Writing the main body of the article

The structures of the main of articles can differ from each other.

Look through some scientific articles in your area of interest. What are the main sections of them?

The Method Section

Sometimes in scientific papers you will find headings such as Materials and Methods or Methodology, which lists specimens used in the study and what methods or procedures were applied to them. This allows other scientists to replicate the study, and hopefully to get the same results, or judge the scientific merit of your work. It is not to be a step by step description of everything you did, nor is a methods section a set of instructions.

Example 1

Methodology. The strategic and integrated matching of available heating/cooling resources in the processes, with heat rejection to/from the HP systems is able to significantly enhance thermal efficiency and cost-effectiveness for the whole process when a HP is applied as a means of producing high-grade heat from low-grade or waste heat. A major challenge in the design of HP systems comes from the complexity of energy integration. The design of HP system is highly interactive and interlinked to the processes. In industrial applications the process often consists of several streams to be cooled or heated to the required levels of temperature. This heating and cooling demand from individual streams could be merged and represented by Grand composite curves (GCC) [11–13]. They show the collective characteristics of heating and cooling information of the whole system. Information obtained from the GCC is then used for synthesis of utility systems [14–16].

(Source: Martin Pavlas, Petr Stehlík, Jaroslav Oral, Jirí Klemešc, Jin-Kuk Kim, Barry Firth. Heat integrated heat pumping for biomass gasification processing. Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 30–35).

Example 2

Methodology: This study describes the effectiveness of PCIT with 136 biological parent-child dyads in which 66.9% (N= 91) of the children had been maltreated. Of the 91 maltreated children, 64.8% (N= 59) of the parents had maltreated their children, and were thus considered to be at high risk of repeating the abuse.

(Source: Susan G. Timmer, Anthony J. Urquiza, Nancy M. Zebell, Jean M. McGrath. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: Application to maltreating parent-child dyads. Child Abuse & Neglect 29 (2005) 825–842)

Example 3

In this study, data was used from 350 patients (175 in each arm) treated using the Glucontrol protocol at CHU de Liege, Belgium, between March 2004 and April 2005. Thus, the Glucontrol data used in this study is from only one centre out of the full study [26]. The selection criteria for patients used in this analysis to generate virtual patients with sufficient data density [15,16,27] are shown in Figure 1. Patients were eliminated from the analysis if they received no insulin for their entire stay (per protocol), had less than 5 BG measurements or received little or no (recorded) carbohydrate administration (in any form) for more than 48 hours of their stay.

(Source: Chase J.G. et al. Validation of a model-based virtual trials method for tight glycemic control in intensive care. BioMedical Engineering OnLine 2010, 9:84, http://www.biomedical-engineering-online.com)

The Results Section

In this section you should present evidence that your study successfully set up the conditions for testing your hypotheses or answering your questions. The page length of this section is set by the amount and types of data to be reported. Continue to be concise, using figures and tables, if appropriate, to present results most effectively. Do not draw conclusions in the Results section, reserve data interpretation for the Discussion section.

Example 1

Table 1 shows the results of the analyses for determining predictors of early termination from treatment. Coefficients presented in Table 1 are odds ratios. They reflect the degree to which the odds of an event occurring (i.e., dropping out of treatment) are increased by each unit increase in the predictor variable. For example, in Model 1, when only demographic variables are entered into the model, African American children were twice as likely as Caucasian children to end treatment early. When measures of psychological functioning were added in Model 2, higher levels of psychological symptoms in parents and not completing the measure of parents’ psychological functioning (SCL-90R) predicted early treatment termination. Children’s severity of behavior problems did not significantly predict attrition. However, when interaction terms between children’s maltreatment history and measures of psychological functioning were added in Model 3, we found that the likelihood that children with severe behavior problems would stay in treatment varied by the their history of maltreatment.

(Source: Susan G. Timmer, Anthony J. Urquiza, Nancy M. Zebell, Jean M. McGrath. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: Application to maltreating parent-child dyads. Child Abuse & Neglect 29 (2005) 825–842)

Example 2

The majority of the Delphi survey respondents were from 26 different universities (63%), automotive, textile, consultant, gas distributor, electricity generation industries (13%), six different governmental organizations (12%) research institutions (5%) and other institutions (7%) (Fig. 1). The respondents were classified into 5 different age groups (Fig. 2) and the gender distribution was 76.7% male and 23.3% female.

The time of occurrence was evaluated on the data from the first and second round of the Delphi results which is presented in Fig. 3. The Delphi statements and their time of occurrence were assessed by all participants. The number of the respondents and the distribution (%) were displayed on the left side of the figure. A slight shift towards a later time of occurrence between the first and second round was observed for the majority of the statements which is a typical outcome of the Delphi technique and can be interpreted as a greater degree of consensus among the respondents.

