This document provides guidance on writing a medical thesis, including selecting a topic, organizing the thesis, writing each section, and addressing ethical concerns. It recommends that students work closely with their supervisor to choose a worthwhile topic and develop a timetable. The introduction should justify the need for the study and state the objectives. The methods section should thoroughly describe the research design and procedures. The results section should objectively report the findings without interpretation.

1. Medical
writing
HUSSEIN ELKHAYAT , MD

2. “If you didn’t invent/create it and you
weren’t born knowing it – then you MUST
reference it.” -
This lecture material are collected from previous lectures and
courses of :
Prof.Omar M Shaaban
Prof.Rabab A. Ahmed
Prof.Dalia G. Mahran
Dr.T.V.Rao MD THESIS WRITING FOR ( POST GRADUATE MEDICAL
STUDENTS )
Faye Hicks - author

3. Writing your thesis
where to start?

4. WHO SELECTS THE THESIS TOPIC
supervisor OR STUDENT?
 On many occasions supervisor suggest some topics with
better understanding, knowing very well the facilities
available in the Laboratory / Hospitals.
 The student has also important role in accepting what has
been suggested,
 Impracticable outdated ideas of supervisors is catastrophic
both to the students and to the department

5. Your supervisor will expect that:
 You have identified a worthwhile problem or question which
has not been previously answered ?
 You have solved the problem or answered the question or
at least contributed some facts for better understanding on
the topic selected.

6. CONFLICTS IN supervisor
AND STUDENT RELATIONS
 A non committed students and a irrational
supervisors are the real areas of conflict what we
see in the working environment .
 Todays youth too are intelligent wise and well
informed they can understand strengths and
weakness of the supervisors in few days of joining
the Department
 Even supervisor should practice the policy of
Humble to learn and wise to teach.

7.  Obviously your external examiners will read the
thesis. They will be experts in the general field of
your thesis but, on the exact topic of your thesis,
you are the world expert.
 Keep this in mind: you should write to make the
topic clear to a reader who has not spent most of
the last three years thinking about it.

8. How to review the literature

9. CAN INTERNET SEARCH SOLVE THE
PROBLEM OF WRITING A GOOD THESIS
 Many postgraduates usually search on the internet to find out
information for any thesis.
 They find it interesting and obviously there is no place better
than internet where they can find all the relevant information.
 However, the students are not aware of the contents and
patterns and often end up writing down something absolutely
meaningless.

10. Questions you must have asked when
you have chosen the topic for your study
 · What is the problem?
 · What is the relevance of this problem?
 · What information is already available?
 · What do you hope to achieve by your study?
 · What additional data are needed to meet the
objectives?
 · How these data are collected?
 · Is it ethical to conduct the study in the way you
want to do?
 · How these collected data are going to be
analyzed?
 · What is the expected outcome and how much it is
useful?

11. Whenever you read an article your must
have
answered following questions:
 What are the principal findings
 · Strength and weakness of the study.
 · How does the article compare in relation to
other studies, discussing particularly
 any differences in results.
 · Meaning of the study: possible mechanism and
implications for clinicians or
 policy makers.
 · Unanswered questions and future research.

12.  You should have written these answers in paper
and attached it to every article you read and
started filing according to the alphabetical list.

13. Organization
 Make an ‘outline’ describing what you want the report to look
like.
 Decide what objectives you will address and what information
you wish to present.
 Think about your reader
 Decide what materials you will need to have on hand to write the
report. You should assemble all necessary information before you
start to write. This includes preparation of all of your figures and
tables.
 Now you are ready to start writing!

14. The “four drafts” approach to
speed writing
 Draft 1 –this is the ‘outlining’ stage. In this draft I list down the
complete table of contents, from chapters right down to the
lowest sub-sections
 Draft 2 – This is the ‘brainstorming’ draft. The idea here is simply to
dump all your thoughts and ideas. Don’t worry about sentence
order, grammar, spelling or punctuation – that will just slow you
down and interrupt the creative flow.

