This document provides guidance on how to write a scientific paper. It discusses the key sections of a paper including the title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references. The introduction should provide background and establish the research question. The methods section should thoroughly describe how the study was conducted. Results should present relevant findings without interpretation. The discussion should answer the research question by relating results to prior work and discussing implications. Adhering to guidelines and organizing the paper in a clear, logical manner is important for effective communication of scientific research.

1. How To Write a Scientific Paper
Dr. Ghizal Fatima (P.hD)
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Era’s Medical College and Hospitals,
Lucknow
*submitted

2. What is a Scientific Paper
A scientific paper is a written and published report
describing original research results

3. Ideally it is
• To share the new discoveries in science, to improve the
quality of life & for providing better healthcare.
• Make contributions to society
More often is
• To get the research funding/grants
• To improve the scientific impact of institute
• To get the job
• To get promotions
Why publishing scientific paper is important

4. •Publication in a reputable, peer reviewed journal
should be the goal, as this provides the most effective
means of disseminating information to a large
audience.
• Before writing a first draft, it is important to
establish that the topic of the manuscript is likely to
be consistent with the focus of the journal.
The Very First Step

5. •Having first selected a journal, it is essential to follow the
guidelines for authors.
•Guidelines are specific & include rules for word limit,
organization of manuscript, line spacing, preparation of
tables, figures & method to cite references.
•Failure to comply with the guidelines may result in
rejection or return of the manuscript for correction,
thereby delaying the process of review and publication.

6. Writing the Manuscript
•The art of writing a manuscript improves with practice &
considerable help may be gained by asking others,
especially those who have published.
•Getting started is often the most difficult part & for this
reason it is best to begin with the easiest sections. These
are usually the methods & results, followed by the
discussion, conclusion, introduction, references & title,
leaving the abstract until last.

7. •Try & set aside some time for writing on consecutive
days.
•Long gaps between periods of writing interrupts the
continuity of thought.
•Try to write quickly, to keep the flow going.
•Use abbreviations & leave space for words that do not
come to mind immediately.
•Having finished the first draft, immediately revise it & be
prepared to do this several times until you feel it is not
possible to improve it further.

8. In order to maintain continuity between the key sections
(introduction, methods, results and discussion) it is helpful
to consider the manuscript as telling a story.
The strong parts to the story-line is the introduction and
the discussion so the link between these sections must be
very clear.
The research question which is posed as the need of the
introduction must be answered at the beginning of the
Discussion.
Key Points

9. Structure and Content of a Manuscript
A manuscript is typically composed of a number of
sections:
-Title
- Abstract
- Key Words
- Introduction
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusions and
- References

10. Introduction
What question was studied?
Methods
How was the question studied?
Results
What was found?
Discussion
What do the results mean?

11. Title
• Max info in least words
• <12 words
• <100 characters
• Should almost never contain abbreviations
• Easier to understand, more impactful
• State results
•This provides the first impression to the reader, so select the
most appropriate title. Attractive and Catchy Title; makes
reader go through the article for sure.
•Include essential words in right order such that the topic of the
manuscript is accurately and fully conveyed. (e.g. clearly
related to the purpose of the study)

12. Abstract
•Brief summary (of specified word limit) of the manuscript.
Provide highlights from the introduction, methods, results,
discussion and conclusions.
•Abstract is important as many computerized searchers
only retrieve the abstract.
•Words should be simple, abbreviations omitted except for
standard units of measurement & statistical terms.
•Citations not included.

13. Key Words
 Journals require the author to identify 3 or 4 key
words which represent major concept of paper.
These are used for indexing purposes.

14. Introduction
 The purpose of introduction is to stimulate
reader’s interest & to provide background
information which is pertinent to the study.
 Research question is the most important part of
the intro.

15. Intro.
 Background to the topic
 What is known about the topic
 What is still unknown or problematic
 Findings of relevant studies
 Importance of the topic
References are almost exclusively used in the
intro. references cited should be those which are
most valid. Avoid citing unpublished reports.
These are not strong evidence because they are
unable to be accessed.