(Source: Melih Soner Celiktas, Gunnur Kocar. Hydrogen is not an utopia for Turkey. International Journal of hydrogen energy 35 (2010) 9–18)

The Discussion Section

The Discussion section can either be combined with the Results section or appear separately. The objective of the Discussion section is to provide an interpretation of your results and support for all of your conclusions, using evidence from your experiment and generally accepted knowledge, if appropriate. The Discussion explains the meaning of the results. The significance of findings should be clearly described.

Example 1

In terms of the impact, it should be noted that the statement ‘‘Nanocomposite catalysts developed for hydrogen generation by methane reforming processes are manufactured in industrial scale’’ had a very low wealth creation score compared to the statement ‘‘Hydrogen production from biomass has been realised in industrial scale’’ which was ranked with the highest score. However, the ranking based on environmental impact and quality of life differed somewhat from the total impact ranking. While the lowest ranked is the same statement of the total impact ranked, but the top ranked was different. On the other hand, the statement ‘‘Continuous bioprocesses have been developed for hydrogen production via microorganisms and solar energy’’ was ranked as the highest for both environmental impact and quality of life. Statements 6, 9 and 10 were all ranked higher in the ranking based on all impact measures. ‘‘Hydrogen is used in energy systems as a common practice’’ received the highest ranking in terms of security of supply. On the other hand, statement 13 was ranked very low for all impact measures except security of supply and Statement 7 was relatively low in regards to security of supply compared to the total ranking list.

(Source: Melih Soner Celiktas, Gunnur Kocar. Hydrogen is not an utopia for Turkey. International Journal of hydrogen energy 35 (2010) 9–18)

Example 2

The primary goal of this study was to determine whether PCIT was an effective intervention for maltreated children and their offending or non-offending parents. The first step in testing PCIT’s effectiveness was to determine whether the therapy was engaging and rewarding enough to keep high-risk dyads in treatment. Results of our analyses predicting early treatment termination showed that among maltreated children, the more behavior problems parents reported, the less likely they were to complete treatment. These findings suggest that characteristics of children unique to their maltreatment history influence their parents’ engagement in PCIT. For example, it is possible that when parents of abused children report more extreme behavior problems, they are signaling their perception that these children did not want to be with them. Alternately, they could be communicating their own inability to work with the child. Since these high-risk parent-child dyads are judged to have an urgent need for mental health services to diminish the children’s risk of reabuse, we find these results disturbing. We hope that future work investigating the effectiveness of PCIT in high-risk populations will also develop and test different methods for keeping these clients in treatment.

(Source: Susan G. Timmer, Anthony J. Urquiza, Nancy M. Zebell, Jean M. McGrath. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy: Application to maltreating parent-child dyads. Child Abuse & Neglect 29 (2005) 825–842)

Not every article will have Materials, Methods, Results, or Discussion sections, especially if your article is descriptive. Regardless of how many sections you have, you need some sort of title so that the reader knows that they are no longer reading the Introduction.

Writing a Conclusion/Summary

The objective of the Conclusion or Summary is to wrap-up your article by either summarizing the main points (Summary) or by interpreting the significance of your article (Conclusion). The Conclusion is a good place to set your results in a bigger picture, which might help the reader understand the significance of your article.

Example 1

Conclusions

Gasification yielded enhanced production of syngas, hydrogen and energy as that obtained from pyrolysis. However the time required for gasification is more as compared to pyrolysis. As compared to paper gasification at the same conditions, food waste needed more time to complete the gasification process. Inorganic constituents in food char were found to have a catalytic effect. Char reactivity increased with degree of conversion. In the conversion range from 0.1 to 0.9 the increase in reactivity was accompanied by an increase in pre-exponential factor, suggesting an increase in gasifying agent adsorption rate to char surface. However, in the conversion range from 0.93 to 0.98 the increase in reactivity was accompanied by a decrease in activation energy. A compensation effect was observed in this range of conversion, from 0.93 to 0.98. Isokinetic temperature obtained from Arrhenius plots for X from 0.93 to 0.98 was 1001C.

(Source: I.I. Ahmed, A.K. Gupta. Pyrolysis and gasification of food waste: Syngas characteristics and char gasification kinetics. Applied Energy 87 (2010) 101–108).

Example 2

Conclusions

Play is a cherished part of childhood that offers children important developmental benefits and parents the opportunity to fully engage with their children. However, multiple forces are interacting to effectively reduce many children’s ability to reap the benefits of play. As we strive to create the optimal developmental milieu for children, it remains imperative that play is included along with academic and social enrichment opportunities and that safe environments are made available to all children. Further research is needed to explore the appropriate balance of play, academic enrichment, and organized activities for children with different temperaments and social, emotional, intellectual, and environmental needs.

(Source: Kenneth R. Ginsburg. The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. American Academy of Pediatrics Report, October 9, 2006).

