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Writing Scientific Articles
– General Structures
Agus Suryanto
Department of Mathematics
FMIPA – Brawijaya University
Types of Articles
Research
Papers
Research
Notes
Letters
Types of
Journal
Articles
Review
Supplemental
Articles
Articles
Miniature
Articles
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Letters
 Letters (also called communications, and not
to be confused with letters to the editor) are
short descriptions of important current
research findings which are usually fast-tracked
for immediate publication because they are
considered urgent.
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Letters
communications include:
Abstract,
Introduction
Main body,
Conclusion,
References.
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Supplemental Articles
Supplemental articles contain a large volume of
tabular data that is the result of current
research and may be dozens or hundreds of
pages with mostly numerical data.
Some journals now only publish this data
electronically on the internet.
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Miniature Articles
The concise article format (limited to four
journal pages including references and
figures) permits the editorial board to
process papers rapidly and enables the
reader to learn about new results and
developments efficiently.
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Review Articles
Review articles do not cover original research
but rather accumulate the results of many
different articles on a particular topic into a
coherent narrative about the state of the art in
that field.
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Review Articles
Review articles include:
Abstract
Introduction,
Main body,
references.
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Research notes
Research notes are short descriptions of current
research findings which are considered less
urgent or important than Letters.
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Research Papers
Articles are usually between five and twenty
pages and are a complete descriptions of
current original research finding, but there
are considerable variations between scientific
fields and journals
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General Structure
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Acknowledgements
References
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Write in what order?
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Acknowledgements
References
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Methods and materials
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Best to begin writing when experiments still in
progress.
Demonstrates the reliability of results.
Provide all the methodological details necessary for
another scientist to duplicate your work.
Should be narrative step, explain why each procedure
was done  Don’t list instructions
Include animal/human use approval information.
Make adequate reference to accepted methods and
identify differences.
If any of your methods is fully described in a previous
publication cite that.
Mathematical equations and statistical tests are
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considered mathematical methods . (last paragraph)
Results
Presents the experiment results but does not attempt to
interpret their meaning.
Don’t present the raw data  summarize the data with text,
tables and/or figures.
You must refer in the text to each figure or table in your
paper
Do not include the same data in both a table and a figure
It is not necessary to describe every step of your statistical
analyses.
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Figures and Tables
 Guidelines for Figures and Tables
 High resolution
 Neat, legible labels
 Simple
 Clearly formatted
 Indicate error
 Detailed captions
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Discussion
 Explain your results (meaning, agree with or differ from
other published results? Why???).
 Relate the discussion with objectives/questions.
 Limit your conclusions to those that your data can
actually support.
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Introduction
 Explain why is this study of scientifically important and what is the
objective?
 Discuss the results/conclusions of previously published studies, to
help explain the state of the art of current study
 The Introduction is organized to move from general information to
specific information. Limit the introduction to studies that relate
directly to the present study. Emphasize your specific contribution to
the topic.
 The last sentences of the introduction should be a statement of
objectives and a statement of hypotheses. This will be a good
transition to the next section, Methods, in which you will explain how
you proceeded to meet your objectives and test your hypotheses.
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Abstract
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Abstract is a shortened version of the paper. It determines:
(1) what the objectives of the study were;
(2) how the study was done;
(3) what results were obtained;
(4) and the significance of the results.
 Avoid references, acronyms and mathematical symbols
 Frequently, readers of a scientific journal will only read the abstract,
choosing to read at length those papers that are most interesting to
them.
 Although it appears as the first section in a paper, most scientists
write the abstract section last.
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Title
 Determines whether paper gets read
 Uses keywords that researchers in a particular
field will recognize
 Avoid long title (see journal rules) and
abbreviations
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References
 Relevant and recent
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Be highly selective
Read the references
Do not misquote
All cited articles have to be listed in References
Use correct style for journal
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Tips for Scientific Writing
PROOFREAD!!! Check your paper to catch and correct
these and other common errors:
 You
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should avoid abbreviations by writing out the full
word (minimum, October, first, temperature, ...). Exceptions include
common terms like ATP and DNA, units of measure (m, g, cm, °C),
and mathematical or chemical formulas. Sentences should never
begin with an abbreviation or an acronym.
You may introduce an acronym for a term that is often repeated
In formal writing, you should never use contractions (didn't, can't,
haven't...).
You should review your writing to make sure that each sentence
presents one or two clear ideas. This will also help you organize
sentences within paragraphs in a logical order.
Your word processor's spell-check and/or grammar-check function is
not error-free.
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