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HEALTH RESEARCH ORAL ANDWRITTEN COMMUNICATION

TECHNIQUES

Alemayehu Bayray

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Scientific Paper Writing /Written Communication

Whether writing a report, scientific literature review, or preparing a manuscript for publication in a major scientific journal, the quality of the final product is a reflection of the amount of work put into its preparation.

In addition to our scientific background and creative abilities, a basic knowledge of the mechanics of scientific paper writing is essential.

An overall rule of thumb is to remember the "3 C's": Conciseness, Completeness and Clarity.

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What is a Scientific Paper?

A scientific paper is a written and published report describing original research results.

The authors’ purpose is to inform an audience or others [scientists] about an important issue and to document the particular approach they used to investigate that issue.

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Cont’d Scientific papers should be reviewed by scientific

peers and published in a primary journal. In other words, a scientific publication is:

1. the first publication of original research results

2. in a form whereby others can repeat the experiments and test the conclusions

3. in a peer reviewed publication (a journal or other source document) which is readily available within the scientific community.

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Sections of a scientific paper Traditionally, the basic structure of a paper is summarized by

the acronym IMRAD, which stands for:

Introduction (What question was asked?)Statement of the problemLiterature reviewobjectives

Methods (How was it studied?)

Results (What was found?)

And

Discussion (What do the findings mean?)

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The Introduction

The purpose of an introduction is to explain why the study was undertaken.

Introductions should be short and arresting and clearly tell the reader why you have undertaken the study.

Before beginning to write an introduction, you need to answer the following questions:

What do I have to say? Is it worth saying? What is the right format for the message? What is the audience for the message? What is the right journal for the message?

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The Methods

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Cont’d Important tips in writing this section

Clearly present and define analysis variables

Organize into logical subsections that illustrate the steps you took to collect, organize and analyze the data

Describe what you did, not what you found

Respect chronology

Describe original methods in detail; otherwise give references

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The Results The purpose of this section is to describe the results of

data analysis that are relevant to the study purpose.

It provides answers to the questions posed in the introduction section.

First, describe the subjects or participants of your study in enough detail for readers to assess how normal or abnormal they were. Then, present the findings.

Start with some text logically from the beginning to the end. Use the tables to present the meat of the results and establish the statistical validity of your conclusions.

Illustrations should be used for emphasis of important points.

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Statistics Highlight key relationships between

dependent and independent variables.

Present in logical sequence. Start with describing the background data,

and then continue with results of your bivariate analysis followed by multivariate analysis.

Maintain consistency with all the numbers in the tables and illustrations.

Remember, less is often better and a picture is worth a thousand words.

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Tables Design them in such a way that they help

rapid assimilation of key points.

The key is to make each table deal with specific problem.

Use the first to describe the general characteristics of your subjects/participants.

Use the remaining ones to give details of your results.

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Illustrations Good illustrations will get your message

across clearly.

The mind takes in pictorial information much more quickly than written text, and a bunch of numbers.

Bar graph, Histogram, line graph etc.

Good illustrations will display the data and lead the reader to think about the substance of the answers you provide.

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The Discussion The purpose of the discussion section is

to interpret the results and justify the interpretations.

Begin by stating the main conclusions of the study, in a sentence or two without repeating the data (which should be confined to the results section).

In comparing your findings with previous work, be selective and use studies similar to that of yours.

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Acknowledgements It is important to acknowledge the source of

research funding.

Failure to do so may constitute a violation of the conditions under which an award has been given.

Also, acknowledge those whose work enabled the study to proceed.

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Titles

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The Abstract In many literatures it is written as a summery. What should an abstract contain?

It should consist of four basic parts, which can vary individually in length. The parts should be able to describe:

Why what was done was done (i.e. why the study was done)

What was done What was found What was concluded

Thus, although it present in the beginning of the research, it should written (prepared) at the end of the study.

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Format for the reference list

The easiest way of ensuring that you have the right format for this part is to look at the journal’s “instructions to authors”. The usual convention is as follow.

Journal article – Surname and initials of all authors (not et al, however many authors), full title of paper, full title of journal, year of publication, volume number, first and last pages of the article.

Book or monograph – Surname and initial of author(s), full title of the book (usually underlined), number of edition, town of publication, publisher, year of publication.

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Cont’d Chapter in a multi-author book – Chapter

author, initials, chapter title, book authors (or editors) and initials, book title, town of publication, publisher, year of publication, first and last pages.

Proceedings and conferences – Only include this if it was published in a recognized journal or book. Use the format for journals or books above.

Internet sources – Author, initials, title, date retrieved, retrieved from, full website address.

Ethiopian names – Write Ethiopian names in full.

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Plagiarism:

What is plagiarism? Many authors plagiarize, knowingly or without

knowing that they are doing something unethical.

Plagiarism is using others’ work - ideas and words – without clearly acknowledging the source of that information.

"Work" includes original ideas, strategies, research, art, graphics, computer programs, music, and other creative expression.

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Cont’d It may consist of writing, charts, pictures,

graphs, diagrams, data, websites, or other communication or recording media, and may include sentences, phrases, and terminologies.

The term "source" includes published works (books, magazines, newspapers, websites, plays, movies, photos, paintings, and textbooks) and unpublished sources (class lectures or notes, handouts, speeches, papers or research material).

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Cont’d Why concern about plagiarism?

It is cheating. You will lose the opportunity to learn to write out your thoughts in your own words.

You are being dishonest because you are misrepresenting the work of another as your own.

You are devaluing others’ original work.

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How can you avoid plagiarism? To avoid plagiarism, you must give credit

whenever you use: another person’s idea, opinion, or theory;

any facts, statistics, graphs, drawings - any pieces of information - that are not common knowledge;

quotations of another person’s actual spoken or written words; or

paraphrase of another person’s spoken or written words.

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Tips on how to identify journals to submit your papers

Select two or three journals that reach your target audience

Ask senior colleagues for their suggestions

Read journals instructions for authors

Assess if your study or key message is relevant to the journal’s overall purpose

Decide on your target journal

Always have a plan B: decide on an alternative journal in case your manuscript is not accepted by the first one.(It is totally unethical to send a single paper to two d/t journals at the same time. In other word, a single original research paper is allayed to be published only once in only one journal.)

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Common reasons why manuscripts are rejected:

The topic is not of direct public health relevance The subject is of local interest only or is not

generalizable The study has a low response rate or a high loss

to follow up The study offers chiefly baseline data or

preliminary findings The study design or method is flawed The paper is a literature review The abstract is not well written Attention is not given to the journal requirements

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Oral Communication/Presentation Techniques:

Effective oral communication is an important – but often overlooked and under practiced – skill in scientific and academic endeavors.

There are very few people having a natural talent for delivering outstanding presentations.

On the other hand, foresight, hard work, and practice can carry most of the rest of us into the ‘very good’ level of presentation skills.

The purpose of this presentation is to provide basic strategies for presenting technical and scientific information in an oral presentation.

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Analyzing the audience:

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Organizing the presentation:

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THANK YOU