Writing a R eview paper

Chandima Gomes
Unive rsiti Put ra Malaysia

Where to start?
Decide a research topic on your expertise
Example
Title: IR Imaging of Plant Diseases
Go to Google Advance Search and Type
IR imaging
plant disease
Set File Type to Adobe Acrobat PDF (.pdf)
Search and select a paper (Let me call it Paper X)
Google

First pay attention to the

Introduction and Conclusions
As per the Introduction prepare a list of other references
S9

Note the contribution of each paper you list out (as

stated by the author of paper X) S10
Initially it will be very handy to arrange the work in a
chronological order.
While going through the paper make an estimation
whether your title is wide or narrow enough to write a
review paper with reasonable size S11
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More Papers
Now, search for each paper listed in the reference of
Paper X (now better search for any format rather than
ONLY PDF)
For each paper you dig out information and list of
reference as it was done with Paper X
If you have scaled down your paper title to a reasonable
scope, after referring about 20 papers you will find that
there are not much new papers in the references
4

Now you are ready for the real work

Go to the first paper in the chronological order
Read the paper carefully and extract the major information.
This time pay special attention on the section
Discussion
Tabulate the important aspects of each paper. (The Abstract
and Conclusion will help you to tabulate the summary)

Paper

New Theories

New Methods & New Equations

Techniques

Any other
contribution

R. Laudien et. al
(2006)

Now will Write the Paper

First decide what Journal you are aiming to send the paper
*

By now you have a good idea of the relevant Journals as

you have gone through many papers

Go to the Journal site and check the Guidance for

Authors.
Eg: Journal of Plant Physiology

Pay attention to the scope, structure, and referencing

In most cases of journals the order is

Title : S12
Authors and Affiliation S12
Key words (optional) S12
Abstract: 150-250 words S13
Introduction: S14
Methodology, Experimental set up, Results, Observations
Discussion: S15
Conclusions: S17
Acknowledgement: S18
References:
Diagrams, Figures and Tables
8

 Apan, A., Held, A. Phinn, S. and Markley, J., 2003: Formulation and Assessment of
Narrow-Band Vegetation Indices from EO-1Hyperion Imagery for Discriminating
Sugarcane Disease, Proceedings of the Spatial Sciences Conference, Sep. 22nd-27th,
2003, Canberra, p. 1-13.
Bttner, G., Ithurrat, M. E. F., Buddemeyer, J., 2002: Spte Rbenfule Rhizoctonia
solani Verbreitung, wirtschaftliche Bedeutung und integrierte
Bekmpfungskonzepte. Zuckerindustrie, 127, p. 856-866.
Clevers, J. P. G. W. and Jongschaap, R., 2001: Imaging spectrometry for Agricultural
Applications, in: Imaging Spectrometry: Basic Principles and Prospective
Applications, F. D. van der Meer and S. M. de Jong (Eds.), Kluwer Academic
Publishers, Dordrecht, p. 157-199.
Dockter, K., Khbauch, W., Boochs, F., von Rsten, C., Tempelmann, U. and Kupfer,
G., 1988: Die spektrale Reflexion von Zuckerrbenbestnden im sichtbaren und
infraroten Wellenlngenbreich whrend des Wachstums, Mitteilungen der
Gesellschaft fr Pflanzenbauwissenschaften, 1, 55-57.
S3
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Contribution
Laudien et al. 2005a, b & c:
Developped GIS based Management Information
System for Sugar Beet Companies (SuMIS), which
includes geographical, attribute and remote sensing
data.

Rieckmann and Steck, 1995

Found that Rhizoctonia solani var. betae, a fungal
disease, rots the beet roots and also causes a
weathering of the foliage
S3

10

Scope of the title!!!

