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Universiti Brunei Darussalam
19 November 2015
Trevor Lane, PhD Andrew Jackson, PhD
Ruth Tunn, PhD
Author Success Workshop: Effectively Communicating Your Research
S
Be an effective communicator
Your goal is not only to publish, but also to be widely read and cited
Prepare well for academic publishing
Write your ideas clearly for your audience
Logically present your research
Section 1
Plan well
Academic publishing
Publication success = Academic success
S
Publication Metrics and Success on the Academic Job Market van Dijk et al. Current Biology. 2014; 24: R516-R517.
• >25,000 researchers in PubMed • Determined which factors positively correlated
with academic success
• Number of publications • Impact factor of the journal • Number of citations • University ranking • Male vs. Female
Academic publishing
Increase impact
High quality research
Logical and engaging message
Original and novel research
Well-designed, well-reported,
transparent study News value, importance, timeliness
What editors want
High scientific & technical quality, sound research/publication ethics,
registered human trials
High readability & interest; clear, real-
world relevance
Impact factor (for past 2 years) = No. of cites / No. of articles
Academic publishing Choose your journal first!
Author guidelines • Manuscript structure • Word limits, References • Procedures, Copyright
Aims and scope • Topics • Readership • Be sure to emphasize
• Check relevant references • Check originality, importance & usefulness!
Academic publishing Research with impact
Identify an important question, gap in knowledge/evidence, or incomplete answer…
• Do you have the expertise/resources?
• Is the question focused?
• What is new? How is the study useful?
• What is the best/most practical study design?
Academic publishing Impact and study design
Systematic
reviews of RCTs
Randomized controlled
trials (RCTs)
Other controlled trials
Observational studies (cohort, case-control,
cross-sectional surveys/audits, diagnostics)
Computer models (in silico), animal models (in vivo),
in vitro, case studies
Case studies, anecdote, opinion, technical,
simulation
Hypothesis
testing
{ Descriptive
Methodological {
{
Secondary
research
Primary
research
{ } Experimental (exposure assigned)*
}
} Non-
experimental
*
Academic publishing
Research Article
Short Communication Case Study Technical Note Review Article Editorial Letter to the Editor
Brief report about a specific finding
Most common; full-length paper
Brief report about a specific situation
Brief report about a new methodology
Summary of recent advances in a field
Brief discussion about an interesting topic
Brief discussion about a published article
Type of articles
Academic publishing
Logically organizing your ideas
Communicating in English
Two factors to consider when writing a manuscript
Importance of logic
Draft outline & abstract/title; Draft & revise
manuscript
Edit manuscript & finalize
abstract/title
Academic publishing
Start with your illustrations
Where to start?
Your findings form the basis of your manuscript
First step: logically organize your display items
Logic, then language
Figure 1
Figure 2
Table 1
Figure 3
Logical flow (Chronology, Least to most
important, General to
specific, Whole+parts)
Is anything missing?
? Additional analyses?
Academic publishing Use reporting guidelines
PRISMA Systematic reviews &
Meta-analyses
STROBE Observational studies
CARE Case reports
CONSORT Randomized controlled
clinical trials
ARRIVE Animal studies
http://www.equator-network.org/
Academic publishing
State conflicts of interest
No plagiarism or redundancy
Clear author contributions
No fabrication or falsification
Always follow ethics guidelines
(1) Study design/data analysis, (2) Writing, (3) Approval,
(4) Responsibility
Possible financial, personal bias
Committee on Publication Ethics, COPE Good Publication Practice 3, GPP3
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, ICMJE
Good publication ethics
Academic publishing Ethics declarations
Declare in your cover letter…
Not submitted to other journals
Funding, donations
All authors agree and contributed
Original and unpublished
State potential conflicts of interest
Research ethics
Select the best journal
Section 2
Journal selection Evaluating impact
How new/important are your findings? How strong is the evidence?
