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Zhu Xiao-Xia

朱晓夏

WritingScientific Papers

…and getting them accepted

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My University Job

Teaching

Writing

Correcting

Reviewing

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Written Communication Scientific publications

Reports, theses

Grant applications

Oral Communication Presentations

Discussion and instruction

Communication Skills

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Language skills English or another language Story telling

Good preparation Organization of materials Visual effects Psychology

Practice makes perfect! Corrections Improvements

Oral Presentations

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Good preparation Organization of materials

Visual effects

Practice Read with a purpose

Write and re-write

Corrections

Improvements

Master the written language

Writing Papers

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Introduction review literature and history

raise the question

what do you want to do

Experimental chemicals and synthesis

instruments and methods

Results and discussion most important, choice of information

Conclusion Acknowledgements

References

Supporting information

Structure

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Ethics First Scientific moral standard

No forgery! Do not copy! Submit only to one place at a time!

Authors Co-authors (contribution?) Acknowledgements (help?) Get agreement! It is not always a favor!

Truthfulness of results Experimental conditions Reproducibility Error analysis

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PlagiarismAccording to plagiarism.org: turning in someone else's work as your own

copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit

failing to put a quotation in quotation marks

giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation

changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit

copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)

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No Plagiarism

Serious cases of plagiarism: Internet plagiarism Self-plagiarism

What not to do: Never copy word by word without proper citation Never use others’ ideas without giving credits

What to do: Data: always cite the source of the information Illustrations:

Give source of the information: “Modified from ___” Obtain permission from copyright owners

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Choose a good title

Informative

Attractive

How about:The Study of …

The Fabrication of …

The characterization of…

New Polymer Materials…

How do others choose a title?

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Abstract vs Conclusion

AbstractSummaryHighlights of results

Conclusion Importance of the finding Insights Future outlook

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Experimental Part

Do not repeat!Cite previous work “same as described above…”

Experimental conditionsReactions Instruments

No results and discussion here!

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Results & Discussion

Organization of data Make it interesting

Highlight important data Leave out some unimportant data

Compare with literature data! “agrees well with…” “different from the results of A et al

obtained under conditions…”

Figure, table, data not shown, or supporting information?

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Citations

Very important You need to discuss your results. You need reviewers!

How to quote in the text 1 author: Brown 2 authors: Brown and White 3 and more: Brown et al. Group leader: White and co-workers

Numbering Square brackets: As Brown reported [2], it… Superscripts: As Brown et al reported,2 it …

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Format: check the requirementsAuthors: H.R. Brown or Brown, H.R., Jr.

Spelling: attitude and respect!

Journals: J. Phys. Chem., JACS?

Note: Standard abbreviations

Volume, pages, year: 33, 345-348 (2006).

Books

Thesis

References

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Table title precise

How to arrange columns

rows

units

Details lines

alignment

explanations

Tables

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Table 1. Characteristics of the polymers

Polymer Mn Mw PDI Tg

#1 100112 200224 2.0 89.34°C

#2 22345 36686 1.6418 63.45°C

#3 2.3x103 3.67x103 1.596 75.88°C

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Table 1. Characteristics of the polymers

Polymer Mn Mw PDI Tg (°C)

#1 1.00x105 2.00x105 2.0 89.34

#2 2.23x104 3.67x104 1.6418 63.45

#3 2.30x103 3.67x103 1.596 75.88

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Table 1. Characteristics of the polymers

Polymer Mna PDI Tg (°C)

#1 1.00x105 2.00 89.3

#2 2.23x104 1.64 63.5

#3 2.30x103 1.60 75.9

a Measured by SEC with polystyrene standards.

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Table 1. Characteristics of the polymers

Polymer Mna PDI Tg (°C)b

1 1.00x105 2.00 89.3

2 2.23x104 1.64 63.5

3 2.30x103 1.60 75.9

a Measured by SEC with polystyrene standards.b Measured by DSC at a heating rate of 10°C/min..

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Figure captions precise

details

How to arrange inset

stacked

double axis

Details units

ticks

Figures

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Figure 1. Temperature variation as a function of time for the polymer samples heated in a furnace.

Figure 1. Polymer samples heated in oven

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Tem

per

atur

e (o

C)

Time / s

Polymer1 Polymer2 Polymer3

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0 3 6 9 12 15

0

9

18

27

36

45

Tem

per

atu

re (

oC

)

Time (s)

Polymer1 Polymer2 Polymer3

Figure 1. Temperature variation as a function of time for the polymer samples heated in an oven.

