rwst module 1 1 academic research writing

7/29/2019 RWST Module 1 1 Academic Research Writing

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ResearchWriting

for

Science

and

Technology

Module1.1:AcademicResearch

Writing


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Trendsin

Scientific

Publishing

Globalization

Rationalization


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Globalization 1999(600,000 articles)

Asia:19%

USA/Canada:28%

WesternEurope:38%

Taiwan:1.3%

2009(1.2Marticles)

Asia:25%

USA/Canada:25%

WesternEurope:32%

Taiwan:2.2%


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Globalization(cont.)

In10years,publicationsinEnglishlanguagejournals

have

doubled Drivenlargelybytechnology.Internetmakesitpossible

toreadandsubmitinternationally

EuropeandNorthAmerica'sshareisdecliningslowly

EspeciallyAsiaisgrowing(India,China,butalsoMalaysia,Thailand)

Evernewerregionsarecomingup(MiddleEast,SouthAmerica)

Thisisreflectedineditorialboardsandreviewerlists.


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Rationalization

Technologyallowsusersandpublishersto

measurekey

performance

indicators:

Impactperarticle

Usageofjournalsandarticles

Editorsget

measured

by

value

of

content

Librariansdonotwantcontentthatdoesnotused

Pressureishightofocusonqualitynotquantity


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NewLandscape

Growthissubmissionsishigherthanwhat

journalscan

absorb

Editorsmustdeliverarticlesthatwillbeusedandcited

Editorsdeal

with

much

more

content

than

before

Important!!!Gettingyourmanuscriptacceptedcanbeanarduousprocess


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Publishersdonotwantzerocited

articles

Editorsnowregularlyanalyzecitationsperarticle

Thestatisticthat27%ofElsevierspublished

paperswerenotcitedin5yearswasdisconcerting.

Itcertainlyindicatesthat itisimportanttomain

highstandardswhenacceptingpapersnothing

would

have

been

lost

except

the

CVs

of

those

authorswouldhavebeenshorter MarvBauer,

ElsevierEditor,RemoteSensingofEnvironment


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WhatPublishers

Need?

Wanted Originality

Significantadvancesinfield

Appropriatemethodsandconclusions

Readability

Studiesthatmeetethicalstandards

NotWanted

Duplications

Reportsofnoscientificinterest

Workoutofdate

Inappropriatemethods

or

conclusions

Studieswithinsufficientdata

Publishersneedquality!!!


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Journalspecific

Audiences

Doyouwanttoreachspecialists,

multidisciplinaryresearchers,

or

ageneral

audience?Youwillneedtoadjustinformationandwritingstyleaccordingly

Isthe

readership

worldwide

or

local?

Journals,eveninsimilarsubjects,reachreaderswithdifferentbackgrounds

Eachjournalhasitsownstyle;readotherarticlestogetanideaofwhatisaccepted


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Format Consultandapplythelistofguidelinesinthe

Guidefor

Authors

Ensurethatyouusethecorrect:

Layout

Sectionlength

(stick

to

word

limits)

Nomenclature,abbreviationandspelling(Britishvs.American)

Reference

format Number/typeoffiguresandtables

etc.


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ArticleStructure

Title

Authors

Abstract

Keywords

Maintext

Introduction Methods

Results

Discussion(conclusion)

Acknowledgements References

Supplementarymaterial

Needto

be

accurate

and

informative

for

effectiveindexingandsearching

Eachhasadistinctfunction


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Title Do

Conveymainfindingsofresearch

Bespecific

Beconcise

Becomplete

Attract

readers

Dont Useunnecessaryjargon

Useuncommonabbreviations

Useambiguous

terms

Use unnecessarydetail

Focusonpartofthecontentonly

Agoodtitleshouldcontainthefewest

possiblewordsthatadequatelydescribe

the

contents

of

a

paper


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ExampleSlower processingiscorrelatedwithhigher

levelsof

depressed

mood,

fatigue,

lower verbal

fluency,fewer wordsanddigitsrecalledandpoorer recallofvisualspatialinformationinMS

patients

Relationshipsbetweeninformationprocessing,

depression,fatigue

and

cognition

in

multiple

sclerosis


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Authorsand

Affiliations

Beconsistentwithspelling,fullversusshort

names,full

versus

short

addresses

Surname:PerezGarcia/Perez/Garcia

MiddleInitial:Useconsistentlyornotatall

FirstName:Dave/David

Affiliation:FacultyofMedicine/FacultyofMedical

and

Health

Sciences


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Abstract Thequalityofanabstractwillstronglyinfluencethe

editorsdecision

Agood

abstract:

Ispreciseandhonest

Canstandalone

Uses

no

technical

jargon

Isbriefandspecific

Citesnoreferences

Usethe

abstract

to

sell

your

article


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Keywords Importantforindexing:enableyour

manuscriptto

be

more

easily

identified

and

cited

Shouldbespecific

Avoiduncommonabbreviationsandgeneral

terms

Checkthe

authors

guidelines

for

journal

requirements


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ExampleKeywords:Schizophrenia,Neuregulin1,

Associationstudy;

False

positive;

Linkage

disequilibrium

Keywords:Psychiatric

disorder,

NRG1,

LD,

SNPs,

Japaneselargesample,association

FromFailuretoreplicatetheassociationbetweenNRG1andschizophrenia

usingJapaneselargesample(Ikedaetal.)


