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How to write a good introduction to a research paper?

 

An introduction is the first section of a research paper after the abstract. It summarizes the rationale behind the topic of a research study. The background information is presented to induce the reader into understanding the hypothesis and methodology of the experiment. An introduction has to be written in a simple, lucid language, making a good impression on the reader. An introduction should present general information on the topic of the research study in the initial paragraph. Then, the specific context of the study should be explained. The introduction should have the statement of purpose of the study in the concluding paragraph. It should also include potential outcomes of the study.

Information related to the topic of study would include the significance of the topic, the general background of the topic, and an overview of current research studies on the topic. There would be a niche problem associated with the topic of a research study. Then, develop a research question that would confront the existing assumptions. Thereafter, identify gaps in existing research studies. Now, that the research topic is aligned with the niche of research, it is mandatory to explain the objective of the research study. The highlights of the study may be summarized along with important results. Finally, the authors should describe the structure of the study in a concise, succinct manner.

A research problem may be dealt with many methodologies. However, the reader must be informed in the introduction section why alternative methodologies have not been considered and why authors have chosen a specific approach to deal with the research problem. In other words, every introduction section should describe how a research problem is being investigated within the scope and boundaries of the study.

The introduction section of a research paper should have a narrative flow. Firstly, the subject area of interest should be identified clearly. For this purpose, the keywords presented in the Abstract section should be used in the title of the paper. The same keywords should also be used in the initial few sentences of the introduction section. Thus, although general information would develop the background, the subject area of interest would also be presented in a focused manner.

The context of the study would include a critical and rational review of all published studies related to the subject area of interest. There may be known facts about the research problem, and these must be presented in the introduction section. Thus, this information would help readers understand key elements associated with the research problem. The hypothesis that is going to be investigated must be stated clearly toward the end of the introduction section. The rationale behind this research problem must also be stated at the end of the introduction. In conclusion, the goal of the introduction is to compel the readers to peruse through the paper.

 

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How to write an impressive cover letter to a journal’s editor

While submitting a manuscript to a journal, it is very important to include an impressive cover letter to the editor-in-chief. The cover letter provides a glimpse of the results and data presented in the manuscript, including the experimental study design. Based on the content of the cover letter, the journal editor would make an important decision of accepting the article with revisions or directly publishing it. In most cases, the paper is forwarded to reviewers based on the content of the cover letter and manuscript. A cover letter should be typically of 1-2 pages. In this article, we guide you on how to write a professional yet persuasive cover letter that attracts the attention of the journal editor.

Salient features of a cover letter to a journal editor:

  • A cover letter must include the name of all authors, including the names of corresponding authors. Contact details of authors, such as email addresses and the actual address must be provided at the start of the cover letter. In most cases, authors prefer to use the institute’s letterhead. In general, letterhead is standardized and contact details have to be provided at the end of the cover letter. Always write your signature at the end of the cover letter. Contact details are necessary as the editor would contact you based on their decision, regardless of whether it is positive or negative.
  • In some journals, the editors of different regions are different. For example, the European version of the journal would have an editor that is different from the American version of the journal. In this case, please ensure that the correct editor is addressed in the cover letter. The title and the name of the editor should be written correctly and in full form. A journal’s webpage usually enlists the names of editors. Never write “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam” as a salutation. In case the name is not provided on the journal’s webpage, then the salutation would be “Dear Editor” or “Dear Editor-in-chief.”
  • The cover letter has to be written in a unique style. As an author of a manuscript, you cannot simply include important results as copied paragraphs. The important findings and results should be reworded in simple and short sentences. The journal editor should be convinced that you spent time drafting the cover letter.
  • Before drafting a cover letter, please double-check whether the topic of your research study is compliant with the journal’s theme, scope, and subject. A cover letter should be written in a constructive tone and style. The title of the manuscript should be presented as it is in the cover letter. The title should be the one that’s presented in the final draft of the manuscript. Then, declare the type of work that is presented in the manuscript. It could be any one of the following: an article, a meta-analysis, short communication, or a perspective.
  • There may be instances where the authors have submitted the article to another journal earlier. In that case, authors must take into account the current journal’s submission criteria, theme, and interests. Thus, they should address the current journal’s editor by his or her proper name, and change the wordings of the cover letter. In case the article has been rejected by a previous journal, then the authors must mention the reason for rejection in the cover letter. The authors should never submit a manuscript to two or more journals simultaneously. Most journal editors do not review a manuscript that has been already submitted elsewhere for publication.
  • The important content of the cover letter is just one or two paragraphs that summarize the novelty of the scientific research. All important points of the research findings must be included in this cover letter. These two paragraphs should neither be too long nor very short. The experimental study design and the special techniques used in the research study should be presented concisely. All innovative results of the study should also be included.
  • The cover letter must include the significance of the study and the rationale behind experimentation. It must explain why the paper is suitable for publication in a specific journal. The explanation must include why the paper is relevant to the scope of the journal. Moreover, the authors must also explain the importance of the research study and how it will entice the readers of the journal. The editor must be convinced that the paper will have a high impact in the particular field of study.
  • In the cover letter, authors must also include the list of documents that they are submitting. For example, the final draft of the manuscript, supporting information, author information forms, answers to the comments provided by reviewers (This is done when a revised form of the manuscript is submitted to the editor). Please note that the cover letter is like a sales pitch that needs to be persuasive yet concise.
  • In a cover letter, refrain from mentioning and defining abbreviations. Ensure that the content is correct in terms of grammar and punctuation. Avoid having spelling mistakes in the document. Carefully read the cover letter to ascertain its worthiness. After all, it is meant to be submitted to an editor of an international journal. The esteemed editor would be glad to know that the authors are eager to answer any queries related to the manuscript. Finally, place a note stating that the decision of the editor would be held in high esteem.

