How To Write A Scientific Article: 5 Tips For Students

Research articles are written by undergraduates, graduate students, and established scientists. The publication of scientific articles is a mandatory part of the work on a dissertation. The goal of this essay is to answer the most common questions that a person who is writing a research paper for the first time could have. The method of writing such an article will be discussed in this post.

What Is A Research Paper?

Let’s start by defining what a research paper is. A scientific essay focuses on one or more connected issues in a certain field. A scientific article is a complete mini-research on a certain limited topic.

If you do not know how to start writing such publications and you wonder, “Who can help me to do my assignment to write a worthy publication?”, then you can use special writing services to get essays or research papers from experienced specialists. Or you can simply look at examples of such works to get inspired.

First of all, you must know that scientific publications can be classified into the following categories:

  • Scientific-theoretical publications are describing the findings of the study conducted on the basis of theorizing and explaining phenomena and patterns.
  • Experiments and real-world experience are used to create scientific and practical (empirical) theories.
  • Review is a section of a journal dedicated to analyzing recent scientific advances in a certain field.
  • A scientific article presumes a declaration of the author’s own opinions and intermediate or final outcomes of scientific study, experimentation, or analysis. The author’s thoughts, findings, and suggestions should all be included in such an essay.

This means that the scientific paper should, first and foremost, have the effect of novelty: the findings should not have been previously published. By publishing a scientific article, the author establishes himself or herself as a leader in the field of study.

Where to Begin

If you’re writing an article for a certain publication, magazine, or collection, you should first research the requirements for articles: number of words, design, and topic range.

Then you might consider the article’s topic. First, go through the content you currently have and consider how you might incorporate it into an article. The narrower and more specialized the article’s topic, the better. Do not attempt to comprehend the enormity. The topic should be both scientifically relevant and intriguing to you.

Determine the topic, create a rough outline of the piece, and consider how and in what sequence to deliver the information. Now you should figure out what elements you’re missing in order to come up with a complete and well-thought-out conclusion.

To obtain the missing knowledge and conduct more tests, go to the lab, archives, and library. Keep an eye out for new publications on your subject that have come out in the previous year or two. Scientific journals, conference proceedings, periodicals, and newspapers are all good places to start. The article’s information should be current and based on further research by other academics.

After you’ve gathered all of the required information, organize it, evaluate it, and summarize it. Present the content in a visual format for a better understanding of the quantity of effort done and the outcomes of your activities: create charts, diagrams, graphs, and tables. This will not only help you organize the information you’ve received, but it will also assist your readers to comprehend you and apply what you’ve written to their own actions.

Don’t know where to begin when it comes to creating the text? Begin in the center. To begin, jot down anything that comes to mind. Don’t worry about finding the correct words and phrases right immediately; the most important thing is to start constructing the skeleton of your future essay.

Put the written material aside for a few days. Your brain will continue to function during this period, and when you reopen the file with your notes, the job will move much faster. Write the main body of the essay first, followed by the conclusions and introduction, and then the title, abstract, and keywords.

Structure Of A Research Article

A scientific article consists of the following main parts: article title (title), abstract, keywords, introduction, main part, conclusion (conclusions, analysis, synthesis, criticism), list of references.

Let’s consider the features of each of them.

Title: The article’s title should serve two purposes: it should represent the substance of the piece and it should pique readers’ attention. The title, like the language of the article itself, is written in a scientific style and accurately represents the content.

It is desirable to include in the title several keywords that relate to the essence of the issue. When you publish such an article on the Internet or in an electronic library catalog, a headline using keywords increases the chances that your articles will be found by those interested in the issue. The length of the article title should not exceed 10-12 words.

Examples of successful titles that capture the essence of a scholarly article well:

  • “Mathematical modeling of rip currents based on unsteady Navier-Stokes equations”
  • “Investigation of losses in cellular radio signal propagation based on statistical models”
  • “Scientific activity as a prerequisite for productive development of the individual style of university teacher”.

Errors in composing the title:

The article’s title is overly broad and covers a far broader variety of topics than the article’s body. It’s best if the title is as detailed as possible. For example: “Educator’s Work”; “Coaching” are examples of bad headlines.

“Coaching as a tool for effective staff training and development”; “From experience with preschool children” are examples of good headlines.

