02scientific writing - macro level

What are the 5 Macro-Constraints in scientific writing?

1. Audience: Target readership, prior knowledge, reading style, and jargon expectations.

2. Type: Category of manuscript (e.g., Original Research Article, Review, Technical Report).

3. Format: Publisher/journal requirements (word counts, layout, figure limits, citation style).

4. Mechanics: Grammar, punctuation, spelling consistency (BE vs. AE), and formal academic tone.

5. Politics: Institutional governance, ethical approvals, funding mandates, and Open Access compliance.

What defines the "Audience" constraint in academic publishing?

Writing must cater to the reader’s level of expertise (experts vs. broader scientific public), address ambiguous antecedents, ensure figures/tables are standalone, and maintain accessibility for a heterogeneous readership (e.g., colorblind-friendly palettes).

What are the key requirements of an "Original Research Article"?

It presents new empirical data or novel data analysis, provides an elaborate, reproducible Methods section, and must defend its rationale, methods, and findings against existing scientific literature.

What does the "Politics" constraint encompass in scientific writing?

Ethical committee approval (IRB/VCWE protocols), informed consent, grant funding acknowledgments, compliance with Open Science mandates (public data repositories like Zenodo/OSF), and alignment with Open Access publishing models.

Compare the IMRaD and IRDM paper structures

• IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion): Chronological and transparent; ideal for a specialized audience that requires detailed methodology prior to reading results.

• IRDM (Introduction, Results, Discussion, Methods): Places detailed methods at the end; ideal for a broad audience to maintain engagement and present core findings faster.

What is the "Who? Why? What? How?" framework in macro-level analysis?

• Who: Target audience & assumed background knowledge.

• Why: Relevance, motivation, and knowledge gap being addressed.

• What: The central message, storyline, and core findings (take-home message).

• How: The structural organization and layout used to deliver the message effectively.

What are the three main types of scientific Titles?

• Descriptive: Describes the topic without stating conclusions ("Effect of Balance Training on Gait Stability").

• Interrogative: Poses the topic as a question ("Does Balance Training Improve Gait Stability?").

• Declarative: States the primary result/conclusion ("Balance Training Improves Gait Stability").

What is the primary goal and structure of an Abstract?

The goal is to attract readers and demonstrate the paper's value. It must be standalone (no reference citations or unexplained abbreviations) and follows the CCC scheme: Context – Content – Conclusion.

Explain the "Funnel Structure" of an Introduction section.

• The Introduction moves from broad to specific in 5 steps:

  1. Broad topic & general relevance.

  2. Review of relevant literature.

  3. Identification of the Knowledge Gap.

  4. Introduction of the investigation method/intervention.

  5. Specific aim & testable hypotheses.

What is the golden rule for writing the Results section?

Present pure, objective facts ("cold hard facts") without subjective interpretation. Never use evaluative adverbs like "interestingly" or "surprisingly", include negative results, and use standardized statistical notation (e.g., F-statistics, P-values).

What are the essential components of a Discussion section?

• Recap of research aim and primary findings.

• Interpretation and comparison with existing literature.

• Explanation of discrepancies/confounders.

• Discussion of study limitations.

• Practical, theoretical, or clinical implications and future research directions.

What elements make up a complete Conclusion section?

Concluding sentence → Brief limitations → Practical/theoretical implications → Future work → Take-Home Message (a strong, integrative final takeaway).

What are the 3 phases of the Scientific Writing Process?

• Plan: Outline the storyline using key sentences for each paragraph.

• Draft: Expand key sentences into paragraphs focusing strictly on content and structure, not fine-tuning language ("start writing badly").

• Edit: Revise for clarity, conciseness, paragraph flow (bridge sentences), and proofreading.

Define the core Macro Principles: KISS, "Kill Your Darlings", and "Anti-Zigzagging".

• KISS: Keep It Short and Simple.

• Kill Your Darlings: Remove sentences or paragraphs that do not serve the main storyline, regardless of how well-written they are.

• Avoid Zig-Zagging: Ensure smooth transitions between related topics without jumping back and forth between unlinked ideas.

How does the De Graaf (2019) paper apply the "Type" and "Format" constraints?

• Type: Published as a peer-reviewed Original Research Article in Biology Open, requiring detailed methodology (Xsens suit, treadmill speed, force plates) for full reproducibility.

• Format: Follows the IRDM structure (methods at the end), strictly adhering to Biology Open word limits (max 8000 words) and display item caps (max 8 figures/tables).

How do "Audience" and "Politics" shape the De Graaf (2019) publication?

• Audience: Targets biomechanists and gait specialists; uses technical terms (VAM, GRM, COT) and statistical metrics (ANOVA, Bonferroni corrections) without basic definitions.

• Politics: Funded by a public Dutch grant (NWO VIDI), mandating Open Access publication (CC-BY 4.0), VCWE ethical protocol approval, and public data sharing on Zenodo/OSF.