Graduate Writing center

Before starting to write a paper

• Why do you write a paper?

    Welcome to the process of writing your research results as a paper for submission to an international refereed journal. First of all, before discussing how to write, let''''s find out why you write a dissertation. As a researcher, we write a manuscript including our results through research to publish for the following reasons:
  • 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.

• Why is it difficult to publish?

    However, it is challenging to publish. Why is it difficult to publish? First, not all research is new or of sufficient scientific interest. Therefore, when doing research, you need to study related field works frequently and in-depth(What are the research trends these days, and whether results that are similar to my study have not been published, etc.).
    Second, experiments do not always work:positive results are easier to publish. Because when we do an experiment, we do not always obtain expected results, and it is very difficult to get them. Moreover, if the result of the first trial in the experiment is successful, it is often not easy to reproduce. In many cases, our established hypothesis does not fit well with the experimental results. Despite these challenges, positive results are easy to publish, but negative results are very difficult.
    Finally, scientific journals have specific requirements which can be difficult to meet. Publishing is a buyer’s market. No matter how new the result is, it is doubtful to be received by the publisher if those are less interested. Therefore, we have to keep this in mind when deciding on our research topic.
  

• How to write a scientific paper?

  • Read a lot of related research papers

    In order to write a scientific paper well, I recommended that you first read a lot of related research papers.In that way, you should carefully observe how other researchers were written - the structure and word sentences, and try to write your research accordingly based on this.

  • Practice writing “research note”

    A good way to write a scientific paper is to practice writing a “research note”. Because it is easy to write a scientific paper if you systematically wrote a “research note”. When you write down the “research note“, the date, title, purpose, process and analysis of each experiment should be written down to the smallest detail. Detailed recordings are very helpful later when writing the paper’s toughest part, ”discussion section.“ Also, most importantly, the good ”research note“ serves as a guide in designing and conducting our research.

  • Set a writing plan

    Another important issue in writing a scientific paper is the writing plan. The work, in which we are currently doing an experiment, is likely to be similarly conducted by other researchers elsewhere because someone who studied in a similar research field can think of that idea. Therefore, if the writing of the paper is delayed without a plan and similar research is published first, the value of my results will be significantly reduced. This happens very frequently. Thus, it would be best if you kept this in mind.

How to write a paper

First of all, look at the overall structure of research articles in science. In general, this follows a set of conventions that had developed from 1665, when the first issue of Philosophical Transactions appeared in England. The typical core structure is Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. There are some variations in here, such as the “Method section” going to the ending or the “Results section” and “Discussion section” merging and ending with the “Conclusion section.” Here, I would like to talk about each element briefly.

• 1. Results

    “Abstract section“ is the first to appear in the scientific research article, but actually, it is written last. The first thing to be written is the Results part. Because the results govern the content and structure of the whole paper, it is important to be as clear as possible about the main points of your results ‘‘story’’ at the beginning of the writing process.
    Thus, first, before writing a thesis, align the figures and tables of your results according to the “story” you want to tell, and write the “figure legend” for each figure and table title.
    And then, check the logical flow of the "story" and fill in any missing parts through experimentation. This work is not performed after finishing the experiment, but during the experiment by checking.
    After establishing the paper’s framework in this way, each paragraph is composed based on it, and sentences are written in it. When writing down the sentence, it is important that authors do not repeat in words all the results from the “tables titles“ or “figures legend.“
  
  The text of a Results section typically 1)highlights the important findings, 2)locates the figure(s) or table(s) where the results can be found, 3)comments on (but does not discuss) the results. An example of 1)+ 2) is as follows:
  Examples of combined highlight + location styles
  ex) Measurements of root length density (Figure 3) revealed that the majority of roots of both cultivars were found in the upper substrate layers.
  
    The use of verbs is also important when writing the result section. Past tense (either active or passive voice) is used when the sentence focuses on the completed study: what was done and found. The present tense is used 1)to describe an ‘‘always true’’ situation, and 2) when the sentence focuses on the document, which will always be there. An example of 2) is: The effect of urea concentration on the fed leaf and shoot growth in subterranean clover is summarised in Table 1.
  
    Also, when writing sentences (this applies to the entire paper), the most important thing to avoid is redundancy (repeated words). The use of repeated words makes writing very boring. For example, it is better to use similar words such as amplified, elevated, etc., depending on the situation, rather than the repeated write “Increased.”
  
