scientific writing_moving academy niirh

8/8/2019 Scientific Writing_Moving Academy NIIRH

1/62

Sandeep B Bavdekar

Workshop at Institute of Research in Reproduction, IRR

11th August 2010


2/62

Research advancement

Knowledge building

Experience sharing

Thought stimulation

Career advancement

Appreciation by colleagues

Enhances curriculum vitae Financial benefit


3/62

All the thinking, all the textual analysis, all theexperiments and data gathering arent upto

anything until we write them up. In the world ofscholarship, we are what we write.

Donald Kennedy, 1997


4/62

What do I have to say?

Is it worth saying?

What is the right format for the message?

Who is the message for?


5/62

Case Reports

Letter to Editor Research articles/ Original articles

Editorial

Review articles Commentary

Viewpoint


6/62


7/62

What is it?

A scientific communication providinginformation to the medical world about a rareor unreported feature, condition, complication,association or treatment


8/62

The best teaching of Medicine is thattaught by the patient himself

William Osler


9/62

A simple form of medical communication

In vogue for a long time A form of descriptive study


10/62

A form of publication and study not dependenton large resources or research infrastructure

Can be interesting, accessible and readilydigestible for readers

Convey the art of medicine Not all research questions are amenable to RCT

An expedient way of communicating new ideas,

syndromes, treatments and adverse reactions


11/62


12/62


13/62

Why did you start,

What did you do,

What answer did you get, and

What does it mean anyway?

This seems to me to be a logical order for a

scientific paper.Austin Bradford Hill, 1965


14/62

I Introduction

MMethods

R ResultsAnd

D Discussion


15/62

Introduction: Why did you start?

Methods: What did you do?

Results: What did you get?

And

Discussion: What does it mean anyway?


16/62


17/62

Dos Describe current state of

knowledge

Enlist gaps in knowledge Provide enough information

for the reader to judge theneed to conduct the study

[Provide rationale] State the aim


18/62


19/62

It should be brief and arresting


20/62

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is an important

health issue. It is the chief complaint amongst

12% patients visiting general practitioners1

and in6% patients referred to Pain Clinics.2 Althoughseveral medications have been shown to beefficacious, there is no unanimity amongst

experts regarding the standard treatment to beinstituted.3 As the information regardingeffectiveness, usually effective dose and safetyprofile of drug m in Indian population is limited;

we conducted a study to elucidate these issues.


21/62


22/62

Three Questions:

What has been done?

What did you look for?How was it done?


23/62

Dos

Study design: prospective/ retrospective

Setting

Who is the study about: Participants andcontrols, how selected; inclusion and

exclusion criteria What did you do?: Intervention, follow-up

What did you look for?: Outcome measure,how was the effect assessed

Statistical methods and Ethicalconsiderations


24/62

Dos Donts

Study design: prospective/ retrospective

Setting

Who is the study about: Participants andcontrols, how selected; inclusion and

exclusion criteria, recruitment strategies What did you do?: Intervention, follow-up

What did you look for?: Outcome measure,how was the effect assessed

Statistical methods

Ethical considerations

Providingobservations!


25/62

Provide enough details for other informedinvestigators to reproduce the study!


26/62


27/62

Dos

How many were screened/ foundeligible for participation/consented to participate?

How many completed the study?

Reasons for lack of completeness Compliance with therapy or

protocol

What did you find?


28/62

Dos Donts

How many were screened/found eligible for participation/consented to participate?

How many completed thestudy?

Reasons for lack ofcompleteness

Compliance with therapy orprotocol

What did you find?

Introduce new parameters Interpretation of results

Provide references

Using adjectives (most, some,

many, often..) Repeating data in text and

tables

Not accounting for all subjects/Errors in data

Mixing up data, erroneous data


29/62


30/62

Virtues:

Organization of data

Good for showing specific results

Not good for showing trends

Not for quick communication of ideas

Tables should not be too large. If there are manycolumns or rows, try dividing them into multiple

tables Avoid repetition of data in text and tables

Use only as many tables as are needed to tell thestory


31/62

A figure is worth a million words

An attribute that is very useful whiledealing with word count

Figures catch the Readers eye


32/62

Type of graph used: Dependent on type of data

Line diagram: Usually event in relation to time

Bar diagram: Comparisons Pie charts: Parts of a whole

Histogram: Frequency distribution

Scatter diagram: Associations between variables


33/62

Useful for RCT

Can also be used fordescribing other studies


34/62


35/62

Summary of key findings: (primary outcomemeasures, secondary outcome measures, results

as they relate to a prior hypothesis) Why is this study special?


