Writing-a-scientific-paper

WRITINGASCIENTIFICPAPERPeterA.ThrowerEditor-in-Chief,CARBONThePast•Typewritersdemandedextremecare.•CopyEditorswereimportant.•Publicationswereinotherlanguages.•Typesettingwas“manual”.•Submissioncosts!•Alwayssawcompletems.(Title,Abstract,Text)ThePresent•Computersmakecorrectionandrevisioneasy.•Therearenocopyeditors-mustrelyongrammarandspellcheckers.Thesearepoorlanguagemonitors!•Englishisthelanguageofscience-sorry!•Notypesetting-electronicformatting.•Freesubmissionsviawebsite.•WebsiteallowsaccesstoTitle/AbstractwithouttheText.•Supplementarymaterialcanbeincluded.Thecomponents•Title•Abstract•Introduction•Experimental•Results&Discussion•Conclusions(orSummary)•Acknowledgments&ReferencesWhatdoIdofirst?•CertainlyNOTwriteintheorderthesectionsappear.Perhapsasfollows.–Results&Discussion–Conclusions–Experimental–Introduction–Abstract–Title–OrganiseReferences–AcknowledgmentsResults•ApaperiscenteredaroundtheResults–Firstgetthemorganised.Whattoinclude?–Anyphotographs?–HowwillIpresentthem-figuresand/ortables?–DoIneedtocombineresultswithdiscussion?–CansomeResultsbepresentedasSupplementaryMaterial?[websiteallowsthis]Results•TablesExact,ObjectiveCheckaccuracy•GraphsSomeguesswork?•PhotographsRepresentative?Subjective•SupplementaryMaterialFigures•Makesureeachoneisimportant.•Thereisnoneedtohaveaphotographofananotubeineverypaperdealingwiththem!•Donotduplicatedatainbothfiguresandtables.Whichshowsthedatamoreclearly?•Oftenafigureisbetterinthemainms.withtablesinSupplementaryMaterial.Discussion•Ifpossible,separatefromtheResultsBUT•Sometimesaresult,orsetofresults,mustbediscussedinordertologicallypointtothenextstageintheexperiment.•InthiscasecombineResultsandDiscussion.Discussion•Keepitlogical.•Donot“ramble”.•Compareyourresultswiththoseofothers.Referencesarereallyimportanthere.•Becarefultoshowwhereyourworkhasadvancedthesubject.•TrytoleadnaturallytotheConclusions.Conclusions•ThisisNOTthesameasasummary.TheAbstractisusuallyasummary.AreaderwhohasthepaperwillcertainlyhavetheAbstract.•PersonalpreferenceistohavetheConclusionsasalist.•Ifitisasummary-giveitthatheadingandmakeitmorethantheAbstract.•NEVERmakeconclusionsthatcannotbejustifiedorarenotmentionedinthemaintext.ExperimentalThissectionhastwopurposes:–Toconvincereadersthattheworkhasbeendonesystematicallyandthoroughlyusingappropriateequipment.–Toallowreaderstorepeattheexperimentsiftheywish.•Tocheck(doubtful)results•Topreparethesamematerials,etc.Experimental•ShouldcontainALLinformationneededforanotherpersontorepeattheexperiment.–Samplepreparation.Timesandtemperatures.Heatingrates.–Sourcesofmaterials.Purity.Particlesize.Synthesisofintermediates–Analytical&measurementtechniques.–Parameters.Strainrates.Wavelengths.Appliedvoltages,etc.Experimental•Areinstrumentdetailsimportant?(Theyshouldusuallybeirrelevant.)Doessomebodyneedthesameinstrumenttorepeattheresearch?•WhatisthedifferencebetweenTEMandHRTEM?Whendoesaninstrumentbecome“highresolution”?•Donotsub-dividetoomuch.(Somepapersaresubmittedwithseparatesectionsforeachinstrument.)IntroductionandReferences•Whytogether?Becauseusuallyaminimumof30%,andasmanyas70+%ofallreferencesarecitedintheIntroduction.•MostIntroductionsareunnecessarilylong.•Areferenceissomethingyoumaywishtorefertoforfurtherinformation.Whendidyoulastconsultareference?•Ifyouhavedoneso,itismostunlikelytobeoneofthefirsttenreferences!Youknowthosealready.WhatisthepurposeoftheIntroduction?•Abrief,orcomplete,historyofthesubject?•Whatdoesthereaderneedtoknow?•Whatwillthereaderalreadyknow?BUT•Somereviewersareupsetiftheirpapersarenotreferenced.•TheCitationIndex!!CitationIndexShouldbebasedonpapersreferencedotherthanintheIntroduction!ReferencescitedintheDiscussionarecertainlymoreimportanttothepaper’scontent.[1]S.Iijima,Helicalmicrotubulesofgraphiticcarbon.Nature1991;354(6348):56–58.Thispaperhasnearly10,000citationsbutmostareinIntroductions.Isitanimportantpaper?Certainly“yes”.But……Titles•Bestraightforwardandprecise:–“Improvedmechanicalproperties”•Whichones?Strength?Stiffness?•Forwhatapplications?•Betterforoneapplicationmaybetheoppositeforanother.–“Activatedcarbonsproducedatlowtemperature”•80Kislow!500°Cisnot.–“CNTsolutioninorganicacids”•All?Whichdidyouinvestigate?Fumicandacetic.TitlesNeveruseacolon(orhyphen)unlessthepaperispartofamulti-partseries.“Chemistryandkineticsofchemicalvapordepositionofpyrocarbon:I.Carbondepositionfrommethane.”“Chemistryandkineticsofchemicalvapordepositionofpyrocarbon:II.Carbondepositionfrompropylene”“ThestructureofCVDcarbon:theeffectofdepositiontemperature”shouldbe:“TheeffectofdepositiontemperatureonthestructureofCVDcarbon”Abstract“Inthispaperwereportnewresultsonthesuccessfulpreparationof……”1.Weknowitisnotadifferentpaper,butthisone.2.Weknowitis“you”.3.Weknowtheresultsarenew-wewouldnotpublishiftheywereold.4.Weassumetheexperimentwassuccessful-youdonotusuallyreportfailures!AbstractSimplytellthereadertwothings:1.Whatwasdone.2.Importantresultsobtained.Donot:1.Providehistoryornarrative.2.Speculate-possibleuses,etc.3.Includedatathatisnotinthemanuscript.Arecentexample.SubmittedAbstractT