I would like to share a great book tip which I got from Marc: “How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper”- Barbara Gastel and Robert A. Day. According to the book, the idea for writing it started with a seminar teached by Robert A. Day on the subject of writing a paper. Due to the high demand, this soon became an article (Day 1975), and due to the continued popularity, a book. In order to keep it up to date, there have been several editions, the eighth edition (which I summarize here) is the third one for which Barbara Gastel joined Robert A. Day.

The book gives practical tips about how to approach the task of writing and publishing a paper. Here I would like to give you a little summary of some of the chapters. I want to give you an impression of what types of tips you can get out of the book and hopefully make you read it. The summary will naturally be like one large citation of the book, so all intellectual property belongs to the authors.

The book is very easy to read, it is a great change to technical literature. Although I am not at all a native English speaker, I was able to follow the content easily and read through quite fast. Another beautiful thing about this book is the following. While reading it, I notice how much the authors fulfilled their inputs and tips. I more and more gained the impression that the whole book is a template of how to write a paper (or - a book, of course). Also, it can be quite funny, there are some cheeky little jokes in it.

Chapter 3 - Approaching a writing project

Focus on writing very clearly and understandably. It should not be a literary text, but the main reason of writing down science is to make others understand it.

Read similar papers and copy their style (subheadings, lengths of sections, how many figures and tables, the way they are commented, typical sentences etc.)

Write down thoughts and ideas for writing early (even before starting to write actively).

Present your work to others, speaking helps writing, and the questions your audience asks may help you find weaknesses or strengths of your work.

Do a lot of pre-writing! Sort the papers you would like to cite in the order of citation, prepare your outlines, etc. Draft the paper with bullet points and take the time to order them until you (and your supervisors) agree on the order.

Write sections in any order, whatever fits to your mood. (e.g. first the introduction, then the results, …)

Leave notes where detail information will be needed to fill in. Don’t get yourself out of the writing flow by clarifying all the small details, it is enough for the start that you establish the order in which the information is given.

When you stop writing, leave a little note for future-you that explains you where you have stopped and what is the next action to do.

Revise! Many times! Count on it from the start.

Let the draft be revised by others, ideally by one person from your field, one person in your general field and an “external” person interested in the content.

The “shape” of the whole paper should be the shape of an hourglass. Provide broad orientation about the general research area in the beginning and e.g. state why the content is important, then narrow down on the specific research and in the end, put your findings into a broader context.

Have a clear idea in mind about the title, the outline and the background of the audience you are writing for before starting to write, so you will not write in many directions at the same time.

Begin writing while the work is still in progress. Then, everything is fresh in your mind and it is easier to find inconsistencies in the work. At this time point it is easier to go back to experimental work. If there are coauthors, it is easier to write while they are still available.

Chapter 5 - Ethics

Report well your data, e.g. outliers and plan well your experiments.

Submit to one journal at once to not waste peer-rewiev power.

Put findings which belong together in the same paper, not in separate ones.

Run a plagiarism-checking software your own, e.g. CrossCheck or Turnitin.

Acknowledge all help. (There is a whole chapter about it)

Chapter 7 - Title

Find the fewest possible words to adequatly describe the content

Check syntax carefully! No wrong word orders allowed. (There are some very funny examples of wrong word orders which change the meaning of the title, you will find them if you read the book:))

Avoid “assertive sentence titles” like Dogs are intelligent. Such sentences are to omit in a paper, as they are to omit in the title.

Use (all) important terms in the title.

No abbreviations, jargon or proprietary names.

Chapter 9 - Abstract

The abstract should consist of a summary of each section, around 250 words.

It should first state objectives and scope of the investigation, then describe the methods quickly, summarise the results and finally state the principal conclustion. The conclusion is often given three times, once in the abstract, then in the introcution and in a detailed form in the discussion.

Include as few words as possible.

Chapter 10 - introduction

The purpose of the introduction is that someone is able to understand the paper without having to read previous work.

Write in present tense.

