160314 Edanz Kobe

K-CONNEX, Kobe University

14 March 2016

Trevor Lane, PhD Eri Kinoshita, 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 highly cited

Develop professional writing skills

Write your ideas clearly

Logically present your research

Section 1


Skills needed on the path to publication success

Preparation

Journal Selection

Writing

Submission

Peer Review

Publication Success

• Training in reading papers, ethics, writing, presenting

• Expert Scientific Review

• Expert Scientific Review

• Journal Selection & submission strategy

• Training in ethics, writing, presenting

• Revising • Editing • Reformatting

• Training in ethics, writing

• Editing • Abstract

Development • Cover Letter

Development • Reviewer

Recommendation

• Training in navigating peer review

• Review Editing • Point-by-point

checking • Response

Letter Development

• Reformatting

• Press release, news writing

• Media & presentation training

• Training for early career researchers

• Training in writing grant proposals

• Grant proposal editing

Professional writing skills

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, Most to least

important, General to

specific, Whole+parts)

Is anything missing?

? Additional analyses?

Professional writing skills Prepare an outline

I. Introduction A. General background B. Related studies C. Problems in the field D. Aims

II. Methods A. Subjects/Samples/Materials B. General methods C. Specific methods D. Statistical analyses

III. Results A. Key points about Figure 1 B. Key points about Table 1 C. Key points about Figure 2 D. Key points about Figure 3 E. Key points about Figure 4

IV. Discussion A. Major conclusion B. Key findings that support conclusion C. Relevance to published studies D. Limitations E. Unexpected results F. Implications G. Future directions

Write key ideas in bullet points, as IMRaD (=Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion)

No need for full sentences Draft title/abstract; draft article by

IMRaD section Get feedback & revise each section Revise content/logic before language Get help: presubmission peer review

& editing by a native English speaker

When using information from other articles: Paraphrase with

citations!

Professional writing skills Manuscript structure

How does your study contribute to your field?

What did you find?

What did you do?

Why did you do the study?

Title/Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion


Title/Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Title/Abstract

Methods

Results

Discussion

Introduction

Abstract /Title

write

The ‘write’ order


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.

Academic English writing style


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

Readers focus at the end of the sentence to determine what is important.

The stress position can also introduce the topic of the next sentence



Almost all participants indicated a high level of satisfaction with the content, sequence and relevance of the ICT professional development program they attended. Only a few teachers reported that the duration of the professional development program was too short. However, the majority of the teachers reported that they developed an understanding of what TPACK is, and the way technology can enhance teaching and learning of difficult science concepts through the collaborative design of technology-enhanced science lessons in teams. “I developed an understanding of how TPACK can be applied in the design and teaching of a technology-enhanced lesson” said one of the pre-service teachers. A teacher from School C said if it was not the professional development he attended, he would not know how to use technology in teaching.

The pre-service teachers had the opportunity to further develop learning about technology integration in teaching after the professional development program had finished. They were invited to use their TPACK knowledge in workshops organized by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training…

Topic sentence

Stress sentence Topic sentence

Supporting sentences


Source: Kafyulilo et al. Educ Inf Technol. 5 May 2015; DOI 10.1007/s10639-015-9398-0



Logical connectors

Sequential

Causal

Adversative Although, Even though, Whereas, However, In contrast, Despite (+noun or verb -ing),…

Because (of), To (+verb), Owing to, So that, Therefore, Thus, Hence, Consequently,…

Until, After, Before, While, Since, When, Then, Next, First/Second/Third, Finally,…

Conditional If, Even if, Unless, Whether (or not), Except, Provided that, Until, Without, Otherwise,…


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

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

Write logical sentences


Keep it simple!

