Organization and Outline

Readings for today: – Boonpramote, T “Writing for Economic Journals: Elements of publication success,” working paper, Colorado School of Mines. – Sand-Jensen, K “How to write consistently boring scientific literature,” Oikos, What are the main message in these papers? – Successful research is published and used. – One of the primary traits common to most unsuccessful research is lack of clarity. – Unclear research often is a result of author’s inability to communicate.

What does unclear mean? – Poorly written (much more on this later) – Poorly organized (the focus of today) General Organization of a Paper – Introduction, including where it fits into the literature – Model and/or conceptual basis – Approach and Analysis – Results – Implication/Conclusions (may be one section or may be separate) – Supporting material (tables, graphs, references)

Before you begin writing: – Have a sense of the contribution of the work (How do you know what this is?) – Identify the audience – Think of yourself as a story teller – Organize your thoughts – Plan on writing and rewriting MANY times Once you start – Think about the intro/conclusions as you do the work (why?) – Keep in mind that you are trying to sell the paper.

What sells a paper? – #1 is the contribution. So you need to understand How it is important (this is the main motivation); and What it means for our understanding of the problem. These need to come through in the introduction and the conclusion – Only after that are other considerations How appropriate is the approach? Does it rely on an accepted model or conceptual basis> Does it use modern tools?

Other considerations (continued) – Does it demonstrate sufficient rigor? To be viewed as a legitimate piece of work by other economists and analysts. This usually means that it is either a rigorous mathematical model, econometrically strong or a very sophisticated case study. Case studies and anecdotal examples usually are not considered sufficient for most economic analysis. – Other considerations can be part of the contribution. How?

What you need to communicate in your paper – Motivation for topic – Research question – Related literature – Contributions of your work (how it extends the literature) – Theory or conceptual basis, including a formal or informal model – Connection between question and theory how model drops out and generates your testable hypothesis

What you need to communicate in a paper (continued) – If relevant, data description and adequacy – Hypothesis, and tests – Results of your tests – Implications At the end, connect results/implication back to question – Who should care about what you found – Why they should care about what you found – Implications are never obvious; this is your last chance to sell the paper. Use it.

Paper outline – Introduction Motivation Research question Contributions Maybe related literature (but often is a separate section) – Conceptual basis Theory and/or model How your research question comes out of the theory/model – Approach – Analysis/Results (may include 10-11, or may separate)

Paper outline (continued) – Analysis May include data description, but this is often a separate section that precedes the analysis Results – Implication/Conclusions What the results imply How they connect to the research question Who should care, and why – References – Figures – Tables

As you write the paper, refine outline – Understand the main point of paper – Understand the main point of each section given above – Eliminate points that don’t drive reader to focus on main point of paper – Include sub-points that build to make main point of each section – Eliminate sub-points that don’t focus reader on main point of section – Group sections above into larger sections You are a story teller telling a focused story. Stay on plot.

MOST IMPORTANT. GOOD WRITING TAKES TIME AND IT TAKES REVISION. Writing and rewriting is not just to correct grammar and spelling. – It changes organization, syntax, wording and organization. – When you rewrite track changes. – If you are doing a good job of rewriting, the tracked changes will make it almost impossible to follow in the tracked changes view. (example)example – Don’t rely only on yourself. If English is not your native language, hire help. Maybe do so even if English is your native language.