INSPIRE workshop

This workshop was the second session of the two sessions of GREAT-INSPIRE workshop program on “How to write Journal Articles in Sciences” held at Murdoch University in 20 April 2016. The session was presented by Dr. Angus Morrison Saunders and Mike Hughes.

The workshop began with a recap from the first workshop  followed by a presentation of new materials and a practice session. The following points are a summary of the materials:

   1.The key ingredients of a good journal paper are in the abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion and conclusion components.    

        2.      How to use the structure and sections to create a narrative:

Title                     = Your title should relate to your main findings

Introduction      = End with a very clear set of specific research questions.

Method              = Relate everything you talk about to the research questions and do not swap the order from the introduction.

Results               = Answer your research questions in the same order you presented them.

Discussion        = Discuss your research questions in the same order you originally presented them. It is essential that you come back to the same ideas you laid out in your introduction.

    3. According to the presenters, the most important aspect of a journal paper is the title and abstract. By creating a good title and abstract, it will increase the chance of getting cited. This is because your abstract will be available to your readers in the on-line version whether or not the readers have access to the full text, therefore you can still get cited based upon your abstract.

   4.Title and abstract must also entice your readers to read the entire article. Your title should relate to your main findings. You should think about the take home message that you want your readers to read in your abstract. The Abstract may also be the only thing that a reader looks at, therefore, give them your findings.

  5. Abstract is a “mini paper”. It is a distillation of the four major segments in your paper (Introduction, method, results and discussion).Start with the real issue in the first sentence of your abstract. Keep the abstract short perhaps less than 200 words. A good abstract maybe just seven or eight sentence. The composition are as follow:

Background       = 1 sentence

Aim                      = 1 sentence

Method               = 1 sentence

Results                = 3 to 4 sentences

Conclusion         = 1 or 2 sentence(s)

In the practice session, participants were given the opportunity to read aloud their own abstract. They were asked about how successful they think their abstract is and comments were invited from other participants as well as feedback from the presenters.

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