50 tips to write your first research paper

1. Write when you
   have something to say
2. Focusing on your
   central message
3. Write down the
   three central points of your paper
4. Summarize your
   paper in one sentence
5. Describe your
   work to a colleague in one minute
6. Use a “sexy”
   title: Deoxyribonucleic acids are the carriers of the genetic information of
   cells in stead of A study of
   the biological role of the deoxyribonucleic acid components of cells
7. Remember: Easy writing is hard reading,
   and hard writing is easy reading
8. Never write in a
   hurry!
9. Avoid verbosity:
   an excessive number or words
10. Plan the
    structure of the manuscript
11. Structure:
    abstract, keyword, introduction, material & methods, results, discussion,
    acknowledgements, references
12. Write in order:
    first material and methods
13. Second: tables
    and figures
14. Third: Results
15. Fourth:
    Discussion
16. Finally:
    Introduction and acknowledgements
17. Have the
    references needed at hand
18. Material &
    methods: provide information that would make the work repeatable
19. Just refer if
    the method is very well know
20. Give a few hints
    on the critical steps if the method is well know
21. Describe
    modification if the method is modified
22. Describe in full
    if the method is new
23. Results is the
    most important part of a paper
24. Repeatability is
    essential in experimental research
25. Prepare tables
    and figures of results first
26. Then write a
    text that draws attention the relevant aspect of tables and figures
27. Do not repeat
    exhaustively what table shows
28. Discussion: make
    general statement summarizing your findings
29. Discuss your findings
    including previous work
30. Discuss
    uncertainties and discrepancies and explain why (if possible)
31. Show the
    relevance for your hypothesis (established in the introduction)
32. End discussion
    up pointing out future directions and conclusions
33. Do not repeat the
    results in the discussion
34. Introduction:
    the reader has to understand the importance of your work
35. Provided with
    the main ideas to understand what follows
36. Scope of the
    work: hypothesis, general and specific objectives
37. No too narrow
    neither too broad
38. Introduction
    should be short, clear and complete
39. Acknowledgements:
    only contributions to the objective of the work should be acknowledged
40. Acknowledge
    first people (with specific mention of the particular help the author is
    grateful for) and then the institutions supporting the work
41. Abstract: start with a draft of the complete
    manuscript and follow these steps:
42. Identify the major objectives and conclusions,
43. Identify the phrases with keywords in the
    methods section
44. Identify the major results from the discussion section
45. Assemble the above information into a single
    paragraph
46. State your hypothesis or method used in the first sentence
47. Omit background information, literature and
    detailed description of methods
48. Remove extra words and phrases
49. Revise to see if it meets the guidelines of the
    targeted journal.
50. Have your manuscript or draft reviewed by a
    labmate or colleague in the area, and your Major Professor of any person of
    similar experience

(*) Base on the
conference How to write a research paper
by Prof. Ignacio Moriyón (imoriyon@unav.es), Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Navarra (Spain).

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