15.  Draft 3 – this is the ‘sifting and sorting’ stage, where the first
seeds of paragraphs germinate, grow and flourish. First, go
through everything you dumped during the brainstorming
session(s) and collect ‘like’ ideas into groupings. Next, start
thinking about topic sentences for these groupings. Then, flesh
out the supporting facts into full blown sentences. Organize
these supporting sentences into a logical order under their
respective topic sentences. Don’t waste any time trying to get
the wording absolutely perfect

16.  Draft 4 the ‘preening’ draft. This is where you turn your
excellent technical content into excellent technical
prose. Check your grammar, spelling and punctuation.

17. How to write a paragraph !

18. Organization
 Open a word-processor file for each chapter in a computer,
which is available
 Do not forget to keep a copy with you on a flash disk or
skydrive.
 You can put notes in these, as well as text.

20. Organization
 Make a back-up of these files and do so every
day
 Never keep the back-up disk close to the
computer
 If you are not competent in typing and with
computer you should have a physical filing system

21. A timetable
 sit down with your guide and making up a
timetable for writing it.
 If you have told your adviser that you will deliver a
first draft of chapter 3 on Wednesday, it focuses
your attention.

22. Beginning to real work
 Do not be upset if a chapter - especially the first
one you write - returns covered in red ink.
 Your adviser will want your thesis to be as good as
possible, because his/her reputation as well as
yours is affected.

23.  It is often helpful to have someone other than
your adviser(s) read some sections of the thesis.
 It may also be appropriate to ask other members
of staff to read some sections of the thesis which
they may find relevant or of interest.

24.  Your thesis may also be used as a scientific report
and consulted by other residents, future workers
who will want to know, in detail, what you did.
More and more theses are now stored in an
entirely digital form
 www.eulc.edu.eg

26. Dishonesty in scientific research
 you must usually state where in the scientific literature that
result is reported.
 If you don’t invent it , you have to cite it
 The only exceptions are cases where every scientist in the field
already knows it: tachypnoea in pneumonia, oedema in
congestive heat failure.

27. Fraud:
Turning in someone else's writing as your own;
inventing statistics or sources that do not exist;
falsifying evidence
 Plagiarism is the theft of other people’s words and
ideas. Plagiarism happens when you claim (or
appear to claim) that an idea, or the expression
of it, is your own when in fact it is someone else’s.
 This either Intentional (deliberate) or unintentional
(accidental)

29.  Plagiarism is the use of another author's
language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions, and
the representation of them as one's own original
work (Ref: From the Oxford English Dictionary)
 ‫العربية‬ ‫بالغة‬:
 ‫السطو‬‫االكاديمي‬

30. Examples of Plagiarism…
 Copying and pasting text from online encyclopedias
 Copying and pasting text from any web site
 Using photographs, video or audio without permission or
acknowledgement
 Using another author’s or your parents’ work and claiming it as your
own even with permission
 Using your own work without properly citing it!

31. How to Avoid Plagiarism…
1. Begin the writing process by stating your
ideas; then go back to the author's original
work.
2. To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit (i.e.
to mention references) whenever you use
another person’s idea, opinion, or theory.
3. You take any facts, statistics, graphs,
drawings or any pieces of information in your
own research writing.

32. How to Avoid Plagiarism…
4. If you are going to take the exact words from
another source use quotation marks and then
credit the source (author)
5. If you are going to take a scientific fact from
a research article, write it in your own words
not the exact copy of the authors words…this
is called “Paraphrasing”. ….of course this
should not change the scientific fact.
6. Even when you paraphrase another author's
writings, you must give credit to that author.

33. References:
 Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference, 4th ed. (Boston
& New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999)
 Examples of plagiarism detection servers and software
 http://www.ithenticate.com/
 http://www.plagscan.com/
 http://searchenginereports.net/
 http://www.duplichecker.com/

34. Style
 The text must be clear. Good grammar and
thoughtful writing will make the thesis easier to
read. Scientific writing has to be a little formal
 Some use : "at this point in time" instead of "now"
precisely because it takes longer to convey the
same meaning. THIS IS WRONG !

35. deadline
 A thesis is so large a work that you cannot make it
perfect in a finite time.
 There will inevitably be things in it that you could
have done better.
 There will be inevitably be some typos.