Harrisco is a reputed Korean company that offers cover letter development services to all researchers in Korea, China, Japan, and Taiwan. Established in 1997, it has become a brand to reckon with. It has a team of more than 200 native English editors from reputed universities of the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. They can professionally draft effective cover letters that provide a correct glimpse of the experimental study to the journal’s editor, regardless of whether the journal is SCI or Open Access.

 

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How does academic writing differ from general writing?

Academic writing is used in formal manuscripts of scholarly communications. These manuscripts are published in scholarly journals. In this article, let us discuss the factors differentiating academic writing from general writing.

Formal language: Academic writing involves the use of formal language that does not include any slang words or contractions. Colloquial words should also be refrained from using.

In academic writing, the use of pronouns in the first person ( I and We) are discouraged. However, many style guides prefer the use of active voice over passive voice, so they may recommend the judicious use of informal elements of writing.

Structure and format of content: Many academic papers have to be written in a format that conforms with the style guide of a discipline. For example, the American Medical Association’s Manual of Style is used for preparing manuscripts of biomedical science.

Social science papers may conform with the requirements of the American Psychological Association (APA) Manual of Style. In general, business papers have to be written in a formal style and conform to the requirements of the Chicago Manual of Style.

In these style guides, guidelines are given for formatting the references and the content of the paper. This would include title, margins, headings, etc. Many style guides also explain scientific writing style, social science writing style, business writing style, etc.

Regardless of the formatting settings, logical flow of ideas and a proper transition of information are encouraged. In a scientific paper, it does not matter whether it is biomedical sciences or physical sciences paper.

All these papers will have six important components: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. In a social science paper, the format of the paper will have greater flexibility and creative freedom.

Tone: The readers of a manuscript would interpret ideas depending on the tone of communication. The tone of writing would depend on the target audience, so the writing style of a manuscript author would depend on the area of specialisation.

Both implicit and explicit forms of personal bias should be avoided in academic writing. An objective point of view must be presented. Care must be taken to avoid a rhetorical form of content. A clear and succinct form of academic writing would avoid the use of emotional phrases.

The target audience of a manuscript is always a group of researchers, professors, teachers, authors, and other academics like peer-reviewers. Therefore, the tone would further emphasise formal word choice and vocabulary.

 

 

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An overview of the different types of academic writing for researchers

 

An academic career cannot take off smoothly unless a researcher masters the art of writing in academics. A researcher is usually a student pursuing PhD or post-doctoral research. Therefore, they can put their creativity and imagination to good use in academics. Proposal writing and abstract writing are the two most important types of academic writing, which are needed to secure research grants and publications. In this article, we provide tips on how to master the art of academic writing.

