A scientific paper or a scientific article is a form of academic writing that makes an original contribution to scientific research and is published in a peer-reviewed journal. There are several criteria for a scientific report to qualify as a scientific paper. An academic report of a scientific experiment or idea is not a scientific paper.
A scientific paper requires a certain level of rigor and scrutiny that most other forms of academic writing lack. This was already explained in my previous post: What Is a Scientific Article? However, it would not hurt to quickly go over them here.
Writing a good scientific paper is a matter of doing four things well:
Choosing an appropriate topic
Using a well-prepared template or outline
Relying on credible sources
Following the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) format
Most scientific papers more or less follow a process that begins with the identification of a problem and ends with a “solution” or a keener understanding of what the problem is. Between the identification of the problem and potential solutions, there's a rigorous process that must be followed.
This includes providing background and context of the problem, methods to investigate and test it, and describe its wider significance.
As a result, a very rigid structure was developed to write a scientific paper. This is called IMRaD, which stands for Introduction, Methods, Research, and Discussion.
How well your paper turns out depends on how successful you are in following this IMRaD process and structure. Here is a brief preview of what is included in this article:
Steps to writing your scientific paper
Writing a scientific paper is crucial for students and scholars at various stages of their careers or academic lives. For researchers or scientists to remain relevant in their scientific field, get promotions, or even win grant funding, they need to be continually publishing scientific articles or scientific papers.
Scientific papers are necessary for a wide range of fields. And each field has its unique methods of publishing these types of reports. Nonetheless, there are universal principles to universal principles that can be followed to successfully publish scientific articles. And this is what we focus on in this piece.
1. Choose a topic based on valid research
A scientific paper does not begin with the writing. Instead, it begins with your experimental research and the results. You should first make sure that the research you carry out is valid. Besides that, you should ensure that it contributes something valuable and significant to the conversation.
Here is a quick checklist if questions that you should ask yourself before deciding which experiments or research results qualify to be turned into scientific articles.
Is your research novel?
Is your knowledge of the topic updated?
Are your findings valid and significant?
Does your work tie in with a current hot topic?
Does your research solve difficult issues or problems?
Only after ensuring that your research has a positive answer to these questions should you decide to publish. Sometimes valid research results are not enough. Your research has to be relevant in terms of finding solutions to problems, as well as being a “hot topic” that the scientific community is interested in.
This means you should be up-to-date with the latest research and trends in your field. You achieve this by constantly reading scientific articles from the latest or most recent issues of the academic journals in your discipline.
2. Do preliminary research to narrow down the topic
You should find at least one or two model papers. These are papers that properly cover the topic and that can be used as a template or that can give you ideas on how to go about formulating your own topic. It would be ideal to first find the target journal that you would like to publish your paper in.
You should then familiarize yourself with the type of papers they publish and the current hot topic that they report on. Besides this, you should familiarize yourself with the Author Guidelines section of the journal. This will give you a good idea of both the journal's scope and the academic style that they expect from a paper.
3. Formulate your hypothesis or research statement
Depending on the type of scientific paper that you are writing, you should formulate a hypothesis, thesis, or research statement. Hypotheses and research statements are typical of papers meant for journal publication. It’s as if you are working your way backward from a hypothesis. After all, the experiment has been completed.
The point of writing a scientific article is to ensure that you leave a proper record showing how you acquired your results and why it is valid. Therefore, you should ensure that your hypothesis can be proven or disproven by the results that you have.
4. Collect data through a thorough search of the literature
Before you start writing, you should search for and read reputable sources for information. Your initial reading should point you in the direction of the appropriate literature. Databases such as Google Scholar are quite useful in finding the appropriate literature.
As much as possible, rely on current and high-quality sources. This would mean peer-reviewed papers and books written by experts in the field. When sorting through the literature, make sure to take note of salient trends, controversies, and consensus.
This is crucial because a thorough search of the literature would lead to revealing the research gap. The research gap refers to what may be missing in the literature and how your research may fill in that gap. This can help make your study more relevant and increase the chances of your work being accepted for publication.
5. Write a detailed outline of the article
An outline will provide a roadmap to how your scientific paper will turn out. Often, the final paper does not always look like the initial roadmap. But it will serve as a guide to ensure that you complete your paper on time.
A detailed draft would be based on the readings you did so far and the results of the experiment that you have carried out so far. You can include ideas from the notes you take as you read as bullet points in the various sections of your draft.
