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Preliminary Steps in Writing a Scientific Manuscript
Identifying Responsibilities Whether you write your article alone or with others, there is a long list of tasks to complete. Ideally, these tasks are shared among co-authors, but most will fall to the first author and corresponding author. (In some cases, the corresponding author is also the first author.) To ensure that nothing is overlooked, the first author and corresponding author should agree on the division of responsibilities at the beginning of the project. Then all co-authors should be kept informed and involved throughout. A planning meeting can help you make sure that you and your co-authors agree on the most important aspects of the paper and the responsibilities before you begin to write. It can save you a lot of trouble later on. Here are the major tasks involved in writing and publishing a scientific article: Meet with co-authors to determine roles, publishing strategy, and deadlines. Collect the material you already have. (See list on page 2-26.) Organize your lab notes, note cards, and other materials. List the experiments (or results) that will be discussed in the paper. List the names of the materials used and their suppliers. Check the journal’s author instructions to make sure your paper meets all the criteria. Write out the hypothesis or purpose statement and conclusion of your study. Plan the structure (outline) of the manuscript. Create the figures and write the legends. Create the tables. Write the title page and acknowledgments section. Write the manuscript. The parts of a manuscript can be written in any order. Write the Introduction section. Write the Materials and Methods section. Write the Results section. Work with a statistician to ensure that the statistics in your paper are accurate. Write the Discussion section. Write the Abstract and make sure it is in the format required by the journal.
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