36/62

Provide previously published evidence, for andagainst

Discuss differences in findings and probable

reasons for the same


37/62

Discuss strengths and limitations of the study (studyquestion, study design, data collection, analysis andinterpretation)

Relevance to practice

Interpretation and implications in the context of thetotality of evidence

What this study adds to the available evidence,

effects on patient care and health policy, possiblemechanisms


38/62

State controversies raised by this study and newquestions it poses

Provide directions for future research


39/62

Reiterating selected results Emphasizing strengths, not weaknesses

Inflating the importance and generalizability

of findings Going beyond the evidence and drawing

unjustified conclusions


40/62


41/62

First thing a reader sees

Should know what the study is about

Should interest the reader

Should make the reader curious

Concise, descriptive, not declarative


42/62

The sequence of the human genome

Initial sequencing and analysis of thehuman genome


43/62

Indicative (states what the paper covers,not what it says)

Informative (good to start writing with)


44/62

Effect of asthma on linear growth in children

Does asthma reduce linear growth?

Linear growth deficit in asthmatic children


45/62


46/62


47/62

Follow IMRaD pattern, 150-250 words No information that is not included in the main

body of the paper

Do not copy sentences from the main body Include actual data on primary outcome

measures

Include the main statistical conclusions

It is a good idea to write a structured Abstract


48/62


49/62

The foundation on which your work is built

Provides scientific background that justifies theresearch undertaken and methods used

Provide the context in which your researchshould be interpreted


50/62

The foundation on which your work is built

Provides scientific background that justifies theresearch undertaken and methods used

Provide the context in which your research

should be interpretedReferences should not be collected, as anafterthought, when the research ends

Literature search and reading relevantreferences: starting point


51/62

Allows the reader to locate the source material

Accurate, current and complete

Too many or too few references

Reference section (Journal article, books,website)


52/62

Citations in Introduction: Backgroundinformation, explain why research wasundertaken

Citations in Material and Methods: Supportmethods and procedures used

Citations in Discussion: Interpret and explain

your results, defend hypothesis


53/62

Harvard Vancouver

References are Cited in the text by

giving authors nameand year of publication

in brackets

Author, reader andresearcher-friendly

Provides researchersworld view and his/ herevolution of thoughts

References are numbered consecutively

as they appear in thetext

Identified by a number inthe text

Librarian friendly. Author

just a number in the textand list of references

Ease in indexing


54/62

Follow Instructions/ Guidelines: Format, Number

Cite the most valid, most important and most recentliterature

Cite studies that have been rigorous and provide highquality evidence

Prefer citing references that give facts, not opinions

Check original paper

Avoid: Non-peer reviewed articles and personalcommunications


55/62

Style: Choice does not rest with you

Accuracy of references: Your responsibility

Inaccurate references: Reviewers tend to bemore critical


56/62

Patel K, Kedia M, Gogtay NJ, Mehta SS,

Kshirsagar NA. Evaluation and economicburden of adverse events presenting to theEmergency medical services in a tertiaryreferral centre. Drug Safety 2005; 34: 15-19


57/62


58/62

Give it sufficient time

Put it away

Give it to your enemy/ real friend for review

Revise, revise and re-revise


59/62


60/62

The notion that a scientific paper should bewritten in a special language is nonsense. Itshould be written in good, plain English.

People dont ambulate and take oral fluids,they walk and drink.

John Ellard


61/62

If the science is bad, no amount of writing skillswill make it publishable.

If the science is good, editors will help youdress it up.

Rajendra Kale, Editor- Editorials, BMJJPGM Goldcon, September 2004


62/62

scientific writing_moving academy niirh

Documents