The headline does not reflect the essence of the issue at hand and misleads the reader.

Sensationalist headline. Such headlines are good in advertising and news texts, but they are not good for a scientific article. Example: “Environmental Littering – How We Pay for It” is a bad headline.

“Methodology for Calculating Payment for Environmental Damage Caused by Anthropogenic Influence” is a good one.

If the issue under consideration is not new and has been raised more than once in scientific papers, but you contribute to the development of the topic or consider only some aspects of the problem, you can start the title with the words: “To the question of…”, “To the problem…”, “To the analysis of…”.

Abstract: The title is followed by an abstract, which is a concise description of the article. An abstract is optional but desirable. The abstract should be brief, but informative. The recommended size of the abstract is no more than 500 characters, i.e., 4-5 sentences. The abstract provides information about the author/authors of the article, briefly highlights the scientific problem, objectives, and the main author’s conclusions in abbreviated form. The abstract also reflects the scientific novelty of the article.

Introduction: Introduce the study’s object and subject, define the research techniques (equipment, measurement parameters, etc. ), and state the hypothesis in the introduction. It will not be unnecessary to reflect on the outcomes of previous work, what has been discovered, and what needs to be clarified. Here you can also give references to previous research for immersion into the topic.

Main part: The main part is the most extensive and important section of the scientific article. It reveals the research process step by step and outlines the reasoning that led to the conclusions. If the article is written on the results of experiments, experiments, it is necessary to describe these experiments in detail, to reflect the stages and intermediate results. If some experiments were unsuccessful, they should also be described, disclosing the conditions that influenced the unsuccessful outcome and methods of elimination of deficiencies.

All studies are presented in a visual form if possible. Schemes, tables, graphs, charts, graphical models, formulas, and photographs are appropriate. Tables should be provided with headings, and graphic material should be provided with sub-drawing captions. Each such element should be directly linked to the text of the article, and the text of the article should contain a reference to it.

Conclusions: In this section, the main achievements of the author are published in thesis form. All conclusions should be objective, published as is, without the author’s interpretation. This allows readers to evaluate the quality of the data obtained and draw their own conclusions based on them.

You can also offer your own analysis of the results, as well as present a subjective view of the significance of the work carried out.

References: This section contains references to works cited or referred to in the text of the article.

Introduction: In the introduction, you should introduce the object and subject of the study, describe the research methods used (equipment, measurement parameters, etc.), and formulate the hypothesis.

It will not be superfluous to reflect the results of the work of predecessors, what has been found out, what requires clarification. Here you can also give references to previous research for immersion into the topic.

A Scholarly Style Of Presentation

For scientific style is characterized by integrity, coherence, semantic completeness. Logical transitions and coherence of text contribute to such words as “on the other hand”, “thus”, “in fact”, “of course”, “indeed”.

A scientific article is characterized by a large number of facts and evidence and the absence of ambiguities and ambiguities. It is inappropriate to express any emotion in the text of a scientific article.

Getting to the point of writing a scientific article, imagine the person for whom you are writing it. Difficult and little-understood for your audience places provide comments, but it is important to observe the balance and not to start explaining the elementary and well-known truths.

The scientific language uses bookish, neutral vocabulary, as well as special terminology. Present all material in a strict sequence, supporting each conclusion with evidence and arguing with scientific statements.

Do not use unfounded borrowings, and those that you need to back up your thoughts, make out in the form of quotations with references to the original source. Do not forget to divide the text into paragraphs. If the article is extensive, use subheadings. Such an article is easier to comprehend.

Before Submitting

If possible, you should once again set aside the article for a few days, and then re-read it with fresh eyes.

Check that the article meets the following requirements:

  • The title reflects the content.
  • The article has an introduction, main body, conclusions
  • There are references to the literature
  • All borrowings are in the form of quotations, there is no plagiarism (to check for plagiarism you can use such Internet services as antiplagiat.ru)
  • The scientific style is followed
  • The design rules are followed

Now you can send it!

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Hannah Butler is an essay writer for writemypapers4me.net, a company that supplies students with skilled paper assistance. She enjoys writing essays on her experiences. In her free time, Hannah likes rock climbing and biking in her spare time.