Use short sentences 15–20 words; one idea per sentence

Prefer simpler/shorter words

Use active voice Simpler, more direct, and easier to read

Most writing style guides and journals prefer it… “Nature journals prefer authors to write in the active voice”

www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/how_write.html

Modern scientific writing

Professional writing skills Use correct verb tense

Present simple

Present perfect

Past simple

Stating an accepted fact or current implications

Referring to past studies that are still relevant

Reporting an account of what you did/showed

Introduction Discussion

Introduction Discussion

Methods Results

“Graphene is a promising material for...” “Our findings have implications for…”

“Positivity has been reported to increase...” “In this study, we have shown that…”

“We examined the strength of concrete samples…” “Drug X prevented tumor growth...”


Correct verb tense – Case study

“Several pharmacophoric models for synthesis were

described.”

Introduction

“Several pharmacophoric models for synthesis have been described.”

Present perfect; present perfect passive: “So far”, Experience, News/announcing, Change topic/new paragraph

“We have taken the powder XRD patterns of…”

Results

“We measured the powder XRD patterns of…”


“This result suggested that these peaks…”

Discussion

“This result suggests that these peaks…”

“These Raman spectroscopy results confirmed that…”

“These Raman spectroscopy results confirm that…”

Signal words: Suggest, demonstrate, confirm, support

Correct verb tense – Case study

Professional writing skills 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

Please see Activity 1 in your Workbook

Logical writing

Write effectively 1

Section 2

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.”


To ascertain the efficaciousness of the optional language program, we interrogated the optional

language program participants.

To determine the success of the program, we questioned the participants.

Improve readability

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 mechanisms regulating cement rigidity were investigated.

Passive

We investigated the mechanisms regulating cement rigidity.

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, a titanium dioxide nanoparticle electrode for molecular sensing applications was synthesized using electrospray deposition.


Is this sentence in the active or passive voice?




Tunn et al. developed electrospray methods to enhance sensitivity.3

Avoid reader confusion

Part of the Introduction






Who did the work in this study?

The author ? Tunn et al. ?





In this study, we synthesized a titanium dioxide nanoparticle electrode for molecular sensing applications by using electrospray deposition.

/ In this study, we used electrospray deposition to synthesize a titanium dioxide nanoparticle electrode for molecular sensing applications.


Fix stacked and misplaced modifiers

The final analyzed sample only appeared blue temporarily because we had added the especially

prepared reagent that we were testing slowly.

The final sample that we analyzed appeared blue only temporarily, because we had slowly added the

test reagent.


30 words

Economists considered Tanaka Industries, a large Japanese trading corporation founded in 1916 outside of Nagoya by Ichiro Tanaka, to be a model in the development of modern employee conditions worldwide.

Use short sentences


Economists considered Tanaka Industries to be a model in the development of modern employee conditions worldwide. This large Japanese trading corporation was founded in 1916 outside of Nagoya by Ichiro Tanaka.

16 words

15 words

One idea per sentence

Use short sentences


Readers expect…

verbs to closely follow their subjects heavy ends (not starts) of clauses

Subject

The new theory that the researchers formulated after examining all the pseudo-colored images contradicted current thinking about neutrinos.

The researchers formulated a new theory after examining all the pseudo-colored images. This theory contradicted current thinking about neutrinos.

Verb

Write clear sentences


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

Use strong verbs

Customer Service Effective writing Clarify the subject

“Titania (TiO2) has been extensively investigated because of its practical prosperities for a diverse range of applications including pigments, photocatalysts, solar cells... It has three primary polymorphs in nature…”

“Titania (TiO2) has been extensively investigated because of its practical prosperities for a diverse range of applications including pigments, photocatalysts, solar cells... TiO2 has three primary polymorphs in nature…”

?


Respectively is used for corresponding list items

The two values were 143 and 21, respectively.

The values for groups A and B were 143 and 21, respectively.

The two values were 143 and 21.

Avoid mistakes 1


Compared with is for saying how things are different

The toxicity of the new scaffold was reduced

compared to the previous scaffold.

The toxicity of the new scaffold was reduced compared with that of the previous scaffold.

The toxicity of the new scaffold was lower than that of the previous scaffold.

