Writing Tips
The tips below where originally from Dr. Tom Stohlgren. I've added to them over time based on suggestions and ideas from a wide variety of folks - thanks to everyone!
Overall
Writing research papers is a team sport. Each of us has different strengths and weaknesses. Figure out who can help you; complete the content, review the initial content and then, edit the final paper. I've found the smoothest approach is to give the paper to each person, in the right order, and give them just 2 days to a week to get back comments to you. Then, review their comments, integrate the changes and get it to the next person. Some folks may need longer times to do edits and then you may need to send it to a larger group all at once. This works but makes it harder to integrate all the changes together.
Reviewing and editing is most of writing. Get a first draft done quickly and then get the manuscript to someone to add content or review. Don't feel bad about corrections, they will help the paper become better which is the goal.
Write like you speak. If you get stuck, act like you are talking to someone, the words will flow. Then, just write them down. If you don't like how something is written, speak the message out loud over and over until it feels write, then write it down.
Take ownership of your manuscripts. If you are the first author, then you control the content and where the manuscript will be submitted to. Don't let other authors change the direction of the paper unless you agree and don't let two authors fighting over the direction keep it from moving forward.
Use MS-Word's "Review" features. Turn on "Track changes". This allows the changes to be tracked by who made them. When the article is returned from reviewers, you can then "accept", "reject" or rewrite the edits as needed. Use "comments" for comments rather than putting them in the content of the paper as they can be hard to find and remove before submittal.
When pasting images into MS-Word, do not use the defaults! The default is an MS-Office object that will try to keep it linked back to the original program that created it and will cause lots of problems, especially when distributing the manuscript to other reviewers. Instead:
- Select "Paste Special"
- Make sure that "Enhanced Metafile", "PNG", or another simple raster file format is selected.
- Paste the raster
- Right click on the raster and select "Properties" (pre-MS-Word 2010) or "Size and Position".
- Select "In line with text" for the "Wrapping style".
Writing is a life-long learning experience. Make sure you've read "Elements of Style". Read scientific articles but also read for fun and while reading, ask your self what you like and don't like about the writing.
Find a template paper. If your paper doesn't fit the traditional scientific research paper outline, then find a paper that has a similar theme and copy it's structure.
If you need help, get it! There is an urgency to research. Don't wait because you are stuck, find someone how can help you keep moving forward.
Use something to manage citations. Endnote and other citation-management software packages will help you to keep track of your citations and, most importantly, they make it really easy to re-format them for specific journals.
Use bold and italic instead of the MS-Word styles. The MS-Word styles change between versions of word. Journals tend to prefer bold for section headings and bold with italics for sub-sections.
The Content
Each research paper should answer a specific question. You will be judged on the importance, urgency, and newness of the question you asked, and whether you had a great study design. The title, goals, and key figures and/or tables typically provide the structure to the paper that everything else supports.
It's more important to get started than it is to have a perfect outline. If you have an outline in mind, start with it as the section headings for your paper. If not, just start inserting figures and/or paragraphs of content. Give the new content headings and you'll see a structure for the paper emerge.
The Writing
Use strong topic sentences. Not – “Summary statistics on species richness by vegetation type are shown in Table 1.” Instead – “Species richness varied significantly among vegetation types with increased richness in more mesic types (Table 1). Check all your topic sentences to see that they provide information and “hook” the audience to read further.
Avoid the verbs “was” and “were” as often as possible. Circle these verbs on your first draft, then try to re-write many of the sentences in an active voice. Not – “Soils were collected in plastic bags and were analyzed for soil texture, nitrogen, and phosphorus.” Instead – I collected soils in plastic bags and analyzed them for soil texture, nitrogen, and phosphorus.”
When multiple references are used in parentheses, put them in chronological order. Not: “(Jager 1969, Darwin 1858, Bon Jovi et al. 2002). Instead -- (Darwin 1858, Jager 1969, Bon Jovi et al. 2002).
A.A. = Avoid acronyms (everyone else but the author hates them). Not: “I used a GIS to map NPP for the NPS in the USA” Spell them out! On very rare occasions, it may be appropriate to use an acronym like NPP if it used more than 10 times in the text. Or, you could “define” NPP for the purposes of your study. Instead – For this study, I have defined above-ground net primary productivity as “productivity.”
Define acronyms when used. Don't assume everyone knows what NASA means. Your manuscript may be translated into other languages and read by researchers who are not familiar with US agencies.
Simplify your language – some common examples follow:
| From | To |
|---|---|
| In order to | To |
| As well as | And |
| I utilitized | I used |
| I prioritized | I set priorities |
| I parameterized the model | I set parameters in the model |
| I demonstrated | I showed |
| I performed an analysis of . . . | I analyzed . . . |
| A veritable cornucopia of verbosity | A wordy person |
Vary sentence structure and length. Have some very short sentences.
Try moving verbs to the beginning of the sentence.
Watch out for run-on sentences, which seem to go forever, including those sentences containing long phrases separated by commas, colons, and semi-colons because they really tire the reader, who has forgotten your preliminary point (and as this example clearly shows, putting additional phrases in parentheses sure doesn't’t eliminate obfuscation).
Spell out numbers less than ten. Use digits for other numbers. Try to avoid starting a sentence with a number. Use scientific notation only when really needed and for audiences that are familiar with them.
Don't provide numbers that are larger than your significant digits but don't provide too many digits either. Typically, two digits is enough. Don't put more than 2 significant digits after a decimal point (i.e. use 0.0012 instead of 0.001234).
Cite papers that disagree and agree with your findings. Being up front about the strengths and weaknesses of your paper is not only good science, it actually makes the paper stronger.
“Spell check” and “grammar check” your paper several times, and after each major revision. Be careful adding words to your personal dictionary. Check them first in a dictionary or scientific reference.
Try to format tables in “portrait” rather than landscape”.
Create black and white graphics except when absolutely necessary.
Don't use tiny fonts! This includes all text, even the labels on the axis of your graphs. You should be able to read the paper from three feet away. Remember that much of your audience is made up of old folks (like me) whose eyes are fading.
Spend extra time on the Abstract. Those 200 words are very important! Keep improving the paper and resubmitting it to other journals.
Use only simple formatting, with single columns.
The Journal
There are a wide variety of research journals available for publication. This includes online and traditional and open-access and fee-based. Some journals are indexed by the search engines while others, especially the new ones, are not. There are also government reports to access federal agencies.
Select a journal whose readers will find your article of value. A good guide is that if you have a lot of citations for that journal in the manuscript, their readers will probably find your paper of interest as well.
Follow the "Guide to Authors". Some journals require double-spaced text and separate files for images. Some of the new ones want the paper formatted as closely to how it will be printed as possible which includes putting the figures in their appropriate location in the content.
Acceptance, rejection, and resubmitting
Move quickly on changes when accepted. Some of the online journals ask for two week turn-around on journals once they have been accepted.
"Resubmit with major changes" is actual and acceptance. Unless you disagree with the
Editors are other researchers, just like you. They make mistakes and you can contact the editor and ask for another reviewer if you feel one of yours is not providing appropriate feedback. You can also move on to another journal, there are lots of them.