Basic Concept of Scientific Writing

I Gde Raka Widiana

WHY, WHERE AND HOW?

Research work is incomplete unless the results are disseminated to the wider community. Publishing is important for yourself, your organization, your scientific colleagues and your funders. It improves your career Increase your chances of attracting funding and collaborators.

Why should you publish?

It is a good principle almost a duty to make results accessible. It gives the scientific community a chance to find out about your work. It is a way of paying back those who fund you. It improves your writing and analytical skills. You will attract useful comments and input. This will help your ideas progress and improve your future work. It gets you and your work known in the wider scientific and conservation community. Good for your career. Good for your organization.

Where should you publish?

Peer-reviewed journals the most widely respected avenue for presenting research findings. Publishing in journals articles must follow strict guidelines and the rejection rate can be high. Book chapters, newsletters, magazine articles or even web pages. Media (newspaper supplements and articles), although this route needs to be used wisely the media can misrepresent you.

Choosing a journal
Different journals cover different subject areas and regions. National, regional or international journal.

Tip
Editors advice on how to get work published:
Study the journal. Know who the journal is for and the kinds of articles it publishes. Use good English. Reviewers often reject papers because the grammar is bad (rather than on the basis of the content). Be realistic. Be aware of the value of your results but dont overinterpret them. Tell a coherent story, and dont make sweeping conclusions if you dont have the results to support them; i.e. dont be overspeculative. Dont try too hard to sound important; dont use a pompous voice. Make sure the title matches the content, e.g. dont use the title Impact of climate change on bird ecology when there isnt a single climate parameter in your paper. Read lots of papers and learn from them.

Tip
What are the most common problems with scientific papers? The paper is too long.
The writing and figures are not clear. Its subject matter is not suitable for the journal. It is not well structured. The author has not explained the general interest of the specific issues. The author assumes too much specific knowledge from the reader.

What makes a good piece of writing

It answer the question set. It demonstrates understanding and clarity of thought. It provides evidence of reading and research It supports any assertions by evidence It is well structured It is written in an appropriate style It flows logically from one section to another, and from one paragraph to another It is appropriately referenced It is interesting to read

The maxim for scientific writing

Write clearly to clarify your own thinking

(Writing for clarity)

 Words

Sentences Paragraphs to produce a clear and coherent story

Scientific English
Avoiding superfluous words and phrases
Choosing a better word Identifying imprecise words and phrases Using the active and passive voices appropriately Using the tenses properly Applying the punctuation correctly? Writing paragraphs Understanding & compiling references

 Smith

reports that (present tense) (Refers to just-published paper of current importance) Smith has reported that (present perfect tense) (Refers to recent past and implies 'continuing intellectual importance') Smith reported that (past tense) (Refers to a past & completed event )

Use clear pronoun

"To decrease blood volume by about 10% in a few minutes, blood was pooled in the subjects' legs by placing wide congesting cuffs around the thighs and inflating them to diastolic brachial arterial pressure. the cuffs.

Put parallel ideas in parallel form

Parallel ideas are ideas that are equal in logic and importance. Examples: ideas that are joined by "and" "or" or "but" or ideas that are being compared.

Cardiac output was less in the E. coli group than the pseudomonas group. Cardiac output was less in the E. coli group than in the pseudomonas group.
Left ventricular function was impaired in the dogs that received endotoxin but not the control dogs Left ventricular function was impaired in the dogs that received endotoxin and not in the control dogs

Thanks