How to write A Research Article?

HOW TO WRITE A SCIENTIFIC
(RESEARCH) ARTICLE
‫م‬.‫صالح‬ ‫نـــبيل‬‫علي‬
‫والتاهيل‬ ‫البحث‬ ‫مركز‬
‫املعلوماتي‬-‫جامعة‬‫الكوفة‬
Nabeel@uokufa.edu.iq

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CONTENTS
Paper Contents1
The Title2
Abstract3
Introduction4
1
Methods5
Results6
Results Discussion7
Conclusions8
Acknowledgement9
References10

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2
INTRODUCTION
WHAT DO YOU DO BEFORE WRITING?
 What is the message of the paper?
 What is the new result or contribution that you want to
describe?
 What do you want to convince people of?
 If you have not already done so, you should conduct a
thorough literature search to identify those important
contributions that are related to your work.

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3
INTRODUCTION
WHAT DO YOU DO BEFORE WRITING?
 Try to summarize your initial ideas into concrete bullets
that will eventually become paragraphs.
 Start to organize these bullets into a logical structure and
develop them in the form of key sentences.

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PAPER CONTENTS
 The Common Structure
for The Research
(Scientific) Article or
Paper that has been
Conducted to Display the
Results of the Research.

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PAPER TITLE
Title: A brief phrase that expresses and reflects the
content of the paper.
Concise and informative: It has been found that titles
between 6 to 10 words gets more download,
however, it can be as long as 15 words.
Make a list of the Primary keywords.
If appropriate, the title should state the main
conclusion of the paper.
6

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PAPER TITLE
Effective Titles
– Identify the main issue of the paper
– Begin with the subject of the paper
– Are accurate, unambiguous, specific, and complete
– Are as short as possible
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PAPER TITLE
Omit unnecessary waste” words
• "A study of ...“
• "Investigations of ..."
• "Observations on ...“
• “Novel…..”
• “New….”
• Avoid abbreviations, prepositions and formula
where possible.
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PAPER TITLE
EXAMPLES:
An approach to construct the weathering profile in a
hilly granitic terrain based on electrical imaging.
Combining remote sensing-simulation modeling and
genetic algorithm optimization to explore water
management options in irrigated agriculture.
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PAPER TITLE
EXAMPLES:
Women's involvement in small-scale aquaculture in
Northeast Thailand.
- Running title: Women’s involvement in small-scale
aquaculture.
Evidence and a Computational Explanation of
Cultural Differences in Facial Expression Recognition
- Running title: CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN
FACIAL EXPRESSION
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AUTHORS
Who is the first author?:
General principles for who is listed first:
First Author:
• Conducts and/or supervises the data analysis and
the proper presentation and interpretation of the
results.
• Puts paper together and submits the paper to
journal.
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AUTHORS
Co-Author(s):
• Makes intellectual contributions to the data analysis and
contributes to data interpretation.
• Reviews each paper draft
• Must be able to present the results, defend the implications
and discuss study limitations.
Abuses to be avoided
• Ghost Authors: leaving out authors who should be included
• Gift Authors: including authors when they did not contribute
significantly.
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ABSTRACT
FEATURES:
Abstract is the paper’s key; 100 to 250 words.
Usually Single Paragraph.
The shorter the abstract the better, “Be concise,
precise to the point”, and efficient in using the words!.
Abstract should be written in past tense.
Do not use citations unless absolutely necessary.
Abbreviations should not be used unless the full
expression is both long and used frequently.13

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ABSTRACT
THE FOUR-PART ABSTRACT MODEL:
1. PROBLEM STATEMENT: Give the primary
research question, objective, and/or motivation.
2. Methodology: Provide a basic indication of how the
data were gathered.
3. MAIN FINDINGS: Show only those results which
relate directly to the research objectives and
conclusions.
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ABSTRACT
THE FOUR-PART ABSTRACT MODEL:
4. CONCLUSION: Choose the most important
implication, application, or suggestion related to the
problem statement and main findings.
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KEYWORDS
Keywords are stored in a Search index.
Keywords are usually limited to five basic pieces of
information containing one or more words, and they
need to be carefully chosen in order to include the
very essence of the paper.
Keywords are fundamental elements for the
dissemination of your research.
They are the labels of your manuscript.
Use only established abbreviations (e.g. DNA).23

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KEYWORDS EXAMPLES:
24
They are the labels of your manuscript.

