SecretstoWritingBetterScientificArticles TomLangTomLangCommunicationsandTraining ForMoreInformation HowToReportStatisticsinMedicineAnnotatedGuidelinesforAuthors Editors andReviewers 2ndEditionThomasALang MichelleSecicAmericanCollegeofPhysicians 2006 ForMoreInformation HowtoWrite Publish andPresentintheHealthSciencesAGuideforPhysiciansandLaboratoryResearchersTomLangAmericanCollegeofPhysicians 2009 Sciencecannotexistwithoutwriting Speechandpicturesarenotenough Publishingisthefinalstageofresearch Evidence basedmedicineisliterature basedmedicine Thetruthnoonetoldyou Ifyouhavechosentobecomearesearcher youhavechosentobecomeawriter Whatisthemostimportantpartofascientificarticle Whatisthemostimportantpartofascientificarticle TheTitle Thepartmostoftenread Oftentheonlypartread Thekeylinkbetweentheresearchandthereader Whichpartusuallyhasthemosterrors Whichpartusuallyhasthemosterrors TheReferences Referencestaketimetoformatcorrectly Errorsinreferencesindicatelackofattentiontodetail Whichpartisusuallytheweakest Whichpartisusuallytheweakest TheDiscussion Youhavetodecidewhatyourresultsmean Youhavetotellhowyourresultssupportordifferfromotherresults WhatJournalEditorsWant ManuscriptsthatfollowtheInstructionsforAuthors MulfordLibrary MedicalCollegeofOhioLinkstoInstructionsforAuthorsformostbiomedicaljournalshttp mulford meduohio edu instr TheEQUATORNetworkLinkstoreportingrequirementsfordifferenttypesofresearchhttp www equator network org Editorswanttopublishresearchthatis NewTrueImportantClearlyReported TopicsofthisLecture Howtowritebetter TitlesIntroductionsTablesandGraphsDiscussions HowtoWriteBetterTitles TitleshelpreadersfindanddecidewhethertoreadthefullarticleTitleshelpreadersNOTreadthearticleifitwillNOTbeofinterestIdentifywhatwasstudied notwhatwasfound Remember SPICED Setting location Patients whatwasstudied Intervention treatment Comparator controlgroup Endpoint outcomeofinterest Design studydesign OriginalARandomizedTrialofLow Air LossBedsforTreatmentofPressureUlcers 72charactersandspaces RevisedLow Air LossBedsvs FoamMattressesforTreatingPressureUlcersinNursingHomePatients ARandomizedTrial 111charactersandspaces HowtoWriteBetterIntroductions Biomedicalscientistsare Researchers WritersTheserolesrequiredifferentskills Inanareaofscience ScientistsfindaproblemStudytheproblemasresearchersAnd aswriters reporttheirresultsinarticles The4 PartIntroduction1 Backgroundstatement providestheinformationneededtounderstandtheproblemandtheresearch2 Problemstatement describesthenature extent severity orimportanceoftheproblemthatstimulatedtheresearch The4 PartIntroduction3 Actionstatement givestheresearchquestion hypothesis approach oractivitiesundertakentoinvestigatetheproblem4 Forecastingstatement tellsreaderswhattheywillfindiftheycontinuetoread Part1 BackgroundStatement Inpatientswithatheroscleroticvasculardisease aspirinisrecommendedtopreventmyocardialinfarctionandgraftocclusion Part2 ProblemStatement However aspirinisalsoassociatedwithbleeding Patientsareoftenaskedtostoptakingaspirinbeforebronchoscopy toreducetheriskofbleeding Theeffectivenessofthispracticehasneverbeentested Part3 ActionStatement Thus wewantedtodeterminewhetheraspirinincreasestheriskofbleedingafterbronchoscopy Part4 ForecastingStatement Here wedescribeourstudyinwhichwecomparedthenumberandseverityofbleedingeventsinpatientstakingaspirinwiththosewhowerenotanddeterminedthataspirindoesnotincreasetheriskofbleeding ProblemswithIntroductionsWeakbackgroundandproblemstatementsManyauthorsassumereaderswillknow 1 Whatproblemwasstudied2 Whytheproblemisimportant HowtoWriteBetterResultsSections SummarizethestudyinadiagramPutyourresultsintablesandfiguresTakethetimetomakegoodtablesandfigures MakingGoodTablesandGraphs Whatlevelofdetaildoyouneedtoshow Willreaderswantanalyticalorreferenceinformation Willreaderswanttoseeexactvaluesorpatternsinthevalues 1 Whatlevelofdetaildoyouneedtoshow Focusingreaders attentionon Individualvalues Groupsofvalues Comparisonsbetweenvaluesorgroups ComparisonsbetweenGroups MakingGoodTablesandGraphs 2 Willreaderswantanalyticalorreferenceinformation Analytical organizethedataReference organizetheheadings AnAnalyticalTable AReferenceTable MakingGoodTablesandGraphs 3 Willreaderswanttoseeexactvaluesorpatternsinthevalues ReadersseevaluesfasterandmoreaccuratelyintablesReadersseepatternsofvaluesfasterandmoreaccuratelyingraphs ExactValuesorPatternsintheValues MakingGoodTablesandGraphs Whatlevelofdetaildoyouneedtoshow Willreaderswantanalyticalorreferenceinformation Willreaderswanttoseeexactvaluesorpatternsinthevalues TablesandHowtoDesignThem PrinciplesofTableDesign Tablesusedtorecorddatamaynotbegoodforcommunicatingdata Placevaluestobecomparedside by side ifpossible 46 PrinciplesofTableDesign Roundnumbersto2significantdigits unlessmoreprecisionisnecessary PrinciplesofTableDesign Keepthedataconsistentwithcolumnandrowheadings PrinciplesofTableDesign Keepthedataconsistentwithcolumnandrowheadings PrinciplesofTableDesign Donotleavecellsempty indicatethatthecellcontainsnovaluewithanellipsis PrinciplesofTableDesign Considerhighlightingimportantvalues PrinciplesofTableDesign Aligndata symbols andtextconsistentlywithincolumns ConsiderGivingTotals ConsiderGivingTotals GraphsandHowtoDesignThem 543210 05101520 543210 05101520 PrinciplesofGraphDesign Indicatethezero zeropointBreakscalelinesandthedatafieldwhenthescaledoesnotstartatzero PrinciplesofGraphDesign Emphasizethedataoverotherelementsinthegraph Emphasizethedata PrinciplesofGraphDesign Whenpossible presentcomparisonsoflengthagainstacommonbaseline LengthonaCommonBaseline FromBarChartstoDotorBoxCharts HowtoMakeaDotChart ProblemswithGraphs Donotusea3 dimensionalgraphtoshow2 dimensionaldata HowtoWriteBetterDiscussionsSummarizethestudyandthemainresults InterpretandexplaintheresultsTellhowyourresultssupportordifferfromotherresults reviewtheliterature SuggesthowtheresultsmightbegeneralizedDiscusstheimplicationsoftheresultsStatethelimitationsofthestudyListtheconclusions ConclusionsWeconcludethatTamoxifenreducedtheincidenceofDMH inducedcoloncancerinrats WealsoshowedthatDMHinducedtheexpressionofestrogenreceptorsincolonicmucosa butthatthenumberofestrogenreceptorsinthecolonicmucosawasnotcorrelatedwithbloodl