Writing Scientific Research Articles: Strategy and Steps

by Margaret Cargill, Patrick O'Connor

This book shows scientists how to apply their analysis and synthesis skills to overcoming the challenge of how to write, as well as what to write, to maximise their chances of publishing in international scientific journals.

The book uses analysis of the scientific article genre to provide clear processes for writing each section of a manuscript, starting with clear ‘story’ construction and packaging of results. Each learning step uses practical exercises to develop writing and data presentation skills based on reader analysis of well-written example papers. Strategies are presented for responding to referee comments, and for developing discipline-specific English language skills for manuscript writing and polishing.

The book is designed for scientists who use English as a first or an additional language, and for individual scientists or mentors or a class setting. In response to reader requests, the new edition includes review articles and the full range of research article formats, as well as applying the book’s principles to writing funding applications. Web support for this book is available at

Genres: Writing, Science, Linguistics, Nonfiction, Research

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 3, 2009

Reviews

[Xi Xi]

Great for beginners,
but probably not enough if people want more insights.

[Giuliana Ferrari]

I'd actually give it 3.5 stars. Is good, its just that it's not wonderfully new or revolutionary, but its packed with good advice and a better dose of common sense. Would recommend to students and early researchers, so that's a plus.

[Philipp]

Good resource for students who soon will start with writing scientific papers - it covers questions like how are papers usually structured? How are introduction/methods/discussion themselves structured? What are common problems with each part? How should you handle the peer review process and rebuttals?

I'd use parts (exercises!) for a course on teaching scientific writing and some contained tips (focus on the story you want to tell, cut all results that don't support the story) or checklists are very useful (6 things a discussion should contain etc.), but personally some parts came "too late" for me, I'm too far into this game to need to read about basic paper structures...

Recommended for: Undergrads/Postgrad students, early PhD students

[Iyad Abou-rabii]

A good book designed for scientists, I liked the review articles included, it supports you also in writing funding applications.

[Mills College Library]

808.0665 C276 2013