SCIENTIFIC WRITING IN BRIEF

Writing The Manuscript

After deciding on a fitting journal to publish your research, you should start formulating your manuscript.

A manuscript is the reporting of your study in an organized manner that correlates to the guidelines of the journal of choice. A manuscript is the file you submit to the journal to be published. Writing the manuscript employs the scientific writing style explained in the previous section.

Steps of writing a Manuscript

1. Read the author guidelines: Every journal has a guide for authors printed at least once a year. This guide will include information regarding the aim and scope of the journal, the different types of manuscripts the journal accepts, and specific details about formatting a manuscript before submitting it.

2. Write the Methodology section: The methods section should state everything you did during the study. (the contents of the methodology section were discussed in the previous section).

3. Write the Results section: The results section should include all the findings you gathered from conducting your research.

4. Discuss your results: In the discussion section, the author should compare his/her findings to the existing knowledge and to findings of previous studies to put the results in a meaningful context.

5. Write a Conclusion: The author should write a comprehensive yet concise conclusion that accurately sums up the study, its findings, their interpretation, its implications, and limitations.

6. Write the Introduction section: The introduction should include the purpose, aim, and significance of the study. It should also include a review of existing literature on the topic under investigation.

7. References: In this step, the author should ensure that each citation is in its correct location in the manuscript. Next, the author should formulate a list of references that follows the guidelines of the journal. Guidelines in writing references include the type of citation used, the format the references are written in, and the order of the references.

8. Write the Abstract: The abstract is a presentation of your study, the methods you used, the findings you gathered, and their interpretation. An abstract is used to inform prospective readers about your study without them reading the full paper. The abstract should usually follow a distinct limit of words.

9. Create a title page: The title page should include the title of the paper, author(s) name(s), their affiliations, and their institutions.

Scientific Writing

Scientific writing is a technical form of writing that is used to communicate data among scientists in any given field. Scientific writing can vary slightly based on what it is you are trying to communicate, a journal article, a research proposal, a literature review article, etc.

Writing a research report varies based on the type of research, quantitative or qualitative. However, both types of research have similar sections within which the data differs. These major sections are introduction, methods, results, and discussion.

Quantitative Research Report

Introduction: The introduction of a quantitative research report includes the research problem, the purpose and significance of the study, and a comprehensive review of previous literature. Moreover, depending on the type of the study, the framework, objectives, questions, and hypothesis can be included in this section.

Method: The methods section should be very concise; it should include the research design used in the study, the sampling technique and the sample, the setting of the study, the data collection tool, the methods of measurement, and a discussion of the data collection process.

Results: The result section includes the data analysis process and all the findings of the conducted study. The results section is usually organized depending on the study objectives, questions, or hypothesis, if present, or the research purpose. The results are usually presented in a narrated form with reference to a table or figure that includes all of the results gathered from the study.

Discussion: The discussion section is where the data, literature, and results provided earlier on the study tie together to produce a valuable conclusion that gives them meaning and answers the research question. The discussion section includes major findings, which are identified through the interpretation of the results, limitations to the study, conclusions drawn from the findings, implications of the study, and recommendations based on the conclusion of the study. The major findings are usually presented in comparison to the research question, objective, or hypothesis (if present). Moreover, the findings are compared to findings of previous studies and the theoretical knowledge base, usually present in the introduction n section.