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Scientific Writing Abstracts, Original Papers, Chapters

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Title: Scientific Writing Abstracts, Original Papers, Chapters


1
Scientific WritingAbstracts, Original Papers,
Chapters Reviews, and Grants
  • Christopher D. Ingersoll, PhD, ATC, FACSM
  • Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Athletic Training
  • Joe H. Gieck Professor of Sports Medicine
  • University of Virginia

2
First Things First
  • The strength of your idea (content) for a
    manuscript/grant is the most important thing.
  • Once youve selected a good idea, then
    communicating it is important.
  • Communicating your good idea is what were
    talking about today.

3
Important Documents to Read
  • Journals see the journals Authors Guide
  • Grants see grantors instructions, use their
    forms/format (e.g. PHS 398)
  • Free Communications abstracts see instructions
    from conference organizers
  • Chapters and reviews see publishers
    instructions

4
Outline
  • Structure of a Scholarly Manuscript
  • Optimizing Scholarly Communication
  • Reasons Manuscripts Get Returned/ Rejected
  • Helpful Resources

5
Structure of a Scholarly Manuscript
6
Organization
  • Follow instructions
  • Include what you are supposed to
  • Put things where they belong
  • Manuscripts typically contain
  • Title page
  • Acknowledgements
  • Abstract
  • Text
  • References
  • Tables
  • Legends to illustrations
  • Illustrations

7
Organization
  • All pages from abstract through illustrations
    should be numbered, often in the upper right hand
    corner
  • Sometimes, lines should be numbered

8
Title Page
  • Titles should be brief within descriptive limits
  • Include name of disability if relevant
  • Include name of technique or treatment if
    relevant
  • Reflect the outcome in the title
  • Elevating plasma free fatty acid increases
    forearm blood flow and capillary recruitment
    after a mixed meal

9
Title Page
  • The effects of, A comparison of, The
    treatment of, and Reports of a case of should
    not be used
  • Author information
  • Names, credentials of each author
  • Name, address, phone number, fax number, and
    e-mail address of corresponding author

10
Abstract
  • 75 to 300 word abstract should succinctly
    summarize the major intent of the manuscript,
    major points of the body, and the authors
    results and/or conclusions
  • Many journals now ask for structured abstracts
  • AMA Abstract Headings
  • Context
  • Objective
  • Design
  • Setting
  • Patients or Other Participants
  • Intervention(s)
  • Main Outcome Measure(s)
  • Results
  • Conclusions
  • Key Words

11
Abstract
  • Do not confuse abstract with introduction
  • Abstract is summary of whole manuscript
  • Introduction develops problem and states purpose
  • Do not state, the significance of the
    information is discussed in the article.

12
Introduction
  • Intro serves two purposes
  • Stimulates readers interest
  • Outline reason for the study
  • Begin with a statement or two to develop problem,
    tell why study needs to be done, and state the
    purpose of the study
  • Introductions are usually too long

13
Introduction
  • Introduction not a place for great detail
  • Highlight most prominent works of others
  • Put detailed review of literature in discussion
  • Identify and develop the magnitude and
    significance of the controversy with brief
    specific statements (referenced, of course)

14
Introduction
  • Example
  • Plyometric exercise is a relatively new concept
    of training that applies the information
    specificity principle regarding the preset
    stretch condition of the muscle before explosive
    contraction1. The effects of plyometric exercises
    in increasing vertical jumping performance have
    been studied experimentally,2,3,4 but no attempt
    has been made to determine if they are more
    effective than isokinetic exercises.

15
Body of Manuscript
  • Body or main part of manuscript differs depending
    on article type, all have discussion and should
    use headings, subheadings, charts, graphs and
    figures liberally
  • Body of experimental report consists of methods,
    results and discussion sections

16
Methods
  • Methodology is the study of methods, Methods
    is the preferred term
  • Begin with paragraph describing experimental
    design, then describe subjects, instruments,
    procedures, and statistical analysis
  • Methods should contain enough detail so others
    can reproduce the experiment

17
Methods
  • Methods used by others to study problems like
    yours should be reviewed and referenced in your
    paper. Reference others methods and reliability
    and validity information. Pros and cons of
    various methods belongs in discussion.

