(1) ELEMENTS OF SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES

Scientific Article

- written by researchers
- aimed at an academic readership
- must have been reviewed by experts within the same subject area before publication

Original Articles

Where the author presents empirical studies and for the first time describes the results of research work.

Review Articles

Critical reviews of previously published studies

Theoretical Articles

Aim at developing new theories from existing research

Title
Abstract
Introduction
Methodology
Result
Discussion
Conclusion
Acknowledgement
References

ELEMENTS OF A SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES

Title

- Clearly describes the subject of the study.

- Accurately describes the content of the paper.
- No formulas/ abbreviation/ jargon
- May include Scientific Names

QUALITIES OF A GOOD TITLE:

Abstract

- A short summary of the article.
- A shortened version of the paper and should contain all information necessary for the reader to determine.
- May contain misleading or biased comments & should be reviewed carefully.
- Clinical decision should never be made solely upon the information contained in the abstract.

- Short (250-350) equivalent to 5% of paper lengths
- Only 1 page
- Condensation of entire report
- Complete

QUALITIES OF A GOOD ABSTRACT:

Introduction

- Clearly outlines and describe the objectives of the study
- Describes background relevant to the nature of the problem or question to be answered and the importance of the issue at hand and
- Is organized to move from general information to specific information sentences (inverted triangle)
- The last sentences of the introduction should be a statement of objectives and a statement of hypotheses

- Brevity (1 and Half Page)
- Info= to understand message; nature and extent of the problem; brief literature review; research objectives; scope and limitation; definition of term
- Attractiveness and Interest
- Non-summary

QUALITIES OF A GOOD INTRODUCTION

Methods.,,

- The most important part of the study because it provide answer the objective.
- Designed to answer the questions posed by the author.
- This section provide all the methodological details for another scientists to duplicate your work

Methods

- The demographics of treatment group should also be described to determine if any potential differences could confound the results
- The diagnostic criteria used to evaluate each patient should be clear,severity of the disease should be assessed, co-morbidities should also be noted

Methods.

- If control groups are used, the reader should determine if the control group is appropriate for comparison & whether the “gold standard” treatment is being compared
- The study design, measurement techniques and the statistical method should be clearly defined and described

- How the study was design
- How the study was conducted
- How the results were analyzed

3 IMPORTANT SECTIONS (methods)

Methods.,

- Determines the validity of the findings
- Requires precision, order, and correctness
- Description of the study design and reason for its choice
- Lab methods should be presented in chronological order.
- Standard Units
- Number of Replicates
- Stat. Methods (w/level of significance)
Note: Second Page of the chapter 3 is the flow of the study

- research design and reason for using the design
- description of study group and how these were chosen
- where the study was conducted
- how data were collected
- outlined method/ procedures

Detailed methods employed:

Results

- This section presents the results of the experiment but does not attempt to interpret their meaning.
- You will not present the raw data that you collected, but rather you will summarize the data with text, tables, and or figures
- Simple and Clear.
- Presents demographic first

Results

- Data should be shown in tables, graphs/illustrations
- Don’t include comparison, evaluation of differences, discussions
- Include the results of statistical analysis
- Refer to table/figure w/no. In the text

Discussion

- Interpretation and evaluation of the results.
- Analyzes and interprets the results of the study.
- Conclusion and relation to previous research.
- Suggest future directions for research, new method explanations deviation from previously published results.
- Explain the tables as given in the results portion
- More text; no more tables/graphs/illustration

Conclusion

 Should be stated based on the results of the study
- answer to the objectives
- what was done to the hypothesis

Acknowledgement

Contribution to the research

References/ Literature Cited

list of publication used in the study (current and appropriate for the  study problem, or references for previous investigations on related  topics that may support or refuse the findings in the study)

-the list is alphabetized
-no first or middle names are listed
-only the first word in the title of journal article is capitalized
-different journals use different styles for literature cited sections

Important Details of References