Scientific

Writing
Clear scientific writing generally follows a specific format with
key sections: an introduction to a particular topic, hypotheses
to be tested, a description of methods, key results, and finally,
a discussion that ties these results to our broader knowledge
of the topic (Day and Gastel 2012).

This general format is inherent in most scientific writing and

facilitates the transfer of information from author to reader if
a few guidelines are followed.
Structure of a Research Paper
1. Title
2. Abstract
3. Manuscript Text
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
3. References
4. Appendices
 Title
• Not too long (under 16 words)

Most journals prefer short titles, typically not over 100

characters (and sometimes considerably fewer), including
the spaces between the words. This usually works out to
only 10–12 words.

• Minimize abbreviations
• Concise and informative
Delete trivial phrases (such as “Notes on” or “A study of”).
 Abstract
- Condensed summary of all paper sections in a
fraction of words. The importance of it is making the
readers know what they will read and find in your
paper.
- - Structure (with or without headings)
- - Should only convey the most interesting and most
important parts of your work.
- -Some Journals put a certain limit on the number of
words, usually 250 words.
 Abstract
- Why very important?
- * Will be added to a public database (e.g. PubMed)
and will, therefore, achieve a much wider
distribution than the journal article itself.
- * The perfect abstract is constructed from keywords
from all sections of the main text.
- * People don’t read the whole article unless they
become interested in the topic and abstract.
-Notes
Avoid unfamiliar terms, acronyms, abbreviations, or symbols; if they
must be used, define them at first mention in the abstract, then again at
first mention in the text.
 Keywords
• Keywords or key phrases serve as reference points to indicate
document contents for indexing and cataloging.
Check your journal’s Instructions to Authors for their location in
the typescript. The number of keywords that can be included is
usually specified; three to ten are common limits.
If guidance from the journal is lacking, it is generally prudent to
choose keywords and terms from the Medical Subject Headings.
• Choose the most important and most specific terms you can
find in your document, including more general terms only if
your work has interdisciplinary significance.
• Unless the target journal specifies otherwise, words that
appear in the title do not need to be included among the
keywords.
 Introduction

The introduction can be summarized in three sentences:

1. What we know. (Background)
a. General Background
b. Specific background
Start by talking about the disease in general and its
symptoms and give the last updates about recent
treatment.
2. What we don’t know. (knowledge gap)
Then, start to talk about what we don’t know as the
obstacles we face and what questions still need to be
answered.
3. Why did we do this study? (Rationale)
This, in turn, will lead to the last paragraph, which should
clearly state what you did and why. (This sentence is often
phrased in hypothesis form)
 Methods
- Precise details of:
- Study design,
- Methods and techniques used
- Size and criteria of the sample
- Ethical approval for the study
- Data analysis.

Order in a logical way, chronological order

is a common way to proceed through this
segment
 Methods
*In reading this section, other researchers
should be able to appraise your work critically
and repeat your study exactly the way you did
it.

*Figure+ legend should be understandable on

their own (if there is an abbreviation write it
whole in legend)
 Results
- Accurate details
- Start with a baseline characteristics comparison.
- Includes the statistical findings.
- Includes tables and figures.
- Text should be comprehensive as is the
illustration.
- Same order as methodology.
- Include –ve results!
 Discussion
Elements to include in discussion
• State the major findings of the study, BUT do not repeat the
results.
• Relate the findings to those of similar studies (cons and
pros).
• State the meaning of the findings, their explanation, and
why they are important.
• State the clinical relevance of the findings.
• Acknowledge the study limitations. (Explanation and
discussion of the weakness and the strength of the work.)
• Future work (recommendations)
 Discussion
Don’t
• Discuss anything not described in the methods and
not presented in the results.
• Repeat results
• Ignore results of previous studies which are different
from yours.
• Overinterpretation of results, Unwarranted
speculations, or Inflating the importance of findings.
 Conclusion
• The main message of the paper.
• First get a result ( a data point or data set), this
includes analysis but no interpretation, then draw a
conclusion.
• IMP.: Conclude only in the context of the result.
• Describe:
- Implications for practice
- Implications for research
 References
Citation styles
The Vancouver referencing style
The Vancouver system is numerical; each piece of work
cited within the text is identified by a unique Arabic
number. The numbers are assigned in the order of
citation.

