The concept of writing or even reading a scientific journal paper can be a little daunting, especially to the uninitiated. While each journal has specific style and formatting requirements, most research journal papers are made up of the same basic parts. Let’s break down the anatomy of a typical research journal paper:
- Title
- Describes the content of the paper
- Author Information
- A list of people who wrote that paper and/or contributed to the research, along with their affiliations and contact information
- Abstract
- A concise summary of the key points of the paper
- Introduction
- Important background information, including a review of the previous research and literature on which the current study was built
- Methods
- A description of how the research was performed
- Results
- The results and data from the research with minimal interpretation
- Discussion
- A description of what the author/authors think the results mean in terms of their original hypothesis and previous research, as well as the broader implications of the results
- Conclusions
- A concise summary of the key implications of the results
- Sometimes grouped together with the Discussion instead of a standalone section
- Future Work (Optional)
- Plans for follow-up work
- Questions that remain unanswered after the research
- New questions that arose as a result of the research
- Acknowledgements
- A place to thank people who contributed to the research in a significant way, but were not listed as authors
- Acknowledgement of the funding sources that supported the research
- References
- A formatted list of all literature and factual sources cited within the paper
- Supplementary Data (Optional)
- Additional figures and/or raw data from the research that are useful, but tangential to the most important points of the paper
This post serves as an introduction to Blue Dot Writing’s upcoming series: Anatomy of a Scientific Paper, wherein we will cover part of a scientific research journal paper in detail. Stay tuned for advice on how to make each part of your scientific manuscript more effective, and feel free to contact Blue Dot Writing for individual help.
Further Reading:
Knight, K. L., & Ingersoll, C. D. (1996). Structure of a scholarly manuscript: 66 tips for what goes where. Journal of athletic training, 31(3), 201. Retrieved August 14, 2019 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1318504/pdf/jathtrain00019-0011.pdf