First, present the nature and scope of the problem investigated, e.g. why this specific area is important (and interesting). Then, briefly summarize the important (and recent) literature and the gap of knowledge intented to fill. After, clearly state the objective of the study, maybe even the hypotheses. Describe quickly the methods used and if needed, why this method was chosen. Possibly also summarize the results quickly and mention the principal conclusion. An introduction following this structure has a “triangle” shape, like half of an hourglass, which guides the reader into the topic.

If the problem is not described well enough, readers will not be interested in the solution.

Don’t hold back important informations/ conclusions to the end of the paper only because it could make your paper more interesting. It is not a novel where the end needs to be surprising. There is a nice citation in the book at this point : “Reading a scientific article isn’t the same as reading a detective story. We want to know from the start that the butler did it. (Ratnoff 1981, p.96)”

There can be overlap with the information given in the abstract.

Chapter 11 - Materials and Methods

Mostly written in past tense.

Describe and possibly defend the Methods you used in detail. Provide enough details so a component person could reproduce your experiment. Also provide enough details that someone else can judge about the drawbacks and advantages of the methods, and possibly therefore judge about the reliability of your work.

Material should be described in all technical details, so someone else would be able to get the same starting material for reproduction. However, trade names are mostly not necessary to avoid advertisement. If they are included, captialize them and describe the product after, e.g. Kleenex facial tissues.

Methods are usually presented chronologically or grouped by similarity.

Think about a recipe in a cookbook while writing methods. Always keep the questions “how?” and “how much?” in mind.

“Usual” statistical methods can just be mentioned and don’t need a detailed description. Unusual or advanced methods should include a reference.

If the method has already be used in another publication, give the reference. If the method is quite new, add a few sentences to describe it.

Figures and Tables can help a lot, both the reader and the author.

Don’t include results in this section!

As a control, give the methods to a colleague and ask if he/she would be able to reproduce the experiment. It is quite common to forget a detail if you are too close to the work.

The use of passive voice is allowed here, as the experimenter is not the important part here. “We” is sometimes used, and some papers allow the use of “I” as well.

Chapter 12 - Results

Results are written in past tense.

First, give an overall description of the experiment, second, present the data.

Present representative data, without repeating endlessly. Predigest data a bit instead of presenting every small result you got.

Numbers can be given within a flowtext if there are not too many of them. Otherwise, a table or figure is a good choice. The variables that did not influence the reaction of your subject should be commented in a text, but do not need to be presented in a graph or table.

“The results should be short and sweet, without verbiage.”

This section is mostly the shortest, especially if the surrounding sections, Materials and Methods and Discussion, are well-written.

No redundancy in the Results section. Things which are shown in Figures and Tables do not need to be explained again in the text.

Avoid usint “it” too much, it can make the text unclear.

Supplementing material mostly contains information about results.

Chapter 13 - Discussion

Considered the hardest section to write.

Many Discussion sections are too long, maybe because wordy descriptions as “It was found in the present investigation that …” are used.

Main components are : 1. Presentation of the principles, generalizations and relationships of the results. It is not thought to be a recapitulation of the results. 2. Point out gaps like exceptions and lack of correlations, as well as unknown points. 3. Show how your results agree/contrast with previously published work. 4. Don’t be shy to discuss implications of your work, theoretical and practical ones. 5. State conclusions as clearly as possible. 6. Summarize the evidence for each conclusion.

The discussion is paired with the introduction. The questions stated in the introduction are answered in the discussion.

The discussion is where the hourglass shape of the paper gets wide again, from the specific to the general.

The relationships among the results should be shown.

Note strengths and limitations of the work. It will help readers to gain an idea how to classify the results, e.g. how definitive they are. Showing limitations helps keeping the open character of science.

Point out the significance of the results in the end, so the reader can take it with him/her/*.

Chapter 35 - How to write a Thesis

There are no general rules. The content and style depends on the institution mostly. Define with your supervisors what should be part of the thesis.

Read other theses written by previous students of the same institution and search for common style.

The introduction is very important, show that you know the field, maybe even include some science history, e.g. the development of a given field. Profit from the introduction yourself by learning a lot.

Start early with wrapping up methods and keeping track of your ideas, e.g. in a file where you can constantly add notes.