6. Write each section of the scientific paper
Now is the time to put pen to paper. Focus on turning your ideas into complete sentences. Don't worry about making it perfect. The priority should be establishing a flow of continuous ideas. The parts of the manuscript usually follow a chronological order of IMRaD:
In addition, you need to write other parts of the paper such as the Abstract and Acknowledgements. It doesn't necessarily have to be the case that each section be written chronologically in the order they follow. For example, it is usually recommended the abstract be written last. This is because you need to have a whole overview of the manuscript to write an effective abstract.
More importantly, you should make time to write. You should set up a schedule to write regularly throughout the week. It is not advisable to try writing a whole manuscript in one go. This would make it seem like an insurmountable task.
7. Revise the paper
After writing the whole paper, you should go back and revise the whole article from the beginning. In this stage, you should look for the proper use of punctuation. This would be proofreading.
You can do this your own if you are proficient. If you don't have faith in your ability you can ask for help from a friend or even a professional editor. Grammar or punctuation tools such as Grammarly and PerfectIt can also be used, but with caution.
Professional editing and proofreading services are particularly helpful if you are not a native English speaker or even you lack confidence win your writing skills or ability.
More than that, you should look to shore up gaps in your logic or argument. Entire parts of the paper should be rewritten if your logic is too weak. In the following sections, we give a brief preview of each component of the IMRaD structure. Then, we move on to detailed descriptions with examples. Read on to learn more.
Following The IMRaD format
IMRaD is designed to answer various questions at each stage of your scientific paper. This is shown in Figure 1. Let's take a look at each section.
1. Introduction. In this section, you identify the problem and the context around it.
2. Methods. This explains the process by which you collect data to investigate the problem.
3. Results. This presents your data. It should be presented and analyzed clearly without bias.
4. Discussion. The discussion connects your results to the wider context.
The IMRaD process makes it easy for scientists to explain and present the results of their research. Besides this, it also makes it easier for other scientists to read and critique your research. More importantly, sections such as the methods give information on how to replicate your experiments or reproduce your results by other scientists.
In the following sections, I will provide tips on how each section of a scientific paper should be written.
Write the Introduction
The introduction is where you contextualize your study. You should let readers know or understand the broader context within which your study exists. This means what is that is the relevance and importance to the wider society.
To ensure that your introduction does its job of impressing your readers and walking them from the problem being tackled by your research to the solution that you propose, you should adopt the funnel approach. What exactly is the funnel approach to writing your introduction?
The funnel approach describes a specific strategy that begins with a broad perspective that progressively narrows down to the specific details of your research. This would entail breaking your introduction into the following parts:
The Problem Scope
Introduce Your Research Statements
Make your objectives clear
State Your Hypotheses
The problem scope is where you explain the wider significance of the problem to society. For example, a scientist researching levels of heavy metal poisoning in cacao trees (used to produce chocolate) on a plantation growing near factories can let us know how this can affect human health.
The research statements and objectives of the study are where you narrow down the focus. For example, what are the specific cacao plantations are you looking at to collect samples for your study? What criteria are you using to determine safe versus dangerous levels of heavy metals in cacao tissue samples?
The hypothesis is where you narrow down your whole experiment into a single question or statement. For example, H1: Cacao plantations near factories will likely have unsafe levels of heavy metal poisoning.
Write your Methods
The method section is where you explain the process of collecting data and carrying out your experiment. It is an important step in the research process as it allows other scientists to see how they can replicate your work.
In science, this principle is known as reproducibility. It is the cornerstone to establish the validity and rigor of your research process. This section goes by several names depending on the field of study or the journal.
It can be called Method, Methodology, or Materials and Methods. In the Methods, you should describe Materials used in your experiment. This refers to the scientific instruments and chemicals or substances used in a lab experiment.
The methods section should be concise. It should not be overloaded with details of procedures, especially if these procedures are standard for your field of study. Think about including extra details in the appendix or supplementary section of your manuscript.
Write your Results
The integrity of your paper relies on your results. The main priorities should be clarity and completeness. Presenting complete data makes your research more credible. Even when the results are not what you would expect, they should still be reported.
If your results are not too complicated or large, fully describe them in the text. Information that is too complicated must be placed in tables. In some instances, datasets are so large that it would not be practical to include all tables in the body of the text. In such cases, include them as supplementary tables. Results are usually written in the past tense as they describe past events.
The introduction and methods tell the why and how of your research; the discussion focuses on the meaning of your research; however, the results answer the questions that launched the rationale of your paper.
As a result, you should strive for clarity. The thing about scientific writing is that it's not a literary contest. This is especially true for the academic writing associated with scientific articles. You don’t have to worry about writing eloquently. Just aim for clarity. How?
