Before reading this essay, I asked myself about the reasons for no paper with high

quality published and wrote them down as shown in the first part. Keeping these
reasons in my mind, I studied the essay carefully and found the problems of myself,
which came to the second part. And the last is the summary of this essay.

1. My reasons for not want to write a paper before

Most of us wrote papers only for purpose of graduation and obtaining a degree, so
did I. As I have met the requirement of graduation last year, I refused to hoke up a
paper.

I thought my work during the masters study was kind of repeat and copy, which
absolutely cant be published on any international journal.

I also lacked confidence about my English ability.

2. My problems pointed out by this essay

The motivation of writing a paper should back to simple and pure.

As Whitesides said, a paper records the completed work and plans for the
future, which intended to instruct readers. A paper is what researchers really want
to say after a period of well-organized work, rather than ones stepping stone.

My research process was wrong.

I was similar to a so-called data collector in the essay, who did lots of things
without thinking too much. When I came to write a paper, I tried to find results
from the not well-designed experiments and jumbled data. I struggled but gave up
it.
The essay shows me the process of research, first formulate hypotheses and test
them, then draw conclusions from obtained data, and at last write a paper to teach
others. This way generates a paper naturally.

Text is only secondary.

When I wrote something in English, I always care about the text very much.
Sometimes it even took me ten minutes to find a proper adjective. However, the
text in the paper serves just to explain the data, and is secondary. So I should

focus on the organization of data more, though text is also an important part of a
good paper.
3. Summary
I summarize this essay as Organize an Outline.

Importance of an outline
An outline holds the central place in writing paper (almost everything,
including this short summary), preparing seminars, and planning research. And it
is more efficient to go through for many times than the full text.

How to construct an outline

Step1: Sketch all ideas concerning the research or paper by Q & A.
Step 2: Organize all the ideas into 3 sorts: Introduction, Results and Discussion,
Conclusion.
Step 3: Organize the 3 sections and data clearly and compactly.
Step 4: Organize everything in good order.
Step 5: Ask supervisor to review the outline and modify it until both agree.
Step 6: Start writing a paper from the good outline.

Structure of an outline
(1) Title
(2) Authors
(3) Abstract, which will come out when the paper finished
(4) Introduction to state the objective, to indicate the significance, and to
guide the readers.
(5) Results and Discussion which organized clearly by specific and
information-rich subheadings
(6) Conclusions with higher analysis than Results, indicate the significance of
research.
(7) Experimental corresponds to the Result, with the subheadings same as
Experimental section.

Tips of using an outline

(1) Write and rewrite outlines throughout the whole process of a research.
(2) Start and exchange an outline as soon as see the basic structure of a project.
(3) Organize the data rather than the text, and more easily assimilated data, less
unnecessary text.
(4) Don't stint the time in modifying an outline, a good outline can save the
time in writing a paper.

Cong Zhao
27 June 2013