作者概况
姓名：Dambaru Ballab Kattel 博士留学生
国籍：尼泊尔
专业：自然地理学，研究方向为冰川与气候变化
导师：姚檀栋
D.B. Kattel 1999年于尼泊尔特里不文大学获得水文学与气象学硕士学位，2009年7月开始在中科院青藏高原研究所攻读博士学位。因其对尼泊尔科学与技术的杰出贡献，于2005年被授予“尼泊尔国家科技杰出奖”。
How to Write the Scientific Papers?
Format, Content, Structure and Style
Background:
Written and oral communication skills are probably the most universal qualities sought by graduate and professionals. We can improve our scientific writing and oral communication skills by repeatedly practicing, reading, writing and critiquing of other’s writing.
As like other bit of communication, science communication has also been an own role to disseminate findings to the certain people. There are two major ways of science communication, one is popular article and news and the other one is scientific papers. As like other articles, scientific writing is also telling a story, but it should be supported by data.
The major goals of scientific writing are to publish and to develop a good reputation among the society and scientific community. The editors of journals are commonly accepted that kind of scientific articles which must be written in good format about their findings. The aim of scientific format is to communicate scientific findings to the broad community of scientists and to allow the scientific paper to be read at several different levels.
Format
The Title, Authors and Affiliation, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements and Literature Cited sections are the well accepted format of a manuscript for journals .Every section has a different experimental process (Table 1).
Table 1
|
Experimental Process |
Section |
|
What did I do in summary? |
Abstract |
|
What is the problem? |
Introduction |
|
How did I solve the problem? |
Materials and Methods |
|
What did I find out? |
Results |
|
What does it mean? |
Discussion |
|
Who helped me? |
Acknowledgements (optional) |
|
Whose work did I refer to? |
Literature Cited |
|
Extra Information |
Appendices (optional) |
Grammar, Transitions and Words
All non native speakers of English have same problem in grammar when writing. In articles as much as possible use direct subject-verb relationships, including the active voice where appropriate. For example:
The question that you asked- write in the present verb tense
What was done to answer the question - write in the past verb tense
Findings that answer the question- write in the past verb tense
The answers to the question- write in the present verb tense
Similarly, many students miss the transitions when connecting the ideas in their articles. There are a wide range of transition words/phrases that can convey relationships between ideas but not the points. For example:
p Caveats: However, but, nevertheless
p Cause and Effect: Therefore, then, consequently, if then
p Support: In addition, furthermore, moreover, also, indeed
p Contrasts: In contrast, whereas
p Summary: In sum, in conclusion, to summarize
p Examples: For example, for instance
And, select the short words an concise terms (Table 2& 3) to write clearly as much as possible.
Table 2 Short words:
|
Instead of |
Write |
|
posses |
Have |
|
sufficient |
enough |
|
utilized |
use |
|
demonstrate |
show |
|
assistance |
help |
|
terminate |
end |
Table 3 Concise terms
|
Instead of |
Write |
|
Prior to |
Before |
|
Due to the fact that |
Because |
|
In a considerable number of cases |
Often |
|
The vast majority of |
Most |
|
During the time that |
When |
|
In close proximity to |
Near |
Content, Structure and Style of Each Section
What is the message of the paper? What is the new result or contribution that you want to describe? What do you want to convince people of? You should spend some time thinking about the article content and write down the ideas in a free form, creating a general outline for the paper (from figures or data etc.) before starting to write.
As you get ready, try to summarize the strong initial ideas in to a logical structure and develop them in the form of key sentences that will eventually become paragraphs.
Title, Key words and Section Heading
Select the informative title as related to the research. The main title should be centered at the top page. If the title is not enough the keywords can be used. Most journals require the author to identify three or four key words which represent the major concept of the paper.
The Authors’ names and institutional affiliation should be double-spaced from and centered below the title. If there are more than two authors, the names can be separated by commas.
Each main section of the paper begins with a heading. The heading should be capitalized, centered at the beginning of the section. It should be doubled spaced from the lines above and below. Avoid underline the section heading or put a colon at the end. In introduction section if you have more than one experiment use subheading.
Abstract:
An abstract is a brief summary of the content of the manuscript. It briefly conveys the essential information of your article, including its purpose, the results and conclusion.