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Figure 1. Temperature variation as a function of time for the polymer samples heated in an oven: (A) Samples heated once; (B) Samples heated twice.

0

20

40

60

80

100

1 4 7 10 13

time

Polymer 3Polymer 2Polymer 1

0

20

40

60

80

100

1 4 7 10 13

time

Polymer 3Polymer 2Polymer 1

A

B

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English Problems

Present or past tense?

Be consistent!

Facts? Always present!

“We have studied these micellar systems…”

“We studied these micellar systems…”

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English Problems

The results were obtained using…

We have obtained the results using…

The results were obtained by the use of…

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English Problems

The viscosity increases with increasing the concentration of the solution…

The viscosity increases with increasing concentration of the solution…

The viscosity increases with an increase in concentration of the solution…

An increase in concentration of the solution leads to a higher viscosity…

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English Problems

The product was washed either with ethanol or acetone.

The product was washed with either ethanol or acetone. The product was washed either with ethanol or with acetone.

The protein shows a different signal than that of BSA.

The protein shows a signal that is different from that of BSA. The protein shows a signal different from that of BSA.

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Keep it simple!

It has been found that… It has been shown that… It may be said that… It is interesting to note…

a number of are in good agreement are found to be by means of fewer in number in order to it is likely that

many, several agree well are by fewer to likely

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Practice!Write something everyday.Read and think!

Hard work pays off.Do your best! Spend more timeDo it better than others

How to write well?

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Trivial Problems:Space or No Space

Learn to be a good secretary!

Yes!Punctuation,units,bracket… Once the salt is added,the solution becomes… 5mL of water was used to dissolve 2g of NaCl. The results(Figure 2)clearly show that…

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Trivial Problems: Space or No space

Exceptions: No space!

30% 25ºC, but 298K (ACS: 25ºC, but 25º)

N,N-dimethylacrylamide 1,4-bis(2-bromo-1-methyl)piperazine References: [1,4,5-7] exp(-y), sin(1 + )

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Trivial Problems: punctuations

The solvents used are water, methanol, and acetone. Water and acetone are used as the solvents. Water is used as the solvent, and it can be replaced by

acetone. This compound is soluble in water, but it is not soluble

in acetone. This compound, though soluble in water, cannot

dissolve in acetone. This compound is soluble in water at room temperature;

it is also soluble in acetone at a higher temperature.

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Trivial Problems: abbreviations

24 h 60 min 15 s 12 ms 45 wt% 12 mol%

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Trivial Problems:

Define your abbreviations! Not in the title Not necessary in the abstract The first time you mention the full name!

poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) polystyrene (PS)

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Nomenclature

polystyrene polyethylene poly(vinyl alcohol) poly(acrylic acid)

poly(styrene-b-acrylic acid) poly(acrylic acid-g-styrene) poly(methyl acrylate-co-styrene)

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Trivial Problems: hyphens

The micelles based on block copolymers…

The block copolymer-based micelles…

The polymers containing polar groups…

The polar group-containing polymers…

It is well known that water can evaporate…

It is a well-known fact that water can…

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Trivial Problems: Capital letters or not

Figure 1 Table 2 Scheme 3

nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy X-ray Avagadro’s constant van der Waals forces 300 MHz

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Trivial Problems: italics

Symbols in equations and texts

where t is the time, T the temperature, kB the Boltzmann constant…

The binding constant K can be calculated… The y axis is labeled…

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Trivial Problems:

from 20 mL ~ 50 mL from 20 to 50 mL

between 5 days to 8 days between 5 and 8 days

aqueous poly(ethylene glycol) solutions aqueous solutions of poly(ethylene glycol)

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Trivial Problems: Plural

Spectrum Index Medium Basis Thesis Radius Formula

Spectra Indices Media Bases Theses Radii Formulae

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Trivial Problems: Plural

data bacteria criteria fungi hypotheses maxima

datum, data bacterium criterion fungus hypothesis maximum

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Trivial Problems: Plural?

information water attention time ice paper

interest work detail space

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Submit it

Choose the right journal

Write a good cover letter

Suggest suitable reviewers

Take reviewers’ comments seriously.

Is there a misunderstanding?

Provide point-to-point response

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Follow the same principles

Do not complicate things. Keep it simple!not too many subtitles/subsections

certain things belong to the appendix!

Write a good conclusion It is not a summary!

Do not repeat things!

Provide insight

Perspectives and future work

What about theses?

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Thesis

Write it like a book Check the style in a good book

Develop your own style

Figures, tables Mention it before presenting it

Table of contents List of figures, list of tables, list of abbreviations

Look at the global structure

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