How to write
- 1. Presented by: Dr. Ashraf A. Abdelhalim, MD Professor of anesthesia, Faculty of Medicine University of Alexandria , Egypt 1
- 2. Title--what aspect of the subject was studied. Abstract--summary of paper: The main reason for the study, the primary results, the main conclusions Introduction--why the study was undertaken Methods and Materials--how the study was undertaken Results--what was found Discussion--why these results could be significant (what the reasons might be for the patterns found or not found)
- 3. Prewriting · Make notes, ideas: start generating text, drawing figures, Writing · Start with whatever section is easiest to write. Keep writing. Revision · Work on content first, then structure, then style. Editing · Check all data for accuracy. Review grammatical errors. Proofread · Print and read your report again. Often we don't see errors on-line as easily as we do on a hard copy.
- 4. Is the advertisement for the article Informative and specific Descriptive and concise Understandable All nouns are capitalized in the title Do not use abbreviations and jargon Search engines/indexing databases depend on the accuracy of the title - since they use the keywords to identify relevant articles
- 5. Indicative titles: indicate the subject matter of a paper but give no indication of any results obtained or conclusions drawn e.g. Intranasal atomized dexmedetomidine for sedation during third molar extraction Informative titles: give an indication of results achieved and conclusions as well as the subject matter of the paper e.g. Parker Flex-It stylet is as effective as GlideRite® Rigid Stylet for orotracheal intubation by GlideScope: a randomized prospective study
- 6. Question-type titles This type of title obviously asks a question. e.g. Is ketamine effective in decreasing the incidence of postoperative agitation? Main-subtitle (series) type e.g. Prophylactic dexamethasone for postoperative nausea and vomiting in pediatric strabismus surgery: A dose ranging and safety evaluation stud
- 7. Briefly summarize (often 150 words) – the article to determine: (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. So the reader can decide whether or not to read the whole article Many authors write the abstract last . uses clear, precise wording (increase precision through successive revisions)
- 8. Why is this study of scientific interest and what is your objective? State how your work differs from published work Identify the questions you are answering Explain what other findings, if any, you are challenging or extending Limit the introduction to studies that relate directly to the present study. Emphasize your specific contribution to the topic. The last sentences should be a statement of objectives and a statement of hypotheses.
- 9. Defines abbreviations that will be used in the report. For example, "The compound action potential (CAP)
- 10. Explain how you studied the problem to meet your objectives and test your hypotheses. Description of study area and studied population Approval of IRB, and patient consent Identify the procedures you followed Inclusion & Exclusion criteria Explain new methodology in detail; otherwise name the method and cite the previously published work Include the frequency of observations, what types of data were recorded, etc. Be precise in describing measurements .
- 11. Written in paragraph form Describe data collection in detail (e.g. who, what, when, where, how), Study design: Describe what techniques to minimize bias . Particular techniques used and why, if relevant modifications of any techniques; be sure to describe the modification Specialized equipment, including brand-names Statistical methods, including Sample size Software programs SPSS version
- 12. This section presents the results of the experiment but does not attempt to interpret their meaning. The trick to writing is to summarize the data with text, tables and/or figures. Tables/Figures should appear in the text in sequential order. Photographs should be in high resolution jpeg or tiff format (300 dpi)
- 13. Present results clearly and logically Abbreviations should be defined in full in the legend. A table's legend appears above it, while the legend for a figure appears below the figure. If your table includes the results of a statistical analysis, be sure to provide the information necessary for the reader to properly evaluate the analysis Do not include the same data in both a table and a figure.
- 14. Number tables and figures separately beginning with 1. Report only what you found; Tables generally should report summary-level data, such as means ± standard deviations, rather than all your raw data. Only use a figure (graph) when the data lend themselves to a good visual representation. Avoid using figures that show too many variables or trends at once. When incorporating statistical data into the text, the test used (eg chi squared) should be included.
