Systematic of

Scientific
Writing

Mardhatillah Sariyanti, S.Si,

M.Biomed

Scientists write to communicate

their research results and
findings with other scientists or
experts. In this way, information
is shared in a systematic manner,
so that researchers can build
upon the work of others.
Why scientific
writing?
General Structure of a
Research Article
IMRaD

• Introduction– Why did I do this study?

• Methods - What did I do?

• Results - What did I find?

• Discussion– So what?
Methods
(Proposal & Ethics
– Introduction & only)

The process of writing –

building the article
Scientific writing form

• Research proposal

• Ethics application
• Case report

• Journal paper

• Poster presentation
Why a research proposal?
Writing
a good proposal is a very important tool for
organizing time and resources to complete a
research which fully realizes your objectives
Informal
“contract” to establish an agreement abou
content and limits of the final project report
A good proposal stems from a good concept
course, I wish I had thought of that!”
 Proposals are informative a
persuasive writing, becaus
they attempt to educate th
reader and to convince th
reader to do something

Alice Reid

... is important
... is interesting to you
... is interesting to your advisor
... is interesting to the research community
... has useful applications
... applies to more than one problem
... is unsolved

A Good Topic
A good title should contain the fewest possible word
adequately describe the contents of a paper. Effect
titles –Identify the main issue of the paper –Begin
the subject of the paper –Are accurate, unambigu
specific, and complete –Are as short as possible
Articles with short, catchy titles are often better
cited –Do not contain rarely-used abbreviations –
Attract readers -Remember: readers are the
potential authors who will cite your article

Title
Title: examples

“Depomedroxyprogesterone acetate versus

leuprolide acetate subcutaneous injection

reduction of endometriosis related pain in

European and Asian women: A phase III

randomised parallel group, multinational,

multicenter study including substudy

assessment of bone mineral density and

coagulation and lipid profile”

Revised:
Title: examples

“The efficacy of depomedroxy-

progesterone acetate versus leuproli
acetate for reduction of endometrios
related pain in European and Asian
women”
Title: examples
readers Tell
what you did and the important finding
One
paragraph (between 50-250 words) oft
plus highlight bullet points Advertiseme
for your article
Abstract
A clear abstract will strongly influence
your work is considered further
Abstract: Examples
Abstract: Examples
Components of the Researc
Proposal
Background (Introduction & Literature review
Problem Description
Research Objectives
Importance / Benefits of the Study
Methodology / Data Analysis
Schedule
References
Budget, Facilities and Special Resources

Introduction
: Purpose
to introduce a specific topic and to stimulate
reader’s interest. The
place to convince readers that you know why
work is relevant, also for them. Answer
a series of questions:
■What is the problem?
■Are there any existing solutions?
■Which one is the best?
■What is its main limitation?
■What do you hope to achieve?

Literature review
problems

What kind of research have been done befor

What relevant kinds of studies or techniques
to be mastered to do your project? Where is
state of the art today? How have others gone
about trying to solve
you want to tackle and in what ways will your
approach build on and vary from previous wo
Recent or historically significant resear
studies Always refer to the original sou
Discuss how the literature applies, sho
the weaknesses in the design, discuss
you would avoid similar problems How
your idea different / better?
Literature review
Problem statement

Convince the reviewers / sponsor to

continue reading the proposal
∎ Know the dilemma, its significance and why
something should be done to change the cur
status quo ∎ State your hypotheses clearly

Flows naturally from the problem statement

General and specific objectives
Specific objectives:
∎What you intend to accomplish ∎ Give the reader a
concrete, achievable goal Verify the consistency
the proposal

Research Objectives
∎ Checking to see that each objective is discussed i
the research design, data analysis and results secti
What are the potential impact on ∎ Research in
area ∎ Applications ∎ Larger community If
you find this difficult to write, then most likely
have not understood the problem
Importance of doing the study now

Importance/benefits of the
Study
Methodology/Procedure

Research Design
Must convince the reviewers that you clearly
understand your task, have identified all the
resources you need. What you are going to
in technical terms?
∎ May contain many subsections ∎ Be specific about
research methodology you will use and why ∎ Prov

details of your proposed solutions to the problem a

sub-problems ∎ Provide information for tasks such

sample selection, data collection, instrumentatio

validation, procedures, ethical requirements

Methods (what did you do

(Materials and Methods; Patients and Meth
Who? What? When? Where? How? Why?
Study design
Study material (what did you work with?)
What was done to the study material (intervention)?
How was the effect assessed (outcome measures)?
Analysis and statistical methods
Ethical considerations

