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Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Acknowledgements
Some of the slides are from
Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
José Luís Toca
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Please participate
questions
clarification
anytime
on any subject
Don’t worry about interrupting the class
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Today’s focus and expectations
Article Writing
versus
Bycicle Riding
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Thus...
Crafting and article is mostly an ART,
in a small part, a SCIENCE.
Our focus today is
the small SCIENCE part
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Agenda
1. “Initial barrier” matters (planning)
2. Drafting the article (executing)
3. Today’s homework
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
We will try to:
Review most important points Review decision criteria (so you know what to
do, when) Provide simple, clear useful take-home
messages on article writing and reviewing Time-proven techniques, rules-of-thumb Provide a glimpse into ethical issues
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Outside our scope are...
Questions of style (class 2) Abstract writing (Class 2) Research organization and planning (Classes 1
and 2) Publication strategy Submitting process (Class 4) Reviewing process (Class 4) In-depth discussion on ethics issues
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Agenda
1. “Initial barrier” matters (planning)
2. Drafting the article (executing)
3. Today’s homework
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
I. INITIAL BARRIER MATTERS
decision to write
defining the story
initial author list
choosing the journal
other matters
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
decision to write
Intellectual property (IP) is first “Patentable” is, if useful and new
Keep secret?
Patent?
Publish in journal?
Must patent* before publishing (EU- EPO)Must patent* before 1 yr from publishing (USPTO)Must patent* in country of invention
*should say: “submit a patent application”, “registrar una solicitud de patente”
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
decision to write
Often we ask: Do I have enough material to publish? Should I wait?
Rule of thumb: You do if... Your results provide an answer to a well defined and relevant
question Your work has scientific rigor (scientific method):
• Methods and Results have been survived your rigurous criticism• Results have enough critical mass, i.e., they fully support the
conclusions
Note that, Decision to publish comes after understanding the “question” and the
“conclusion” In other words, goes hand-in-hand with “defining your story”
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
defining the story
Your Story is publishable when: A relevant question/problem statement Your method allows to research this question Results provide an unambiguous answer to the question Conclusions (answer) are supported by your results, and
other published material.
Your decision to write may precede complete termination of the data analysis
Self criticism while executing the research will help you define your story
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
initial author list
Who should be an author? Satisfy all:
Has made an original contribution to the article Can defend the main thesis of the article
An author may not: Understand all of the details involved in generating the results Have spent a lot of time on it
An author should: Have made a substantial contribution (what is “substantial”?) Approve of the paper’s contents (read and agree) Take resposibility of at least part of the paper’s contents Authorize being included as an author
Coordinator should choose authorship criteria AND apply it equally
Other contributors should be noted in the “Acknowledgements” section
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
initial author list
Authorship is an ethical matter
credit of authorship carries assumption of responsibility for and accountability of the work being published
See for example,
(UCSD+VCU) Responsible Conduct of Research internet course:
http://ethics.ucsd.edu/courses/integrity/assignments/authorship.html
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
choosing the journal
This has been reviewed in other classes, however...
Choosing has become an optimization process :
impact factor versus probability of success
• Read the scope of a candidate journal (internet)• Look for similar published papers• Ask people who’ve published there
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
other matters
When there is a deadline Approach crafting paper as a Project (see class 2) Realize the importance of
• Communication between partners• Getting all partners involved early on• Your leadership in getting everyone to responding
(questions)
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Agenda
1. “Initial barrier” matters (planning)
2. Drafting the article (executing)
3. Today’s homework
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
II. DRAFTING THE ARTICLE
structure of a research article
writing styles (class 1)
what’s in each section (except abstract)
plagiarism
figures
a few computer tools
other recommendations
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
structure of a research article
• Title
• Authors’ names and
affiliation
• Abstract, keywords
• Introduction (3)
• Material and methods (1)
• Results (2)
• Discussion (3)
• Conclusions (4)
• Acknowledgements
• References
• Annexes
Slide from Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Some journals request discussions to be in the same sections as results, or as conclusions
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
…writing stile
- Title: short and simple- Abstract: past tense and passive voice, concise, no citations,
no tables, no graphics- Introduction: present tense and past tense for literature
review- Methodology: past tense, take care about units, variables (SI)- Results: past tense,- Conclusions & Discussion: present tense (past tense if you
relate to results), allows scientific speculation- References: depends on journal but author/editors must
be included
This slide is from José Luís Toca (Class 1)
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
title
The title should inform accurately about the content of the manuscript without ambiguities.
