How to Write a Good Paper (video)

This webinar will explain the key elements in preparing good “research reports”, including theses, internal reports and especially journal papers. The critical elements of each section of the research report will be reviewed, and content, organization, and style conventions will be discussed. The research report should be centered on a well-defined “research question”. In the Introduction, the importance of a clear gap sentence and statement of purpose will be emphasized. The requirement for providing sufficient detail in the Methodology section for duplicating results elsewhere will be explained. The differences in theoretical papers will be explained. The proper order for presenting Results – location, presentation, and comment - will be explained. The principle of heads-up display in drawings will be presented. The need to differentiate between results and interpretation will be emphasized. The organization of the discussion, from narrow comments to broad implications, will be presented, and appropriate language to express the relative certainty of explanations, i.e. from speculation to proof, will be explained. Answering the “research question” and summarizing the key results and their implications in terms of 3 points the author wishes the reader to remember will be suggested as the organizational mode for the Conclusions. The difference between an indicative and an informative Abstract will be explained, as well as the need for the latter. Finally, the tutorial will be summarized in “10 Commandments” for writing a good paper.