Incremental or large advance? Low or high impact journal
Novelty
Assess your findings honestly & objectively
Create new method to measure financial market risk Medium to high impact factor journal Improve the accuracy of an existing method • Low to medium impact factor journal
Journal selection Evaluating impact
How broadly relevant are your findings? International or regional journal
General or specialized journal
Relevance/Application
Aims & scope, Readership
Assess your findings honestly & objectively
Journal selection Factors to consider when choosing a journal
Aims & scope, Readership
Publication speed/frequency
Online/Print, Open access
Indexing, Rank, Impact factor
Acceptance rate/criteria
Article type / evidence level
“Luxury” / Traditional / Megajournal
Online first, Supplemental materials, Cost
Fast track
Journal selection Publication models
Subscription-based
• Mostly free for the author • Reader has to pay
Open access • Free for the reader • Author usually has to pay
Hybrid • Subscription-based journal • Has open access options
Journal selection Open access models
Green
• Can self-archive accepted version in personal, university, or repository website
• May allow final version to be archived
• May have embargo period before self-archiving is allowed
Gold • Free for public on publication • Author might keep © but may
pay (e.g., US$1000–3000)
Journal selection Open access myths
Open access (OA) is expensive and low quality
• Not all OA journals charge a fee
• Many research grants and universities pay for OA fees
• Journals may offer waiver for authors who cannot afford it
• OA journals are peer reviewed
• Impact factors may be lower partly because they are newer
Journal selection Predatory journals
Some Open Access journals are not good
Easy way to get money from authors
• Promise quick and easy publication • Often ask for a “submission/handling” fee • May copy name of real journal; false IF • May not exist, or may be of low quality • Beware of spam e-mails!
If you are ever unsure, please check Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers
http://scholarlyoa.com/2015/01/02/bealls-list-of-predatory-publishers-2015/
Journal selection
Reputable publisher Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, PLoS, etc.
Editorial board International and familiar
Indexed Indexed by common databases
Authors Do you recognize the authors?
Fees Paid only after acceptance
Trustworthy journals
Journal selection
THINK Trusted and appropriate?
SUBMIT Only if OK
thinkchecksubmit.org
CHECK Do you know the journal?
Trustworthy journals
Journal selection Journal Selector www.edanzediting.com/journal_selector
Insert your proposed abstract or keywords
Journal selection
Matching journals
Filter/Sort by: • Field of study • Impact factor, SCI • Open access • Publishing
frequency
Journal’s aims & scope, IF,
and publication frequency
Journal Selector www.edanzediting.com/journal_selector
Journal selection
• Author guidelines • Journal website
Are they currently publishing similar articles?
Similar published articles
Have you cited any of these articles?
Shows the editor that your study builds on research
already published in their journal
Journal Selector www.edanzediting.com/journal_selector
Please see Activity 1 in your Workbook
Activity 1: Journal Selection
Write effectively 1
Section 3
Customer Service Effective writing
Nature’s guide to authors:
Nature is an international journal covering all the sciences. Contributions should therefore be written clearly and simply so that they are accessible to readers in other disciplines and to readers for whom English is not their first language.
www.nature.com/nature/authors/gta/index.html#a4
“I should use complex words to make my writing more impressive.”
Customer Service Effective writing
To ascertain the efficaciousness of the program, we interrogated the participants upon completion.
Complex words
Customer Service Effective writing
To ascertain the efficaciousness of the program, we interrogated the participants upon completion.
To determine the success of the program, we questioned the participants upon completion.
Complex words
Customer Service Effective writing Avoid complex words
Preferred Enough Clear Determine Begin Try Very Size Keep Enough End Use
Avoid Adequate Apparent Ascertain Commence Endeavor Exceedingly Magnitude* Retain Sufficient Terminate* Utilization *OK in certain fields (magnitude of earthquakes, to terminate gene expression)
Customer Service Effective writing Delete unnecessary words
“A number of studies have shown that the charged group...”
“...as described in our previous study.”
“...at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min.”
“As a matter of fact, such a low-temperature reaction…”
“That is another reason why, we believe…”
“It is well known that most of the intense diffraction peaks...” “It is well known that Most of the intense diffraction peaks...”
“As a matter of fact, such a This low-temperature reaction…”
“A number of studies have shown that The charged group...”
“That is thus another reason why Therefore, we believe…”
“...as described previously in our previous study.”
“...at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min.”
Customer Service Effective writing Delete unnecessary words
Avoid At a concentration of 2 g/L At a temperature of 37C In order to In the first place Four in number Green color Subsequent to Prior to Future plans; past history
Prefer At 2 g/L At 37C To First Four Green After Before Plans; history
Customer Service Effective writing Active voice
Sentences written in the active voice are:
simple direct clear easy to read
The impact of regulatory management systems was assessed.