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INTRODUCTION
• Make general statements about the subject.
• Bring out the importance of the subject.
• Present an overview of current research supported by
your literature review then narrow it down to your field of
study.
• Oppose an existing assumptions, reveal a research gap,
formulate a research question or problem.
• Define the problem precisely.

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INTRODUCTION
• It is important to:
• Assume that the editor and reviewers are with a good
working knowledge of your field.
• Explain how you are going to fill the knowledge gap,
laying out your objectives and methodology.
• Ensure your discussion and conclusions refer back to
this and you have successfully filled the gap and what
you have promised to do.

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INTRODUCTION
 Introduction is as important as the title and the abstract:
• Helps the Editor to decide the relevance of the paper to
the journal and gives him an idea about the
completeness of your paper.
• To interest the reader to read your article.

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INTRODUCTION STRUCTURE
 1. Introductory Paragraph
• Start with an attention-getting broad statement that
establishes a general topic for the article.
• Narrow the topic in successive sentences that outline
the state of the art and introduce a gap in knowledge.
• End the introductory paragraph with a general
statement of the problem and optional supporting
/specifying statements.

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 2. Middle paragraphs
• Usually the literature review,
• The literature review identifies the seminal historical
contributions, outlines the state of knowledge, and
justifies the novelty of the article’s contribution

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Introduction Structure-literature Review
 The literature review identifies the seminal historical
contributions, outlines the state of knowledge, and
justifies the novelty of the article’s contribution.
 The beginning of the literature review should cite the
most important historical contributions that build the
foundation to the topic the paper will extend (Russel &
Morrison 2003).
 Start with a broad background/contextual view then
narrow it down to your field of study.

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Introduction Structure-literature Review
 The goal is not to cite everything, as in a review article,
but to cite the seminal contributions that directly lead to
the problem the article addresses.
 The literature review should be based on refereed
journal articles to the extent possible, however,
conference proceeding papers can be referenced.

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 3. Last Paragraph
• End the introduction by outlining for the reader the
specific contribution of the article and tell the reader
the overall organization of the article and what he will
find in the following sections.
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INTRODUCTION
 Introduction – concisely convince readers you
know why your work is useful.
 Answer these questions:
• What is the problem?
• Are there any existing solutions?
• What are the best solutions?
• What are the main limitations?
• What do you hope to achieve?
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INTRODUCTION
Introduction
• Start the section with a general background of the
topic.
• Add 2-3 paragraphs that discuss previous work.
• Point out issues that are being addressed in the
present work.
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METHODS
 Methods(Materials, Implementation and
Testing).
 Past tense for experiments you have conducted.
 Divide this section into Materials & Methods,
Characterization, Measurements and Data analysis.
 Writing the methodology lies at the core of the
paper, and fulfills one of the basic principles
underlying the scientific method.
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METHODS
 Scientific research needs to be verifiable by other
researchers, so that they can review the results by
replicating the experiment and corroborate its validity.
 Needs an accurate description of the equipment and
techniques used to gather data.
 Explain how the raw data was compiled and
analyzed.
 Allows readers to evaluate the results and judge the
validity of your conclusions.42

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METHODS
 There are variations according to the type of research,
the methodology can be divided into a few sections:
• Materials and equipment description.
• Experiment setup.
• Input variables.
• Sampling, measurements and data collections.
• Calculations that were performed on the data.
• Statistical or analytical or modeling techniques
used.
Make sure that the units are stated for each variable.
 Use flowcharts if possible.
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METHODS
 Tip: Describe all of the techniques used to obtain the
results in a separate, objective Methods section.
COMMON METHODOLOGY TECHNIQUES:
 Experimental.
 Analytical.
 Modelling.
 Common Analytical Approaches.
 Theory; machining theory.
 Statistical Modelling.44

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METHODS
 Design of Experiment.
• Response surface methodology.
• Taguchi techniques for DoE.
 Artificial intelligence approach.
• Artificial neural networks.
• Neuro-fuzzy systems.
 Modelling and analysis.
• Finite Element Methods.
• Finite Difference.45

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METHODS
 Include detailed information to allow a knowledgeable
reader to reproduce the experiment.
 Do not describe previously published procedures but use
references and supplementary materials to indicate
these.
 Identify the equipment and describe materials used.
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RESULTS
RESULTS – what you have found.
 Present essential/primary results.
 Use sub-headings.
 Use figures/illustrations.
 Graphs.
 Tables.
 Photos
 Figures.