36. Structure of the thesis

37. title
 Adequately describes the contents of the thesis in
the fewest possible words.
 10–12 words
 No unnecessary words, nor waste space with
phrases such as “Observations on” or “A study
of”
 No abbreviations

39. PROBLEMS OF TITLES
 Too short
 Too long
 Ambiguous or inappropriate for a journal
article
 Poor syntax or careless grammar
 Use of abbreviations or jargon

40. Acknowledgements
 Most thesis authors put in a page of thanks to
those who have helped them in matters scientific,
and also indirectly by providing such essentials as
food, education, genes, money, help, advice,
friendship etc. If any of your work is collaborative,
you should make it quite clear who did which
sections.

41. STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS
 Introduction: Why did the authors start?
 Review of literature
 Methods: What did they do?
 Results: What did they find?
 Discussion: What do the results mean?
 conclusion

42. Introduction

43.  Tell the reader why the research
was started
 Make clear what question the
research was designed to answer.
 Raise the interest of the reader.

44.  Gives background or context of study
 Reviews knowledge on topic
 Justifies need for the study
 Provides information on study objectives and hypothesis

45. Justifying Need for Study
The justification follows the general and
immediate problems and a review of current
knowledge that supports the need for the study:
“Because no studies to date have reported
outcomes, we examined.…”
“Evaluation of the results of the program was
necessary to develop future programs.”

46. General Type and Objectives
of Study
 General type of study, such as experiment
or survey:
“We conducted an experiment…”
“We surveyed the attitudes and practices…”
 Objectives or hypotheses immediately
following study type:
“The objective was to determine if availability of VATS resulted in higher
minimal invasive operation.”

47. What Not to Include
 Do not include information that is not directly
relevant to your study:
 Problems other than the one being examined
 General information about the country
 Details of the research design

48. What to Cite
 Do cite the papers written on your specific
research topic.
 Do not cite well-known facts (“Maternal
mortality is higher in developing countries than
in Europe”) or articles not read.

49. The introduction should not:
Explain what can be found in any textbook in the field
Be over-referenced; it should give only strictly pertinent references
Include data or conclusions from the work being reported

50. Write an introduction
section for:
 Giving 60 year old men a cup of green tea every
day reduces their risk of heart disease

51. Methods

52.  A detailed exposition of the research design.
 A reader of the methods section should be able
to repeat the study and to validate the findings.
 A methods section less than two double-spaced
pages is probably inadequate.

53. Study Group and Design
 Contents and Sequence:
1. Participants
2. Informed consent
3. Design used
4. Method of assignment to groups

54. Materials and Procedure
 Contents and Sequence:
1. Interventions
2. Information about study implementation
3. Provide parallel information for each
group

55. Do Not Include
 Background Information
 Examples of materials used in study
 Results

56. In General
 Be precise: Specify the exact number of days
and hours of training, for example
 Be concise: Use short simple sentences. Can
use standard jargon such as “randomized block
design” and acronyms like “ANOVA”

57.  Established methods should be referenced
but no description is necessary.
 For published but not well known methods, a
reference as well as a brief description
should be given.
 New or substantially modified methods
should be clearly described, with reasons
given for using them and with their
limitations outlined.

58. The methods section should not:
 Refer to patients and animals as material.
 Use trade names of drugs; generic names should be used.

59. Ethics
 Indicate whether the procedures followed were in
accordance with the ethical standards
 When reporting experiments on animals, authors should
indicate whether the institutional or national guidelines or laws
on the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

60. Statistics
 Described in sufficient detail.
 Any computer programs used should be identified. Statistical
terms, abbreviations, and symbols should be defined.
 Details about randomization, concealment of allocation to
treatment groups, and the method of masking (blinding) and
losses to observation.

61.  “A P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically
significant”, since the choice of this cut-off point is arbitrary.
 Avoid non-technical uses of technical statistical terms, such as
“random” “significant”, “correlation” and “sample” in non-
statistical contexts.

62. Results

63.  The objective of the research should be kept in mind.
 Results that do not relate to the research objective should not
be mentioned.
 Statistics should not take over the paper

64. Overview
Ways to Present Data
 Text
 Tables
 Figures and illustrative graphs
 Data always appears in the results
section!