Passive
We assessed the impact of regulatory management systems.
Active
Customer Service Effective writing Active voice is preferred
“Use the active voice when it is less wordy and more direct than the passive”.
“Use the active voice rather than the passive voice…”.
“As a matter of style, passive voice is typically, but not always, inferior to active voice”.
“In general, authors should use the active voice…”
ACS Style Guide
APA Style
Chicago Style Guide
AMA Style
“Use active voice. The use of active rather than passive voice produces clearer, more concise writing”
SPE Style
“Wherever possible, use active verbs that demonstrate what is being done and who is doing it…”
ASCE Style
“Use active voice by default; research shows readers comprehend it more quickly than passive voice…”
IEEE
Customer Service Effective writing Avoid reader confusion
Is this sentence in the active or passive voice?
In this study, stock market performance for the next decade was predicted, using an approach based on genetic algorithms.
Customer Service Effective writing Avoid reader confusion
Is this sentence in the active or passive voice?
Passive voice
In this study, stock market performance for the next decade was predicted, using an approach based on genetic algorithms.
Customer Service Effective writing
In this study, stock market performance for the next decade was predicted, using an approach based on genetic algorithms.
Lane et al. developed a new model based on artificial neural networks for market prediction.3
Avoid reader confusion
Part of the Introduction
Customer Service Effective writing
In this study, stock market performance for the next decade was predicted, using an approach based on genetic algorithms.
Lane et al. developed a new model based on artificial neural networks for market prediction.3
Avoid reader confusion
Part of the Introduction
Who did the work in this study?
The author ? Lane et al. ?
Customer Service Effective writing
Lane et al. developed a new model based on artificial neural networks for market prediction.3
Avoid reader confusion
Part of the Introduction
In this study, we predicted stock market performance for the next decade, using an approach based on genetic algorithms.
Customer Service Effective writing Use strong verbs
…estimation?
…decision?
…confirmation?
We made a…
Subject Verb
Still no idea what this sentence is about! …cake?
Customer Service Effective writing Improve readability
Avoid nominalizations
Use strong verbs instead of converting a verb into a noun
Estimate Estimation
Decide Decision
Assess Assessment
We made a/an… We conducted a/an…
Extra, weak verb
We decided… Clear, short, and direct
Please see Activity 2 in your Workbook
Activity 2: Effective Writing 1
Think of your audience
Section 4
Attract your readers Title and abstract
First impression of paper: clear/concise/convincing
Importance of your results
Validity of your conclusions
Relevance of your aims
Your title & abstract should attract readers
It sells your work: Readers judge your style & credibility
Often first or only part that is read by readers/reviewers
Attract your readers Title and abstract
Match the language to your expected readers
Dartmouth-led study shows ISIS is not the only culprit in war-related looting in Syria
Satellite imagery-based analysis of archaeological looting in Syria [Abstract]…this study documents patterns of looting and other forms of damage at more than 1,200 archaeological sites using recent, high-resolution satellite imagery
Academic language
Topic = researchers/study
Topic = method
Public
General researchers
Lay language, short words
Cultural heritage researchers
Academic language, details of method and sample
www.eurekalert.com, 21 October 2015; Cassana, Near Eastern Archaeology 78(3), September 2015, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5615/neareastarch.78.3.0142
Focus = sensationalist conclusion
Attract your readers Title and abstract
Title
Important points
Only main idea/s Accurate, simple Population/model Include keywords Fewer than 20 words Include method/
study type
Avoid
Unneeded words (“A study of”) Sensationalism, journalistic style Complex word order Abbreviations, jargon “New” or “novel”
Attract your readers Title and abstract
Interrogative Why is no one talking about Libya's cultural destruction?