16. Methods
 This section is descriptive.
 Main consideration, to ensure enough detail is
provided to verify the findings.
 Sub-headings should be used, where appropriate.
Many journals require mention of relevant ethics
committee approval for study & subjects gave
informed consent.

17. Subjects
 Method of sampling and recruitment
 Number of subjects
 Justification of sample size.
 Inclusion, exclusion
Materials
 Equipment, instruments or measurement tools
(include model number & manufacturer).
Procedures
 Detailed description, in chronological order, of
exactly what was done.

18.  In this section you describe how you performed your study
 It's helpful to both writer and reader to organize this section
chronologically: that is, describe each procedure in the order it
was performed.
 For example, DNA-extraction, purification, amplification,
assay, detection. Or, study area, study population, sampling
technique, variables studied, analysis method.

19. • Write the methods section first because it is the easiest to
write.
• Start writing when experiments still in progress
• Supplies, manufacturer, country needs to be added, Animal,
human, protections details, Measurements/ instruments.
• Statistical analysis and data collection

20. Statistical Analyses
 Methods used to summarize data.
 Statistical software (name, version)
 Statistical tests & what was compared
 Critical alpha probability (p) value at which
differences/relationships were considered to be statistically
significant.

21. Results
 Data in the form of text, tables or figures supports the results
 Include only those results which are relevant to the question(s)
posed in the introduction.
 Tables and figures, present the details whereas the narrative
section of the results tends to be used to present the general
findings.
 Clear tables and figures provide a very powerful visual means
of presenting data and should be used to complement the text.

22.  This section responds to the question "What have
you found?" Hence, only representative results from
your research should be presented. The results should
be essential for discussion.
 Careful planning of the tables and figures is
important to ensure that the sequencing of these tells
a story.

23.  Tables generally should report summary-level data,
such as means±standard deviations, rather than all
your raw data.
 An important issue is that you must not include
references in this section; you are presenting your
results, so you cannot refer to others here.
 If you refer to others, is because you are discussing
your results, and this must be included in the
Discussion section.

24. Discussion
 The discussion should be considered as the heart of the paper
& invariably requires several attempts at writing.
 It serves to answer the question(s) posed in the introduction,
explain how the results support the answers and how the
answers fit in with existing knowledge on the topic.
 This is the main section in which the author can express your
interpretations & opinions, for example how important the
author thinks the results are, the author’s suggestions for
future research and the clinical implications of the findings

25.  Answer to the question posed in the intro. With
accompanying support, explanation with reference to
published literature.
Explanations of:
 How the findings concur with those of others.
 Any discrepancies of the results with those of others.
 The limitations of the study which may affect the
study validity or findings.
 Importance of the work e.g. clinical significance
 Recommendations for further research

26. Conclusions
 This section must comprise a brief statement of the major
findings & Implications of the study.
 It is not the function of this section to summarise the study;
this is the purpose of the abstract.
 New information must not be included in the conclusion part.
• Should not be a summary of the work done- abstract is doing
fine with that.

27. Acknowledgements
 All important contributors should be acknowledged, for eg.
persons who provided statistical or technical advice &
assistance.
 Those who helped with recruitment & with the preparation of
the manuscript.
 If the research was supported by a grant, then the name of the
funding body must be included.
 For eg. The authors thanks Dr…….and Dr…. for their help in
reviewing this manuscript.

28. References
 Cite current and key pertinent references
 Reference citations must be accurate and complete
 Read the references
 Use correct style for journal

29. Section Purpose
Title Clearly describes contents
Authors Ensures recognition for the writer(s)
Abstract Describes what was done
Key Words (some journals)
Ensures the article is correctly
identified in abstracting and indexing
services
Introduction Explains the problem
Methods Explains how the data were collected
Results Describes what was discovered
Discussion
Discusses the implications of the
findings
Acknowledgements
Ensures those who helped in the
research are recognised
References
Ensures previously published work is
recognised
Appendices (some journals)
Provides supplemental data for the
expert reader

30. THANK YOU
Even very creative experiments and novel
results will have dull impact if the
manuscript is not written well.