This document provides guidance on writing research articles for publication in health sciences journals. It discusses selecting a research topic and writing a protocol that includes objectives and methodology. It also covers developing hypotheses, study designs, common sections of research articles like introduction, methods, results and discussion. Finally, it offers tips on writing style, common mistakes to avoid, and referencing previous work.

1. Writing in Health Sciences
The Research Article
Luis Saldarriaga
(English teacher)

2. Writing in Health Sciences

3. The protocol
• Select a field and a topic for research.
• Plan the research and write it down as a
protocol.
• It starts with a title and a summary.
• The protocol should include the rationale for
the study, objectives and methodology.

4. The protocol
• The protocol should include ethical
considerations and gender issues (if
relevant).
• It should also include the statistical methods
used for sample size calculation and for data
management and analysis.
• And the protocol should include relevant
references to previous work on the topic.

5. The null hypothesis
• A research must not be carried out to prove a
hypothesis, but only to test it.
• The null hypothesis is the assumption that the
research hypothesis is not true.
• If the results do not support the null hypothesis,
then the research hypothesis is more likely to be
true. But usually there is no absolute certainty
about the validity of scientific results, only a
high level of probability.

6. The research article

7. The research article
• Introduction: why this research was done.
• Methods: how this research was done.
• Results: what the researchers got.
• Discussion: implications of this research for its
field. Why the findings are relevant.
• References: about what has been done before.
• Abstract: a brief summary of the present
research.

8. Moves in Introductions
• Move 1: What the topic is. Why it is
important.
• Move 2: The nature of a problem, its
significance. What has been done.
• Move 3: The gap, a very specific problem that
brought about the need for the research.
• Move 4: Filling the gap (solving the specific
problem). Objectives of the report.

9. Moves in Introductions

10. Move 1: Research area
(What the topic is)

11. Move 2: General research question
(The nature of the problem)

12. Move 3: Specific research question
(The gap)

13. Move 4: Research objectives
(Filling the gap)

14. Writing moves in Introductions

16. Methods

17. Methods

20. Randomised controlled trial of specialist nurse
intervention in heart failure (BMJ 2001)

21. Results

23. Discussion

27. Abstracts
Abstracts should provide the context for the
study, state the study’s purposes, basic
procedures (selection of study subjects,
observational and analytical methods), main
findings (giving specific effect sizes and their
statistical significance, if possible), and
principal conclusions. They should emphasize
new and important aspects or observations of
the study.

28. Publish or perish
• Research is not complete until its results are
published in scientific journals.
• But a scientific report will not be accepted for
publication until it has been approved by
other scientists, who serve as referees (peer
review).
• Another way to inform the scientific
community is to present the results in
scientific meetings.

29. Publish or perish

30. Common mistakes

31. Common mistakes

32. Common mistakes

33. Compound nouns

34. Compound nouns

35. Past Tense vs Present Perfect Tense

38. Adjectives with -ed and -ing

39. Adjectives with -ed and -ing

40. Passive voice
Object + Verb to be + Main verb (past participle)

41. Style I
• Short words, short sentences
• Short paragraphs
• No jargon, no abbreviations
• Prefer nouns and verbs to adjectives and
adverbs
• Cut all cliches
• Don’t be too chatty

42. Never use six words when one will do

44. Style II
• Avoid figures of speech and idioms
• Prefer active to passive
• Prefer the concrete to the abstract
• Don’t hector
• Be careful with slang
• Avoid “the unblack cat crossed the not
unwide road”
• Do not be non-unstuffy.

45. Prefer active to passive

46. Style III
Prefer Anglo Saxon over the Latin:
• Assist (help)
• Commence (begin, start)
• Comprehend (understand)
• Humiliate (demean)
• Inundate (flood)
• Mortal (deadly)
• Rapid (quick, fast)

47. Style IV
Avoid phrasal verbs. Use verbs with Latin/
Greek derivations instead.
• Look about, look into, look up.
• Survey, examine, consult.
• Doctors used to put people under by
chloroforming them.
• Doctors used to anesthetize people with
chloroform.

48. To be or not to be
• It is challenging for health care personnel to
be up-to-date. (“To be”)
• Health care personnel face challenges in
staying up-to-date. (Not “to be”)
• There are several strengths of this study,
including… (“To be”)
• Strengths of this study include... (Not “to be”)
• There’s evidence… / Evidence suggests…

49. Parallelism:
Use the same pattern of words

50. Grammar tip – Please never say: “Gaga enjoys
dancing, singing and to wear food on her body.”

51. Ending a Sentence with a Preposition
You can either leave a preposition at the end or
re-structure the sentence:
1. She is a person I cannot cope with.
2. She is a person with whom I cannot cope.
However, most grammarians would select
option 1 when speaking but option 2 when
writing.

52. Ending a Sentence with a Preposition
• It is behaviour I will not put up with.
(This example ends in two prepositions: "up"
and "with".)
• It is behaviour up with which I will not put.
(This example sounds extremely contrived.)
A good solution is to re-word the sentence:
• It is behaviour I will not tolerate.

53. Ending a Sentence with a Preposition
In some passive expressions it is impossible to
avoid this:
• The dress had not even been paid for. √
• Paid for the dress had not even been. X
• The match was rained off. √
• Rained off was the match. X
• "There is only one thing in life worse than being
talked about, and that is not being talked
about." (Oscar Wilde) √

54. Ending a Sentence with a Preposition
• Two unrelated ladies (A and B), waiting at
airport lounge, sitting next to each other. One
of them asks the other:
• Excuse me, where are you from?
• I am from a place where we never end our
sentences with a preposition.
• So, where are you from, bitch?

57. And please avoid this
(in every sense)
Images in Medicine.
N Engl J Med 363;18 (2010)

58. References (1)
• A practical guide for health researchers.
(WHO 2004)
• The inside view on writing for medical
journals. (BMJ - Power Point presentation)
• SCIENTIFIC WRITING - Easy When You Know
How. BMJ (2002)
• Clinical Epidemiology: How to Do Clinical
Practice Research. Chapter 16 (2005)

59. References (2)
• Writing a research article: advice to
beginners. Int J Qual Health Care (2004)
• Preparing Manuscripts for Submission to
Medical Journals: The Paper Trail. Effective
Clinical Practice (1999)
• Dena Bain Taylor: A Guide To Verb Tense
Voice And Mood In Scientific Writing.
(Online)

60. References (3)
• Zimmerman F: English for Science. (1989)
• Chemistry journal articles: An
interdisciplinary approach to move analysis
with pedagogical aims English for Specific
Purposes. English for Specific Purposes (2013)
• Oral health: prevention is key. Lancet (2009)
• Images in Medicine. A Foreign Body. N Engl J
Med 363;18 (2010)