Avoid mistakes 2

Customer Service Effective writing Avoid mistakes 3

Use parallel terms

The values were higher in group 1 than for group 2.

The values were higher in group 1 than in group 2. The values were higher for group 1 than for group 2.

Writing involves many skills: planning, preparing, drafting, and you need to check carefully.

Writing involves many skills: planning, preparing, drafting, and careful checking.


Don’t use numbers to start a sentence

506 samples were prepared.

We prepared 506 samples. / In this study, 506 samples were prepared.

Five hundred and six samples were prepared.

Avoid mistakes 4


Don’t use new words; use “that” for defining terms

Some of the data from the last 2 years, which we

inputted into the analysis, impacted on the overall calculation.

Some of the data from the past 2 years that we entered into the analysis affected the overall

calculation.

Avoid mistakes 5


Activity 2: Effective Writing

Methods, Results, and Display Items

Section 3

Coverage and Staffing Plan Manuscript

structure Methods/Experimental

How the study was done

• General methods • Specific techniques – Discuss controls

• Quantification methods • Final models/equations • Statistical tests

What/who was studied

• Samples or participants • Materials/databases

– Where purchased

How data were analyzed

Consult a statistician!

What did you do?


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

Check: “…using a design we proposed previously / previously proposed by some of us”; “…using a previously proposed design”

Methods might be at end, or brief+online, or brief+legends


structure Flow of methods

A mixture of PVA and water (10 mL, 1:1 v/v ratio) was combined with titanium and niobium powder (Ti:Ni 4:1, 2 g) to form a mixed paste. The paste was dried overnight at 25°C to form a dry body, which was heated at 450°C for 8 h to give the implant.

The PVA and water were mixed to form a PVA solution. The PVA solution and titanium and niobium powder were mixed to form a mixed paste. The mixed paste was dried overnight at 25°C to form a dry body. The dry body was heated at 450°C for 8 h to give the implant.

Avoid describing a single method in each sentence


structure Results

1. Initial observation 2. Characterization 3. Application

Logical presentation

What did you find?

Example:

1. New method of assessing expertise of people who share knowledge online

2. Comparison with existing methods

3. Case study, comparing simulation with known scores

Modified from: Shen and Kwak. ICT Express. 2015;1:22–25 .


structure

1. Initial observation/synthesis 2. Characterization/development 3. Application

Each (titled) subsection corresponds to one figure/method

What you found, not what it means; refer to each figure!

Use Supplementary Information Data accessibility


Subsections

Factual description

What did you find?

Results


structure Combined Methods–Results

Method Results

Figure 1

Method Results

Figure 2

Method Results

Figure 3

Method Results

Figure 4

Initial observation


Characterization

Application


structure

Treatment A reduced soil lead levels by 32.7% and increased soil pH by 12.3%. Treatment B reduced soil lead levels by 22.3% and increased soil pH by 15.6%. Treatment C reduced soil lead levels by 38.1% and increased soil pH by 6.9%.

Describe relationships among your results


structure

Treatment C reduced soil lead levels (38.1%) more effectively than treatments A (32.7%) and B (22.3%). However, treatment B increased soil pH levels (15.6%) more effectively than treatments A (12.3%) and C (6.9%).

Describe relationships among your results

Note: Don’t use “significantly” without relevant statistics!


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


structure

SEM images of Bentheimer sample 1 before and after damage (10 g/L barite). (a) and (b) show the undamaged plug, only quartz crystals can be seen, (c) and (d) show the sample after damage, adhesion between quartz (gray) and barite (white) can be seen, (e) and (f) show the adhesion between barite particles in the damaged plug. The black arrows point towards barite-quartz and barite-barite interfaces.

Figures

Clear figure legend

Al-Yaseri et al. J Petrol Sci Eng. 2015; DOI 10.1016/j.petrol.2015.01.018.