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RESULTS
 Straightforward commentary of what you observed and
found.
 No interpretation or evaluation.
 Avoid excessive information that obscures your key
findings.
 Don’t repeat; e.g., use tables or graphs, not both. If data
is in a table, don’t repeat it in the text.
 Display the most relevant information in the graph, figures
and tables.

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RESULTS
 Use the text to direct the reader to these, and to link to
the discussion section, e.g., highlighting correlations
and key findings.
 Include negative results; excluding them invalidates the
paper and is bad science.
 Negative results, and how you handle them, often lead
to an interesting discussion section.
 Use an appendix for larger amounts of raw data and/or
calculations.

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RESULTS
 Specify any computer programs that you used.
 Assume the reader understands basic statistical tests.
 Make sure that all figures and tables, enumerated, have
title and referred to on the text.
 Principle: Results should be clear, convincing, and
general and should be free from interpretations or
opinions.

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RESULTS
 The purpose of the Results, which may also be labeled
‘Findings,’ is simply to provide readers with access to
the original data.
 Tables are preferred when it is useful for understanding
of the results to provide a large data set. Other figures,
such as charts or photographs, can also be included if
they are necessary or helpful for clarity of the
discussion.

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TABLES AND FIGURES
 Properly implemented tables and figures are a
characteristic of published journal papers.
 Avoid using such visuals if they do not assist the
reader to understand your findings.
 Clearly label tables and figures, readers should be able
to understand illustrations without referring to the text.

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TABLES AND FIGURES EXAMPLES

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TABLES AND FIGURES EXAMPLE
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DISCUSSION
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 Discussion sections interpret the results to reach the main
conclusions of the article.
 Presentation of the background information as well as the
recapitulation of the research aims of the present study.
 Brief summary of the results.
 Interpretations and emphasize the findings.
 Explain any links and correlations in your data.
 Build on the links you left in the results section.
 Some speculation is allowed, e.g., regarding causality.

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DISCUSSION
65
 If using statistical analysis:
• Address your null or alternative hypotheses according to the
significance levels found by the statistics.
• Explain the statistical results in the context of your enquiry.
 Discuss what you did not find, and how you deal with that.
 Even if the results are inconclusive (probable), try to find
something of value.
 Position your findings into the context of previous research;
do they concur or contradict or add something new.

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DISCUSSION
66
 Suggest where results of previous research might help to
interpret your own findings.
 Explain if and how your research has contributed to
knowledge, or not.
 Reflect on the research design in the light of the outcomes:
• What might you have done differently.
• What modifications and improvements would you
suggest to another researcher.
 Avoid sweeping generalizations in the applicability of your
findings to the wider world.

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DISCUSSION
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Discussion – what the results mean
 DO
• Explain how the results relate to the study’s aims and
hypotheses.
• Mention how the findings relate to those of other studies.
• Give all possible interpretations of your findings.
• Acknowledge limitations of the study.

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DISCUSSION
68
 DONOT
• Make “grand statements” that are not supported by the
data.
• Introduce new results or terms.
• Ignore work that disagrees with yours – confront it and
convince the reader you are correct – this is KEY.

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DISCUSSION
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 Results and Discussion
(These two sections can be combined or separate)
 Describe the results in detail and include a healthy, detailed
discussion.
 The order of figures should follow the discussion themes
and not the sequence they were conducted.
 Discuss how your data compare or contrast with previous
results.
 Include schemes, photographs to enhance the scope of
discussion.

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DISCUSSION
70
 Avoid
• Excessive presentation of data/results without any
discussion.
• Citing every argument with a published work.

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CONCLUSIONS
CONCLUSIONS
 Include major findings followed by brief discussion on
future perspectives and/or application of present work
to other disciplines.
 IMPORTANT: Do not rewrite the abstract.
 Statements with “Investigated” or “Studied” are not
conclusions!