18
Results
  • Like writing a literature review state your
    facts and reference them. Statistical info is
    evidence.
  • Report results by stating conclusions in clear,
    concise statements. Dont use statisticalese.
  • Emphasize the meaning of the results, not the
    statistical test used

19
Results
  • Statisticalese
  • Tukey post-hoc testing revealed a significant
    decrease (Plt.05) in perceived pain in groups that
    received cold, TENS, or the combination
    treatment.
  • Clearer
  • Perceived pain was less in the cold, TENS, and
    combined treatment groups than in the control
    group (Tukey, Plt.05).

20
Results
  • Reference your evidence for making a conclusion
  • There was no difference between the three
    treatment groups (F2,321.09, P.23, d20.09,
    1-ß0.3).
  • Cancer patients had higher anxiety scores than
    diabetic patients (t153.62, P.003).
  • If you have many variables, they can usually be
    presented more clearly in tables

21
Statistics
  • Statistics dont indicate or prove anything they
    simply provide you with support for making a
    decision
  • Statistical tests dont find differences they
    provide evidence that a difference between groups
    is probably real

22
Statistics
  • Use P when referring to level of probability
  • Use only 2 numbers in P if the first number is
    not zero (i.e., .36 not .364). If the first
    number is zero, continue numbers until first
    nonzero (i.e., .0002 not .00 or .00023)

23
Discussion
  • Put your results in perspective with your
    expectations and compare your results with the
    rest of the world. Dont repeat or rehash
    results discuss them
  • The emphasis should not be on other authors but
    rather on what they reported and how it relates
    to your work
  • The greater use of. . .by patients in our study
    agrees with others1,7 who reported. . .but
    disagrees with those4,5 who. . .

24
Discussion
  • Must address the contribution the study makes
    toward theory
  • Another brick in the brickyard is of little
    value it should be placed into the sidewalk of
    understanding.
  • Last part of discussion must suggest how readers
    might apply the information presented

25
Bodies of Other Types of Manuscripts
  • Literature review
  • Subsection should reflect areas of related
    thoughts
  • Case study
  • Personal data
  • Chief complaint
  • History of present complaint
  • Results of physical exam
  • Medical history
  • Diagnosis
  • Treatment
  • Clinical course
  • Criteria for return to competition
  • Deviation from expected
  • Clinical technique
  • Step by step explanation of how to perform the
    technique
  • Why the technique should be used

26
Summary
  • Separate summary not needed abstract does this.
    List of conclusions at end of discussion is
    appropriate.
  • TIP write a summary, compare to abstract, add
    left out info, then throw away summary.

27
References/Citations
  • Citations in text take the form of superscripted
    numbers. It is placed directly after the
    reference or name of the author being cited. Use
    references liberally. It is unethical to
    represent others ideas as your own.

28
References/Citations
  • Reference page
  • Palmieri RM, Weltman AL, Tom JA, Edwards JE,
    Saliba EN, Mistry DJ, Ingersoll CD. Plasma
    catecholamine concentration is not related to the
    soleus arthrogenic muscle response induced by an
    experimental knee joint effusion. Neuroscience
    Letters. 2004 36676-79..
  • Day RA. Scientific English A Guide for
    Scientists and Other Professionals. 2nd ed.
    Phoenix, AZOryx Press199573-74
  • Leadbetter WB. An introduction to sport-induced
    soft tissue inflammation. In Leadbetter WB,
    Buckwalter JA, Gordon SL, eds. Sport-Induced
    Inflammation. Park Ridge, IL American Academy of
    Orthopaedic Surgeons. 19903-23.
  • Ingersoll CD, Weltman AL, Edwards JE, Tom JA,
    Saliba EN, Mistry DJ, Palmieri RM. An
    experimental knee joint effusion does not affect
    plasma catecholamine concentration. Presented at
    the Annual Meeting of the American College of
    Sports Medicine June 5, 2004 Indianapolis, IN.

