Scientific Writing

1. Scientific Writing Ali H. Hajeer PhD, FRCPath College of Medicine King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences

2. The Main Points! • Write with a specific idea of your reader in mind • Write to convince the reader of your point of view

3. WHY PUBLISH? • To disseminate information • To share ideas, discoveries, and perspectives to a broader audience • Career advancement/promotion • To develop a fundable track record • Personal satisfaction • Research completion

4. TYPE OF PUBLICATIONS • Research/Original paper • Review article • Case report • Letter to the editor • Editorial • Special categories

5. Writing a Scientific Paper • Formulate your idea of the paper • Paper should describe a single major new idea or finding • Thinking of the title may help! • Start thinking about the paper while still doing experiments/research • Think of the figures needed to illustrate your finding

6. IMRD System • Introduction • Methods • Results • Discussion • Also: • Title • Abstract • Figures & Tables • Bibliography

7. Title • A concise statement of the major finding • Or, a brief description of the study • “Expression of N-cadherin in breast cancer cells induces cell migration, invasion, and metastasis” is much better than • “Effects of cadherin expression in breast cancer cells”

8. Abstract • A one-paragraph summary of the paper – usually 125-300 words • Gives background (1-2 sentences) • May describe experimental approach (1 sentence) • States each of the experimental findings • Conclusion or significance (1 sentence)

9. TITLE SELECTIONGood Title • Short and Concise • Easy to understand • Gives readers an accurate and concise idea of the • Methodology • Results

10. Introduction • No more than 2 pages • Focus on the main subject • Brief review of pertinent work • Cite key and current references • Extensive review of the literature is not needed

11. INTRODUCTIONRelevance of Study • Epidemiology: how important is the problem: incidence, prevalence, burden, mortality etc. • Field Status Update:brief update on the field with good concise review of the literature • Reason for the study:justification of why your study is done such as improving the understanding and knowledge about certain issue at hand • Study objectives:briefly mention what the study is about

12. Materials and Methods • Sufficient detail so that work can be repeated. • Describe new methods in detail. • Cite the accepted methods briefly using reference.

13. Materials and Methods • If a published method is modified, such modifications must be described in detail. • Statistical analysis of data if appropriate. • Use subheadings as needed for clarity.

14. The Results Section • Describes the results, generally by referring to figures &/or tables • Describe the experiment, state the result • Do not interpret results or discuss significance • Generally broken into sections with specific headings that state findings

15. General Guidelines For Using Illustrations • Always explain your illustration and its importance to your work! • The precision of the illustrations should reflect the precision of the text. • For clarity, you should introduce and explain illustrations in the text. • Inconsistencies between text and images disrupt fluidity in your document.

16. Discussion • Summarize the key findings • Discuss the validity of the findings • Discuss validity or limitations of methods • Discuss relationship of your findings to other work • Speculate! Possible mechanisms, significance, applications • Suggest implications or future directions • Conclude, with summary or statement of significance

17. Conclusions • Conclusions should not be a summary of the work done or a virtual duplication of the abstract • Conclusions should be justified by the data presented • Emphasis should be on major conclusions and implication • Conclusion is optional in many scientific journals

18. How to publish a scientific paper • Think about target journals early on • high impact equals tight word count • if you aim low you can’t subsequently move up the food chain • if you aim high you may have to allow for turnaround time (rejection) or “second album syndrome” (success) • Obey instructions to authors • use a bibliography manager (very important) • acknowledge grant support, conflict of interest

19. Criteria for Acceptance • Clarity of objectiveness • Originality • Appropriate study design and methods • Appropriate statistical analysis

20. Criteria for Acceptance • Depth of the investigation • Substance of the results • Scientific interpretation and thorough discussion of results • The importance of topic to the journal

21. Immediate Rejection Criteria • The subject matter is of insufficient interest to the readership to a specific journal. • The results are trivial. • The scientific quality is substandard. • Suspected misconduct - fabrication and plagiarism

22. Checklists

23. Abstract Checklist: • _____ Abstract is written AFTER you've written your paper • _____ States your hypothesis • _____ Summarizes methodology • _____ Summarizes findings • _____ Suggests implications

24. Introduction Checklist: • ____ Explains the rationale for your study • _____ Moves logically from the rationale to a specific statement of your hypothesis, such that readers can easily follow the link between the problem, prior research, and your research question • _____ Defines terms which your reader may not know. • _____ Defines abbreviations that will be used in the report. For example, “urinary tract infection (UTI) . . ." . • _____ Does NOT include findings or methods

25. Methods Checklist: • ____ You only need to describe your specific experiment method. • ____ If method is already established just refer to that reference. • ____ Does NOT tell us what was discovered. That information should be in the Results section. • ____ Is NOT written like a cookbook (a series of orders) or a numbered series of steps.

26. Results Checklist: • ____ Explains main results and supports those findings with selected data • ____ All figures are labeled and referenced in the text prior to the figure. • ____ Avoids unnecessary words or clumsy figure references. • ____ Written in past tense. • ____ Doesn't discuss or interpret findings beyond explaining patterns or trends in the data.

27. Discussion Checklist: • ____ Returns to the main point of your study -- Did you answer your hypothesis??? • ____ Summarizes main findings and then evaluates, analyzes, and explains the significance and implications of your findings. • ____ Draws generalizations from your results or conclusions about theoretical/practical implications. Uses evidence to support these claims. • ____ Explains key limitations: questions left unanswered, major experimental constraints, lack of correlation, negative results. • ____ Does not repeat the visuals shown in the Results section • ____ Includes no new findings • ____ Does not ignore deviations in your data • ____ Avoids speculation that cannot be tested • Some writers like to end their papers with a short conclusion that includes recommendations for future study.

28. Good luck