Proposal Writing

In academia, researchers have to write a draft of research proposals or grant proposals. This draft should basically provide an outline of your research. A well-written research proposal is the best way to communicate research plans, which can then be implemented successfully. A grant proposal needs to be well written for receiving funds from a bank or other funding institution. The structure of the writing proposal needs to be carefully drafted for this purpose.

In general, a conventional paper would have the following components: title, abstract, introduction, research questions, literature review, methodology, conclusion, and bibliography. Most readers are well acquainted with such kinds of research plans and the results of such a proposal will be maximum. While writing a grant proposal, academics should clearly outline the following terms: source of funding, goals, timing of the research study, educational qualifications, and documentation.

Dissertation Writing

In academic writing, most researchers are compelled to master the art of dissertation writing. To complete their MSc or PhD degree, most researchers have to defend their completed dissertation. The tone of writing, sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and citations are all very important aspects of dissertation writing. In a dissertation, all ideas have to be presented and cited from related studies. The sources that are referenced should be done in accordance with academic style guides, such as the APA, AMA, or the Chicago Manual of Style. The arguments presented in the dissertation must be obtained from trusted sources.

Abstract writing

Among all forms of academic writing, abstracts are required to be written by all researchers in their dissertation and thesis. An abstract is a short summary of the entire paper and should present the objectives, methods, results, and conclusion in not more than 250 to 300 words. Because of wordcount limit, researchers need to write the content very precisely and concisely. An abstract would also include a number of keywords, depending on the topic of the research study. Most essays and thesis contain an abstract section before the introduction section.

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AMA Manual of Style workshop for biomedical researchers

The American Medical Association’s Manual of Style is a guide to authors and editors in biomedical sciences. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has editors who have compiled this style guide for biomedical authors. Many biomedical journals are published by the American Medical Association. The AMA Manual of Style guides all biomedical authors in writing and editing their manuscripts meant for publication in these academic journals. It also has a specific citation and referencing style for use in publications.

The AMA Manual of Style was first published in the year 1962, and its 11th edition has been published in the year 2020. Not only is it beneficial for writers and editors in biology and medicine, but the book also covers a range of topics related to publication ethics and biomedical statistics. The publication committee of this book is socially active with its Twitter handle of @AMA Manual of Style. The content has included many new terminologies pertaining to the latest COVID-19 pandemic. The AMA Manual of Style is also used for writing allied health topics of nursing. It serves as a guide for writing medical and health textbooks.

The world of medical publishing has undergone a metamorphosis, and the AMA Manual of Style is updated regularly to take into account the latest medical literature. Various types of articles are published daily in medical journals, but randomized controlled trials are the most commonly used experimental study designs. The style and mechanics of presenting medical papers depend on grammar and punctuation, especially in the context of scientific publications. A general overview of genetics is also useful and it helps many novice editors in gaining knowledge of genetic coding and sequencing.

Harrisco is a noted company that organizes academic writing workshops for researchers all across the globe. In the month of December, the company plans to hold a presentation on the AMA manual of style. Come, let us learn the nuances of scientific writing and overcome the barriers of understanding experimental study design and biomedical statistics.

 

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Drinking coffee and tea reduces the risk of developing stroke and dementia

The risk of developing stroke and dementia is substantially reduced by consuming tea or coffee every day. This was the finding of a study carried out on healthy subjects aged between 50 to 74 years. The recent study was published in the noted journal PLOS Medicine. The risk of developing dementia after a stroke was also lowered in these individuals as they drank coffee regularly.

Approximately 10% of deaths are caused by stroke globally, so a patient who has recovered from stroke has conquered a life-threatening event. Dementia is the medical term for a loss of cognitive function of the brain, leading to memory loss. Both the conditions are global health concerns, causing a considerable burden in terms of money and other resources.

The study was conducted at Tianjin Medical University by Yuan Zhang and her colleagues. The study included 365,682 participants who received treatment between 2006 and 2010; however, they attended follow up sessions till 2020. Initially, the participants themselves reported about their tea and coffee consumption. However, as the study period progressed, dementia had developed in 5,079 participants and about 10,053 participants had got a stroke at least once.

The incidence of stroke or dementia was the lowest in participants who consumed about 4-6 cups of coffee and tea each day. This finding also included participants who consumed 3-5 cups of tea or 2-3 cups of coffee each day. Compared to those who did not drink any tea or coffee, the risk of stroke was lowered by as much as 32% in participants who drank 2-3 cups of coffee and 2-3 cups of tea per day. Moreover, the risk of dementia was also lowered by as much as 28% in participants who drank tea and coffee daily.