29
References/Citations
  • All statements and ideas of others must be
    referenced. If author(s) not mentioned by name,
    the reference should be placed after the phrase
    or first mention of the idea
  • Anytime an authors name is mentioned, (s)he must
    be referenced immediately after his/her name
  • Jones21 reported. . .four., not Jones reported.
    . .four.21

30
References/Citations
  • When referring by name to a work with multiple
    authors do the following
  • If two authors, use both names Jones and Smith21
    or Jones Smith21
  • If there are 3 or more authors, use the first
    authors name and et al. Black et al.5 reported

31
References/Citations
  • When reference is at end of sentence, it should
    be after period or quotes
  • body.23 not body23 or body23.
  • Ideas or results from numerous authors may appear
    in one sentence
  • Most people prefer red apples,6,9,21,33 but some
    prefer yellow6,10,21 or green6,9,24,30 ones.

32
References/Citations
  • Always refer to research and writing of others in
    past tense. Maybe that person has changed his/her
    mind since the article was written.

33
Department of Redundancy Department
  • Put things where they belong and dont repeat
    them elsewhere. For instance, dont rehash
    results in the discussion section.

34
Headings
  • Headings should be used liberally as follows
  • FIRST LEVEL HEADING
  • Second Level Heading
  • Third Level Heading. Then sentence

35
Page Numbering
  • Begin numbering the pages of your manuscript with
    the abstract as page 1 then, consecutively
    number all successive pages including
    illustrations

36
Tables
  • The purposes of tables are to centralize large
    amounts of data, to save space, and to eliminate
    long paragraphs of forced and redundant text
  • Tables must not be redundant of text. Use a table
    or include info in text, but dont do both. Refer
    reader to table, point out highlights, but dont
    ramble on talking about what is in the table.

37
Tables
  • Dont put information in a table that can easily
    be incorporated in the text
  • Ten male volunteers (age 21.3 ? 2.1 yr, ht
    140.3 ? 14.2 cm, wt 93.4 ? 7.3 kg) were
    subjects for this study.
  • Readers must be able to understand the
    information in the table without referring to the
    text

38
Tables
  • Tables should look like this

39
Tables
  • Identify units of measurement in the most general
    way possible. Include in column header or row
    identifier if possible.
  • When a table contains data that have been
    averaged, report the mean SD (or SE)

40
Illustrations
  • Illustrations are often helpful in presenting
    concepts that are difficult to describe, such as
    testing set-ups, x-ray abnormalities, and trends
    within data.
  • Each illustration should have should have a
    legend that describes the illustration and
    emphasizes its important points. A list of
    legends should be typed on a separate page
    following the last table.

41
Illustrations
  • Photographs, graphs, charts, and figures should
    be of good quality and clearly presented on white
    paper with black ink or a high quality computer
    graphic.
  • Usually, do not use color. It costs extra.
  • If preparing on computer, do not include frames,
    titles, etc., not used by the journal.
  • Usually, one original and photocopies are
    sufficient (unless submitted electronically).

42
Helpful Resources
  • Helpful texts
  • Day RA. How to Write Publish a Scientific
    Paper. 4th ed. Phoenix, AZOryx Press 1994.
  • Style manuals
  • AMA Manual of Style
  • Scientific Style and Format The CBE Manual for
    Authors, Editors, and Publishers

43
Segue
  • Structure is only half the battle. Grammar and
    style are equally important.

44
Optimizing Scholarly Communication
45
Parts of Speech and Grammar
  • Manuscripts are a collection of paragraphs, which
    are a collection of sentences, which are a
    collection of phrases and clauses, which are made
    from words. Words are classified as one or more
    of the nine parts of speech.

46
Parts of Speech and Grammar
  • Articles a, an, or the
  • Indefinite article
  • Definite article
  • Nouns words for people, places, things or ideas
  • Proper and common nouns
  • Concrete and abstract nouns
  • Collective and mass nouns
  • Adjectives words that modify a noun or pronoun
  • Pronouns words used to replace nouns
  • Personal pronouns
  • Demonstrative pronouns
  • Relative pronoun
  • Interrogative pronouns
  • Indefinite pronouns
  • Reflexive pronouns

47
Parts of Speech and Grammar
  • Verbs
  • Adverbs words that modify verbs, adjectives, or
    other adverbs
  • Conjunctions used to connect words, phrases, or
    clauses
  • Coordinating conjunctions
  • Subordinating conunctions
  • Coordinating conjunctions
  • Prepositions combine with nouns or pronouns,
    usually expressing direction or location
  • Interjections words, phrases, or sentences
    expressing emotion

48
Parts of Speech and Grammar
  • Sentence Try to write in short sentences.
    Usually, they are easier to understand.
  • Paragraph Paragraphs are not just chunks of
    text rather they are logically constructed
    passages organized around a single major idea.

