Writing for International Publications In this Part 2, we will cover each element of the manuscript in detail and what to do and not to do in that section and practice with some examples. Christine Piggee, Ph.D. Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

References Cited “Writing a Scientific Paper” by Margaret Foster; www.aaas.org/international/eca/presentrus/mfsci/sld001.htm. Writing and Presenting Scientific Papers; Birgitta Malmfors, Phil Garnsworthy and Michael Grossman; Nottingham University Press, Nottingham, 2000.   “Guidelines for Scientific and Technical Publishing” by Celia M. Elliott, June 2001; http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/People/Staff/Celia/Publishing/. Here is the list of the references I’m citing in this part of the presentation. Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Part 2 – The Structural Elements of a Manuscript* TITLE should be < or = 15 words avoid abbreviations key words should be at beginning sometimes need shorter “running title” for journal page headings *adapted from Foster TITLE is the most important thing determining whether or not someone will read your paper if they see it in a journal. Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript TITLE (cont.) two different types of titles topic - tells about experiments but not results full story - tells about the research, the results and the conclusions TITLE is the most important thing determining whether or not someone will read your paper if they see it in a journal. Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript EXERCISE Your small group has 10 minutes to create both a “topic” title and a “full-story” title for the following: The authors are performing a series of studies on the effects of various drugs on learning. In this study, rats were given various doses of alcohol. The rates were then trained to solve one of a series of mazes of increasing complexity. It was observed that the more complex the maze, the lower the dose of alcohol needed to impair learning. They also observed that the older rats were more sensitive to the effects of complexity than were younger rats.

Structural Elements of a Manuscript ABSTRACT* second best chance to explain and ‘sell’ your paper to the reader do not cite references or figures < or = 250 words include objective, approach, main results and conclusions give a list of key words at the end of the abstract *adapted from Malmfors, Garnsworthy and Grossman the abstract should stand alone Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript EXERCISE In your small groups, choose one person to explain their research results and the group will write together an abstract for these results. Then the groups will trade results and critique another group’s titles.

Structural Elements of a Manuscript INTRODUCTION background information topic of study importance of topic The introduction should answer these questions: 1.  What is the current state of knowledge? 2.  What is the question being studied? 3.  Why the topic is important? Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript MATERIALS AND METHODS details for the reader to evaluate and reproduce your results cite references for previously published methods Your research will be judged as important only if another scientist can reproduce your results, so your paper must contain the information necessary to understand exactly what you did and reproduce your results. If one or more of your exact methods has been described in detail in a previously published article, then you should just cite this article as a reference rather than writing out the whole method in detail again (unless the method is published in a language that might not be widely understood). This is NOT the place for results. If your methods involve several different related samples or solutions, for example, it may be more clear to present them in a table. Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript MATERIALS AND METHODS (cont.) do not include results in this section can present different samples, solutions, etc. more clearly in a table This is NOT the place for results. If your methods involve several different related samples or solutions, for example, it may be more clear to present them in a table. Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript RESULTS presented in accurate, clear and logical way numerical data is best viewed in tables or graphs bar graphs - discrete measurement line graphs - changes or trends Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript RESULTS (cont.) only certain negative results keep your data for at least 2-3 years some negative results you mention (e.g., when there is no response or no detectable relationship in the data) and other negative results you generally do not mention (when an apparatus failed, when the signal-to-noise ratio was too low). In my personal experience with keeping data, I realized many times that it is VERY important when collecting the data to write down exactly all of the conditions for the experiment so that when you look at your data several months or years later, it is clear exactly how you obtained it (and you will be able to use the same conditions to try to reproduce it). Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript DISCUSSION observations and their relationships exceptions/limitations relations to previous work The discussion section should tell what your results mean and how they compare with others’ work. If you must speculate, make it ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that you are speculating, otherwise the reader may think that you are lying about your results. Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript DISCUSSION (cont.) theoretical or practical implications summary and conclusions Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript DISCUSSION (cont.) start with specific observations/implications and move to general do not over-generalize, and avoid speculation The discussion section should tell what your results mean and how they compare with others’ work. If you must speculate, make it ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that you are speculating, otherwise the reader may think that you are lying about your results. Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS thank or give credit to people who helped but did not qualify for authorship technical assistance advice in research or manuscript Again, many people and organizations may have contributed in some way to your research or to preparing your manuscript, but that does not mean they should all be authors. The acknowledgments section is the proper place to recognize these contributions. Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (cont.) gifts of materials assistance in preparing manuscript thank the institutions that funded the work Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript REFERENCES follow the journal’s required format for references the references cited section is not the same thing as a bibliography references cited - this manuscript bibliography - this topic References cited only lists works mentioned in this manuscript. A bibliography is a comprehensive list of references pertaining to a particular topic. Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript TABLES AND FIGURES printed separately, one per page caption present data set either in tables/figures or in the text minimal number of digits Each figure should printed separately, and only one per page. Make sure that each figure has a caption that describes the table/figure enough to understand it without reading the manuscript text. Present a particular set of data EITHER in tables/figures OR in the text, but not both. Choose the units of measurement to minimize the number of digits necessary. only include tables and figures which are referenced in the text--do not add extra figures and tables which you do not Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript TABLES AND FIGURES only include tables and figures which are referenced in the text label your axes and include units of measurement do not use color unless completely necessary only include tables and figures which are referenced in the text--do not add extra figures and tables which you do not describe. Make sure you label your axes and include units of measurement. Try not to use color unless completely necessary because it is expensive to have color figures and tables. Make the symbols and letters large enough so that it can be easily read when the figure or table is reduced in size to fit on the journal page (by as much as 50%). Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript TABLES AND FIGURES make the symbols and letters large enough* letters >= 18 pt. lines >= 2 pt. symbols >= 16 pt. *from Elliott Make the symbols and letters large enough so that it can be easily read when the figure or table is reduced in size to fit on the journal page (by as much as 50%). Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration

Structural Elements of a Manuscript TITLE PAGE manuscript title authors affiliated institutions of the authors “submitted to Journal Name” date contact information for the corresponding author

Structural Elements of a Manuscript COVER LETTER summarize the main point of the manuscript why they should be interested list possible reviewers those you do not want to be reviewers After summarizing the main point of the manuscript, you should tell why it is of value to the journal and how it would be of interest to their readers (and which subpopulation). Not only do you list possible reviewers, but you can also request that certain people do NOT serve as reviewer for your paper (“we would prefer that X not be selected to review this manuscript.”) Gaining Knowledge and Skills Needed for Scientific Communication and Collaboration