Writing Scientific Articles – General Structures

Agus Suryanto

Department of Mathematics

FMIPA – Brawijaya University

Types of Articles

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Letters

Letters (also called communications, and not to be confused with letters to the editor) are short descriptions of important current research findings which are usually fast-tracked for immediate publication because they are considered urgent.

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Letters

communications include:

Abstract, IntroductionMain body,Conclusion, References.

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Supplemental Articles

Supplemental articles contain a large volume of tabular data that is the result of current research and may be dozens or hundreds of pages with mostly numerical data.

Some journals now only publish this data

electronically on the internet.

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Miniature Articles

The concise article format (limited to fourjournal pages including references and figures) permits the editorial board to process papers rapidly and enables the reader to learn about new results and developments efficiently.

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Review Articles

Review articles do not cover original research but rather accumulate the results of many different articles on a particular topic into a coherent narrative about the state of the art in that field.

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Review Articles

Review articles include:

AbstractIntroduction, Main body, references.

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Research notes

Research notes are short descriptions of current research findings which are considered less urgent or important than Letters.

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Research Papers

Articles are usually between five and twenty pages and are a complete descriptions of current original research finding, but there are considerable variations between scientific fields and journals

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General Structure

TitleAbstractIntroductionMethodsResultsDiscussionAcknowledgementsReferences

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Write in what order?

TitleAbstractIntroductionMethodsResultsDiscussionAcknowledgementsReferences

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Methods and materials Best to begin writing when experiments still in

progress. Demonstrates the reliability of results. Provide all the methodological details necessary for

another scientist to duplicate your work.   Should be narrative step, explain why each

procedure was done Don’t list instructions Include animal/human use approval information. Make adequate reference to accepted methods

and identify differences. If any of your methods is fully described in a

previous publication cite that. Mathematical equations and statistical tests are

considered mathematical methods . (last paragraph)

Results

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Presents the experiment results but does not attempt to interpret their meaning. Don’t present the raw data summarize the data with text, tables and/or figures.

You must refer in the text to each figure or table in your paper

Do not include the same data in both a table and a figure

It is not necessary to describe every step of your statistical analyses.

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Figures and Tables

Guidelines for Figures and Tables High resolution Neat, legible labels Simple Clearly formatted Indicate error Detailed captions

Explain your results (meaning, agree with or differ from other published results? Why???). 

Relate the discussion with objectives/questions.

Limit your conclusions to those that your data can actually support. 

Discussion

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Introduction

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Explain why is this study of scientifically important and what is the objective?

Discuss the results/conclusions of previously published studies, to help explain the state of the art of current study

The Introduction is organized to move from general information to specific information. Limit the introduction to studies that relate directly to the present study. Emphasize your specific contribution to the topic. 

The last sentences of the introduction should be a statement of objectives and a statement of hypotheses.  This will be a good transition to the next section, Methods, in which you will explain how you proceeded to meet your objectives and test your hypotheses.

Abstract is a shortened version of the paper. It determines:  (1) what the objectives of the study were; (2) how the study was done; (3) what results were obtained; (4) and the significance of the results. 

Avoid references, acronyms and mathematical symbols

Frequently, readers of a scientific journal will only read the abstract, choosing to read at length those papers that are most interesting to them.

Although it appears as the first section in a paper, most scientists write the abstract section last.

Abstract

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Title

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Determines whether paper gets read

Uses keywords that researchers in a particular field will recognize

Avoid long title (see journal rules) and abbreviations

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References

Relevant and recent Be highly selective Read the references Do not misquote All cited articles have to be listed in

References Use correct style for journal

Tips for Scientific Writing

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PROOFREAD!!!  Check your paper to catch and correct these and other common errors:

You should avoid abbreviations by writing out the full word  (minimum, October, first, temperature, ...).  Exceptions include common terms like ATP and DNA, units of measure (m, g, cm, °C), and mathematical or chemical formulas.  Sentences should never begin with an abbreviation or an acronym.

You may introduce an acronym for a term that is often repeated In formal writing, you should never use contractions (didn't, can't,

haven't...). You should review your writing to make sure that each sentence

presents one or two clear ideas.  This will also help you organize sentences within paragraphs in a logical order.

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