49
Parts of Speech and Grammar
  • Voice Voice refers to the action of a verb,
    which can be active or passive. A verb with a
    direct object is in the active voice. The active
    voice is preferred.

50
Parts of Speech and Grammar
  • Person Person is the form of a verb or pronoun
    which indicates whether a person is speaking
    (first person), is spoken to (second person) or
    spoken about (third person).

51
Parts of Speech and Grammar
  • Tense Tense is the form of the verb that
    indicates its relation to time. Inflection (eat,
    eats, eating, ate, eaten) and the use of
    auxilliaries (will eat, have eaten, had eaten,
    will have eaten, etc.) show the tense of the
    verb. Use past tense when referring to events of
    the past, present tense when giving instruction,
    and future tense when referring to events yet to
    occur.

52
Parts of Speech and Grammar
  • Number Number refers to whether a noun, a
    pronoun, a demonstrative adjective, or a verb is
    singular (book, I, this, was) or plural (books,
    we, these, were). Sentences and paragraphs must
    be consistent concerning number.

53
Write Concisely
  • Vigorous writing is concise and direct. A
    sentence should contain no unnecessary words and
    a paragraph no unnecessary sentences. Every word
    should be purposeful.
  • Write directly. State the conclusion then
    reference it. If the conclusion needs
    amplification, do it following statement of the
    main idea.

54
Be as Brief as Possible
  • Whatever you write, shortening almost always
    makes it tighter, straighter, and easier to read
    and understand.
  • Present your points is logical order
  • Dont waste words telling people what they
    already know
  • Cut out excess evidence and unnecessary anecdotes
  • Look for windy phrases, the most common word
    wasters
  • Look for passive verbs and make them active
  • When youve finished, stop.

55
Keep Vocabulary Simple
  • Your prime purpose should be to explain
    something, not to prove you are smarter than your
    readers.
  • Dont use words, expressions, or phrases known
    only to people with specific knowledge or
    interest.
  • The biota exhibited a one hundred percent
    mortality response (All the fish died).

56
Keep Vocabulary Simple
  • Use first-degree words. These words immediately
    bring an image to your mind. Other words must be
    translated through the first-degree word before
    you see the image.

57
Avoid Overusing Abbreviations
  • Most abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms are
    strongly discouraged in scientific writing. Use
    only abbreviations that are widely known and
    accepted.
  • Editors look more kindly on your paper if you
    keep abbreviations to a minimum.

58
Prune Empty Words
  • Empty words are words that cloud rather than
    clarify meaning.

59
Emphasize Facts Not Who Wrote Them
  • Many writers unintentionally put too much
    emphasis on names of other writers.

Coppin, Livingston Kuehn4 used the same
procedure as Johnson and Leider10 but found
different results. Coppin et al4 found that grip
strength is significantly decreased immediately
following immersion of the forearm. Strength
recovery returned to normal after 40 minutes and
no increases in postimmersion strength were
recorded. This differs with Johnson Leider10
who stated that they observed significant
strength increase 80 minutes posttreatment.
Controversy exists concerning the effect of ice
water immersion on strength.4,10 Forearm strength
has increased 80 minutes postimmersion10 and
decreased immediately following immersion but
returned to normal within 40 minutes
postimmersion4 in studies using similar
procedures.
60
Active vs Passive Voice
  • Personal pronouns (I, we) and the active voice
    should be used in scientific and technical
    writing.
  • Writing in the passive voice is dry, dull, rigid,
    pompous, ambiguous, weak, evasive, convoluting,
    confusing, tentative, timid, sluggish,
    amateurish, obscene, and immoral.

