Scientific Paper Writing

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Scientific Writing - The Significance of a Good
Research Question
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Scientific Paper Writing

• The first and most important step in scientific
  paper writing is to choose your research
  question.
• You must choose a topic that will advance and add
  to the existing scientific knowledge.
• Even the journal editor wont accept a paper that
  does not have a good research question.

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The Significance of a Good Research Question
A good research question

• Gives the researchers more clarity on developing
  the study protocol, designing the study, and
  analyzing the data.
• Makes a good initial impression on the scientific
  journal editors and peer reviewers.
• Shows a well-thought research.
• Increases your chances of publication in the
  journal.

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What Makes a Good Research Question?
Though this will vary for different papers and
across disciplines, there is an overall criterion
to keep in mind while planning your research
question.
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1) So what?

• Foremost, after choosing your research question,
  always ask yourself So what? This means that
  the findings/ result pursuing from the question
  must be important, interesting, and meaningful.
• For example, the research question Is exercising
  beneficial to reduce impairment in people? wont
  yield any meaningful knowledge. A targeted
  question like Is therapeutic exercise of benefit
  in reducing impairment for people who would be
  expected to consult a physiotherapist? could
  help physiotherapists revive their treatment
  procedure for the patients.

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2) Unobviousness
Scientific journal editors stress on novelty and
unobviousness i.e. the research question should
not have an obvious or an undisputed answer.  You
can ensure this unobviousness and provide value
in one of the following ways

• Contribute new information that has a real-world
  application or leads to further lines of research
• Validate the existing information and extend its
  applicability
• Provide findings that contradict the existing
  literature OR
• Critically review and analyze the literature.

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3) Replication is sometimes acceptable

• Its not always necessary to convey unknown
  information through your research paper. You may
  replicate other researchers observations,
  especially if they were controversial or weak but
  significant. You can research whether the
  findings in one population also apply to others
  or clarify known relationships by using new
  methodologies.
• So, when you formulate your research question,
  check whether it fulfils the above three
  requirements. And if yes, youve probably got a
  worthwhile research question.

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Tips for finding and formulating good research
questions

• Your field of experience and your own research
  interests are obviously important to identify the
  potential lines of research. However, you must
  review the existing literature to know whether
  your question is still relevant.
• In addition, keep abreast of the current
  developments in the field to avoid doing same
  thing someone else has done.

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Ways of finding a new research question

• From the old literature. The Discussion section
  of many papers often mentions the questions that
  remain unresolved or additional studies that can
  be done. You can formulate a good research
  question from the old literature by identifying
  the gaps and weaknesses in them.
• Attending conferences. Recent advances in any
  field of Science are presented at the academic
  conferences. Participating in such conferences
  will help you network with the experts in the
  field and aid in your own research.

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Conclusion

• Since research question is the most crucial
  element of any scientific paper, you must take
  extreme care while choosing it.
• If you write a paper with results that are
  unoriginal, predictable, or trivial, its less
  likely to be published.
• So, contact our professional scientific writing
  services team to develop the right research
  question that will help you avoid problems in
  future.

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