Content:
p The question (s) you investigated (or purpose), (from Introduction)
p The experimental design and methods used, (From Methods)
p The major findings including key quantitative results or trends (from results)
p A brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions (from Discussions)
Abstract should be a single paragraph and concise and summarizes the content. The length of the abstract should be kept to about 200-300 words maximum. Limit the statements concerning each segment of the paper. The abstract should not contain lengthy background information, reference to the other literature, abbreviations or terms and any sort of illustrations, figure or table, or references.
Introduction:
The Introduction “introduces” the reader to your topic or subject (What was I studying? Why was it an important question? What did we know about it before? How will this study advance our knowledge?).Consequently, you need to arrange the information from general to more specific. It is also important to give your reader a historical context so that they can understand the significance of your article.
Use past tense except when referring to established facts. Use the active voice as much as possible. Some use of first person is accepted, but do not over do it. Organize your ideas, making one major point with each paragraph (Table 4).
Table 4
|
Paragraph |
content |
|
Introductory |
Start with an attention-getting broad statement that establishes a general topic for the article |
|
Narrow the topic in successive sentences that outline the state of the art and introduce a gap in knowledge |
|
End the introduction with a general statement of the problem and optional supporting/specifying statements |
|
Middle |
The literature review identifies the seminal historical contributions, outlines the state of knowledge, and justifies the novelty of the article’s contribution |
|
Final |
End the introduction by outlining for the reader the specific contribution of the article and tell the reader the overall organization of the paper |
Materials and Method:
Materials and Method is the easiest section to write. The objective of this section is to document all specialized materials and general procedures. It is not to be a step by step description of everything you did, nor is a methods section a set of instructions. It is not supposed to tell a story. There is no specific page limit to write materials and methods, but a key concept is to keep this section as concise as possible, because people will want to read material selectively it means, the reader may only be interested in one formula or part of procedure. Materials and method may be reported under separate subheadings (if the study is so complicated) or can be incorporated together. Do not include commonly found chemicals, biological materials, and any equipment or supplies in Materials sections. Describe all of the techniques used to obtain the results in a separate, objective Methods section. Report the methodology but not details of each procedure but describe the methodology completely.
The explanation in Materials and Methods section depends upon the conditions (Table 5).
Table 5
|
Conditions |
Content |
|
Organism Studies |
Source (supplier or where and when how collected and study carried out) (only if location and time are important factors) |
|
Size (weight, length, etc) |
|
How they were handled before the experiment |
|
Field Studies |
Must include both physical and biological characteristics of the site |
|
Include the date (s) of study and the exact location of the study area |
|
Location data must as precise as possible |
|
Actual latitude and longitude position of the site |
|
Include the map (labeled as a figure) |
|
Experimental and Sampling design |
Include the hypotheses you tested, controls, treatments, variables Measured |
|
How many replicates you had |
|
What you actually measured |
|
What from the data take? |
|
How the Data were Analyzed |
How the data were summarized (Means, percent, etc) |
|
Hw you are reporting measures of variability (SD) |
|
Data Transformation e.g., to normalize or equalize variances etc.) |
|
Any other numerical or graphical techniques used to analyze the data |
Materials and Method is the work being reported is done, and was performed in the past, therefore use the past tense throughout the section. You may use the active voice to a certain extent. In this section avoid use of first person but more use of third persons, passive constructions than others.
The methods section is prone to being wordy or overly detailed therefore avoid repeatedly using single sentence to relate a single action. A related sequence of actions can be combined into sentence to improve clarity and readability. Avoid instructions because materials and methods are not a set of instructions. In this section omit all explanatory information and background.
Result:
What is the result? - The answer of the question is the key result. The key results depend on your questions; they might include obvious trend, important differences, similarities, correlations, maximums, minimums, etc. The Results section should be organized around a series of Tables and/or Figures sequenced to present your key findings in a logical order. Describe each of your results, pointing the reader to observations that are most relevant. Summarize your findings in text and illustrate them, if appropriate, with figures and tables. In text, refer to each figure as "Fig. 1," "Fig. 2," and table “Table 1”, “Table 2”etc. Each Table or figure must include a brief description of the results being presented and other necessary information in a legend.