● Use tables properly
● Be concise
● Leave out extraneous descriptions
● Avoid repeating information already located in tables
In writing the results, you should strive to strike a balance between avoiding redundancy and providing complete information. These tips will help you do so.
Using statistics and tables
Statistics and tables are a big part of the results section. Tables help to arrange information clearly and efficiently. Properly formatted tables mean that you have to spend less time writing. Here are a few tips to follow when using tables:
Table titles should be concise and descriptive. They are usually phrases instead of complete sentences.
Tables should not be spread over more than one page. If so, it should separated into two
A table should be complete. That is, abbreviations should be defined in notes at the bottom of the table if necessary.
Tables can be used to present categories, as well as descriptive and multivariable statistics. Quite often, they can be at the heart of the study and can tell readers about the importance and validity of your results.
Write your Discussion
The discussion section is where you explain the wider meaning and relevance of your outcomes. This importance and relevance could have a number of implications, including for:
The theory/theories underlying your field of study
The economy/industry
The wider society
For example, we could look at a recent example in the real world: the discovery of a cheaper scientific method to produce synthetic or lab-grown diamonds. This could have massive implications for the industry and wider society. It means that the price of diamonds could drastically go down.
People in society might even have to reconsider the value that is placed on diamonds since mass manufacturing of such a product means that it's no longer as rare and valuable (or expensive) as perceived before this scientific and industrial breakthrough.
The discussion involves four steps. 1. Summarizing your results objectively; 2. Pointing out limitations; 3. Explaining the implications of your results; and 4. Making recommendations.
1. Clearly state and summarize the results. Objectively report on your outcomes. If your hypotheses were not supported, try to explain why.
2. Point out the limitations. Don't be afraid to acknowledge your study's limitations. For example, explain how generalizable your results are. If your study population was not large and representative enough, your study may not be applicable to the wider population.
3. Explain the implications. This means explaining the importance of your study and what it implies for your field of study and wider society. Please take into account the limitations when doing so. Think about consider your outcomes in the following terms:
Theoretical implications
Clinical implications
Practical significance
For example, are there any problems that have been solved by your outcomes? Are there any problems that remain unresolved? Lastly, have any new problems arisen from these outcomes? Make sure that you provide a clear line of logic and reason when discussing implications.
4. Make recommendations. The last part of your discussion includes making recommendations. If there are policy or economic implications for your study, you should explain how policymakers could react in terms of the most effective policies to implement.
Here, you should be as objective as possible. Also, you should base your recommendations on the actual results and provide clear reasoning and logic for them.
Final thoughts on writing your scientific paper
Writing a scientific paper is a major accomplishment, and it’s one of the most difficult tasks associated with academic writing. It represents something of a hero’s journey if we are allowed to be dramatic. As a researcher, you’re supposed to recognize and identify a problem. Investigate or approach at a unique angle using rigorous methodology.
The results that you discover should be properly explained and you should contextualize them to make people understand their importance and significance. A scientific paper, be it a final report for a university course, a thesis, or a paper meant for publication in a journal represents either the discovery or synthesis of new knowledge or at least a novel perspective.
It is a major undertaking that should be carried out painstakingly and with discipline. It is not simply a matter of putting pen to paper. It requires extensive research and training yourself in the discipline of scholarship. Scholarship can be likened to professional sports. In the same way that elite athletes have to practice for hours at a time every day, so should a scholar.
How EminentEdit Can help
At EminentEdit, we understand fully the process of writing a research paper. We have editors who have published papers on their own in peer-reviewed journals, editors who serve as reviewers in peer-reviewed journals, and editors and proofreaders who have edited several million words of scientific papers.
Many of these edited papers have been published in peer-reviewed journals. So, we know what it takes to get a paper published, and our editing services do just that. This includes:
Developmental editing to make sure your proposal can be transformed into a scientific article worth publishing
Substantive editing to improve the quality of your writing on a sentence level
Proofreading to make sure your writing is grammatically correct with proper spelling and punctuation
Style guide accuracy to make sure your paper is formatted according to the standards of your target journal
So feel free to get in touch through our contact page here: CONTACT US AT EMINENT EDIT. Good luck with your research writing!
References
American Psychological Association, A. (2013). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition. APA
Day, R. A. & B., Gastel. (2022). How to write and publish a scientific paper. ABC-CLIO.
The University of Chicago. (2017). The Chicago Manual of Style, Seventeenth Edition. University of Chicago Press.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2024, July 28). How to Write a Scientific Paper: A Definitive Guide. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/how-to-write-a-scientific-paper-a-definitive-guide |
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