chad's writing guide

Chad's Writing Guide

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Planning

Before you even begin, ask yourself the question, Why should anyone care to read past the title of my paper?

In order to write a good paper, you need to look carefully at what you want to accomplish: what important message do you want readers to take away from the paper? Once you have made that decision, it is easier to write with a tight focus.

The best way to write well is to put yourself in the place of a reader, and ask what they most care about. Any general reader will want to know why the topic is important otherwise, why should he or she devote any of their time to it? Next they will need to know what problems or issues are important to the field. This will set the stage for your own work, when you tell readers what you have done. Then the paper should end with a clear description of how your work relates back to the problems and issues you mentioned earlier. Have you solved any of the problems, or has the mystery deepened? Or perhaps you have discovered something startling or unexpected. Whatever you have achieved, it has to be placed firmly in the wider context of the field, so that readers will get a clear sense of progress towards a goal.

Readers, reviewers, and you in 5 years are going to want to have some pithy way of remembering that paper. what is the "main result"? what did you learn? if answering this takes a long time, maybe you don't understand the subject well yet, or maybe it's really 2 papers.

Next write an outline. seriously you need to do this. don't just sit down and start writing stuff.

The best papers are those in which complex ideas are expressed in a way that those less immersed in the field can understand.

Start writing the paper the day you have the idea of what questions to pursue

Decide early on where to try and publish the paper.

Get a sense of the novelty of the paper before it is written and decide where to try and publish.


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Strategies to writing ambitious papers: (1) Pick a new problem, define it, be the first to propose a solution. simple and concrete problem. (2) Try to explain something significant that nobody has managed to explain. (3) Improve by an order of magnitude what others have already done.

Before picking up a pen... (1) Decide what the message is, what point your making. Most papers should only make a single point. (2) Why is the message important? Why should reader take the time to read it? (3) How is this contribution novel or different from what's already been said many times?


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Main text

Abstract

Set the scene, explain the background that will give the non-specialist reader a context in which to understand the significance of the work, but fellow specialists will also appreciate your telling them what you consider to be the relevant questions in the field.

Sample: "Sources such as [y] are interesting/important because [provide an explanation]. Particularly crucial to our physical understanding is a measurement/calculation of [z], because that will tell us [b]. In the past, it has been difficult/impossible to accomplish this, because [generally, equipment was inadequate]. Now we have measured/calculated [z] and find that it is/is not as expected. In the light of this result, we can now determine that our understanding of the physical processes underlying [b] is/is not complete. We have accordingly determined that [relate your discussion back to why the source is interesting, to give your readers a sense of progress towards a goal]."

In general people simply dont care where the data came from; what they want to know is what the data mean for our broader physical understanding

Components of an abstract (each one sentence): (1) Motivation: Why do we care about the problem and the results? (2) Problem statement: What problem is the paper trying to solve and what is the scope of the work? (3) Approach: What was done to solve the problem? (4) Results: What is the answer to the problem? (5) Conclusions: What implications does the answer imply?

Writing an abstract (Nature guidelines):

Basic introduction to the field, comprehensible to a scientist in any discipline (1-2 sentences)

More detailed background, comprehensible to scientists in related disciplines (2-3 sentences)

General problem being addressed by this study (1 sentence)


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Summary of main results (1 sentence)

Explain what main result reveals in direct comparison to what was thought to be the case previously, or how the main result adds to previous knowledge (2-3 sentences)

Put results into a more general context (1-2 sentences)

Provide broader perspective, readily comprehensible to scientist in any discipline (2-3 sentences)

In an abstract everything is subordinate to communicating what the paper is about. Do not be afraid to spend a disproportionate amount of the abstract setting up underlying ideas: comprehension is your aim. Imagine you are explaining your work verbally to a colleague in three minutes. You should state what you did, how you did it, and give your conclusions, but be sparing as to why; the Introduction is the proper place to explain your motivations. Stress the single underlying theme of the paper. Since the author's perspective is clearest after the paper has been completed, that is when the abstract should be written. Do not bother with a preliminary version; you should have begun writing the paper with a preliminary draft of the Introduction.!

Kent Beck's 4 sentence abstract recipe: (1) State problem. (2) State why it's interesting. (3) Say what your solution achieves. (4) Say what follows from your solution.

Introduction

Guidelines: (1) Establish a territory (bring out the importance of the subject or present overview of current research on the subject). (2) Establish a niche (oppose an existing assumption, reveal a research gap, formulate a research question or problem or continue a tradition). (3) Occupy the niche (sketch the intent of the own work).

Even though the introduction is the first main section in a paper, many researchers write or at least finish it very late in the paper writing process, as at this point the paper structure is complete, the reporting has been done and conclusions have been drawn.

Chad Eliason


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Use keywords from title in first sentence of introduction to focus the intro

Don't use specific, lengthy explanations--save it for the discussion

Don't need to say "hypothesis"

Write the intro backwards, starting with specific purpose and working towards scientific context, then to the general information required at the beginning.

In the introduction, answer the following questions: (1) What is the problem? (Describe the problem, summarize relevant research to give context, key terms, concepts so reader can understand the experiment(s)). (2) Why is it important? (review relevant research to provide rationale. What conflict or unanswered question, untested pop, untried method does the experiments address? What findings of others are you challenging?). (3) What solution (or step towards it) do you propose?