61
Active vs Passive Voice
  • Authors sometimes resort to the passive voice to
    avoid the presumed immodesty of the personal
    pronoun I. It is a false modesty.
  • Passive voice is characterized by weak verbs. To
    be is a prime offender. Scrutinize every is,
    are, was or were.

62
Active vs Passive Voice
  • Circumstances sometimes necessitate use of the
    passive voice to avoid absurdities or convoluted
    phraseology. Use common sense.

63
Parallelism
  • Similar ideas should be presented in a similar,
    or parallel, fashion.

The manufacturer claims the new dynamometer is
more user friendly a verb phrase, has more data
storage capacity a verb phrase, and faster
printing a noun phrase.
The manufacturer claims the new dynamometer is
more user friendly, has more storage capability,
and prints faster.
64
Parallelism
  • An easy way to check for parallelism is to read
    the sentence repeatedly, each time eliminating
    all but one phrase.
  • The manufacturer claims the new dynamometer is
    more user friendly.
  • The manufacturer claims the new dynamometer has
    more data storage capacity.
  • The manufacturer claims the new dynamometer
    faster printing.

65
Reporting Numbers and Units
  • Generally, numbers of a single digit (1-9) should
    be written out (i.e., nine not 9). Numbers of
    multiple digits are written in numerical form
    unless beginning a sentence. Exceptions
    addresses, ages, dates, designators (chapter 3),
    figure/table numbers, money, temperature, time,
    time of day, and units of measure.

66
Reporting Numbers and Units
  • Report numbers to the same precision or one more
    decimal place than what you measured.
  • Units must be reported according to the style of
    the journal i.e., English or metric.

67
General Hints
  • The word data refers to many numbers and is
    therefore plural. Use these and those, not
    this or that.
  • Scientists dont find, discover, or prove
    things they observe and report them.
  • Forget the rules when writing your first draft.
    Get the concepts on paper first, then write and
    rewrite until the concepts are clear.

68
Remember
  • You are writing for other people, not yourself.
    You know what you mean. The trick is to
    communicate it to others.

69
Reasons Manuscripts are Returned for Revisions
  • This happens most of the time
  • The description of the approach is too nebulous,
    diffuse, and lacking in clarity to permit
    adequate evaluation
  • The authors drew unjustified conclusions from
    their data
  • The statistical analysis was incorrect or
    inappropriate
  • The paper is so badly written that it is
    incomprehensible
  • The need for the study is not established
  • General need for clarification

70
Reasons Manuscripts Get Rejected
  • The study did not address an important scientific
    issue
  • The study was not original (someone else had
    already done the same or a similar study)
  • The study did not actually test the authors
    hypothesis
  • A different type of study should have been done
  • Design not adequate to test the stated or implied
    hypotheses
  • Practical difficulties (in recruiting subjects,
    for example) led the authors to compromise on the
    original study protocol, e.g.,sample size too
    small inadequate power
  • The study was uncontrolled or inadequately
    controlled

71
Reasons Manuscripts Get Rejected
  • Inadequate protection of human or animal
    participants
  • Proposed tests, or methods, or scientific
    procedures are unsuited to the stated objective
  • Instrument psychometrics are not adequate
  • Poor generalizability (e.g., local study)
  • There is a significant conflict of interest (one
    of the authors, or a sponsor, might benefit
    financially from the publication of the paper and
    insufficient safeguards were seen to be in place
    to guard against bias)
  • Revisions submitted after deadline

72
Rejected Manuscripts
73
Writing Hints (Writers Dozen)
  • Prioritize Differentiate between the urgent and
    the important
  • Write for 15-30 minutes daily
  • Record your time spent writing dailyshare your
    records weekly
  • Write daily until your writing seems urgent as
    well as important
  • Dont finish the literature review first
  • Focus on the paragraph
  • Revise around key sentences
  • Share early drafts with non-experts and later
    drafts with experts
  • Learn how to listen
  • Respond to each specific comment
  • Read your prose out loud
  • Kick it out the door and make em say No

74
Helpful Web Links
  • http//grants.nih.gov/grants/index.cfm
  • http//www.research.umich.edu/proposals/pwg/pwgcon
    tents.html
  • http//nihroadmap.nih.gov/
  • http//www.writing.eng.vt.edu/handbook/visuals.htm
    l

75
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