Example 3

Conclusions

This paper presented the analysis and validation of an in silico virtual patient and model-based virtual trials methodology. The validation approach, as presented, is readily generalized. It takes advantage of a set of independent clinical data comprised of two clinically matched cohorts treated with two different TGC protocols with two different glycemic targets. Three main conclusions can be drawn:

• Self validation indicated a clinically insignificant error in these virtual patient methods due to model and/or clinical compliance. They also showed the impact of some non-compliance independent of model error.

• Cross validation clearly showed that the virtual patient methods and models enabled by patient-specific S_I(t) profiles are effective and the assumption that the S_I(t) profiles are independent of the clinical inputs used to generate them holds.

• Thus, the virtual patients and in silico virtual trial methods presented are validated in their ability to accurately simulate, in advance, the clinical results of an independent TGC protocol, directly enabling rapid design and optimisation of safe and effective TGC protocols with high confidence of clinical success.

Overall, this study further shows the potential and capability of model-based, data driven in silico methods to aid protocol design, as well as the potential for models to provide accurate, safe and effective real-time TGC.

(Source: Chase J.G. et al. Validation of a model-based virtual trials method for tight glycemic control in intensive care. BioMedical Engineering OnLine 2010, 9:84, http://www.biomedical-engineering-online.com)

V. Revision of the final draft

Here some general recommendations you are advised to follow while writing and revising your scientific article:

• Use normal English language including articles.
• Stay focused on the research topic of the paper.
• Use paragraphs to separate each important point (except for the abstract).
• Present your points in logical order.
• Use present tense to report well accepted facts - for example, 'the grass is green'.
• Use past tense to describe specific results - for example, 'When weed killer was applied, the grass was brown'.
• Avoid informal wording, don't use jargon or slang terms.

Use a spell checker as a final touch to your editing. They catch not only spelling errors but also typos. If a spell checker flags a word as wrong when you are sure it isn't (this happens with names and technical words), then add that word to your "personal dictionary" so the computer recognizes it next time. Keep in mind, though, that the computer won't tell you that you've mistyped form for from, principle for principal or perfect for prefect.

You can do your own style checking by making the most of the simple Search function. For instance, if you know you have overused or misused a certain word or phrase, let the Search call up each instance and then you can look at it in context. This can even work with types of words: try searching ion[space] or ment[space] to notice how many abstract words you have been using. Even looking at each use of and[space], but, or which can show up some habits of sentence structuring.

Writing an Abstract

Having made your article perfect you may write an Abstract. Remember that the title and abstract of your article permit your potential readers to get a quick overview of your study and to decide if they wish to read the article itself. Titles and abstracts are also indexed and compiled in reference works and computerized databases. For this reason they should accurately reflect the content of the article and include key words that will ensure their retrieval from a database. You should compose the title and abstract after you have completed the article and have a firm view of its structure and content. So revise the title of the article and check the key words.

The abstract briefly (in 150-350 words) conveys the essential information of your article, including its purpose, the results and conclusion.

Example1

ABSTRACT. Play is essential to development as it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth. Play also offers an ideal opportunity for parents to engage fully with their children. Despite the benefits derived from play for both children and parents, time for free play has been markedly reduced for some children. This report addresses a variety of factors that have reduced play, including a hurried lifestyle, changes in family structure, and increased attention to academics and enrichment activities at the expense of recess or free child-centered play. This report offers guidelines on how pediatricians can advocate for children by helping families, school systems, and communities consider how best to ensure play is protected as they seek the balance in children’s lives to create the optimal developmental milieu.

(Source: Kenneth R. Ginsburg. The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. American Academy of Pediatrics Report, October 9, 2006).

Example 2

Characteristics of syngas from the pyrolysis and gasification of food waste has been investigated. Characteristic differences in syngas properties and overall yields from pyrolysis and gasification were determined at two distinct high temperatures of 800 and 900C. Pyrolysis and gasification behavior were evaluated in terms of syngas flow rate, hydrogen flow rate, output power, total syngas yield, total hydrogen yield, total energy yield, and apparent thermal efficiency. Gasification was more beneficial than pyrolysis based on investigated criteria, but longer time was needed to finish the gasification process. Longer time of gasification is attributed to slow reactions between the residual char and gasifying agent. Consequently, the char gasification kinetics was investigated. Inorganic constituents of food char were found to have a catalytic effect. Char reactivity increased with increased degree of conversion. In the conversion range from 0.1 to 0.9 the increase in reactivity was accompanied by an increase in pre-exponential factor, which suggested an increase in gasifying agent adsorption rate to char surface. However, in the conversion range from 0.93 to 0.98 the increase in reactivity was accompanied by a decrease in activation energy. A compensation effect was observed in this range of conversion of 0.93–0.98.