IR Imaging
IR Imaging of Plant Diseases
IR Imaging of Plant Diseases in Beet Cultivation

S4

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MULTITEMPORA L HY PERSPECTRA L DA TA ANA LY S IS FOR S UGA R BEET

DISE AS E

R. Laudien a, *, G. Bareth b, R. Doluschitz a

a
Dept. of Farm Management (410C), University of Hohenheim, 70593
Stuttgart, Germany
Laudien.agrarinf@uni-hohenheim.de
b
Dept. of Geography (GIS & RS), University of Cologne, 50923 Kln, Germany
g.bareth@uni-koeln.de

K EY WORDS : Sugar Beet, Hyperspectral Remote Sensing, GIS, Vegetation

I ndices, OSAVI, Multitemporal Classification

S8

12

ABSTR ACT :
Every year sugar beet diseases cause lower sugar beet yields and qualities compared to the
average. For that reason, high resolution field and airborne hyperspectral data is used to
recognize a fungal sugar beet disease in a study area of south Germany. For the airborne
part of the study, multitemporal hyperspectral remote sensing data is provided by an
airborne Spectroradiometer (AVIS), which is operated by the Ground Truth Center
Oberbayern (gtco, Germany). Additionally, tractor based multitemporal hyperspectral
reflection data provided by the GVIS specrometer is used to validate the AVIS data and to
compare to two classification results. To indicate the difference between healthy and
unhealthy plants a supervised knowledge-based classification approach is used. To detect
the sugar beet disease Rhizoctonia solani, the reflection results can be elaborated with
hyperspectral vegetation indices. Therefore, the two multitemporal datasets are analysed by
calculating the OSAVI, which is one of these vegetation indices. Finally, the resulting images
are classified into several vitality classes.
This paper presents the evaluation of the generated multitemporal classification and
discusses the possibility of detecting and regionalizing sugar beet diseases with
hyperspectral systems and methods.

186 Words
S8

13

1. INTR ODUCTION
For the majority of the European citizens, the availability of daily food with high quality
standards is common. Among other things, this matter of fact attributes to the demands of the
legislator and the market, who claim quality control and (geo-) traceability of all processes
within the food supply chain. With respect to this background, .

In a Review paper avoid including references in the introduction

Instead explain why the study is important for the scientific world and
what exactly being covered in the paper
Its OK to have a short introduction
S8
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Discussion
This is the main body of the paper
You may sub-classify
Discussionin a preferred order
By subjects (plants, machines, buildings, materials etc.)
By methods (sensing techniques, measuring systems, types
of algorithms, detection techniques etc.)
By sequence of development
* Better not by chronological order (although some do that)
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Discussion
This is where you make your contribution
Discuss
* What development made by X over Y ?
* Why P
s method is better than Q
s?
* What else could R have done ?
* Can we find a better method by combining T
s and U
s
work?
* Is there a consequential development of the subject (or
have we gone backwards) ?
* What can we predict in the Future? S8
16

Conclusions
Summarize the discussion highlighting important land
marks and state again what you predict with regard to
the development of the subject in the future.

S8

17

A CK NOWLEDGEMENTS
This study as well as the development of SuMI S were enabled by a
cooperation between the sugar company Sdzucker AG and the University
of Hohenheim (Stuttgart), Germany and founded by the
Kuratorium fr
Versuchswesen und Beratung im Zuckerrbenbau
, Germany.

Acknowledge,
* Institution/s where the research is carried out
* The research grant (Grant number and name of the funding agency)
* Any institution or individual that extensively supported the research
Do not acknowledge
* People who helped in proof reading, gave verbal encouragement or gave
marginal support (carrying equipment, word processing, transportation etc.)
* Friends and loved once (unless they specifically contributed to the research)
* Co-authors
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References
Make sure that you stick to the guidelines of the
journal
Numbers in parenthesis: [ 12],
Numbers in superscript: 12
Alphabetical Order : Kroner and Vauniget (2002)
Also pay attention to the Journal abbreviation
Eg. Journal of Geophysical Research (J Geophys. Res.)
19

Writing a Research paper

Basic Difference

Writing materials are already with you

You know the end at the beginning
Materials will lead to references

21

Select the journal first

If you are writing your first few papers go for
fringe journals rather than core journals
Don
t be scared of the impact factor..!!!