Indicative/ Descriptive
Union formation and dissolution among immigrants and their descendants in the United Kingdom
… + Approach (subtitle)
Passions of the intellect: A study of polemics
Assertive/ Declarative
Health literacy does not narrow the education-based e-health gap / Education-based e-health gap not narrowed by health literacy
Title
Modified from: Near Eastern Archaeology; Journal of Medical Internet Research; Demographic Research; Philosophy
Attract your readers Structured abstracts
Aim Objective, hypothesis
Results Most important findings
Conclusion Relevance, implications
Methods Techniques, measurements
No references, jargon, unusual abbreviations, figures/tables (Health studies: Include funding source and clinical trial registration number)
Background Context, problem
Attract your readers Unstructured abstract
The adjectives of quantity (Q-adjectives) many, few, much and little stand out from other quantity expressions on account of their syntactic flexibility, occurring in positions that could be called quantificational (many students attended), predicative (John's friends were many), attributive (the many students), differential (much more than a liter) and adverbial (slept too much). This broad distribution poses a challenge for the two leading theories of this class, which treat them as either quantifying determiners or predicates over individuals. This article develops an analysis of Q-adjectives as gradable predicates of sets of degrees or (equivalently) gradable quantifiers over degrees. It is shown that this proposal allows a unified analysis of these items across the positions in which they occur, while also overcoming several issues facing competing accounts, among others the divergences between Q-adjectives and ‘ordinary’ adjectives, the operator-like behavior of few and little, and the use of much as a dummy element. Overall the findings point to the central role of degrees in the semantics of quantity.
Solt, S. J Semantics (2015) 32 (2): 221-273. doi: 10.1093/jos/fft018
Attract your readers
The adjectives of quantity (Q-adjectives) many, few, much and little stand out from other quantity expressions on account of their syntactic flexibility, occurring in positions that could be called quantificational (many students attended), predicative (John's friends were many), attributive (the many students), differential (much more than a liter) and adverbial (slept too much). This broad distribution poses a challenge for the two leading theories of this class, which treat them as either quantifying determiners or predicates over individuals.
Overall the findings point to the central role of degrees in the semantics of quantity.
Unstructured abstract
Conclusion
Methods/ results
It is shown that this proposal allows a unified analysis of these items across the positions in which they occur, while also overcoming several issues facing competing accounts, among others the divergences between Q-adjectives and ‘ordinary’ adjectives, the operator-like behavior of few and little, and the use of much as a dummy element.
Aims This article develops an analysis of Q-adjectives as gradable predicates of sets of degrees or (equivalently) gradable quantifiers over degrees.
Background
Solt, S. J Semantics (2015) 32 (2): 221-273. doi: 10.1093/jos/fft018
Attract your readers
Some abstracts (short)
Aims
Background
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Aims
Background
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Aims
Background
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Attract your readers
We investigate risk and ambiguity attitudes among Ethiopian farmers in one of the poorest regions of the world. Strong risk aversion and ambiguity aversion were found with the Ethiopian farmers. We compared their attitudes to those of a Western university student sample elicited by the same decision task. Ambiguity aversion was similar for farmers and students, but farmers were more risk averse. Our results show that ambiguity aversion is not restricted to Western student populations, and that studies of agricultural decisions may benefit from explicitly considering ambiguity attitudes.
Akay et al. Theory and Decision. 2012;73:453–464.
Business science abstract (short)
What you did
What you found
Attract your readers
Bioethics traffics in matters moral. As such, bioethics frequently bumps up against religion, offering an ideal arena to examine how the sacred and the secular encounter each other in modern medicine. In this essay I consider two places where bioethics and religion intersect: 1) the response of bioethics to the universal problem of suffering, and 2) the professional proselytizing or “missionizing work” that bioethics does in order to make a place for itself among the professions of the life sciences.
De Vries. Society. 2015;52:438–447.
Social sciences abstract (short)
Why you did the study
What you did
Attract your readers
Check author guidelines
Check recently published articles
Consider your audience
For interdisciplinary audiences, include background/aim, method,
results, and conclusion
Identify journal editor preference
What the journal requires
Business/humanities/ social science abstracts
What sections should you include?
“…Implications and limitations of this study are discussed.”
Attract your readers Graphical abstracts
Visually demonstrate key features of the study Help readers quickly identify suitable articles
The impact of different touchpoints on brand consideration
Baxendale. Adv Journal of Retatiling. 2015;91:235–253.
Attract your readers Graphical abstracts
Visually demonstrate key features of the study Help readers quickly identify suitable articles
Conceptualising multi-regime interactions: The role of the agriculture sector in renewable energy transitions
Sutherland et al. Research Policy. 2015;44:1543–1554.