Title of the experiment

Key findings

Clear indicators


structure Tables vs. graphs

Type A Type B Type C

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Aluminum

Gold

Figure 1. Efficiency of various solar cell types using aluminum and gold electrodes

Effi

cien

cy (

%)

Which electrode gives a more efficient solar cell?



Figure 1. Efficiency of various solar cell types using aluminum and gold electrodes

Type A Type B Type C

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Aluminum

Gold

What is the highest efficiency achieved?

?

Effi

cien

cy (

%)



What is the highest efficiency achieved?

Table 1. Efficiency of solar cells using aluminum and gold electrodes


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


structure Line graphs

Zhu et al. Sci Rep. 2013; 3: 3163.

Quantized water transport: Ideal desalination through graphyne-4 membrane

The uniaxial stress-strain curves of graphene sheet (GR), as well as graphyne-1 to graphyne-6, along (a) the reclined chair direction, and (b) zigzag direction.

Dependent variable

Independent variable

Use colors and shapes to differentiate lines

Define abbreviations

Activity 3: Results


Introductions and Discussions

Section 4


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?

Extra sections afterwards? Background, Related work, Concepts, Theory/Calculation


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…


Lee and Maslove. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2015; 15: 59.

Study aims

Your aims must directly address the problem


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


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?


structure Combined Results–Discussion

Results Interpretation

Figure 1


Figure 2


Figure 3


Figure 4

Initial observation


Characterization

Application


structure Combined Methods– Results–Discussion

Methods & Results Interpretation

Figure 1


Figure 2


Figure 3


Figure 4

Initial observation


Characterization

Application


structure

Table 2 presents an analysis of vulnerabilities in Cloud Computing. This analysis offers a brief description of the vulnerabilities, and indicates what cloud service models (SPI) can be affected by them. Some of these vulnerabilities are the following:… … Cloud Computing leverages many existing technologies such as web services, web browsers, and virtualization, which contributes to the evolution of cloud environments. Therefore, any vulnerability associated with these technologies also affects the cloud, and it can even have a significant impact. We can conclude that data storage and virtualization are the most critical features, and an attack to them would do the most harm. Attacks to lower layers would have more impact to the other layers.

Introduce display item

Interpretation

Conclusion/ implications

Modified from: Hashizume et al. J Internet Serv Appl. 2013;4:5.

Factual description

Factually describe and interpret your findings 1

Combined Results–Discussion


structure

The three classification models show the same level of

performance based on their F1-scores, where the scores all take a

value of 0.85. With the help of the receiver operating characteristic

curves (Figure 5), it is clear to see that all three models performed

quite well for testing data that have high posterior probability. A

posterior probability of a testing data point, A, is estimated by the

classification model as the probability that A will be classified as

positive, denoted as P(+|A). As the probability gets lower, the Naïve

Bayesian classifier model outperforms the Support Vector Machine

classifier model , with a larger area under curve. Hence, in general,

the Random Forest model performs the best.

Describe finding

Interpretation

Conclusion/ implications


Mention display item

Factually describe and interpret your findings 2

Combined Results–Discussion

http://www.journalofbigdata.com/content/2/1/5/figure/F5


structure

Cloud Computing is a relatively new concept that presents a good number of benefits for its users; however, it also raises some security problems which may slow down its use. Understanding what vulnerabilities exist in Cloud Computing will help organizations to make the shift towards the Cloud…. We have presented security issues for cloud models: IaaS, PaaS, and IaaS, which vary depending on the model. As described in this paper, storage, virtualization, and networks are the biggest security concerns in Cloud Computing....

Re-introduction

Conclusion

Writing the beginning of a long Discussion

State the major conclusion of the study

Problem



structure

Modified from: Ketola & Hiltunen. Ecol Evol. 2014; 4: 3901–3908.

