Designing and Writing Scientific Research Papers

The successful publication of research goes beyond asking questions, obtaining data, and deriving answers. The best questions, data, and answers mean very little if they do not reach the correct audience or are organized and presented in a manner that fails to clearly tell a story. A clear story integrates all of the major sections of a paper together so that the reader can understand:

• how the question or hypothesis was developed,
• why the question is important,
• how and why the experiments were designed to answer the question,
• how the results derive from the experiments,
• what the results show and what they mean, and
• what contribution the work makes to science as a whole.

In this book, Thomas Annesley guides readers through the important aspects of organizing and writing a scientific paper for publication. Beginning with the selection of a proper target journal, Annesley then provides pointers on ways to get started with the writing process. Individual chapters cover each of the major sections of a paper, from the title at the beginning to the references at the end. The book also provides guidance on authorship and how to manage problems of authorship. Each chapter ends with learning exercises that can be used to reinforce the information in the chapter, as well as to be used for teaching purposes.

Designing and Writing Scientific Research Papers will be of value to individuals who desire to successfully publish scientific papers. Graduate students, medical residents, postdoctoral fellows, and teaching faculty will all benefit from this book.