Attract your readers Highlight statements
Clear summaries for quick overview 3–5 bullet points
(maximum 85–100 characters per bullet, including spaces; no abbreviations)
Research Policy Political Geography Policy and Society
Social Science Research Social Networks
International Journal of Research in Marketing: 3–5 bullets of core results
(in online version of table of contents and maybe paper)
Attract your readers
Search Engine Optimization
Identify 7–8 keywords (try to use standard terms*)
Use 2 in your title; 5–6 in the keyword list
Use 3 keywords 3–4 times in your abstract
Use keywords in headings when appropriate
Be consistent throughout your paper, but include some synonyms
Cite your previous publications when relevant
*Standard terms from PsycINFO, BIOSIS, ChemWeb, ERIC Thesaurus, GeoRef, MeSH, etc
Please see Activity 3 in your Workbook
Activity 3: Titles and abstracts
Write effectively 2
Section 5
Customer Service Effective writing
Write logical sentences!
A is 4 times larger than B A is 4-fold larger than B A is 4 times as large as B
B is 4 times smaller than A
B is 75% smaller than A; B is 25% the size of A
A B
Avoid ambiguity
Customer Service Effective writing
Write logical sentences!
A is 4 times larger than B A is 4-fold larger than B A is 4 times as large as B
B is 4 times smaller than A
B is 75% smaller than A; B is 25% the size of A
A B
Comparing data, Method–Purpose, Condition–Effect, Reason–Result, Cause–Effect, Contrast, Similarity, Sequence, Addition, Concession, Exemplification
Avoid ambiguity
Customer Service Effective writing
The reliability was generally not affected by data filtering.
The reliability increased by only 2.5% after data filtering.
?
After considering all of the forum responses from all the forum respondents, around less than 20% of forum members submits 80% of the forum replies.
Be accurate and concise!
After considering all of the forum responses, we estimated that only 18% of members submitted 80% of the replies.
Avoid ambiguity
Customer Service Effective writing
A(n): refers to a non-specific noun (indefinite reference)
The: refers to a specific noun (definite reference)
“A theory that describes economic development…” Suggests there is more than one theory
“The Big Bang theory…” Suggests there is only one theory and everyone knows
“A participant was chosen based on education level.
The participant was then given a questionnaire to determine…”
Clarify reference
Customer Service Effective writing
Readers expect…
verbs to closely follow their subjects heavy ends (not starts) of clauses
Subject
The viral infection that the patient caught on a trip to an outbreak-prone area in Africa spread among the hospital staff quickly.
The patient caught a viral infection on a trip to an outbreak-prone area in Africa. This infection spread quickly among the hospital staff.
Verb
Write clear sentences
Customer Service Effective writing
Readers expect…
old/given/familiar information to appear first new information to appear last
An increasing number of people are relying on medical information sources that they find on the Internet. Hence, governments could conduct public campaigns to promote healthy lifestyles via online media.
The Internet is being used as a source of medical information by an increasing number of people. Hence, online media campaigns could be used by governments to promote healthy lifestyles among the public. (or… Hence, the public could benefit greatly if governments used online campaigns to promote healthy lifestyles.)
Write clear sentences
Customer Service Effective writing
Readers focus at the end of the sentence to determine what is important.
1. You deserve the funding, but the study design is not perfect.
Which sentence suggests that you
will get funding?
2. The study design is not perfect, but you deserve the funding.
Sentence and paragraph structure
Stress position
Customer Service Effective writing
The study design is not perfect, but you deserve the
funding. The grant will be awarded in two stages.
Stress position
Topic position
The topic position introduces the idea of the current sentence
The stress position also introduces the topic of the next sentence (useful for explanations and processes)
Sentence and paragraph structure
Customer Service Effective writing
The government of Tanzania has been striving to introduce
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in
education. In teacher education, technology was introduced
through the ICT-Connect-TED project. The program aimed at
improving the quality of teachers through the use of ICT. ICT-
Connect-TED provided computers and a networking
infrastructure to all 34 teacher training colleges in Tanzania.
idea idea idea idea
Topic link
sentence
Source: Kafyulilo et al. Educ Inf Technol. 5 May 2015; DOI 10.1007/s10639-015-9398-0
Sentence and paragraph structure
Customer Service Effective writing
Green public procurement (GPP) means that authorities stipulate and consider environmental criteria when public contracts are allocated to private suppliers and is becoming an established approach to pursue environmental policy in many parts of the world (Testa et al. 2012). The incentive to use GPP is based on the fact that in many countries public sector spending amounts to a significant part of the economy, and that this purchasing power can be used to influence production and consumption to achieve desired reductions on environmental impact…. The EU and its member states are very clear in their ambitions to use GPP as an environmental policy instrument (Tukker et al. 2008), and similar initiatives can be found in the US (Fischer 2010). Despite the intended results, little is known about whether and how the supply side of the market––potential private suppliers––reacts to these ambitions….
