How to Write the thesis

Once we have decided to whom to write (to humanity, not to the advisor), we must decide how to write, and this is quite a difficult question. If there were exhaustive rules, we would all be great writers. I could at least recommend that you rewrite your thesis many times, or that you take

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Quotations in the thesis

1. When and How to Quote: 10 Rules Generally speaking, you will quote many texts by other authors in your thesis: the textual object of your work, or the primary source or sources; and the critical literature on your topic, or the secondary sources. Therefore, practically speaking, there are two kinds of quotes: (a)

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Footnotes in the thesis

1. The Purpose of Footnotes According to a fairly common opinion, a thesis or a book with copious notes exhibits erudite snobbism, and often represents an attempt to pull the wool over the reader’s eyes. Certainly we should not rule out the fact that many authors abound in notes to confer a tone of

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Instructions, Traps, and Conventions of the thesis

In many disciplines (and with increasing frequency) authors use a system that allows them to eliminate all reference notes, preserving only content notes and cross-references. This system presupposes that the final bibliography is orga­nized by authors’ names, and includes the date of publica­tion of the first edition of the book or article. Here is

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Academic Pride of the thesis

The tricks of academic work are innumerable, and innu­merable are the traps into which you can fall. Within the limits of this short treatment, we can only provide, in no particular order, a series of instructions to help you avoid such traps. Although these instructions may not help you navigate the Bermuda Triangle that

Formatting the Thesis

1. Margins and Spaces This chapter begins with its title, in full capitals, with left-hand justification (but it could also be centered on the page). The chap­ter bears a number, in this case an Arabic numeral (below we will see the available alter­natives). Then, after three or four blank lines, the title of the

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The Final Bibliography of the thesis

Had we not already discussed this topic at length at least twice, this would be a very long and detailed section. In section 3.2.3 we discussed how to record bibliographical infor­mation for books and articles, and in sections 5.4.2 and 5.4.3 we discussed both how to refer­ence a work in the text and in

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The Appendices in the thesis

In some cases, the appendix or appendices are indispensable. If you are writing a thesis in philology and discussing a rare text that you have found and transcribed, you can present this text in the appendix, and this may be the most original contribution of the entire work. In a thesis in history in

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The Table of Contents of the thesis

In the table of contents, you must record all the chapters, sections, and subsections of the text, and you must exactly match their numbering, pages, and wording. This may seem like obvious advice, but before handing in the thesis, you should carefully verify that you have met these requirements. The table of contents is

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Writing and publishing a scientific paper

Writing and publishing journal articles are essential aspects of a successful scientific career. Unfortunately, many scientists find the process of communicating about their work intimidating and confusing. Now in its eighth edition, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper teaches how to apply clear focus, good organization, and simple, straightforward language to write

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What Is Scientific Writing?

1. THE SCOPE OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING The term scientific writing commonly denotes the reporting of original research in journals, through scientific papers in standard format. In its broader sense, scientific writing also includes communication about science through other types of journal articles, such as review papers summarizing and integrating previously published research. And in

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Historical Perspectives IMRAD organization of scientific papers

1. THE EARLY HISTORY Human beings have been able to communicate for thousands of years. Yet scientific communication as we know it today is relatively new. The first journals were published about 350 years ago, and the IMRAD (introduction, methods, results, and discussion) organization of scientific papers has developed within about the past century.

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Approaching a Writing Project

1. ESTABLISHING THE MINDSET The thought of preparing a piece of scientific writing can intimidate even the best writers. However, establishing a suitable mindset and taking an appropri­ate approach can make the task manageable. Perhaps most basic, remember that you are writing to communicate, not to impress. Readers of scientific papers want to know

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What Is and how organize a Scientific Paper?

1. DEFINITION OF A SCIENTIFIC PAPER A scientific paper is a written and published report describing original research results. That short definition must be qualified, however, by noting that a sci­entific paper must be written in a certain way, as defined by tradition, editorial practice, scientific ethics, and the interplay of printing and publishing

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Ethics in Scientific Publishing

1. ETHICS AS A FOUNDATION Before writing a scientific paper and submitting it to a journal—and indeed, before embarking on your research—you should know the basic ethical norms for scientific conduct and scientific publishing. Some of these norms may be obvious, others not. Therefore, a basic overview is provided below. Graduate students and others

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Where to Submit Your Manuscript to academic journals

1. WHY DECIDE EARLY, WHY DECIDE WELL Too often, authors write scientific papers and then consider where to publish them. The decision, however, is best made early, before the writing begins. That way, the paper can be geared appropriately to the audience (for example, read­ers of a general scientific journal, a journal in your

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How to Prepare the Title of a Scientific Paper

1. IMPORTANCE OF THE TITLE In preparing a title for a paper, you would do well to remember one salient fact: This title will be read by thousands of people. Perhaps few people, if any, will read the entire paper, but many people will read the title, either in the original journal, in one

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How to List the Authors and Addresses in your Scientific Paper

1. THE ORDER OF THE NAMES “If you have co-authors, problems about authorship can range from the trivial to the catastrophic” (O’Connor 1991, p. 10). The easiest part of preparing a scientific paper is simply entering the bylines: the authors and addresses. Sometimes. We haven’t yet heard of a duel being fought over the

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How to Prepare the Abstract of a Scientific Paper

1. DEFINITION An abstract should be viewed as a miniature version of the paper. The abstract should provide a brief summary of each of the main sections of the paper: introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion. As Houghton (1975) put it, “An abstract can be defined as a summary of the information in

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How to Write the Introduction of a Scientific Paper

1. GUIDELINES Now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, we come to the paper itself. Some experienced writers prepare their title and abstract after the paper is written, even though by placement these elements come first. You should, however, have in mind (if not on paper or in the computer) a

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