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SUMMARY / CONCLUSIONS
 Writing a conclusion is the final part of the research
paper, drawing everything together and tying it into your
initial research question.
 Answer the research question here.
 Provide a short synopsis of the results and discussion,
summing up the paper
 Explain the extent to which the results have provided an
answer to the research question.

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 Specify some questions that another researcher can
expand upon for their research.
 Explain the importance of the study and point out how it
relates to the field.
 Blend your findings into the body of research
highlighted in the introduction.

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 Describe how your findings can be used by readers,
pointing out the benefits.
 Propose the practical significance of your findings for
professional practice/policy making /commercial and
managerial etc.
 State what was learned.
 Highlight any deficiencies.
 Bring out any unanswered questions.
 Offer suggestions for future research.

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 Principle: The summary and conclusions section tells
the reader what has already been read and draws the
important conclusions, keep it short and make it as
specific as possible.
 CONCLUSIONS – how the work advances the field?
(don’t repeat the abstract!).
 is a brief summary of the research, suggestions for
action to be taken could also be written here.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
79
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS – recognition to those who
have helped you with your study.
 Acknowledge anyone who has helped you with the study,
including:
• Researchers who supplied materials or reagents, e.g.
vectors or antibodies.
• Anyone who helped with the writing or English, or offered
critical comments about the content.
• Anyone who provided technical help.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
80
 State why people have been acknowledged and ask their
permission.
 Acknowledge sources of funding, including any grant or
reference numbers.
 Remember to thank the funding agency and
Colleagues/scientists/technicians who might have
provided assistance.
 The acknowledgments are given at the end of the
research paper.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
81
 To name the sources of funding that contributed to the
article.
 Recognize other people who contributed to the article.
 Source of data contained in the article.
 It is a matter of basic courtesy to thank any person or
organization that has made a contribution to your finished
paper. Contributions are usually things like: financing,
data, equipment, technical assistance, or mentoring.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EXAMPLES
82

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EXAMPLES
83

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REFERENCES
84
 All reference works cited in the paper must appear in a list
of references.
 Prevent accusations of plagiarism and to give fair credit to
the work of previous authors.
 Substantiates your literature review.
 Reviewers and experienced researchers often look at the
references first to see if the right ones are there.
 Follow the style of the journal to which you are submitting
and be consistent.
 Ensure every reference is cited in the text.

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REFERENCES
85
 Ensure every citation in the text is referenced.
 Guide to Citation Style Guides
http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/journalism/cite.html.
 References – citing the main scientific publications on
which your work is based.
 Typically, there are more mistakes in the references than
any other part of the manuscript, so take EXTRA care with
yours.

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REFERENCES
86
 Do not use too many references; 30-40 references are
appropriate for a full text article, so cite the main scientific
publications on which your work is based.
 Always ensure you have fully absorbed material you are
referencing and do not just rely on checking excerpts or
isolated sentences.
 Avoid excessive self-citations.
 Avoid excessive citations of publications from the same
region.
 Conform strictly to the style given in the Guide for Authors.

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REFERENCES
87
 The styles vary for different journals. (Use ENDNOTE,
RefWorks, Mendeley).
 Some journals require complete titles of the cited
references.
 Please check for the accuracy of all citations.
 We have already introduced referencing as an important
aspect of scientific writing (c.f. Sources and referencing:
The reference list, p.?). Details on formatting a reference
list will vary depending on the journal’s requirements.

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SUPPORTING INFORMATION
90
 Include methods, analysis, blank experiments, additional
data.
Appendices
 Useful way to include information that would otherwise
clutter up the paper.
 Usually non-essential; if removed, the paper would still be
perfectly understandable.
 Place for raw data, questionnaire, statistical calculations,
maps, extra photographs and diagrams of apparatus,
abbreviations.

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SUPPORTING INFORMATION
91
 Does not count towards the word count.
 Creates a good impression with attention to detail.
 The appendices are supporting materials, often tables or
figures, which are included with the paper but separate
from the main text.
 Appendices are useful for including details which would
interfere with the text, be sure not to use them
unnecessarily.

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Nabeel Salih Ali

How to write A Research Article?

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