  

  *Language Focus: 결과부분 작성 시 동사의 시제에 유의해야 하며, 동일한 단어 사용은 피해야 합니다.

• 2. Methods

  This section describes in detail how the experiment was conducted and the materials used. If you frequently refer to research papers in related fields and faithfully write the experimental methods in your research notes, you will be able to write them easily. Therefore, I will not write specifically.

• 3. Introduction

  This part can be regarded as background information for your paper. Referees are likely to look here for evidence to answer the following questions.
  • Is the contribution new?
  • Is the contribution significant?
  • Is it suitable for publication in the journal?
  
  There are five steps to writing a compelling introduction, from general things to specific things as below:
  • Statements about the field of research to provide the reader with a setting or context for the problem to be investigated and to claim its centrality or importance.
  • More specific statements about the aspects of the problem already studied by other researchers, laying a foundation of information already known.
  • Statements that indicate the need for more investigation, creating a gap or research niche for the present study to fill
  • Statements giving the purpose/ objectives of the writer’s study or outlining its main activity or findings
  • Optional statement(s) that give a positive value or justification for carrying out the study

• 4. Discussion

  This is the most difficult part of writing a paper because you have to write an interpretation based on the results and comparative analysis with other related research results. For this, you need to train for writing the interpretation of your results logically, and to study a lot of research papers by researchers in related fields.
  First, let’s look at several important issues to think about as you begin to draft your Discussion section.
  • Structure of the Discussion
    • Does the journal you are targeting allow the option of a combined Results/Discussion section, followed by a separate Conclusion? Would this arrangement suit your story?
    • Does the journal permit a Conclusion where the Discussion is relatively long? Would your paper benefit from one?
    • Does the journal publish Discussion sections which include subheadings? Would this option help you signal your main messages to the reader?
  • Relating the Discussion closely to the paper’s title
    • As you decide on the key elements of the paper’s story that will be emphasized in the Discussion, consider redrafting the title to reflect them more clearly.
  • Relating the Discussion closely to the Introduction
    • Remember that you need to ensure that your Discussion connects clearly with the issues you raised in your Introduction. When the first draft of the Discussion is ready, go back to the Introduction and check for a close fit. If necessary, redraft the Introduction to make sure the issues of importance in the Discussion appear there as well.
    • However, it is not necessary to include in the Introduction all the literature that will be referred to in the Discussion. It is important not to repeat information unnecessarily in the two sections.
  
  Moreover, it is an important issue how is the strength of claims (choice of a verb)
  
  Look at the following sentences:
  

  Here, the main verb is in the present tense (indicating that it is ‘‘always true’’, a powerful statement), and the meaning of the verb itself (demonstrate) is also strong; the verb in the that-clause is also in the present tense. The verb “indicate” is similar in the strength of certainty to “demonstrate.”
  
  But, look at the below sentence.
  The presence of an IRE motif suggests that GmDmt1;1 mRNA may be stabilized by the binding of IRPs in soybean nodules when free iron levels are low.
  
  The main clause verb “suggests” is weak in terms of its level of certainty; in addition, the verb in the that-clause has been made less definite by the use of the modal verb “may.” Thus, this sentence makes the weakest claim of any of the sentences we have considered here. This is not a bad thing at all. The important thing for authors is that they match the strength of their sentences with the strength of the data they have presented in the Results sections of the paper. Because general logic can be inferred from the data, but that logic is not the perfect truth.

• 5. Abstract

  This section can be regarded as a summary of the thesis.
  So, why are Abstracts so important?
  - For busy readers the Abstract, sometimes called the Summary, may be the only part of the paper they read, unless it succeeds in convincing them to take the time to read the whole paper
  - For readers in developing countries with limited access to the literature, the Abstract may be the only information on your work that is available to them.
  - Abstracting services may use the text of the title plus the Abstract and keywords for their searchable databases
  
  Looking at the typical elements of abstract.
  • Some background information
  • The principal activity (or purpose) of the study and its scope
  • Some information about the methods used in the study
  • The most important results of the study
  • A statement of conclusion or recommendation
  Thus, you may write simply 1-3 sentences about each element. Although it varies from journal to journal, abstracts are generally written within 200-250 words.