Unit 1: Deal with scientific papers (articles)

Lecture 3: Writing a research paper

By: PhD F. A. Mansour October 31st, 2022

A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation,

and argument based on in-depth independent research. Writing and publishing good
research papers is essential for many reasons: Advancing researchers’ academic careers,
and disseminating research findings and advancing the state of empirical knowledge.

A paper is the outcome of three different processes: research, writing, and publication.

1 The research process

As shown in Figure 1, the research process is divided into three phases:

Phase 1. — Choosing and defining: topic, research problem, objectives, hypotheses

and methods. Much theoretical or conceptual search, brainstorming, and adaptation may
be necessary during this phase based on a literature review. Regardless, you should not
go on to the next phase before making the right decisions regarding the aforementioned
fundamentals of your research.

Phase 2. — Assessing and analysing data. It deals with data collection, processing,
analysis and interpretation. Hypotheses are tested, and conclusions are drawn.

Phase 3. — Communicating your research and findings to the research community.

There are several ways of doing this, including writing a report, making a presentation
in a conference, or writing a research paper.

Figure 1 The research process

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Unit 1: Deal with scientific papers (articles)
Lecture 3: Writing a research paper
By: PhD F. A. Mansour October 31st, 2022

2 The writing process

The writing process as a logical consequence of the research process. During the
research process, you produce drafts of your research methodology and findings that
you now need to transform into a well-written and appropriately structured paper.
Figure 2 shows a chart of this process.

Figure 2 The writing process

Follow the journal’s guidelines. — Decide which is your target journal, and then
read carefully the ‘journal guidelines’ or ‘authors’ guidelines’ provided by that journal.
By following guidelines appropriate to your type of study, you are likely to improve
your paper and thus increase your chances of being published. Besides following the
guidelines closely, reading some papers in your target journal also gives you an idea of
the structure, norms and general organisation of papers approved for that journal.
Another advantage is to identify the research interests of editors and the research areas
of recently approved papers.

Use an adequate paper structure. — It is commonly accepted that research papers

should have a sections of: title, abstract, keywords. The body is divided into sections,
including introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion, and conclusions.
Finally come the parts corresponding to Acknowledgments, and references. Table 1
discus the sections of Abstract, and those sections belonging to the body of the paper.
The remaining sections are discussed as follows:

• Title: It should be informative, short, simple and specific to the study. Titles (and
subtitles) should address the content of the paper and be easy to understand and
attractive to the paper’s audience. It is important that titles contain some strong
keywords dealing with the content of the papers, to ensure that the titles are detected
by fellow researchers searching literature databases.

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Unit 1: Deal with scientific papers (articles)
Lecture 3: Writing a research paper
By: PhD F. A. Mansour October 31st, 2022

Table 1 The most common parts of a research paper

Section Purpose Verb tense Elements
Abstract Mini version of Past-simple — • Principal objectives
[keywords] the paper refers to work • Methods used
done • Principal results
• Main conclusion
Introduction Provides rationale Present — • Nature and scope of the
[Literature for the study refers to problem
Review] established • Review of relevant
knowledge in literature
the literature • Hypothesis
• Approach (and justification
for this approach)
• Principal results
• Main conclusions
Materials and Describes what Past-simple — • Description of materials
Methods was done — refers to work • Description of procedure in
• Sampling experiment, done logical order
• Data collection model, or field • Sufficient detail so that
• Measurements study procedure can be
reproduced
Results Presents the data, Past-simple — • Your results
• Analysis the facts — what refers to what • Your observations during
you found, was found, experiments/fieldwork
calculated, observed • Your observations about
discovered, results (e.g.,
observed compare/contrast between
experiments)
• Results of calculations
using the data, such as rates
or error
Discussion • Shows the Present — • Trends, relationships,
• Evaluation relationships emphasis on generalisations shown by
among the facts established the results
• Puts results in knowledge, • Any exceptions, outlying
context of present results data (and why)
previous • How your results
research agree/disagree with
previous studies, and why
Conclusion Summarizes your Present — • Should relate back to the
principal findings emphasis on introduction, the hypothesis
what should • Summary of evidence
now be supporting each conclusion
accepted as • The significance of your
established results or any practical
knowledge applications

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Unit 1: Deal with scientific papers (articles)
Lecture 3: Writing a research paper
By: PhD F. A. Mansour October 31st, 2022

• Affiliation: The affiliation of all authors (corresponding author and co-authors).

Journals have different requirements regarding the affiliation, but authors’ names,
universities and faculties or schools, countries and e-mails are common. Optional
affiliations involving authors’ telephone number, fax, and ORCIDs.
• References: You need to structure the list of references according to your target
journal’s guidelines. There are different styles for organising and presenting
references. The most common in social sciences is the APA style. The most common
one in technical fields is the IEEE style.
• Acknowledgments: Remember to thank the funding agency and
colleagues/scientists/technicians who might have provided assistance.

3 The submission process

Having a good research paper that complies with your target journal’s guidelines is only
the first step of the submission process, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 The submission process

Most journals require a confirmation that: your paper is original and that it has0 not
been submitted to other journals at the same time. After submission, the editors make a
first evaluation of if the paper fits in the scope of the journal and complies with journal
rules. If this is not the case or if the editors find any other obvious reason to refuse
publication, the paper is immediately rejected. Otherwise, the editors send the paper to
two reviewers who are experts in the paper’s topic. Each reviewer evaluates the paper
according to different parameters and sends a report back to the editors. The parameters
evaluated by the reviewers include importance of the topic, originality of the research,
objectives, structure, academic writing, and contributions to the field. If the editors
decide to reject the paper, it cannot be submitted later to the same journal. If the
decision is ‘revise and resubmit’, you can revise the paper according to the suggestions
of the reviewers and resubmit it to the same journal.