- 15. Whenever a manuscript contains material (tables, figures etc) which is protected by copyright (previously published) it is the obligation of the author to obtain written permission from the holder of the copyright (usually the publisher)
- 16. Develop a strategy for your Discussion. Begin with the result of the primary outcome which should most clearly relate to the aim and research question. (specific to the general) Focus your discussion around a particular question or hypothesis.
- 17. Describe what your results mean and or why they differ from what other workers have found. Relate your discussion back to the objectives and questions you raised in the Introduction section. Indicate how the results relate to expectations and to the literature previously cited Explain how the research has moved the body of scientific knowledge forward Discuss and evaluate conflicting explanations of the results. This is the sign of a good discussion.
- 18. Whenever you draw upon previously published work, you must acknowledge the source Any information not from your experiment and not ‘common knowledge’ should be recognized by a citation So that the reader can find the full reference in the literature cited section at the end of the paper, Make sure you give a full citation in the Literature Cited section (“references”) for all sources mentioned in the text.
- 19. Note that articles by one or two authors are always cited in the text using their last names. If there are more than two authors, the last name of the 1st author is given followed by the abbreviation et al.. It is acceptable, and encouraged, to cite more than one source for a particular statement. This gives the statement more validity and suggests that your research was thorough. Add limitation and weaknesses of study : avoid using an apologetic tone. Provide recommendations (no more than two) for further research
- 20. Editors often comment that the Discussion Section is too long. Usually due to Restating all the results, An unfocussed review of past literature, Excessive speculation on mechanisms Too much discussion about secondary outcomes.
- 21. Do not extend your conclusions beyond what is directly supported by your results - avoid undue speculation Outline the next steps for further study
- 22. Any relationships which could be viewed upon as a conflict of interest need to be declared by the authors.
- 23. This is the last section of the paper. Provide an alphabetical (or numbered consecutively in order of appearance in the text) listing of all the published work you cited in the text of the paper. How references are presented varies considerably -- - refer to notes for authors for the specific journal Avoid references that are difficult to find Avoid references that were not important to the study The number can be placed outside the text punctuation to avoid disruption to the flow of the text, or be placed inside the text punctuation,
- 24. A standard format is used both to cite literature in the text and to list these studies in the Reference section. Carefully refer to reference guidelines for the journal you are submitting to. For papers published in journals you must provide the date, title, journal name, volume number, and page numbers. For books you need the publication date, title, publisher, and place of publication.
- 25. This style is used by MEDLINE and PubMed Abdelhalim AA, Alarfaj AM. The effect of ketamine versus fentanyl on the incidence of emergence agitation after sevoflurane anesthesia in pediatric patients undergoing tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy. Saudi J Anaesth. 2013;7(4):392-8.
- 26. Uses the author's name and date of publication in the body of the text, and the bibliography is given alphabetically by author Liveris, A 2011, 'Ethics as a strategy', Leadership Excellence, vol. 28, no. 2, pp.17-18. ◦ Adams, A.B. (1983a) Article title: subtitle. Journal Title 46 (Suppl. 2), 617-619 ◦ Adams, A.B. (1983b) Book Title. Publisher, New York. ◦ Bennett, W.P., Hoskins, M.A., Brady, F.P. et al. (1993) Article title. Journal Title 334 , 31-35.
- 27. Biomedical journals are increasingly requesting studies to be registered in a public trials registry as a condition of consideration for publication in the journal. The registration number may be required to be mentioned at the end of the abstract.
- 28. Your supervisor/professor is not here to teach you basic grammar and spelling. You are responsible for mastering the basics of the language. With word processors and spellcheckers, spelling errors should be very rare.
- 29. Please do not think that good English is not critical in science writing. If English is not your first language, then proofreading by a native-speaker might be helpful. If you have read scientific papers, you will have noticed that a standard format is frequently used. This format allows a researcher to present information clearly and concisely.