Lundberg et al. Environ Econ Policy Stud. 2015;17:487–520.
Topic sentence
Stress sentence Topic sentence
Supporting sentences
Sentence and paragraph structure
Please see Activity 4 in your Workbook
Activity 4: Effective writing 2
Structure your manuscript 1
Section 6
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Introduction
Current state of the field
Background information
Specific aim/approach/contents Aim
Problem in the field
Previous studies
Current study
General
Specific Importance/hypothesis
Worldwide relevance? Broad/specialized?
Recent, International Not too many self-cites
Why is your study needed?
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Writing the Introduction
The objective of this study was to employ information theory to quantify the amount of information contained in common laboratory tests, the extent of redundancy between consecutive days of sampling, and the redundancy associated with pre-specified pairs of ICU lab tests.
In the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), likely the most data-rich environment in the hospital, enhanced monitoring and frequent testing are common. Repeated bloodwork can lead to patient harm in a number of ways…
Problem in the field
Lee and Maslove. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2015; 15: 59.
Study aims
Your aims should directly address the problem
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Common mistakes in the Introduction
Ideas are not logically organized
Important topics in the Introduction are not mentioned again in the Results/Discussion
Important topics in the Results/Discussion are not mentioned in the Introduction
Cited studies are not up-to-date
Cited studies are geographically biased
Why study needs to be done?
Keep focused
Write last
<5 years
International
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Methods/Experimental
How it was done
• General methods • Specific techniques – Discuss controls
• Quantification methods • Models/equations • Statistical tests
What/who was studied
• Samples or participants • Materials/databases
– Where purchased
How it was analyzed
Consult a statistician!
What did you do?
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Established techniques
• Cite previously published studies • Briefly state modifications • Use flow chart/table if needed
• Explain purposes; justify choices • Give enough detail for reproducibility • Use Supplementary Information
Organization • Arrange in (titled) subsections • Keep parallel to the display items • Use topic sentences
New techniques
Methods/Experimental
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Results
1. Initial observation 2. Development 3. Application
Logical presentation
What did you find?
Example:
1. Identify factors involved in a population’s perception of happiness
2. Create a Happiness Rating equation
3. Test equation’s ability to explain variance of regression model
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
1. Initial observation/synthesis 2. Characterization/development 3. Application
Each subsection corresponds to one figure/method
What you found, not what it means
Data accessibility
Logical presentation
Subsections
Factual description
What did you find?
Results
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Combined Results–Discussion
Results Interpretation
Figure 1
Results Interpretation
Figure 2
Results Interpretation
Figure 3
Results Interpretation
Figure 4
Initial observation
Logical presentation
Development
Application
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Table 3 shows scores for constant returns to scale technical efficiency, variable returns to scale technical efficiency, scale efficiency, and returns to scale and the efficiency reference set….Eight (42%) hospitals were constant return to scale technically efficient, and the remaining 11 (58%) were relatively inefficient….Of the eight relatively constant return to scale technically efficient hospitals, three had no medical doctor on the staff, which obviously raises issues regarding quality of care….Four of the hospitals with no doctors were relatively variable returns to scale technically efficient. Once again, further investigation would have been necessary to establish the relative quality of services provided by those hospitals.
Introduce display item
Factual description
Factually describe and interpret your findings 1
Combined Results–Discussion
Conclusion/ implications
Modified from: Kirigia and Asbu. Health Economics Review. 2013;3:6.
Findings & Interpretation
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Additional scenarios are considered to investigate the impact of lignin valorization on overall process economics by assuming 65% of lignin recovery and a selling price range of $200-1,000/MT (Figure 9) of unprocessed lignin (the “transfer price” to a lignin processing facility). From this analysis, it can be seen that the MESP can be reduced significantly as the lignin selling price increases. For example, at $600/MT, the MESP was around $3.5/gal ($3.7 in the WW route and $3.3 in the OP route), which could be reduced to around $3/gal ($3.2 in the WW route and $2.8 in the OP route) if lignin could be sold at $1,000/MT. This analysis emphasizes the importance of continued research and development on the lignin valorization front.
