Ales 204: Kaustav Guest Lecture on Academic Writing in Science

Scientific Article – Reading and Writing

Kaustav MajumderALES-204, 19th October, 2011

Organization of a Scientific Article

• An article layout– Title– Abstract– Introduction– Materials and Methods– Results– Discussion– Conclusion– Tables and Figures

• Table titles and Figure legends

– References

• Effective reading or Selection of an article – Title and Abstract• How relevant the title is?• Connection between the title and the abstract.

– Introduction• Scan the initial paragraphs.• Put emphasis on the concluding paragraphs.• Understand the logical flow between earlier studies

and the present one.

Reading a Scientific Article

Relevance of the article

Rationale of the article

Reading a Scientific Article Contd..

– Tables and Figures• Read the titles of the table and/or figure legends.• Relationship with abstract.

– Conclusion• Identify the achievement, correlation and the future

prospects.

Workflow of the article

Take home messages

Serve Your PurposeAcceptance or Rejection of the Article

Reading a Scientific Article Contd..

Article is closely related with your purpose

– Results and Discussion• Most important section of an article.• Identify the novel elements discussed in this section.• Understand the relationship and the context of the

study.

– Materials and methods• Identify the newly developed method.• Source of the materials.

– References• Look when it is required.

Depth of the article

Quality and compactness of the article

• Type of the article– Individual experiment type.– Cohort or population based study.– Randomized control and trial study.– Review article• Narrative • Systematic • Meta- analysis

Critical Reading of a Scientific Article

1. What questions does the article address?2. What was the research design? Is it

appropriate? 3. What are the main conclusions of the article?4. What evidence supports those conclusions?5. Do the data actually support the conclusions?6. What is the quality of the evidence?7. Why are the conclusions important?

These questions are specifically for individual study, cohort study and random trial study

NOT for Review article

Critical Reading of a Scientific Article contd..

What questions does the article address?– Type of questions• Descriptive: What is there? What did the authors

observe?

• Comparative: How does it compare to other organisms/animals/population? Are the findings general? Reproducibility and applicability?

• Analytical: Underlying mechanism of action or the story behind the study?



What was the research design? Is it appropriate? • The design of the study can answer the addressed

question• The statistical strength of the design and relevant

statistical analysis• Correct use of an animal model/ cell-line or proper

use of a computer simulation


What are the main conclusions of the article?• Did the authors properly answer the questions

mentioned in the abstract section?• Relevant outcome of the study

What evidence supports the conclusion?• The rationale of drawing the conclusion• Does the primary experiment supports the point?


Do the data actually support the conclusions?• Do the authors properly interpret the obtained data?

– find the logical connection• Do the data actually support/reject the hypothesis?• Do the authors had covered required sample size to

reach the statistical significance?

Statistics is Important


What is the quality of the evidence?• The methods used in the study is well established• A new method should be published on a peer-

reviewed journal first..• The methods are reproducible.• Materials?


Why are the conclusions important?• Do the conclusions make a significant advance in

your knowledge? • Do the conclusions help in the advancement of

future scientific research? • Do they lead to new insights, or even new research

directions?

Critical Reading of a Review Article

Narrative or Classical Review • The “traditional” or “classic” review• Articles used in the review are chosen by the

author.• Author may be biased- Major concern.Systematic Review • Comparative analysis…most common for analytical

methods• Should include both inclusion and exclusion criteria.• Should support with the scientific evidences.

Critical Reading of a Review Article Contd..

Meta analysis• Close to systematic review.• Often deals with numeric data.• Uses statistical/mathematical methods to

combine numerical data from various earlier studies

Writing a Scientific Article• Writing Structure– Analysis• Before writing anything, Analyze Your Data!• Identify the key concepts• Target the audience, do audience analysis.• Indentify the actual technical material.

– Design• Organize all information and data• Group the key concepts.• Structure the layout.. (Tables and figures)

– Implementation• Write…edit…edit…edit…• Strive for accuracy and clarity• Emphasize the central idea• Identify the ‘Junks’….delete them

– Publication• Choose the Journal• Read the instructions to the authors.• Maintain the style and proper format• Select reviewers and editor.• Submit for publication.

Writing a Scientific Article Contd..

Writing a Scientific Article Contd..

TITLE

ABSTRACT

METHODS

RESULTS

INTRODUCTION

Image Courtesy: http://www.joconl.com/article/id23578

REFERENCES

MATERIALS

MEMORY GAME

• Select a specific Journal–Choose the quality of the Journal• Impact factor–Quality of the journal in a specific field of study– Calculating Impact factor:» Citation of recent items/Number of recent

items. (last year Vs current year)

• Immediacy Index– How the journal is currently operation– Calculation of Immediacy index» Citation of recent items/Number of recent

items. (current year Vs current year)

Publishing a Scientific Article

General database• PUBMED• WEB of SCIENCE

Specialized database• Food and Nutrition :

– Food Science and Technology Abstracts (FSTA)– Agricola– CAB Abstracts– SCOPUS– FoodNetBase (for e-books)– CINAHL– EMBASE– Natural Standard– SCOPUS

Journal Databases

Journal DatabasesAnimal Science• CAB Abstracts• BIOSIS Previews• AGRICULTUREnetBASE• Knovel

Plant Science and Soil Science• Agricola• Environment Complete• CAB Abstracts• More Plant Science Databases

Class Activity– Tweet about THREE new things you learn

today.

–Respond to ONE another students tweet.

– Tag #ALES204, @JessL

Education

Ales 204: Kaustav Guest Lecture on Academic Writing in Science