Writing Scientific Research Articles
• A scientific paper is a written and published report
describing original research results.
• scientific papers have to meet certain
requirements regarding how the paper was written
and the way it is published. The process leading to
publication is equally important as the content,
style and organization of the published paper.
• A scientific paper must be a valid publication, i.e. it
must be published in the right place, like in a peer-
reviewed journal or in a top-ranked conference.
It should be noted that manuscripts that are successfully
submitted to a journal for publication have three main
components: (1) the overall idea, (2) the execution of the
work, and (3) the presentation of the work.
Why publish?
Researchers publish to share ideas and results with
colleagues.
The other reasons for publishing include:
. to leave a record of research which can be added to by
others;
. to receive due recognition for ideas and results; and
. to attract interest from others in the area of research.
. to receive expert feedback on results and ideas; and
. to legitimize the research; i.e. receive independent
verification of methods and results.
Structure of scientific papers
The structure of a research paper comprises three core
parts, namely introduction, body and discussion.
The introduction leads the reader from general motivations
and a broad subject to a particular research question that is
tackled in the body of the paper.
The body of the paper stays within a tight thematic scope
and describes the research methods and results in detail.
Eventually, the discussion part aims to draw general
conclusions and present implications from the results
However, there are additional parts of a paper with similar
importance. These are title, abstract and references
Manuscripts submitted to journals for consideration for
publication typically have the following components.
• Title Page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References
Title Page
The title is the part of a paper that is read the most; it is
usually read first and most often, it is the only thing that is
read.
A good title is defined “as the fewest possible words that
adequately describe the contents of the paper”. Good titles
clearly identify the field of the research, indicate the ‘‘story’’
the results tell, and raise questions about the research in the
mind of the reader.
An effective title:
• identifies the main issue of the paper;
• begins with the subject of the paper;
• is accurate, unambiguous, specific and complete;
• does not contain abbreviations unless they are well known
by the target audience
There are different types of title.
• descriptive titles, which describe what the paper is about
(e.g. ‘Investigating the role of academic conferences on
shaping the research agenda’);
• declarative titles, which make a statement about the
results presented in the paper (e.g. ‘Academic
conferences shape the short-term research agenda’);
• interrogative titles, which pose a question (e.g. ‘Do
academic conferences shape the research agenda?’);
• compound titles, which may combine several of the
above separated by colons or question marks (e.g. ‘Do
academic conferences shape the research agenda? An
empirical investigation’).
Abstract
Basically, an abstract comprises a one-paragraph summary of
the whole paper. An abstract extracts everything relevant
from the paper, such as research objectives addressed,
methods employed in solving the problems, results obtained
and conclusions drawn.
The thematic scope of an abstract progresses in a similar way
as the complete paper
1 Motivation: Why do we care about the problem and the
results?
2 Problem: What problem is the paper trying to solve and
what is the scope of the work?
3 Solution: What was done to solve the problem?
4 Results: What is the answer to the problem?
5 Implications: What implications does the answer imply?
The first sentence should clearly state the objective of the
research. The subsequent sentences describe how the
investigation was carried out. The following sentences
describe the results of the research. The final sentences
describe the significance of the results and the impact of
this work on the general field of study.
Introduction
The introduction requires a short review of the literature
pertaining to the research topic. The introduction start with
broad topics and slowly focusing on the work at hand. Thus
the introduction serves the purpose of leading the reader
from a general subject area to a particular field of research.
Three phases of an introduction can be identified as:
• bring out the importance of the subject and/or make
general statements about the subject and/or present an
overview on current research on the subject.
• oppose an existing assumption or reveal a research gap
or formulate a research question or problem or continue
a tradition
• sketch the intent of the work and/or outline important
characteristics of the work; outline important results;
and give a brief outlook on the structure of the paper.
In brief, the introduction should guide the reader to current
state of the art in the field and should allow the reader to
understand the rest of the paper without referring to
previous publications on the topic
Methods
The body of a paper reports on the actual research done to
answer the research question or problem identified in the
introduction. This section should be a straightforward
description of the methods used in your study. Each method
should be described in a separate section.
Begin with a statement of the materials used in the study.
This information is critical so that readers have the capability
to repeat the work in their own institutions .
Next describe, in separate sections, each key procedure and
technique used in the study. Keep explanations brief and
concise.
Finally, describe the statistical analysis methods that were
utilized to analyze the results.
Generally, the body of a paper answers the question, how
was the research question addressed (materials, methods)
Results
The Results section presents the research result to the
reader, and is not a place for discussion or interpretation of
the data. The data itself should be presented in tables and
figures. Introduce each group of tables and figures in a
separate paragraph where the overall trends and data
points of particular interest are noted.
Discussion
The discussion part is the counterpart to the introduction
since this part should lead the reader from narrow and/or
very specific results to more general conclusions.
Begin the Discussion section with a brief paragraph that
again gives an overview to the work. Summarize the most
important findings and, if applicable, accept or reject the
proposed hypothesis. Next, identify the most interesting,
significant, remarkable findings that were presented in the
Results section, and contrast these findings in light of other
studies reported in the literature. It is often informative if a
discussion of the potential weaknesses of the interpretation
is also included. Finally, at the end of the Discussion section,
consider the other works in the literature that address this
topic and how this work contributes to the overall field of
study.
Conclusions
Again, first introduce the work and then briefly state the
major results. Then state the major points of the discussion.
Finally, end with a statement of how this work contributes
to the overall field of study.
Acknowledgements
Provide a brief statement acknowledging the efforts of any
participants or consultants who are not included as authors
of the manuscript.
References
Include all references that have been cited in the text. The
references should be well considered, so that they contain
all key sources in the field as well as previous studies that
support or motivate the present work.
However, do not include extraneous references in an effort
to simply cite particular authors or journals.