22

Tips for few journals

Electric Power System Research
IEEE Electron Device Letters
IEEE Electrical Insulation magazine
IEEE Transaction on Dielectric and
Electrical Insulation
Journal of Electrostatics
IEEE Power and Energy Magazine

IF: 1.478
IF: 2.849
IF: 1.333
IF: 1.094
IF: 1.290
IF: 2.408
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 IEEE Transactions on Power delivery

1.353
IEEE Transactions on Power Systems
2.678
IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
International Journal of Electrical Power
& Energy Systems
Progress in Electromagnetic Research
PRZ ELEK TROTECHNICZN
0.244
Safety Science

IF:
IF:
IF: 4.650
IF: 2.227
IF: 5.298
IF:
IF: 1.578
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TITLE
Now you have more freedom to select the title

The title should be e ye catching

L et the Title be able

to
market your paper

First to the journal editor

Then to the readership

26

Abstract
Abstract should be an abstractnot a long story
A typical case is
From introduction: 2 sentences
From methodology: 2 sentences
Results: 3 sentences
Discussion: 3 sentences
Conclusions: 2 sentences
Altogether 12 sentences

Abstract
Try to avoid
References
Abbreviations
Too general terms

Introduction
General discussion on background

Exact problem to be addressed

Introduction
Basically introduction has two sections
- Background
- Problem statement

30

I ntroduction
Background
This is simply the literature survey that
explains the backdrop of your paper.
Describe various work done by previous
researchers, critically analyzing their pros and
cons
31

I ntroduction
Problem statement
At the end of background, explain in point form what are
exactly the present drawbacks that lead to this study.
You better not give references in the problem
statement.
At the end of the problem statement give one sentence
indicating what you do in this paper (maximum two
sentences)
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Methodology
Give clearly and concisely the particulars of experimental
set up, experimental procedures, special precautions, any
software or statistical techniques used.
In some research calibration of equipment is critically
needed.
In many outdoor research it may be important to mention
the geographic location and date of research.
Schematic diagrams and photographs
33

R esults
If the experiment is heavily based on
experimental data then it is advisable to
separate Results and Discussions into two
parts
If the major part of the paper is model
predictions and comparing the data with
previous work then combine the two to have
one section termed
Results and Discussion
34

R esults
Pay extra attention on presenting your results
Reasonable number of significant figures
Presenting uncertainties of measurements
Tables, figures and diagrams

35

Conclusion should be conclusive

Don
t state
It may be good or bad
, It may be
suitable or unsuitableetc.
Don
t say you expect something to be
Don
t make unrealistic conclusions

Referencing..be careful
Don
t list references for the sake of showing that
you have referred them
Make sure that you have each an every paper you
list in the reference and
R ead at list the abstract and conclusions..
Otherwise you are in real

Danger!!!!

Copyrights
Be careful in adopting quotations, graphs,
photographs, diagrams etc. from other
papers.
Get the proper permission
Copyright is not
right to copy

38

Writing
Be specific regarding time frames. Example:
Bad:

In recent years, there is an increment in the

number of reports on child maltreatment.
Good:

Child maltreatment incident reports increased by

50% between 1988 and 1993, totaling more than 2.9
million reports in 1993 (McCurdy & Daro, 1994).
Identify landmark or very important studies as such.

Writing

Cite studies with inconsistent or contradictory results

immediately after the information, rather than at the
end of the sentence. Example:
Previous studies have found that 30% of glass insulators
undergo visible degradation within first 10 years (Mills and
McCarty, 1983; Rabow and Watts, 1986) and 55% of rubber
insulators within first 7 years (Hernandez et al., 1995) , hence
Hussain 2001proposed composites as the best alternative

Writing Style Tips

Use appropriate
voice
for writing in natural sciences.
Refer to similar research articles for samples of
writing style.
Avoid using
I
.
WE is the best word if you happen to use active voice

Writing Style Tips

Avoid overusing direct quotations, especially long ones.
Quote accurately.
Avoid indirect sentence constructions such as
In
Smith
s study, it was found.
.
Instead, say,
Smith found that
Avoid using synonyms for recurring important words.
Spell out all acronyms when they are first used.

Avoid overuse of
the
The countries that use the nuclear
technologies for their energy generation are
the safest in the situations where the
unforeseen energy crisis may badly effect the
economy.

Check your English: Common mistakes

On the other hand or In the other hand
Despite ofor despite
Where to use
few
,
a few
,
little
,
a little
..
Improve your vocabulary
Best way is to study the list of words given in
TOEFL or SAT

Don
t use vague words
Big, small, large, huge, tiny, massive, long,
short, good, bad, nice, dirty.
These words have almost no place in scientific
writing.
Instead say 20 m, 1.5 l, A is greater than B,
x fits better into the equation than y etc.

END

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