Specific method
Findings & Interpretation
Conclusion/ implications
Mention display item
Factually describe and interpret your findings 2
Combined Results–Discussion
Modified from: Konda et al. Biotechnology for Fuels. 2014;7:86.
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Present large amount of data quickly and efficiently
Keep it simple: use separate panels if necessary
Must be able to stand alone: clear labels and
figure legends
Usually the first thing readers will look at
Figures, graphs & tables
Display items
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Fig 4. Backbone of the links of null-model-enhanced local reciprocity, between the equity layer and the five environmental layers, for the year 2010: NOx, PM10, SO2, CO2 equivalent and water footprint. Increasing dark red indicates an increasing out-degree of the node. The hubs are placed in the core of the cloud. The reciprocity analysis confirms that equity is mostly reciprocated with NOx and SO2, suggesting a link with the industrial sector.
Figures
Clear figure legend
Ruzzenenti et al. PLoS ONE. 2015;10:doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0136767.
Title of the figure explains the method
Notes include key and summary of finding
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Tables vs. graphs
Type A Type B Type C
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Aluminum
Gold
Figure 1. Additional 50-year projected life expectancy
Ad
dit
ion
al y
ears
Who will have a longer life in 50 years’ time?
Women
Men
Country 1 Country 2 Country 3
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Tables vs. graphs
Type A Type B Type C
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Aluminum
Gold
What is the highest number of projected additional years?
?
Ad
dit
ion
al y
ears
Women
Men
Figure 1. Additional 50-year projected life expectancy
Country 1 Country 2 Country 3
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Country Population No. of years
Country 1 Women 4.3
Country 2 Women 3.4
Country 3 Women 6.7
Country 1 Men 1.4
Country 2 Men 2.4
Country 3 Men 3.8
Tables vs. graphs
Table 1. Additional projected life expectancy in the next 50 years
What is the highest number of projected additional years?
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Independent variables
Table formatting
Raj et al. PLoS ONE. 2014; 9: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0106210.
Symbols defined
Dependent variable;
N numbers given
Table 1. Demographic profiled of ever-married women aged 20–24 years for most recent Demographic Health Survey data from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.
Clear and concise table title
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
What’s wrong with this line graph?
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Line graphs
Kennedy et al. Reprod Health. 2011;8:11.
Figure 2. Proportion of births to women aged 15-49 spaced less than 18 months for A. 'ever-married women' and B. 'all women' (married and unmarried) (%). Cambodia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vietnam do not include data for adolescents for this indicator because of too few non-first births in the 15-19 age group.
Use colors and shapes to differentiate lines
Figure title and notes usually go below
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Bar graphs
Waters et al. SAGE Open. 2014; doi: 10.1177/2158244014529779.
Figure 3. Impediments to choosing elective music versus sport. Note. Impediment items were phrased in negative where appropriate, meaning that a high mean score indicates strong agreement with the opposite valence compared with strong agreement with the corresponding item. *p < .05.
Dependent variable
Independent variable
Statistical significance
Activity 5: Manuscript structure 1
Please see Activity 5 in your Workbook
Structure your manuscript 2
Section 7
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Discussion
Summary of findings
Relevance
Conclusion
Similarities/differences Unexpected/negative results Limitations (validity, reliability)
Implications
Previous studies
Current study
Future studies
Specific
General
How do you advance your field?
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Writing the beginning of your Discussion
State the major conclusion of the study
Most health professionals, including dental students, require rudimentary introduction to health economics. The pedagogical challenges of teaching health economics in dentistry arise from the fact that health economics is a nondental subject that requires deep understanding. In this study, we found that debate when used to teach health economics to dental students enhanced their interest and reinforced their knowledge of the topic and improved organizational thinking.
Re-introduction
Conclusion
Modified from: Khan et al. J Dent Educ. 2012;76: 1675–1683.
Problem
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Modified from: Rimfeld et al. Transl Psychiatry. 2015;5:e638.
Compare your findings with those published previously
Writing the middle of your Discussion
Comparison with previous studies
Current finding
Potential reasons
We found that most individual differences in second language achievement are accounted for by genetic differences, rather than school, family, and other environmental influences. Our heritability estimates are higher than those in our earlier study [3], which might be because different measures were used. In the present study we used standardized examination scores at the end of compulsory education, as compared with teacher ratings of academic achievement in our earlier report.…
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Describe limitations and negative results
Why?