(Source: I.I. Ahmed, A.K. Gupta. Pyrolysis and gasification of food waste: Syngas characteristics and char gasification kinetics. Applied Energy 87 (2010) 101–108).

Read the following abstract. It is more detailed than the examples presented above. Look through the articles of the third part of the textbook and define what article it corresponds to. Write the abstract to one of the articles you’ve read.

Background

In-silico virtual patients and trials offer significant advantages in cost, time and safety for designing effective tight glycemic control (TGC) protocols. However, no such method has fully validated the independence of virtual patients (or resulting clinical trial predictions) from the data used to create them. This study uses matched cohorts from a TGC clinical trial to validate virtual patients and in-silico virtual trial models and methods.

Methods

Data from a 211 patient subset of the Glucontrol trial in Liege, Belgium. Glucontrol-A (N = 142) targeted 4.4-6.1 mmol/L and Glucontrol-B (N = 69) targeted 7.8-10.0 mmol/L. Cohorts were matched by APACHE II score, initial BG, age, weight, BMI and sex (p > 0.25). Virtual patients are created by fitting a clinically validated model to clinical data, yielding time varying insulin sensitivity profiles (SI(t)) that drives in-silico patients.

Model fit and intra-patient (forward) prediction errors are used to validate individual in-silico virtual patients. Self-validation (tests A protocol on Group-A virtual patients; and B protocol on B virtual patients) and cross-validation (tests A protocol on Group-B virtual patients; and B protocol on A virtual patients) are used in comparison to clinical data to assess ability to predict clinical trial results.

Results

Model fit errors were small (<0.25%) for all patients, indicating model fitness. Median forward prediction errors were: 4.3, 2.8 and 3.5% for Group-A, Group-B and Overall (A+B), indicating individual virtual patients were accurate representations of real patients. SI and its variability were similar between cohorts indicating they were metabolically similar.

Self and cross validation results were within 1-10% of the clinical data for both Group-A and Group-B. Self-validation indicated clinically insignificant errors due to model and/or clinical compliance. Cross-validation clearly showed that virtual patients enabled by identified patient-specific SI(t) profiles can accurately predict the performance of independent and different TGC protocols.

Conclusions

This study fully validates these virtual patients and in silico virtual trial methods, and clearly shows they can accurately simulate, in advance, the clinical results of a TGC protocol, enabling rapid in silico protocol design and optimization. These outcomes provide the first rigorous validation of a virtual in-silico patient and virtual trials methodology.

Acknowledgments

This section is not an obligatory one. This is where you can thank your co-workers or sponsors for their support. You can thank those who either helped with the experiments, or made other important contributions, such as discussing the protocol, commenting on the manuscript.

Example1

Acknowledgement

This project was supported by the Research Fund of Ege University (07GEE001). We would also like to acknowledge all participants involved in the Delphi survey.

(Source: Melih Soner Celiktas, Gunnur Kocar. Hydrogen is not an utopia for Turkey. International Journal of hydrogen energy 35 (2010) 9–18)

Example 2

Acknowledgements

A support from the EC Project SHERHPA – Sustainable Heat and Energy Research for Heat Pump Applications FP6 Horizontal Research Activities Involving SMEs Collective Research Project 500229-2 H has been gratefully acknowledged.

(Source: Martin Pavlas, Petr Stehlík, Jaroslav Oral, Jirí Klemešc, Jin-Kuk Kim, Barry Firth. Heat integrated heat pumping for biomass gasification processing Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 30–35).

Example 3

Authors thank Elizabeth Allen, Carole Girard, Annie Guichard, and Sara Ladd for data collection assistance and to Sally Osberg, Tom Nielsen, Jenni Martin, Koen Liem, and Cheryl Blumenfeld at the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose.

(Source: Kevin Crowley et al. Shared Scientific Thinking in Everyday Parent - Child Activity. 2001. http://upclose.lrdc.pitt.edu/publications/pdfs/shared_science.pdf)

are usually on the top”

Main point: “being too big can be a disadvantage”

Example 4

Financial support provided by:

Aaron LE COMPTE: New Zealand Tertiary Education Commission and NZ Foundation for Research Science and Technology Post-Doctoral Fellowship Grant

Jessica LIN: NZ Foundation for Research Science and Technology Post-Doctoral Fellowship Grant

Sophie PENNING: FNRS (Fonds Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique) Research Fellow Katherine MOORHEAD: University of Liege Post-Doctoral Fellowship Grant

(Source: Chase J.G. et al. Validation of a model-based virtual trials method for tight glycemic control in intensive care. BioMedical Engineering OnLine 2010, 9:84, http://www.biomedical-engineering-online.com)

Summary:

Though height may connote slowness to some people, in the business world, it is almost universally associated with success. For example, taller men are more likely to be hired and to have greater salaries. Further, those in top positions within a company are more likely to work on the top floors of office buildings (Locker, 2003).