Most of information retrieval services, browsers or data bases use titles to elaborate their indexes, so the more accurate and concise the better to its specific dissemination and retrieval.
Slide from Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
a title should be....
Slide from Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
InformativeSpecificAccurateConcise
Unambiguous
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Keywords
Slide from Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Keywords have not to be “empty words” or express generalities.
When selecting keywords, imagine you are searching for your article in some database
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
introduction
“introduction” is to frame and present the question/s addressed in the research
“Science is the process of coming up with questions, not with answers” –Francesc Giralt, ETSEQ
• Importance of the topic of research
• bibliographic review
• use it to motivate your research objective
• state objective(s)
• include short descrition of the contents of the article (Sometimes)
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
introduction
• Set the scene: start broad then focus in
• Provide sufficient background and supporting information to make your case
• No need to include everything!!
• Introduce the relevant past work clearly and fairly
• Reference all statements! (see later)
• When an issue is in dispute, give both sides (you can favour one)
• Fully inform the reader of the current state-of-play Slide by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
introduction end
• You have described the problem
• You have described the relevant scientific work up to the present
• Now: tell us what your paper will tackle!
• Give the aim of the study and a broad (brief) outline of the approach (eg method used)
• Don‘t give your results here (there is a whole section in the paper for that)!
Slide by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
materials and methods
Usually best written first a general section up front is often useful Rule of thumb: those skilled in the art should
have enough information to reproduce your results.
Mention all methods/chemicals/instruments No need for detailed routine procedures Reference previously reported procedures Describe new methods carefully, clearly and
completely
Based on slides by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
results
Results are objective information gathered from the research; are not discussion, interpretation, or conclusions
Answers to the objectives Expose the experiences logically sequenced Omit superfluous results, but… Do not remove those that invalidate the initial
hypothesis, or for any reason are unwanted (unethical, unscientific)
Based on slides by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
tables and figures Results
aim is to communicate to the reader discuss only the main points Don‘t just repeat in the text what is already
clear in the table/figure (dull and insulting!)
Based on slides by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
discussion
One should address:
a) what do the results mean?DATA INTERPRETATION
b) How do my results compare to previous work? COMPARING TO OTHER WORK
c) Points of speculation SPECULATION
Slide by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
a) DATA INTERPRETATION discussion
Avoid repeating results
Keep within your data!
Don‘t make statements not supported by your data set (or references)
Be rigorous. For ex., common oversights are: Correlation does not imply Causality
if “A implies B”, “No-B implies No-A”; (not “No-A implies No-B”)
Based on slide by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
b) COMPARING TO OTHER WORK discussion
Present your data first, then compare with other data*
„Our results on the cyclisation of the brominated derivatives (Table 1) were in general agreement with those reported by Smith and Jones [21]. We can confirm that.................... Some interesting differences, however, were apparent. For example, .......................“
Always give due credit to other researchers – Involve all previous work that is relevant (ethics)
Based on slide by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
* As a general rule
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
c) SPECULATION discussion
Definitive statements require water-tight data
But you can also be speculative in parts
You must choose your words accordingly
Allows the author to introduce new unproven ideas which the current study has hinted at
Meant to stimulate discussion and interest in the topic
It doesn‘t matter if it turns out to be wrong!
Slide by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
criticism of others discussion
REAL EXAMPLE- Someone tried to reproduce the experiments of someone else, without success.
They reported:
“the experiments we have conducted under similar conditions to those of John Doe et al show that the regime obtained by these authors, in fact, corresponds to (everyone’s) standard mode and that variable V is not at all as small as indicated in their measurements”
Any thoughts?