Set the scene, explain the background. Useful for giving non-specialist reader context, but specialist will also appreciate that you understand key issues or questions in the field

More tips:

Go from general to specific (problem in real world/literature --> your experiment)

Engage the reader (answer questions to What did you do? Why should I care?)

Make clear the links between the problem and solution, question asked and research design, prior research and your experiment.

More relevant an article is to your study, more space it deserves and later in introduction it should appear

Methods

Include the hypotheses you tested


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Results

Highlight trends/differences you want readers to focus on by using leading or suggestive words (pronounced effect, highest, etc.)

Discussion

Conclusions are not mandatory, and those that merely summarize the preceding results and discussion are unnecessary

Concluding paragraphs should offer something new to the reader.

A good conclusion says things that become significant after the paper has been read.

Five components: (1) Presentation of background information as well as recapitulation of the research aims of the present study. (2) Brief summary of the results, whereas the focus lies on discussing and not recapitulating the results. (3) Comparison of results with previously published studies. (4) Conclusions or hypotheses drawn from the results, with summary of evidence for each conclusion. (5) Proposed follow-up research questions.

Organize in same sequence results are in

Discuss reasons for similarities and differences b/w yours and others' findings

Instead of saying "This work will open up new avenues of exploration in the field" (this is the point of most novel research), offer specific problems that could be addressed or new capabilities that might be enabled by your work.

Figures

To an expert reader, the information conveyed in a figure should be clear without needing to consult the main text.

Arrange figures in logical order before writing results. Then, make notecards of 1-2 key results the figures illustrate. These are the points to address in the text of the results

Figures and tables should be able to stand alone and should have a caption that


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enables them to be understood without having read the body of the paper.

Numbers are easier to compare reading down a column than across a row.

Place graphs side by side for easiest comparison.

Design rules:

Identify storyline and how each figure contributes to it. Ensure that each figure serves well-defined purpose and is critical to overall story.

Establish key message for each figure. Each component in the figure should contribute to the message.

Top-left corner allows viewer to enter the image easily. Scanning goes from top-left to bottom-right. Put stuff along this path.

Use minimum of 70% contrast between foreground and background

Directly label points rather than having reader refer to legend

Minimize the ink:data ratio (Tufte)

Misc

If claims matter, they will be scrutinized, and if theyre not robustly supported by the results, no amount of hyperbole will convince anyone editor, referee or reader otherwise.

Questions that a research article should answer: (1) Which questions did you ask? (2) Which experiments did you perform to answer them? (3) Which kinds of data did you collect and how? and (4) What conclusions did you draw from the data and what suggestions have you made for further research?

Write good papers

Other tips:


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Style

Prose

OConnor [6, p.97] states the following principles for solving problems of writing style: (1) Be simple and concise. (2) Make sure the meaning of every word. (3) Use verbs instead of abstract nouns. (4) Break up noun clusters and stacked modifiers (that is, strings of adjectives and nouns, with no clue about which modifies which).

Henre Gee: Look at the lengths of your sentences. If you can split them into shorter sentences, do so. Dont use words or phrases in print that you wouldnt use in conversation: write as you would speak. I find that if youve written something and you think it doesnt make sense, speak it out loud. If it still seems like it doesnt make sense, then it probably doesnt.

Story should underlie the structure of the whole paper

Explain don't hype

Obscure language won't make you sound more intelligent, it will only confuse others, resulting in less impact of your work on the intended audience.

Use short sentences (< 15 words)

Punctuation guide

Comma

Join 2 independent clauses by a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor, so).

Use to separate elements in a series. Include before the last item in a series

Use to separate nonessential elements from a sentence. More specifically, when a sentence includes information that is not crucial to the message or intent of the


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sentence, enclose it in or separate it by commas.

Use between coordinate adjectives (adjectives that are equal and reversible).

Use after transitional element (however, therefore, nonetheless, also, otherwise, finally, instead, thus, of course, above all, for example, in other words, as a result, on the other hand, in conclusion, in addition)

Semicolon

Use to join 2 independent clauses when the second clause restates the first or when the two clauses are of equal emphasis.

Use to join 2 independent clauses when the second clause begins with a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, moreover, furthermore, thus, meanwhile, nonetheless, otherwise) or a transition (in fact, for example, that is, for instance, in addition, in other words, on the other hand, even so).

Use to join elements of a series when individual items of the series already include commas.

Colon

Use join 2 independent clauses when you wish to emphasize the second clause.

Use after an independent clause when it is followed by a list, a quotation, appositive, or other idea directly related to the independent clause.

Parenthesis

Parentheses are used to emphasize content. They place more emphasis on the enclosed content than commas.

Use parentheses to set off nonessential material, such as dates, clarifying information, or sources, from a sentence.

Dash:


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Dashes are used to set off or emphasize the content enclosed within dashes or the content that follows a dash. Dashes place more emphasis on this content than parentheses.

Use to set off an appositive phrase that already includes commas. An appositive is a word that adds explanatory or clarifying information to the noun that precedes it.

Use the em-dash

Quotes

In science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea occurs first!-!Sir!Francis!Darwin

The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, (s)he's one who asks the right questions. - Claude Levi-Strauss

Structure

Section headings should make a point

Make papers easy to skim (meaningful section headers, bullet points, simple figures)

chad's writing guide

Documents