The study was conducted on a relatively healthy sample, which did not have complications like the general population aged 50-74 years. Therefore, the findings of this study cannot be generalized on a larger scale. The results cannot be applied to larger populations as relatively fewer people developed stroke and dementia in this study. One can only say drinking tea and coffee daily offered protection against stroke and dementia; however, the result is restricted to participants of this study.

In conclusion, consuming tea and coffee in moderation certainly reduces the risk of developing stroke and dementia in old age.

 

 

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Harrisco organizes academic writing workshops for researchers all across the globe

 

Researchers may be well versed with experiments and results, but writing an introduction and discussion is not easy in a research paper. Do you know that research grants of novice authors are based on how well crafted is the conclusion? Well, all these doubts and issues will be clarified by Professor Mario Garcia Lee in Seoul, Korea. He is a well-established researcher who has published more than 2,500 papers in international peer-reviewed journals. Come, let’s understand the craft of writing scientifically, concisely, and precisely.

Harrisco’s academic writing workshops are of 2 hours, 4 hours, and 8 hours duration. The registration fee is nominal at 50$, 100$, and 150 $. Not only does the speaker guide you through the mechanics of writing a scientific paper, he also teaches you to identify citations of related studies and how to present them well in your introduction section. Writing an abstract is an art as well as a skill that will be taught intensely in the academic writing workshop. Moreover, the speaker will also teach how to control the tone and diction of the content through proper word choice. Besides, citing well-known references will only increase the impact of the paper.

In an academic paper, it is not just enough to write a good abstract, introduction, and methods sections. One needs to understand that the methods section should focus on the visualization of the experiment. Moreover, the logical flow of ideas should be interesting enough to the readers and also lay the background for the presentation of results and conclusions.

The conclusion should not merely summarize the findings of the experiment, it should lay stress on the novelty of the findings and help the reviewer understand the significance of the research study. The workshops would be online webinars and would be relayed to participants through Zoom. We are offering a 10% discount to all participants that register through our marketing partners and website.

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The risk of heart failure increases with aspirin consumption

 

In people with an underlying risk factor for heart failure, aspirin should never be prescribed as it increases the risk of heart failure by as much as 26%. This finding was published in the ESC Heart Failure journal, which is affiliated with the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The underlying risk factors include smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.

This is a path-breaking study as it is the first to report how dangerous aspirin medication is to people having at least one risk factor of heart failure. Although the potentially dangerous link between aspirin consumption and heart failure has been unraveled, the finding needs to be backed up with substantial evidence that confirms the finding. The association of aspirin with heart failure can seem to be baffling to some medical researchers.

In the journal article, researchers explained how the incidence of heart failure was related to people with and without any heart ailment. Thereafter, they also assessed whether the use of a drug could lead to a new diagnosis of heart failure in people who have underlying risk factors. In this study, researchers investigated 30,827 patients with a risk factor for heart failure. These patients were from Western European countries and the US, that is, patients from the developed world.

The age of participants was at least 40 years and above, with the average age being 67 years. At the time of enrolment, they did not have any incidence of heart failure. Based on the usage of aspirin medication, the participants were divided into two groups: users and non-users. The patients who had the first incidence of heart failure were followed up, regardless of whether the attack was fatal or non-fatal as the incidence needed hospitalization.

About 34% of the participants were women. Nearly 25% of the participants were consuming aspirin, that is, 7698 patients in total. In the follow-up period of 5.3 years, heart failure occurred in about 1330 participants. The researchers investigated whether the use of aspirin was truly related to the incidence of heart failure in patients.

They also took into consideration several risk factors: gender, age, body mass index, smoking habit, alcohol consumption, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, creatinine levels, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc. Some of the other risk factors for heart failure included treatment of drugs inhibiting the levels of renin, angiotensin, and aldosterone, blockers of calcium channel, beta-blockers, diuretics, and drugs used to lower lipids. The researchers reported that the consumption of aspirin increased the risk of heart failure by about 26%.

 

 

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What is scientific editing?

Scientific editing is basically a thorough evaluation of the scientific rigor of the manuscript. A scientific editor is a native English speaker with an impressive track record of publications in international peer-reviewed journals of science, technology, medicine, and business.