Compare your findings with those published by others

Writing the middle of your Discussion

Comparison with previous studies

Current finding

Potential reasons

Our observations suggest that fluctuating growth conditions did not select for generalism at the tested salinity levels. This finding is in contrast to several studies where evidence for an evolved generalism was found to be the consequence of fluctuating environments (Buckling et al. 2006, Ketola et al. 2013, 2014; Condon et al. 2014). One explanation for the lack of expected adaptation in fluctuating environments in the current study could be that our salinity fluctuations were too coarse-grained…


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


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


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


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

“Downtone” bad news = Subordinate clause at start “Boost” good news = LONG main clause in stress position


structure

In this paper, we have developed two resource allocation algorithms FAA and PAA under two regimes, as solutions of network utility maximization formulations. We have demonstrated in detail the effects of quality of service parameters and channel conditions on the resource allocation decisions via numerical experiments. In particular, our results indicate that both FAA and PAA will be able to achieve larger improvements when quality of service requirements are heterogeneous as opposed to when channel conditions differ. For future work, we aim to investigate the practical applications and implementation of the algorithms in IEEE 802.11n/ac wireless networks.

Conclusion

Implications

Future directions

What do you want people to remember?

Key findings

Writing the end of your Discussion

Modified from: Memis et al. EURASIP J Wireless Commun Networking. 2015,2015:217.

May be a separate section

May be a “Future work” section


structure

Common mistakes in the Discussion

Do not restate your results (or introduce new data)

Perceived relational benefits had a significant positive influence on intra-organizational information sharing in the software companies (γ = 0.232, t = 2.831, p < 0.01). This finding suggests that improving relations between all members of software companies may increase future information sharing.

We found that perceived relational benefits are important in promoting intra-organizational information sharing in software companies. This finding suggests that improving relations between all members of software companies may increase future information sharing.


structure

Do not overgeneralize your findings

We found that perceived relational benefits are important in promoting intra-organizational information sharing in software companies. This finding demonstrates that improving relations between all companies will increase future collaboration.

We found that perceived relational benefits are important in promoting intra-organizational information sharing in software companies. This finding suggests that improving relations between all members of software companies may increase future information sharing.

Common mistakes in the Discussion

Hedging: Might, could, may, can, should, would, must, will…; probably, possibly, probable, possible, likely


structure Link your ideas

General background

Aims

Methodology

Results and figures

Summary of findings

Implications for the field

Relevance of findings


Current state of the field Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Solution

Situation/Problem

Evaluation/Comment


structure

It can be of fundamental importance to intelligence analysts to find out what a person writes and who the physical person behind some pieces of online texts really is.

In this article, we have presented the idea that a user’s timeprint (which can be extracted from the publishing times of a large number of social media services) can be useful for identifying users who make use of multiple aliases.

Problem

Conclusion

Discussion

Introduction

In this article, we explore various time features of online publishing (timeprints) to find out how successfully they can be used for author identification and alias matching.

Objective

Modified from: Johansson et al. Secur Inform. 2015;4:7.

Link your ideas

Activity 4: Manuscript structure


Attract your readers through titles and

abstracts

Section 5

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


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”


Interrogative Want to scale in centralized systems? Think peer-to-peer

Indicative/ Descriptive

Network performance of multiple virtual machine live migration in cloud federations

… + Approach (subtitle)

Teaching cloud computing: A software engineering perspective

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: J Internet Serv Appl; J Med Internet Res; J Syst Software

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

Background Context, problem

Attract your readers Unstructured abstracts

Usability is a core construct of website evaluation and inherently defined as interactive. Yet, when analysing first impressions of websites, expected usability, i.e., before use, is of interest. Here we investigate to what extent ratings of expected usability are related to (a) experienced usability, i.e., ratings after use, and (b) objective usability measures, i.e., task performance. 57 participants submitted expected usability ratings after the presentation of website screenshots in three viewing-time conditions (50, 500, and 10,000 ms) and after an interactive task (experienced usability). Additionally, objective usability measures (task completion and duration) and subjective aesthetics evaluations were recorded for each website. The results at both the group and individual level show that expected usability ratings are not significantly related either to experienced usability or objective usability measures. Instead, they are highly correlated with aesthetics ratings. Taken together, our results highlight the need for interaction in empirical website usability testing, even when exploring very early usability impressions. In particular, user ratings of expected usability may not be a valid proxy for objective usability or for experienced website usability.

