper • A paragraph • logically organized, • with an internal continuity, • telling a story

9. The paragraph • A topic sentence – stating the message • Organize supporting sentences so that they say something about the topic • End with a conclusion leading to the next paragraph

10. IMRAD – structure • Introduction • Why? • Methods • How? • Results • What did you find? • Discussion • What does it mean?

12. Introduction • What have you done? • Two aims: • Catch the interest of the reader • Helping the reader to understand the rest of the paper • Three parts: • Known • Unknown • Problem/Question

13. The introduction: • Funnel from what is known to the question • Tell a story • Keep the number of references to a minimum • State the question • Keep it short! Essentials of writing biomedical research papers(Mimi Zeiger, McGraw-Hill,1991)

14. Quotation Scenario Event A statistic Scope Everyday occurence Statement of fact Definition Question Lack of research Overview Previous study Combinations Writing an introduction to the introduction(J Techn Writing Comm 2009;39:321-9.)

15. Material and methods • How was the study designed? • How (and when and where) was the study performed? • Data analysis • Aim for six paragraphs elaborating on what you did

16. Results • Six paragraphs describing what you found • Systematic presentation of your findings • Logical order • From general to detailed information • Cronological • Tables/figures

17. Discussion • The difficult part • What it all means in 6-7paragraphs • Limit the discussion to your own findings • Structure • Summarize main findings • Limits/strengths of your study • Interpretation (comparision with others) • Importance • End with a clear message

18. Background Material and methods Findings Interpretation Background Objective Design Setting Patients Interventions Measurements Results Limitations Conclusions Abstract

20. Randomized controlled trialsCONSORT(Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials)

21. Observational studiesSTROBE(Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology

22. Metaanalyses and systematic reviewsPRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses

23. PICO

25. What is a good title? • Await headlines (and abstract) until the final manuscript version • A good title should be both informative and exciting • Be careful with statements and ”conclusions” in titles • A question in the title must be answered in the paper

26. Reference list • Only published, openly available sources should be included • References should be numbered consecutively as they appear in the text • The reference list should be accordingly numbered and systematic: • Author(s) (up to 6, thereafter et.al.). • Title. • Publication. • Article: Jounal (abbr), year;volume:page-page. • Book: Place of publishing: Publisher, Year. • DOI (digital object identifier)