65. Overview - Text
 Do not present data in table or figure if able
to present in text
 Use text whenever there are small amounts
of data to be summarized
 Do not repeat data presented in table or
figure in text

66. Overview - Tables
•Tables are arrangements of numbers or words
in columns and rows that display data or
relationships
• Allow presentation of exact values
• Present large amounts of data in a
small space

67. Parts of a Table
 Title begins with a table number and
describes the contents
 Field is the space filled by rows and columns
 Column headings describe column contents

68. Parts of a Table (cont.)
 Heading straddle rule: Put a line over
grouped columns
 Rows and sub-heads: Indent to create
sub-headings
 Footnotes provide details that cannot be
included in title

69. Tables - Titles
 Precise
 Eliminate unnecessary words
 Avoid repetition of headings of columns
and rows

70. Tables - Columns and Rows
 Arrange columns and rows in logical
sequence
 Round the data as much as possible
 Include summary statistics for making
comparisons

71. Figures and Charts
Figures and charts give visual descriptions of
relationships between groups or numbers
 Emphasize one point
 Easily understood
 Preferred for presentations

72. Chart Types and Uses
 Bar chart: Values of a single item over
multiple units (e.g., dependent variable
over time periods)
 Pie chart: Importance (in %) of categories
as part of whole (100%)
 Stacked bar chart = Vertical Pie chart

73. Chart Types and Uses (cont.)
 Line graph: Shows a variable over
time (e.g., trend line)
 Scatter plots/X-Y plots: Show
association between two or more
variables (e.g., correlations)

74. Common Problems in Charts
 Too many pie slices, bars, or segments
 Ambiguous labels
 Lack of contrasts between bars
 Axes of unequal length

75.  Presented in a logical sequence in the text,
tables, and illustrations.
 Tables and graphs are often extremely
helpful in summarizing large amounts of
data.
 Numerical data contained in figures and
tables should not be repeated in the text.

77.  Big or little?
Readers should not have to reach for a
magnifying glass to make out the details.
 Color or no color?
 Title or no title?
Never use a title for Figures included in a
paper; the legend conveys all the necessary
information and the title just takes up extra
space.
CONSIDERATION ABOUT A GRAPH

78. Discussion
 Good papers have a targeted
discussion, to keep it focused.
 Structured to include the following
six components (Docherty and
Smith, 1999)

79.  Statement of principal findings
 Strengths and weaknesses of the study
 Strengths and weaknesses in relation to other
studies
 Meaning of the study, possible mechanisms and
implications for clinicians and policymakers
 Unanswered questions and future research
 Conclusion

80. Statement of principal
findings
 Start with a sentence that clearly shows that
the paper includes new information.
 Reviewers often presume that the paper does
not add anything new.

81. Strengths and weaknesses of the
study
 Equal emphasis should be given to both
strengths and weaknesses.
 Don’t let the reader discover your weaknesses
 A subheading such as “limitations of the study” or
data is useful.

82. Strengths and weaknesses
in relation to other studies
 All evidence bearing on the argument, with
or against, should be considered.
 Discuss the opposing point of view
 Avoid ignoring studies with similar results.

83. Strengths and weaknesses
in relation to other studies
 Critically evaluate other papers’ methodology,
findings and conclusions.
 Differences in results should be discussed and
possible explanations offered.
 If you do not know why your results are different
say so.

84. Meaning of the study
 Possible mechanisms
 Implications for clinicians and policymakers
 Do not move beyond the limited evidence
provided by the study.
 Emphasize, not only what the results mean,
but also what the results do not mean.

85. Unanswered questions and
future research
 New research may be proposed to provide
the answer to questions that are still not
answered.
 Be specific.

86. Conclusion
 The body of a good paper is a “thunderbolt in reverse”: it
begins with thunder (introduction) and ends with lightning
 Avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely
supported by the data.

87. REFERENCES
 HARVARD
 VANCHOUVER

88. REFERNCE MANAGER
 ENDNOTE
 Mendeley

89. Endnote orientation

90. Hussein Elkhayat
Dr_khayat@Hotmail.com
Thank you