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Introduction Providethenecessarybackgroundinformation

toput

your

work

into

context

Shouldbeclearfromtheintroduction:

Whythecurrentworkwasperformed

Aims

Significance

Whathasbeendonebefore

Whatwas

done

in

your

research

(in

brief

terms)

Whatwasachieved(inbriefterms)


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Introduction

(cont.) Do

Consultthe

guide

for

authors

for

word

limit

Setthescene

Outlinetheproblemandhypotheses

Ensurethattheliteraturecitedisbalanced,upto

dateandrelevant

Defineany

non

standard

abbreviations

and

jargon


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Introduction

(cont.) Dont

Writean

extensive

review

of

the

field

Cite disproportionatelyyourownwork,workofcolleaguesorworkthatsupportsyourfindings

whileignoring

contradictory

studies

or

work

by

competitors

Describemethods,resultsorconclusionotherthantooutlinewhatwasdoneandachievedinthe

final

paragraph

Overusetermslikenovelandforthefirsttime


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ExampleRotenone isanaturallyoccurringplantcompoundderivedfromtherootandbarkofsomeLuguminosae speciesAdministrationofrotenonehasbeenshowntoleadto

biochemical,anatomical,

and

behavioral

symptoms

resemblingParkinsonsdiseaseduetoneurotoxicity[13].Previousstudieshaveshownthat However, otherstudiescontradictthesefindingsUnderstandingtheexactmodeof

actionof

rotenone

should

provide

additional

useful

informationtowarditspossibleapplicationinoralcancertreatment.Inthisreport,we

from

Essential

roles

of

caspases and

their

upstream

regulatorsinrotenoneinducedapoptosis(Leeetal.)


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Methods Themethodssectionmustprovidesufficient

informationso

that

aknowledge

reader

can

reproducetheexperiment

UnlesstheGuideforAuthorsstatesotherwise,

usethepasttense

Thepresenttenseisusuallyonlyusedin

methodologytype

papers


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Results Themainfindingsoftheresearch

Do Usefiguresandtablestosummarizedata

Showtheresultsofstatisticalanalysis

Comparelike

with

like

Dont

Duplicatedataamongtables,figuresandtext

Usegraphicstoillustratedatathatcaneasilybesummarizedwithtext


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Graphics Whyreviewerparticularlysensitivetoclearandinformative

graphics? Readers

often

look

at

the

graphics

first

and

many

times

go

no

further

Illustrationsingraphicsshouldonlybeusetopresentessentialdata

Betternot

to

include

all

the

data

information

in

graphics

(tables);alternatively,presentinginonesentence.

Summarizeresultsinthetextwherepossible

Sometimestablesaremoredirectandclearthangraphicswhen

showing

the

same

information

Better notincludetoomuchdatainjustonegraphic;alternativesplitthemintotwoormoregraphics


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Discussion Describe

How

the

results

relate

to

the

studys

aims

and

hypotheses

Howthefindingsrelatetothoseofotherstudies

Allpossibleinterpretationsofyourfindings

Limitationsofthestudy

Avoid

Makinggrandstatementsthatarenotsupportedbythedata

Ex:This

novel

treatment

will

massively

reduce

the

prevalence

of

malariainthethirdworld

Introducingnewresultsorterms


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ExampleInthepresentstudy,rotenonetreatmentcausedsignificantapoptosisinSAScells,asdemonstratedbyflowcytometric

detectionof

sub

G1 DNA

content,

TUNEL

labeling,

DNA

fragmentation,caspse3 activation,andPARPcleavage.Shimizuetal.suggested thatrotenoneandotherinhibitorsofmitochondrialelectrontransportdonotcauseapoptosis,but

induce

necrotic

cell

death

[11].

However,

others

have

shown

thatcellstreatedwithrotenoneundergoapoptosis[12].Theabilityofrotenone toinduceapoptosis ornecrosismaydependuponthecelltypestudied,sincecellulardemisebyapoptoticmechanismsoccursreadilyinmanycelltypes,butinother

cells

is

more

difficult

to

induce

[13].

~Leeet.al


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Conclusion Shouldputyoustudyintocontext

Describehow

it

represents

an

advance

in

the

field

Suggest

future

experiments Butavoid

Repetitionwithothersections

Beingoverly

speculative

Beingoveremphasizedtheimpactofyourstudy


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ExampleInsummary,findingsfromthepresentstudyareingeneralaccordancewith previousstudiesthatsuggestThereisa

needto establish

dose

dependent

effects

of

EPA

and

DHA

separatelyandindifferentpopulationgroups.Iffindingsfromthisstudyareapplicabletoconsumptionoffish,thenintakeattheupperlevelofthecurrentUKguidelinerange[42]maynot

influence

cardiovascular

risk

factors

in

fairly

healthy,

normolipidemic andmiddleagedmales.

FromInfluenceofverylongchainn3fattyacidsonplasma

markersof

inflammation

in

middle

aged

men (

Yusof et.al)


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Acknowledgements Acknowledgeanyonewhohashelpedyouwith

the

study,

including: Researcherswhosuppliedmaterials

AnyonewhohelpedwiththewritingorEnglish,orofferedcriticalcommentsaboutthecontent

Anyonewhoprovidetechnicalhelp

Statewhypeoplehavebeenacknowledgedandasktheirpermission

Acknowledgesourcesoffunding,includinganygrantorreferencenumbers


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References Checktheauthorsguidesforthecorrect

format Check

Spellingofauthornames

Punctuation

Numberofauthorstoincludeusingetal.

Referencestyle


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References

(cont.) Avoid

Personalcommunications,

unpublished

observationsandsubmittedmanuscriptsnotyet

accepted

Citingarticles

published

only

in

the

local

language

Excessiveselfcitationandjournalselfcitation


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Sources FromElsevier

rwst module 1 1 academic research writing

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