How to start to write a scientific paper

Ashgan Mohamed, Ph.D

Assistant Professor

Cairo University

• The strength of your idea (content) for a manuscript.

• Once you’ve selected a good idea, then communicating it is important.

• Communicating your good idea is what we’re talking about today.

The construction of the science is based on the communication of the research results

Research

Production

Literature

your research career.

Previous works are thebasis for yours, when you enter in the loop (intake, production, output and feedback) you become a consumer and a producer and so on till the end of

Why is important your scientific contribution?

Question

How does the process begin?

Preliminary research

answeryes noNew research

Project design

Lab workresults

conclusions

manuscript Dissemination & retrieval

Be aware of the contribution of your research to the Scientific Community and try to share it with your colleagues

How?

Communicating your results (written, oral, others)

When you consider you have finished an homogeneous part, be sure before closing the assays.

Arrange and organize your notes, references or any other material, display and classify it.

How to start

to write a manuscript?

Organize your information

Structure your information in separate blocks

Notes, references, objetives

Samples, individuals, sampling, analytical and statistical methods, ...

Answers to the objetives supported by graphical or any other forms

Analysis of the results, comparison with other authors

Try to integrate your puzzle of information

And structure it

Structure of a scientific paper

Title

Authors’ names and

affiliation

Abstract, keywords

Introduction

Material and methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

References

Annexes

TITLEThe title should inform accurately about the content of the manuscript. It must be informative, brief, specific, and accurate.

Why is important the title?

Data bases use titles to for indexes

Authors’ names and affiliations

Use always the same name (signature) to avoid any confussion within the scientific community. Identify the author for correspondence (with *).

Give the complete name and address of the institutions or centers the authors belong to.

Currently e-mails are also given.

Abstract

The abstract, summary or synopsis is, like the title, one

element within the manuscript of relevant importance. The

retrieval of the paper and its reading depend greatly on it.

Therefore it should provide the concise information to

indicate whether the paper fulfils our expectations.The main

feature of an abstract is its size. In very few words (200-300)

the abstract should inform about the main aspects of the

manuscripts and respond to why, what, how and the results

and their interpretation.

Characteristics of an abstract

Brief Inform ative

Concise Condensed

Content

Structured Single paragraph

Form at

Abstract

Short sentences, but not telegraphedNo references, tables or figures

No abbreviations..No excessive details

Keywords

Their source could come from:

Free text

IntroductionBrief

Focused

With the most relevant references

Without repetitions of known stablished assumptions

Aims and objetives

Material and methods

Samples, sampling

Individuals

Material (origin if neccesary)

Methods (references and brief description)

Statistical methods (packages, software..)

Results

Answers to the objectives

Expose the experiences logically sequenced

Do not repeat any information in tables or figures, and in the text

Discussion

What do the results mean?

Are my results compared with other previous works?

Do not repeat results

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Names, institutions, projects, grants, etc...

Citation

S. Harvard S. Vancouver(Name and year) (numerical sequence)

......These results agreed with previous works (Smith, 1996; Brown et al., 1998)....

......These results agreed with previous works 1,2......

Have you chosen the journal?

Have you the instructions to authors?

Let’s write the first draft

Why?

How?

What did you find?

What does it mean?

Does your paper answer these questions?

introductionmaterial + methods

resultsdiscussion

Check the accuracy of the data in tables and figures

Are all tables and figures neccesary?

Could you join figures or tables?

Do you repeat any information?

Re-read first draft

Revise the style

Review the content, data, references

2nd draft

Final manuscript