Materials and Methods

This study is an observational study with cross se

design. The population in this research is pregnant w
who made a visit at xxx Public Health Center. The s
of this study is 56 pregnant women who get iron table
the public health centerand agree to be involved
study. Compliance of iron tablet consumption
measured by MMAS-8 (MoriskyMedication Adhe
Scale-8) which questionairreis adaptive from V
(2013) [12]. Family support and knowledge of 100
days of life were measured using questionairrewhic
been tested for their validity and reliability. The data
obtained has been tested by spearman rho and chi s
test.
on humans or animals must follow applicable ethics
standards e.g. most recent version of the Helsinki
Declaration and/or relevant (local, national,
international) animal experimentation guidelines
Approval
Experiments
of the local ethics committee is required, and should
specified in the manuscript Editors
can make their own decisions as to whether the
experiments were done in an ethically acceptable
manner Sometimes
local ethics approvals are way below internationa
accepted standards
Ethics Committee approval
Schedule
Include the major phases of the resear
exploratory studies, data analysis, repo
generation Must convince the reviewer
you have
a logical time plan for solving the probl
Budget, Facilities and Speci
Resources
Consumables
Itemized Budget
Budget Narrative
Measurement instruments
Access to special systems / laboratory
computers Computer programs /
Bioinformatics
This part is usually an appendix
Proposal Characteristics

Straight forward document

∎ Don’t tell us why you became interested in the top
a literary production
∎Clear, sharp and precise ∎ Economy of words, no
rambling sentences Clearly organized
∎ Outlined with proper use of headings and
subheadings

Weaknesses in Research
Proposals
Research Problem
∎ Unfocused ∎ Unimportant (done before!) ∎ More co
∎ Limited relevance

Research Design
∎Prevents evaluation ∎ Inappropriate or impossible
Procedures inappropriate for problem ∎ Lacking con

–the main findings

■Thus not all findings
■Findings from experiments described in the Metho
section

Highlight findings that differ from findings in

Results –what have you
found?
The following should be included

previous publications, and unexpected findin

Results of the statistical analysis

Results
Should
not include –Any methods –Data for which
methods are not included –Interpretation o
data (
discussion) –References
Careful
with use of words like, –Significant, random
correlation

Results
What
does 56.78+12.34 mean? What
does 16.7% mean? What
is the denominator? What
is –Normal, abnormal? –Raised, high, low?
Cite
all tables/figures in text

Results – figures and tabl

Illustrations are critical, because
Figures
and tables are the most efficient way to present res
Results
are the driving force of the publication Captions
and legends must be detailed enough to make figur
and tables self-explanatory No
duplication of results described in text or other
illustrations
"One Picture is Worth a Thousand Words“
Hanauer(1968)
-crowded plots –3 or 4 data sets per figure; well-selected
scales; appropriate axis label size;
symbols clear to read; data sets easily distinguishable. Ea
in photos / figures in English –Not in French, German,
Chinese, Korean, ... Use
color ONLY when necessary. –If different line styles ca
clarify the meaning, then never use colors or
other thrilling effects. Color
 Results – Appearan
counts
photograph must have a scale marker of profession
quality in a corner. Text
must be visible and distinguishable when printed in
& white. Do
not include long boring tables!

Discussion – what do the

results mean?
It
is the most important section of your article. Here y
the chance to SELL your data! –Many manuscripts are re
because the Discussion is weak Check
for the following: –How do your results relate to the original qu
or objectives outlined
in the Introduction section? –Do you provide interpretation for each
results presented? –Are your results consistent with what other
investigators have reported?
Or are there any differences? Why? –Are there any limitations? –D
discussion logically lead to your conclusion?
Do
not –Make statements that go beyond what the results can suppo
Suddenly introduce new terms or ideas

Conclusions
Present
global and specific conclusions Indicate
uses and extensions if appropriate Suggest
future experiments and indicate whether they
underway Do
not summarize the paper –The abstract is
that purpose
Avoid
judgments about impact
Avoid non-quantitative word
possible
e.glow/high

...Quantitative descriptions are always

preferred
extreme
enormous
rapid/slow
, dramatic massive
considerable
exceedingly
major/minor
hot/cool
–Referencing style of the journal –The spelling of author na
the year of publication –Punctuation use –Use of “et al.”: “e
translates to “and others”,
Avoid
citing the following if possible: –Personal communicatio
unpublished observations
manuscripts not yet accepted for publication
Editors

References: get them right!

Please
adhere to the Guide for Authors of the journal It
is your responsibility, not of the Editor’s, to format references
correctly! Check
may ask for such documents for evaluation of the manuscripts
Articles
published only in the local language, which are difficult for
international readers to find

THANK YOU