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
6 - Assemble the rest of the first draft
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
Writing the last page of the first draft is the most enjoyable moment in writing.
It’s one of the most enjoyable moments in life, period.
nicholas sparksThe task took vision, determination, and perhaps some figurative glue on the chair seat, but at last you’ve finished drafting IMRAD, the core of a scientific research paper. Now it’s time to include the somewhat automatic details that will complete your first draft. Let’s get started with the lengthiest section left to do – the reference list.
Compile a careful and complete reference list
Forethought and care make accidents rare.
aphorismAs you’ve been developing the basic storyline of your paper, you’ve come upon many places where you have explicitly relied upon the work of others to help develop your message. Text citations and reference lists exist to acknowledge that reliance. Notice that there are two places in a scientific paper where referenced citations are crucial – the Introduction and the Discussion, and two other places where they rarely appear – the Abstract and the Results.
In developing a Reference section for your paper, most of the challenge lies in maintaining a high and consistent level of attention to detail. When at last you feel ready to submit your paper, check the references and citations, one by one. Ensure that sources have been listed for every important idea that is not your own.
Verify each of your references against the original document (not someone else’s list!), both to correct any inadvertent errors and to ensure that you have not misrepresented the authors’ intent. Then check every entry one more time to make sure that its style and format are consistently correct for your intended publisher.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Successful Scientific WritingA Step-by-Step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences, pp. 68 - 80Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014