Writing Scientific Research Articles

Session 3

I - The Discussion section

1 - Important structural issues
There are several important issues to think about as you begin to draft your Discussion
section:
+ Structure of the Discussion
. Does the journal you are targeting allow the option of a combined Results/Discussion
section, followed by a separate Conclusion?
. Does the journal permit a Conclusion where the Discussion is relatively long?
. Does the journal publish Discussion sections which include subheadings?
+ Relating the Discussion closely to the paper’s title
The title is to reflect the key elements of the paper’s story that will be emphasized in the
Discussion.
+ Relating the Discussion closely to the Introduction
You need to ensure that your Discussion connects clearly with the issues you raised in
your Introduction, especially the country where you began, the evidence leading up to
your Stage 3 gap, and your statement of purpose.
2 - Information elements to highlight the key messages
The types of information commonly included in Discussion sections are given below:
. A reference to the main purpose or hypothesis of the study, or a summary of the main
activity of the study (1).
. A restatement or review of the most important findings, generally in order of their
significance, including (2)
i whether they support the original hypothesis, or how they contribute to the main activity
of the study, to answering the research questions, or to meeting the research objectives;
and
ii whether they agree with the findings of other researchers.
. Explanations for the findings, supported by references to relevant literature, and/or
speculations about the findings, also supported by literature citation (3).
. Limitations of the study that restrict the extent to which the findings can be generalized
beyond the study conditions (4).
. Implications of the study: what the results mean in the context of the broader field (5).
. Recommendations for future research and/or practical applications (6).
The elements numbered 2–5 are often repeated for each group of results that is discussed.
3 - Negotiating the strength of claims
Authors need to pay particular attention to the verbs they use to comment on their results.
The verbs carry much of the meaning about attitude to findings and strength of claim:
choice of vocabulary and verb tense.
II - The title
- The title you finally select for your manuscript forms an important part of your
communication with your readers, both with the editor and referees who will evaluate the
paper, and with the members of your discipline community whom you want to read the
paper after its publication.
- This is advice about attracting the attention of your target readers effectively:
+ Strategy 1: Provide as much relevant information as possible, but be concise
The purpose of a title is to attract busy readers in your particular target audience, so that
they will want to access and read the whole document. The more revealing your title is,
the more easily your potential readers can judge how relevant your paper is to their
interests.
+ Strategy 2: Use keywords prominently
. Wherever possible it is a good idea to place the most important word(s) in your title in
the position of power: the beginning.
X Effects of added calcium on salinity tolerance of tomato
√ Calcium addition improves salinity tolerance of tomato
. One effective way to ensure your keyword(s) are at the front of your title is to use a
colon (:) or a dash (–) to separate the first, keyword-containing part of the title from a
second, explanatory section.
√ Native weeds and exotic plants: relationships to disturbance in mixed-grass prairie
+ Strategy 3: Choose strategically: noun phrase, statement, or question?
. The traditional way to write titles and headings is as a noun phrase. Several of these
titles are very effective: brief, informative, and with keywords placed near the front.
. A statement is can give more explicit information about the results of the study.
Statement titles are only suitable for papers that address a specific question and present a
non-complex answer.
Effects of added calcium on salinity tolerance of tomato
Calcium addition improves salinity tolerance of tomato
. When there is no simple answer to be presented, it can be effective to write a title as a
question.
Which insect introductions succeed and which fail?
+ Strategy 4: Avoid ambiguity in noun phrases
. If writers place a string of nouns and adjectives together, to form a title which packs a
lot of meaning into a few words, they can sometimes cause problems of ambiguity: more
than one possible meaning. This is particularly the case when nouns are used as
adjectives.
. A general guideline is to restrict these noun phrases to a maximum of three words, and
this many only if there is no risk of misunderstanding. If they grow longer, rewrite them
by inserting the prepositions that clarify the meaning.
X soybean seedling growth suppression
√ suppression of soybean seedling growth
III - The Abstract
1 - Why Abstracts are so important
. For busy readers the Abstract, sometimes called the Summary, may be the only part of
the paper they read, unless it succeeds in convincing them to take the time to read the
whole paper!
. For readers in developing countries with limited access to the literature, the Abstract
may be the only information on your work that is available to them.
. Abstracting services may use the text of the title plus the Abstract and keywords for
their searchable databases.
2 - Selecting additional keywords
Consult other similar papers in your field to see which additional keywords they use
beyond the ones already included in the title. At this stage, think again about your
audience and their interests.
3 - Abstracts: typical information elements
- Some journals provide a list of questions or headings for authors to respond to in
writing their abstracts, and others do not.
- All provide a maximum number of words that an abstract (or summary) may contain
(e.g. 250 for The Plant Journal and 350 for the Journal of Ecology, as of March 2008).
- Based on analyses of many abstracts in science and technology fields, the following
information elements can be proposed as constituting a full abstract or summary.
+ Some background information B
+ The principal activity (or purpose) of the study and its scope P
+ Some information about the methods used in the study M
+ The most important results of the study R
+ A statement of conclusion or recommendation C

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