This presentation is a show of

flashes to put forth the main concepts

and ideas about the way to prepare a
paper. There are numerous books, articles
and manuals that specify particular rules
for style and grammar, therefore these
aspects will not mention here. The aim is
to make the students to think, to awaken
their curiosity and to create their own
criteria to judge and criticize their own
work, and finally to express it.
This work is addressed to graduate or
postgraduate students not to editors or
any other specialist joined to the
publishing world, and emphasizes the
importance of the scientific research
communication.
 It is focused on:

The importance of science communication and

research transfer to the scientific community

How to organize the material (results, tables,

figures, references...) to constitute a map of
information, and how to move the pieces into a
comprehensive whole.
 and on .....
The main guidelines to structure a manuscript
and preparing a draft. The characteristics of any
part in a paper.
The revision of the first draft.
The submission of the original work and a brief
description of the manuscripts handling in the
editorial office.
Why is important • The construction of
the science is based
your scientific on the communication
contribution? of the research
results.
Previous works are the
basis for yours, when you
Literature Research
enter in the loop (intake,
production, output and
feedback) you become a Production
consumer and a producer
and so on till the end of
your research career. Within the circle it is relevant to
communicate your results as brief and clear as possible.
 How does the process begin?

Question Preliminary research

yes answer no
New research

conclusions
Project design

results Lab work

manuscript Dissemination & retrieval

Be aware of the contribution of
your research to the
Scientific Community and
try to share it with your
colleagues
How?
Communicating your
results (written, oral,
others)
 When you consider you
have finished an
homogeneous part, be
sure before closing the
assays.

Arrange and organize

your notes, references or
any other material,
display and classify it.
How to start
to write a
manuscript?
Organize your
information
Structure your information in
separate blocks
Notes, comentaries,
references, objetives
Samples, individuals,
sampling, analytical and
statistical methods, ...
Answers to the objetives support-
ed by numerical, graphical or any
other forms
Analysis of the results, comparison
with other authors
Try to integrate your
puzzle of information

And structure it
Structure of a scientific paper

Title Results
Authors’ names and Discussion
affiliation Conclusions
Abstract, keywords Acknowledgements
Introduction References
Material and methods Annexes
 TITLE
The title should inform accurately about the
content of the manuscript without ambiguities.
Why is important the title?
Most of information retrieval services,
browsers or data bases use titles to
elaborate their indexes, so the more
accurate and concise the better to its
specific dissemination and retrieval.
Basic characteristics of a
title
Informative
Brief
Specific
Accurate
Concise
Unambiguous
Authors’ names and
affiliations
Use always the same name (signature) to avoid
any confussion within the scientific community.
A “reliable name” is advisable. Identify the
author for correspondence (with *).
Give the complete name and address of the
institutions or centers the authors belong to.
Currently e-mails are also given.
 Abstract
The abstract, summary or synopsis is, like the
title, one element within the manuscript of
relevant importance. The retrieval of the paper
and its reading depend greatly on it. Therefore it
should provide the concise information to
indicate whether the paper fulfils our
expectations.The main feature of an abstract is its
size. In very few words (200-300) the abstract
should inform about the main aspects of the
manuscripts and respond to why, what, how and
the results and their interpretation.
Keywords
Keywords have not to be “empty
words” or express generalities. Their
source could come from:
Descriptors from a thesaurus
Free text
Characteristics of an abstract

Abstract
Content Format
Brief Informative Structured Single paragraph
Concise Condensed

Short sentences, but not telegraphed

No references, tables or figures
No acronyms, abbreviations..
No excessive details
Introduction
Brief
Focused
With the most relevant references
Without repetitions of known
stablished assumptions
Aims and objetives
 Material and methods

Samples, sampling
Individuals
Material (origin if neccesary)
Methods (references and brief description)
Statistical methods (packages, software..)
Equations. Internationally nomenclature accepted
 Results

Answers to the objectives

Expose the experiences logically sequenced
Omit superfluous results
Do not remove those that invalidate the initial
hypothesis
Do not repeat any information in tables or figures,
and in the text
Discussion
What do the results mean?
Are my results compared with other
previous works?
Do not repeat results
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Names, institutions, projects,
grants, etc...
 Citation

S. Harvard S. Vancouver
(Name and year) (numerical sequence)

......These results ......These

agreed with previous results agreed
works (Smith, 1996; with previous
Brown et al., 1998).... works 1,2......
Bibliographic elements:
Journal article: Authors. Year. Article Title, Journal,
Vol. (issue).pp-pp.
Book: Author(s). Year. Title. Edition. City of
publication. Publisher. pp.-pp.
Chapter of book: Author’s chapter. Year. Chapter title.
Editor. Book title. Edition. City of publication.
Publisher. Pp.pp.
Patent: Author. Year. Patent title. Number of the
patent.
Congress comunication: Author. Year. Title of the
communication. Title of the congress. City. Date
Verb tenses
Active voice
Present Directives, conclussions,
generalities, stable
conditions
Past Procedures, results,
finished statements
Pasive voice
Do not flaw the text with redundant passive voice,
avoid it when neccesary and apply when the subject is
unknown and the object relevant
Tables
(Express in a tabular way concise results)

Simple, avoid grids and backgrounds, use only

the concise lines to separate the content from
the headings.
Do not forget the units of the headings.
Do no repeat any information in tables and
figures or within the text.
The table should contain at least 2 x2,
rows x columns.
Use only the essential footnotes
Figures
Figure = figure caption+ axes+units+ content

Figures are preferably to show tendencies

more than particular (discrete) data.
Avoid grids, lines, frames, and legends
inside the drawing.
Avoid figures with only a line.
Use common symbols, clear and neat
within the traces.
 Have you chosen the
journal?
Have you the
instructions to authors?

Let’s write the first

draft
 AVOID

Long Obscure

Jargonized

MANUSCRIPTS
Redundant Ambiguous
 Manuscripts

The simpler The shorter

The clearer

The
Better The
The more more arresting
concise
Does your paper answer
these questions?
Why? introduction
How?
material + methods
What did you find?
results
What does it mean?
discussion
 Check the accuracy of the
data in tables and figures

Are all tables and figures

neccesary?
Could you join figures or
tables?
Do you repeat any information?
 Re-read first draft

Revise the style

2nd draft
Review the content,
data, references
Final manuscript
 Submission and
Editorial processing
Journal

Peer review

Reviewer 1 Reviewer 2 Ed. Board In house

Expert committee

Review Editorial office

decision

Author

Acceptance Modifications, Rejection

(< 5%) Changes
............

2nd version

in house review

further correction Acceptance Rejection