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
criticism of others discussion
The paragraph is internally inconsistent (if variable is different, the mode could not have been the same)
And, let’s look at the strong language:
“the experiments we have conducted under similar conditions to those of John Doe et al show that the regime obtained by these authors, in fact, corresponds to (everyone’s) standard mode and that variable V is not at all as small as indicated in their measurements”
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
criticism of others discussion
Alternative:
“When trying to reproduce the results reported by John Doe et al. variable V became much greater than had been found by these authors. We conclude that our two regimes are different. Therefore our seemingly identical procedures must differ in some aspect that is critical in determining the regime of operation and remains unclarified”
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
discussion
Avoid trapping yourself:
Stay away from “it is impossible for … to have gotten their result….”, “it is impossible to …”, “our results represent the optimum best efficiency”
Instead: “we would expect a different result from the one they reported, because….”, “our results represent the best efficiency reported to date.”
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
conclusions
Summarize the implications of your research findings for policy makers, practitioners, or other researchers
Do not repeat yourself
Mention the limitations, if applicable
Identify potential for future research (as needed)
Based on slide by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
acknowledgements
• Opportunity to thank those not directly involved in the scientific study, but who have assisted in some way
• Technical support
• Provision/collection of samples
• Providing an analysis or identification
• Providing comments
• Providing money! (funding support)
Slide by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
references
• Reference to source where possible and appropriate
• Don‘t neglect old references
• Remember the primary functions of a reference:
(i) support your statement;
(ii) direct the reader to the source of relevant information
Slide by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
plagiarism
“Plagiarism is intellectual theft. It means use of the intellectual creations of another without proper attribution. Plagiarism may take two main forms, which are clearly related:
1. To steal or pass off as one's own the ideas or words, images, or other creative works of another.
2. To use a creative production without crediting the source, even if only minimal information is available to identify it for citation.
Credit must be given for every direct quotation, for paraphrasing or summarizing a work (in whole, or in part, in one's own words), and for information which is not common knowledge.”
(http://www.editor.uci.edu/catalogue/appx/appx.2.htm)
Slide by Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Figures
Slide from Christophe Bengoa & Ciara K. O’ Sullivan
•Figure = figure caption+ axes+units+ content
• Figures are preferably to show tendencies more than particular (discrete) data.
• Avoid grids, lines, frames, and legends inside the drawing.
• Avoid figures with only a line.
• Use common symbols, clear and neat within the traces.
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
log vs liniar Figures
Semi-log (log Y vs X)
- exponential trend
Log-log (Log Y vs Log X)
- potential trend
- when showing many powers of 10
- when showing how two curves approach each other as you “move” along X-axis
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
some computer tools
Reference Manager software:
EndNote, Procite
Data representation and Statistics:
Excel (Low quality, limited possibilities)
SigmaPlot
Origin
Mathematics and Computation:
Mathematica
MathCad
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
other recommendations
Prepare a rough outline before writing
Write for others Avoid redundancy and repetition
Realize there is an art to crafting an article which will take some time to master sufficiently (accept other’s criticism’s)
Consider a style corrector (€)
Let a senior colleague review the article before sending it to the editor
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
copyright law
http://www.keytlaw.com/Copyrights/copyrightlaw.htm
http://www.legaldirectory.ws/Intellectual_Property/Copyright_Law/default.aspx
http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v04n01/Diotalevi_r01.htm
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/copyright/index_en.htm
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
III. Today’s assignment
1. Read this short story describing a research process:http://www.bakerstreet221b.de/canon/sixn.htm (The 6 napoleons)
2. Go to http://pubs.acs.org/about.html, and find notice to authors for JACS*, needed to write a Communication on the research that is described in the short story.
3. But note that1. not all information in t he story should be used
2. there may be more than one way to defining the scope of the research. The important first thing is to make a decision about the scope, then write the article.
*select “J. Am. Chem. Soc.” Then select “Notice to authors” OR ACS Paragon System
Seminars 2004 Information Class 05/11/04
Other supporting material
Rules of Thumb for Writing Research Articles:http://www.itc.nl/library/Papers/hengl_rules.pdf
Concise English grammar:The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr., E.B. White, Roger Angell (Pearson Higher Education, 1999)
Patent Help:Patent It Yourself, by David Pressman (Nolo, 2004)
Ethical guidelineshttp://pubs.acs.org/about.html (select Ethical Guidelines, 3 page PFD)Other:The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, by Edward R. Tufte (Graphics Press, 2001)