Reporting transparency
• Allows complete evaluation of your study • Prevents others from repeating those experiments • Allows others to modify those experiments • Prevents funding agencies from wasting money
Data repositories
Writing the middle of your Discussion
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Readers use sentence structure to determine emphasis
• Stress position • Main clause vs. subordinate clause • Clause length
Useful in the Discussion Vary emphasis of your interpretations
Contrasting ideas
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Contrasting ideas
Main vs. subordinate clause
Although the study design is not perfect, you deserve funding.
Subordinate Main
Linking word
• Although • Even though • While • Whereas
Subordinate clauses say 2 things:
• Idea may not be important • There is a contrasting idea coming
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Discussing limitations
Although this study was limited by its small sample size, our results demonstrate that people using customizable news aggregation pages give high user experience scores.
Although our results demonstrate that page customization is useful, the study was limited by its small sample size.
Bad news = Subordinate clause at the start
Bad news = Main clause in stress position
Bad news = Subordinate clause at start Good news = LONG main clause in stress position
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
What do you want people to remember?
Writing the end of your Discussion
May be a separate section
May be a “Future work” section
We have demonstrated here that genes explain a larger proportion of differences between children in second language achievement than do shared environmental influences of school and home. Our bivariate results for twins demonstrate a general genetic factor of language achievement in the sense that achievement in English and second language is influenced to a large extent by the same genes. It is important to note that genes not only influence aptitude and achievement, but also appetite for knowledge. Such genotype–environment correlation may be increasingly important during adolescence. Our future research thus involves longitudinal study of second language achievement.
Conclusion
Key finding
Implications
Future directions
Modified from: Rimfeld et al. Transl Psychiatry. 2015;5:e638.
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Common mistakes in the Discussion
We observed a statistically significant relationship between pre-move body mass index and post-move county sprawl index (p < 0.0001), indicating that individuals with higher body mass index tended to move to counties that had lower density and accessibility; however, the absolute difference in sprawl index values between quartiles of BMI was small. Hence, the results demonstrate evidence of a low magnitude of residential self-selection through pre-move body mass index.
In this analysis of the relationship between pre-move health factors and neighborhood built and socioeconomic environments, we observed evidence of a low magnitude of residential self-selection (i.e., slight effect for body mass index).
Modified from: James et al. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2015;12:12489–12504.
Do not restate your results or introduce new data
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure
Common mistakes in the Discussion
Do not overgeneralize your findings
In this study, we proved that choice of poor neighborhoods is dependent on pre-move health status and should be taken into consideration when patients complain of health problems after relocating.
The small associations between health and neighborhood environment choice observed in this relatively affluent cohort with professional health training suggest that groups with more limited residential mobility and lower health awareness would have lower potential for self-selection.
Result: Small effects of pre-move health status on nurses’ relocation
Modified from: James et al. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2015;12:12489–12504.
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Link your ideas
General background
Aims
Methodology
Results and figures
Summary of findings
Implications for the field
Relevance of findings
Problem in the field
Current state of the field Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Solution
Situation/Problem
Evaluation/Comment
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure Link your ideas
Problem-based learning is an instructional method in which problems are the focal part of learning.
However, it is unclear which particular aspect of the problem is essential for student learning.
In conclusion, this study is among the first to shed more light on the causal interactions of specific problem characteristics at the micro level.
Background
Problem
Conclusion
Discussion
Modified from: Sockalingam et al. Advances in Health Sciences Education. 2011;16:481–490.
We tested a model in which we hypothesized that problem input variables would be related to problem process and outcome variables.
Objective
Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript
structure After the first draft….
Format manuscript
• Use journal template/style • Re-check word limits • Format references
Revise manuscript
• Get input from colleagues • Check Figures/Tables • Check consistency/logical
flow between sections • Edit for clarity, conciseness,
and accuracy • Have a rest! Then proofread
Activity 6: Manuscript structure 2
Please see Activity 6 in your Workbook
S
Be an effective communicator
Your goal is not only to publish, but also to be widely read and cited
Prepare well for academic publishing
Write your ideas clearly for your audience
Logically present your research
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