Modified from: Thielsch et al. Peer J Comp Sci. 2015;1:e19.

Attract your readers Unstructured abstracts

Conclusion Taken together, our results highlight the need for interaction in empirical website usability testing, even when exploring very early usability impressions. In particular, user ratings of expected usability may not be a valid proxy for objective usability or for experienced website usability.

Results The results at both the group and individual level show that expected usability ratings are not significantly related either to experienced usability or objective usability measures. Instead, they are highly correlated with aesthetics ratings.

Aim Here we investigate to what extent ratings of expected usability are related to (a) experienced usability, and (b) objective usability measures.

Context Usability is a core construct of website evaluation and inherently defined as interactive. Yet, when analysing first impressions of websites, expected usability, i.e., before use, is of interest.

Implications Modified from: Thielsch et al. Peer J Comp Sci. 2015;1:e19.

Methods 57 participants submitted expected usability ratings after the presentation of website screenshots in three viewing-time conditions (50, 500, and 10,000 ms) and after an interactive task (experienced usability)….

vv v

Attract your readers Specialist abstracts

Aims

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Why the study was done

Your objective/hypothesis

Techniques, models

Most important findings

Conclusion/implications

Attract your readers

A model has been developed to predict growth kinetics of the intermetallic phases (IMCs) formed in a reactive diffusion couple between two metals for the case where multiple IMC phases are observed. The model explicitly accounts for the effect of grain boundary diffusion through the IMC layer, and can thus be used to explore the effect of IMC grain size on the thickening of the reaction layer. The model has been applied to the industrially important case of aluminum to magnesium alloy diffusion couples in which several different IMC phases are possible. It is demonstrated that there is a transition from grain boundary-dominated diffusion to lattice-dominated diffusion at a critical grain size, which is different for each IMC phase.

Modified from: Wang et al. Metall Mater Trans A. 2015; 46: 4106–4114.

Specialist abstracts

What you did

What you found


Check author guidelines

Check recently published articles

Consider your audience

For interdisciplinary audiences, include background and conclusion

Identify journal editor preference

What the journal requires

Specialist abstracts

When should you include background and conclusions?

Attract your readers Graphical abstracts

Visually demonstrate key features of the study Help readers quickly identify suitable articles

Carbon-layer protected cuprous oxide nanowire arrays for efficient water reduction

Zhang et al. ACS Nano. 2013;7:1709–1717.

Attract your readers Graphical abstracts




Triple Modular Redundancy verification via heuristic netlist analysis

Beltrame. Peer J Comp Sci. 2015;1:e21.

Attract your readers Research highlights



Bullet points in online Table of Contents Help readers quickly identify suitable articles

Identification of dynamic displacements and modal frequencies of a medium-span suspension bridge using multimode GNSS processing

Source: Yu et al. Engineering Structures. 2014;81:432–443.

• We monitored a suspension bridge with global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and accelerometer sensors.

• We monitored bridge dynamic responses using network real-time kinematic technique.

• Multimode adaptive filter – multimode adaptive filtering was proposed to process GNSS data.

• The dynamic displacements of the bridge were accurately derived from GNSS data.

• The modal frequencies of the bridge were accurately identified from GNSS data


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; include some synonyms

Cite your previous publications when relevant

*Standard terms from PsycINFO, BIOSIS, ChemWeb, ERIC Thesaurus, GeoRef, INSPEC, MeSH, etc


Activity 5: Titles and abstracts

S

Be an effective communicator

Your goal is not only to publish, but also to be widely read and highly cited


Write your ideas clearly

Logically present your research

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Trevor Lane: [email protected] Eri Kinoshita: [email protected]