Methods
…there were 3 bears…
OuResults
…and she ran home.
Conclusions
…never go into the woods alone.
Don’t start writing yet!
Who is the story for?
Is it interesting? Could it affect practice or policy? Is it generalisable?
Almost everything is publishable
somewhere
Don’t start writing yet!
Don’t write yet!
More ideas
Questions from clinicians …especially those you can’t
answer Things that go wrong Things you disagree with
You already have something
But is it publishable?
Writing for Publication
James Munro University of Sheffield
Why write?
Fame and fortune Bolster the CV Pressure from above … dissemination
So what’s the problem?
What we’ll talk about
Writing an academic paper 10 ways to be rejected Magazines and books are a bit
different
Any ideas?
Experience Everyday working Problems Costly activities
reader’s mind Explain why your study is
needed
Methods
What did you do? How did you do it? Have a logical order Don’t report results here by
mistake!
The need to know
Providing a context and a question creates the reader’s “need to know”
What’s the story?
If this was a news report, what would the headline be?
Develop your outline
Introduction Methods Results Discussion
Introduction
What is the issue? What is already known about it? Set up a question in the
What’s the context? What’s the story?
The context
Everybody needs a context
Context for a research paper
What’s already known? What’s unknown? What’s controversial?
Write for that journal
Writing for that journal
Instructions for authors
Usually on the web
But you need to see a copy
Headings, weighting, referencing, interests
So find the right journal
Get to know the journals in your area
What are their interests? What are their styles?
So find the right journal
Where were other papers on this topic published?
Who’d like to know?
Who needs to know?
Reasons for rejection
The commonest reason editors give…
…is that the subject matter wasn’t suitable for their journal
Journalology
Refereed or not? Listed in bibliographic
databases? Impact factor?
Write for a journal
Select one of the journals which might be interested in your story
Results
Follow the order of the methods Who? When? What?
No ideas Ideas but no writing Writing but nothing sent off Writing sent off but not
accepted
The other problem
Time Writing is a lot of work Even academics don’t have time
What is the central idea?
BMJ approach
What is already known on this topic?
What does this study add?
Outline your story: 1
Context
Once upon a time…