What to Avoid in the results section?
p Do not discuss or interpret your results
p Do not interpret the data
p Do not report raw data values
p Do not present the same data more than once.
p Do not repeat each value from a Figure or Table
Discussion:
The research question which is posed as the need of the introduction must be answered at the beginning of the discussion (Zeiger, 1991). Discussion will always connect to the Introduction by way of the question(s) or hypotheses you posed and the literature you cited, but it does not simply repeat or rearrange the Introduction. Discussion tells how your study has moved us forward from the place you left us at the end of the introduction.
The discussion section is the main impact section where the researcher has the most freedom to tout the implications of his/her research. This section allows you to highlight the conclusions you think are important.How do the results compare with earlier work? What is new and significant? You should describe in this section.
Fundamental questions to answer in Discussion:
p Do your results provide answers to your testable hypothesis? If so, how do you interpret your findings?
p Do your findings agree with what others have shown? If not, do they suggest an alternative explanation or perhaps an unforeseen design flaw in your experiment (or theirs?)
p Given your conclusions, what is our new understanding of the problem you investigated and outlined in the Introduction?
p Explain what would be the next step in your study, e.g., what experiments would you do next? What questions remain?
If your results differ from your expectations, explain why that may have happened. And, if your results agree, then describe the theory that the evidence supported in the discussion section.
Research papers are not accepted if the work is incomplete. Draw what conclusions you can based upon the results that you have, and treat the study as a finished work. You may suggest future directions, such as how the experiment might be modified to accomplished another objective.
Style and Contents for the Discussion:
p Explain all of your observations as much as possible.
p Use the active voice whenever possible
p Refer to work done by specific individuals in past tense
p Use of first persons, but do not use too much
p Use subheading, if needs, to organize the presentation
p Must relate your work to the findings of other studies
p Discuss reasons for similarities and differences between yours and others’ findings
p Do not waste entire sentences restating your results
p Do not introduce new result in the discussion
You might occasionally include tables and figures in this section but they must not contain new data that should have been presented earlier.
Acknowledgements, Literature Cited and Appendices:
If, in your experiment, you received any significant help in thin king up, designing, or carrying out the work, or received materials from someone who did you a favor by supplying them, you must acknowledge their assistance and the service or material provided.
Authors always acknowledge
p Outside reviewers of their drafts (Instructor, Other individual critiqued the draft prior to evaluation )
p Any sources of funding that supported the research
Writing Style:
p Usual style requirements (Ist Person, objectivity)
p Acknowledgements are always brief and never flowery.
p Place of acknowledgements between the Discussion and the Literature Cited
Literature Cited:
The Literature Cited section gives an alphabetical listing (by first author's last name) of the references that you actually cited in the body of your paper.
This article is based on the following references:
1. Socolofsky, Scott A. How to write a research journal article in engineering and science,Dept. Civil Engrg., Ocean Engrg. Div., Texas A&M Univ., M.S. 3136, College Station, TX 77843-3136. Website: http://www.ifh.uni-karlsruhe.de/lehre/dokkurs/gutes-schreiben/paper_how-to.pdf
2. Clarke, Maxine How do I submit a paper to a scientific journal?11 February 2008 | EN, SciDev.Net Website:http://www.scidev.net/en/practical-guides/how-do-i-submit-a-paper-to-a-scientific-journal-.html
3. Schulman ,E. Robert How to Write a Scientific Paper, Annals of Improbable Research, Vol. 2, No. 5, pg. 8. Website:http://improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume2/v2i5/howto.htm\
4. Cordova, Susan. How to Write a Scientific Paper, New Maxico Junior Academy of Science. Website:http://www.nmas.org/JAhowto.html
5. Carpenter, Kenneth .How to Write a Scientific Article.The Journal of Paleontological Sciences: JPS.TD.07.0001
6. Wenderoth, Peter. How to write a scientific research paper? Website: http://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw
7. Comire, Andrew C.Scientific Report Writing. Website: http://geog.arizona.edu/~comrie/geog230/report.htm
8. How to Write a Paper in Scientific Journal Style and Format.
9. Website: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reportform.html. Writing Research Papers.
10. Jenkins S. 1995 How to write a paper for a scientific journal. Australian Journal of Physiotherapy 41(4): 285 - 289
11. Website: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/ug/research/paper.html
