from “English for Writing Research Papers”
writing order
you might write several sections simultaneously
It is generally best to start with a very rough draft of the Abstract, and then whichever section is clearest in your head (generally the Materials and Methods)
A typical order for writing the various sections is thus:
- Abstract (very rough draft)
- start with the Abstract will help you to focus / orient your ideas on what are the key aspects of your research.
- Preliminaries
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- It is a good idea to write the Results and Discussion before the Introduction. This is because you will only truly understand the significance of what you have done after you have written these two sections
- Introduction
- major part: Laying the background foundations on which you can highlight the significance of your research
- Conclusions
- Abstract (final version)
Decide what your key findings are
before you start writing you need to have an absolutely clear idea of:
• what your research goal was
• what your most important findings are and how you can demonstrate that they
are true
• how these findings differ from, and add to, previous knowledge
Analyzing the literature, and discussing and presenting your findings to colleagues should help you to identify what your key findings are
English level
how the paper flows and how easy it is to read
All referees will appreciate it if you use simple language
Write directly in English
with a model paper written by a native English speaker in front of you, which you can follow step by step, it should be quicker than translating from your own language
