Synopsis "How to Write a Scientific Paper: An Academic Self-Help Guide for phd Students"
Writing a scientific paper is hard. In particular, if you are a Ph.D. student, you probably know what the fear of the blank page means--writing can feel overwhelming. But a systematic approach helps.This book provides a step-by-step, top-down approach that makes it easier to turn your results into research papers that are focused, exciting, and readable.The book focuses on the process of writing instead of technicalities, breaking this process into manageable chunks. How to choose the main point of your paper? How to write its abstract, sentence by sentence? How to outline the paper? How to turn the outline into a first draft and then into a finished manuscript? What to do if you get stuck? And finally, how to deal with critical reviews?Here is what you get: A complete step-by-step plan for writing research papers, from choosing which results to include to wrapping up the paper in the Discussion section Concrete, actionable, and practical advice, from a paragraph-level template for the Introduction to guidance on preparing plots and figures Lots of writing tips, from placing signposts in your text to shortening and straightening your sentencesThis book has been written for the PhD student who is aiming to write a journal article on her research results, but it can be recommended to academics of all levels.The book includesPART I: STORY1. How To Choose The Key Point Of Your Paper2. How To Choose The Supporting Results3. How To Write The Abstract4. How To Choose The TitlePART II: OUTLINE5. The Power Of Outlining6. How To Write The Introduction, Part I: Structure7. How To Write The Introduction, Part II: A Four-Paragraph Template8. How To Write The Introduction, Part III: The Lede9. How To Write The Materials And Methods10. How To Write The Results, Part I: Figures11. How To Write The Results, Part II: Text12. How To Write The DiscussionPART III: WORDS13. How Does Your Reader Read?14. How To Write Your First Draft15. How To Edit Your First Draft16. Tips For Revising Content And Structure17. Tips For Editing SentencesPART IV: IT'S NOT OVER YET18. How To Write The Cover Letter19. How To Deal With ReviewsAbout the authorI am a professor of computational science and an experienced academic with around 100 published papers. My research is interdisciplinary, to say the least: I have studied the social fabric of smartphone users, the genetic structure of ant supercolonies, the connectome of the human brain, networks of public transport, and the molecular biology of the human immune system, to name a few. I am also interested in scientific writing as a craft. So one could say that I have a broad range of interests--or that I just can't choose, but that's exactly how I like it!