Example:
Smith (3) presents convincing evidence that global
warming is a much bigger threat than previous research
has assumed (1,4-7,9)
 References
Citation styles
Harvard referencing style
The works cited in the running texts are identified by the
name of the author(s) and the year of publication.

Example:
Smith (2009) presents convincing evidence that global
warming is a much bigger threat than previous research
has assumed.
The entries in the reference list are placed in alphabetical
order.
 Appendices
Contains supplementary material that is not an essential
part of the text itself but which may help provide a more
comprehensive understanding of the research problem
the information is non-essential. If it were removed, the
paper would still be perfectly understandable, and it is
simply a place for extra information.
e.g:
-Consent
-Questionnaires or surveys
-Extra photos (e.g. cases)
-Raw data
Scientific Writing Tips
The difficulty is not to write,
but to write what you mean.
‘Robert Louis Stevenson’
• Should be clear yet formal (proper grammar, no
contractions… etc
• Use the first person. e.g.” We examined the
sample”.
• Use linking words (however, therefore….)
• Be concise.
• Subjects and their verbs whenever you can do so
should be placed close.
- As a general rule, use abbreviations and acronyms
sparingly. Some authorities decree that one should
eliminate any abbreviation that is not used at least
eight times in the text.
- Abbreviations: the shortened version of a word
(temp., cm, avg.)
- Acronyms: formed from the initial letters, An
acronym is pronounced verbally as a single word
(NASA, ELISA). Each letter in an initialism is
pronounced individually (NSF, ATP)
- Be consistent: National Institutes of Health...N.I.H. or
NIH
- Use generic drug names, not brand names, brand can
be mentioned in brackets.
 Paragraphs
Paragraph length and complexity also influence readability.
• A paragraph length of about 150 words has been judged
to be optimal for a scientific article.
• Keep your paragraph short; 3 or less sentences, avoid a
one-sentence paragraph.
• A paragraph that covers more than two-thirds of a page
when typed double-spaced usually should be shortened.
 Sentences
• Strive for sentences that average about 20 words For
maximal readability, most sentences should be between 15
and 20 words. More than 40 words generally are too many.

long sentences (> 30 words or > 4 bits of punctuation).

• If your sentences consistently include fewer than 12

words– rare in scientific writing– consider linking and
expanding some.
• To make the reading easy:
- Use the active voice.
- The use of standard and expected word order– in
English, this is subject, verb, object, or SVO– makes
ideas easy to follow because the words appear in the
sequence in which things happen.

- Use as few adjectives and adverbs as possible.

- e.g. “The process of evidence-based practice involves
acquiring the skills of assessing the risk of bias in
clinical studies.”
- Can be “Evidence-based practice involves assessing the
risk of bias in clinical studies.”
• Unmask disguised verbs: Abstract nouns formed from verbs
and ending in “-ion”.
“isolation of the active component was achieved by filtering
the solution”
can be “To isolate the active component, we filtered the
solution”
• Avoid the verb “to be”, it has the same effect as the passive
voice.
e.g. “There are limitations to this study including,……”
Can be “Limitations to this study include…..”
 Tense
Because of these conventions regarding tense use, a scientific
paper usually should seesaw back and forth between the past and
present tenses.
• An Abstract or Summary refers primarily to the author’s own
unpublished results and uses the past tense.
• Most of the introduction section emphasizes knowledge, given
in the present tense. previously established
• Both the Materials and Methods and the Results sections
describe what the author did and found. They appear in the
past tense.
• Finally, the Discussion emphasizes the relationship of the
author’s work to previously established knowledge. This
section is the most difficult to write smoothly because it
includes both past and present
- Compare with vs compare to
- With means more or less, to means they are equal.
- Due to: use when can be replaced by “attributable to”,
otherwise use “because of”, “given that”, “owing to”,
or “as a result of”.
- “Comprised of” something is wrong, use “comprised”
something or “consisted of” something.
- However (meaning nevertheless), should have a comma
after it if at the start of the sentence or a semicolon
before it as well if in the middle. (if it means but, better
to use but)
- If it means “in whatever manner extent”, don’t use
punctuations.
Numerals versus written numbers
Use figures (numerals) to express numbers 10 and
above, and use words to express numbers below.