1-Writing-scientific-papers

17➤➤➤➤➤CHAPTER2ScientificPapersThechemistrycommunity,likeotherscientificcommuni-ties,dependsonthecommunicationofscientificresults.Scientistscommunicateinavarietyofways,butmuchofthecommunicationisthroughpublicationinbooksandjournals.Inthischapter,thedifferenttypesofbookandjournalpresentationsaredescribed,alongwiththecomponentsofthestandardformatforreportingoriginalresearch.TypesofBooksBooksfortheprofessionalscientificcommunityfallintooneofthreecategories:proceedingsvolumes,monographs,andhandbooks.ProceedingsVolumesBooksbasedonmeetingsarecalledproceedingsvolumes.Thesearemultiau-thoredvolumes.Thechaptersinproceedingsvolumesmaybeaccountsoforigi-nalresearchorliteraturereviews.Generally,thechaptersaredevelopedandexpandedfrompresentationsgivenatsymposia,butadditionalchaptersmaybewrittenespeciallyforthebooktomakesurethatthecoverageofthetopiciscomplete.Proceedingsvolumesshouldcontainatleastonechapterthatreviewsthesubjectandalsoprovidesanoverviewofthebooktounifythechaptersintoacoherenttreatmentofthesubject.Inalongerbookthatisdividedintosections,eachsectionmayneedashortoverviewchapter.Copyright2006AmericanChemicalSocietyDownloadedbyJINANUNIVonAugust21,2013||doi:10.1021/bk-2006-STYG.ch002InTheACSStyleGuide;Coghill,A.,etal.;TheACSStyleGuide;AmericanChemicalSociety:Washington,DC,2006.18➤TheACSStyleGuideMonographsMonographsarebooksthatexamineasingletopicindetail.Theyarewrittenbyoneauthororcollaborativelybymorethanoneauthor.Eachchaptertreatsonesubdivisionofthebroadertopic.HandbooksHandbooksarelarge,multiauthoredvolumesthatdiscussafieldindepth.Gen-erally,theindividualsubmissionsareshort,aboutthreeorfourpages.Eachsub-missioniswrittenbyoneortwoauthorsandprovidesadetaileddiscussionofanarrowtopicwithinthescopeofthebook.JournalPresentationsTherearefourgeneraltypesofpresentationspublishedinjournals:articles,notes,communications,andreviews.ArticlesArticles,alsocalledfullpapers,aredefinitiveaccountsofsignificant,originalstudies.Theypresentimportantnewdataorprovideafreshapproachtoanestablishedsubject.Theorganizationandlengthofanarticleshouldbedeter-minedbytheamountofnewinformationtobepresentedandbyspacerestric-tionswithinthepublication.NotesNotesareconciseaccountsoforiginalresearchofalimitedscope.Theymayalsobepreliminaryreportsofspecialsignificance.Thematerialreportedmustbedefinitiveandmaynotbepublishedagainlater.Appropriatesubjectsfornotesincludeimprovedproceduresofwideapplicabilityorinterest,accountsofnovelobservationsorofcompoundsofspecialinterest,anddevelopmentofnewtech-niques.Notesaresubjecttothesameeditorialappraisalasfull-lengtharticles.CommunicationsCommunications,called“letters”or“correspondence”insomepublications,areusuallypreliminaryreportsofspecialsignificanceandurgencythataregivenexpeditedpublication.Theyareacceptediftheeditorbelievesthattheirrapidpublicationwillbeaservicetothescientificcommunity.Communicationsaregenerallysubjecttostrictlengthlimitations;theymustcontainspecificresultstosupporttheirconclusions,buttheymaynotcontainnonessentialexperimentaldetails.DownloadedbyJINANUNIVonAugust21,2013||doi:10.1021/bk-2006-STYG.ch002InTheACSStyleGuide;Coghill,A.,etal.;TheACSStyleGuide;AmericanChemicalSociety:Washington,DC,2006.Chapter2:ScientificPapers➤19Thesamerigorousstandardsofacceptancethatapplytofull-lengtharticlesalsoapplytocommunications.Likealltypesofpresentationsinjournals,com-municationsaresubmittedtoreview.Inmanycases,authorsareexpectedtopublishcompletedetails(notnecessarilyinthesamejournal)aftertheircom-municationshavebeenpublished.Acceptanceofacommunication,however,doesnotguaranteeacceptanceofthedetailedmanuscript.ReviewsReviewsintegrate,correlate,andevaluateresultsfrompublishedliteratureonaparticularsubject.Theyseldomreportnewexperimentalfindings.Effectivereviewarticleshaveawell-definedtheme,areusuallycritical,andmaypresentnoveltheoreticalinterpretations.Ordinarily,reviewsdonotgiveexperimentaldetails,butinspecialcases(aswhenatechniqueisofcentralinterest),experi-mentalproceduresmaybeincluded.Animportantfunctionofreviewsistoserveasaguidetotheoriginalliterature;forthisreason,accuracyandcompletenessofreferencescitedareessential.StandardFormatforReportingOriginalResearchThemaintextofscientificpaperspresentingoriginalresearchisgenerallyorga-nizedintoastandardformat:abstract,introduction,experimentaldetailsortheoreticalbasis,results,discussion,andconclusions,althoughnotnecessarilyinthisorder.Thisformathasbecomestandardbecauseitissuitableformostreportsoforiginalresearch,itisbasicallylogical,anditiseasytouse.Thereasonitaccommodatesmostreportsoforiginalresearchisthatitparallelsthescientificmethodofdeductivereasoning:definetheproblem,createahypothesis,deviseanexperimenttotestthehypothesis,conducttheexperiment,anddrawconclu-sions.Furthermore,thisformatenablesthereadertounderstandquicklywhatisbeingpresentedandtofindspecificinformationeasily.Thisabilityiscrucialnowmorethaneverbecausescientists,ifnotallprofessionals,mustreadmuchmorematerialthaninthepast.✐Rem