- 30. Most people's first drafts are terrible. "Good writing is rewriting," and you should make a serious effort at editing, rewriting, and fine- tuning before you give the manuscript to anyone else to read.
- 31. Use an outline to organize your ideas and writing. When you first start a writing project, make an outline of the major headings. List the key ideas to be covered under each heading. Organize your thinking logic
- 32. 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 wish to introduce an acronym for a term that is repeated often: if your paper deals with soybeans, Glycine max, you may use the full scientific name once and substitute G. max thereafter. Chemical elements are not proper nouns, so do not capitalize them.
- 33. Only the first letter of the symbol is a capital letter: nitrogen (N), carbon (C), calcium (Ca). In formal writing, you should never use contractions (didn't, can't, haven't...). The word "data" is plural, as in "the data were collected on January 21, 2001." Direct quotes should be avoided, unless you are presenting another author's specific definition or original label. Read and re-read your references. 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.
- 34. In science, the word "significant" implies the result of a statistical test. Do not use slang. Try to use precise, scientific terms where possible (without unnecessary jargon) Your word processor's spell-check and/or grammar-check function is not error-free. It cannot tell you when to use "it's" and "its," and it cannot tell you that a particular sentence does not make sense. Give yourself enough time to proofread and correct your paper.
- 35. Tenses When describing methods and results, you should use the past tense. The present tense is appropriate for accepted facts, such as the background information presented in the Introduction. Events or objects that continue to happen or exist can be described in the present tense Units All units of measure must be metric or SI (international System).
- 36. Language Sentence construction The purpose of any paper is to convey information and ideas. This cannot be done with long involved sentences. Keep sentences short, not more than 30 words in length. A sentence should contain one idea or two related ideas. A paragraph should contain a series of related ideas. Do not use long words where short ones will do. For example: "utilization" vs. "use" "in order to" vs. "to"
- 37. Try to use familiar, precise words rather than far-fetched vague words. "Cheaper" may replace "More economically viable", and ongoing situation" doesn’t mean very much. Use the active voice rather than the passive voice. For example, instead of writing "The food was eaten by the pig", write "The pig ate the food". The active voice is easier to read and reduces the sentence length Choice of words Words have precise meanings . Learn how to use them correctly: Fewer, less; disinterested, uninterested ; loose, lose; See, for example: Less active blood cells vs. Fewer active blood cells Use a standard dictionary to find the correct meaning of words
- 38. Correct spelling, including the use of plurals Some words have alternative spelling e.g. tyre, tire, grey, gray; draft, draught, often the difference is between the American and British spelling. In other cases an apparent misspelling is a misuse of a word e.g. practice, practise. The plural of many words in English is achieved by adding an s (or es) to the single. However some words have the same form in both the singular and plural. Other words are already plural such as people and equipment, so don't use peoples (unless you are referring to different groups of people or different ethnic groups) and equipments.
- 39. The Misuse of the definite article "The" Avoid overuse of the word "the" . Only use when it applies to a particular item that has been referred to before. All others could be omitted. The excessive use of the pronoun "it" Avoid excessive use of the indefinite pronoun "it". ("It is evident that" by "evidently";)
- 40. Text is easier to understand if simple words and phrases can be used to replace more complex or foreign ones. For example analogous can be replaced by similar ; Punctuation Colon (:) and semi colon (;) A colon is used when a list or explanation follows, A semi colon is used to separate two or more related clauses provided each clause forms a full sentence.
- 41. Commas A comma is put in a sentence to denote a brief pause between groups of words: I will show you the paper about which I was speaking, but it is not as useful as I first thought. Or to separate subclauses: Professor Brown, who is in charge of recruiting for the University, said that the latest estimates were higher than those for this time last year. Finally to separate all items in a list except for the last two; The following items may be imported duty free into Azania: Animals, cereals, plants, fruit, trees, legumes and nuts.
- 42. Take editorial comments seriously. An editor, has invested their time to help improve the quality of your writing. Respect their investment.
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