Such an editor would not just be polishing the manuscript for English language errors, he or she would also be reviewing the scientific content of the document. Therefore, they would be pointing the errors involved in the experimental study design, biomedical statistics, results, and conclusion of the study.

Scientific editing is performed by technical reviewers with MS/PhD degrees. As they are native speakers of English, they will also rectify errors related to grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, subject-verb agreement, word choice, and logical flow of ideas in the manuscript.

Harrisco is a leading academic company with a global network of 500 scientific editors. The steps involved in scientific editing include manuscript evaluation, a scientific review of the manuscript, and English editing services. Harrisco introduced scientific editing service through its premium brand named Quorum in 2017.

Quorum is a premium service that has helped most novice authors get thorough feedback on the scientific content of their manuscript. The research papers of authors are submitted to the system, which then recommends the services of three most appropriate reviewers.

The comments provided by reviewers are in simple academic English, and their main goal is to improve the chances of publication of the manuscript in many strict SCI journals.

Harrisco company requests all Asian researchers to not just avail of English editing services but also scientific editing services. The scientific reviewers are usually post-doctoral researchers from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The reviewers suggested by Quorum’s system are quite genuine as the system follows a double-blind system of peer review. This implies that the names of authors and reviewers are not known to either of the two parties. Thus, the chances of bias based on nationality, race, and gender does not arise.

Quite often, scientific editing would also involve wordcount reduction of the Abstract as most English journals do not want more than 250 words. Moreover, a scientific paper must also fit within the wordcount limit of about 6000 words.

Harrisco takes great pride in letting its customer know of its cooperation with more than 200 universities and 500 academic societies. By availing the scientific editing services of Harrisco, authors can certainly increase their chances of publication in high impact journals.

 

 

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Publication support services by Harrisco: top academic company of Korea

 

Harrisco is a leading academic editing and translation company based in Seoul, South Korea. Ever since its inception in 1997, Harrisco has been consistently offering publication support services to researchers all across Asia. These include cover letter development, plagiarism check and rewriting, journal selection, formatting as per journal guidelines, etc.

After English editing and translation, most researchers also avail of publication support services of Harrisco. Most Asian researchers have a limited knowledge of the high standards set by international peer-reviewed journals. Therefore, they usually need publication support services. A paper may have scientifically accurate content and good English language usage, but it may still be rejected by a journal editor for not adhering to formatting guidelines of the journal.

Now, let’s understand the most popular service of publication support. It is none other than journal selection. Every academic field of study will have hundreds or thousands of academic journals for submission of manuscripts. However, Harrisco’s team of experts are PhD professionals who themselves have a track record of publication in international journals.

After carefully reviewing the content of the manuscript, they will provide names of three journals that are most suitable for publication. Journal impact factor, scope and aims of the journal, publishing model, type of manuscript, etc. are some factors considered for journal selection. Most researchers in Asia intend to publish their work in high impact factor SCI (Science Citation Index) journals. They receive research grants only after publishing in high impact journals.

The next most popular service of publication support is plagiarism check. Harrisco has a sophisticated software named CopyKiller to check the content of academic papers. Most journal editors reject a paper outright if it has plagiarized content. The content must be original and all plagiarised sentences need to rewritten in different words.

Researchers can’t just cite related works in their research paper and offer plagiarised content. The findings of related studies have to be presented in own words. Scientific editors of Harrisco provide rewriting services to researchers caught in plagiarism issues. Other important services of publication support include manuscript formatting and figure formatting.

Harrisco’s editors are well versed in several journal style guides, such as the AMA Manual of Style, The Chicago Manual of Style, or the APA Manual of Style. Most biomedical journal editors expect papers to be formatted as per the AMA Manual of Style. The title, page layout, font size, references, citations, etc. are all formatted according to a prescribed style guide or journal’s formatting guidelines displayed on the website.

Figure formatting is done by scientific illustrators who are well versed with the complex figure formatting guidelines of the journal. These rules are used for formatting figures and tables in the manuscript. Cover letter development is usually the sought after service of novice researchers who have never submitted a cover letter earlier to a journal. Manuscript preparation is a daunting task for most Asian researchers, so publication support services of Harrisco are availed by many researchers of Asia.

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