Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the fourth edition
- 1 Start with a plan
- 2 Conduct a comprehensive literature search
- 3 Prepare for the challenge
- 4 Begin well
- 5 Compose the IMRAD core of a strong first draft
- 6 Assemble the rest of the first draft
- 7 Compile tables to develop, clarify, and support your story
- 8 Include figures for evidence, efficiency, or emphasis
- 9 Report numbers clearly and responsibly
- 10 Revise for coherence
- 11 Improve style and syntax
- 12 Improve word choice
- 13 Attend to punctuation, capitalization, and other mechanics
- 14 Address your ethical and legal responsibilities
- 15 Oral presentations: adapt the text and visuals
- 16 Share your story in public: presenting talks and posters
- 17 Publication: the rest of the story
- Thirty exercises to improve anyone’s scientific writing skills
- Selected resources
- Index
2 - Conduct a comprehensive literature search
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the fourth edition
- 1 Start with a plan
- 2 Conduct a comprehensive literature search
- 3 Prepare for the challenge
- 4 Begin well
- 5 Compose the IMRAD core of a strong first draft
- 6 Assemble the rest of the first draft
- 7 Compile tables to develop, clarify, and support your story
- 8 Include figures for evidence, efficiency, or emphasis
- 9 Report numbers clearly and responsibly
- 10 Revise for coherence
- 11 Improve style and syntax
- 12 Improve word choice
- 13 Attend to punctuation, capitalization, and other mechanics
- 14 Address your ethical and legal responsibilities
- 15 Oral presentations: adapt the text and visuals
- 16 Share your story in public: presenting talks and posters
- 17 Publication: the rest of the story
- Thirty exercises to improve anyone’s scientific writing skills
- Selected resources
- Index
Summary
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.
vidal sassoonTo most people, the word “research” brings to mind a white-coated scientist actively carrying out a laboratory experiment, conducting a survey, or sifting through statistical data. “Literature search,” on the other hand, summons an image of second-hand involvement, a desk-based worker compiling studies done by others. In reality, however, search and research are conjoined twins – a powerful duo, equally active and equally vital to one another’s vitality and success.
As is true for other siblings, one or the other of these twins may grow and develop more rapidly than the other at various stages. The first substantial writing that many beginning scientists produce is either a prospectus or progress report on their thesis or dissertation research, or a short journal article written jointly with their supervisor or major professor. Increasingly, a detailed prospectus that includes a literature review is being requested before research projects can begin. Likewise, in business and industry, a written proposal often must precede approval for research projects, and its worth can influence promotion and pay. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find any scientific profession that would not require checking published sources of information about a specific subject, integrating this information with one’s own ideas, and presenting one’s thoughts, findings, and conclusions effectively in a wider context. For these reasons and more, scientific writing really begins when you first reach past your own knowledge and experience to seek out, investigate, and use materials beyond your personal resources.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Successful Scientific WritingA Step-by-Step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences, pp. 14 - 27Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014