Anatomy of a research paper

Respir Care. 2004 Oct;49(10):1222-8.

Abstract

Writing, editing, and publishing the paper is the last step in the research process. The paper tells the story of the project from inception, through the data-collection process, statistical analysis, and discussion of the results. Novice authors often struggle with writing and often find themselves with either nothing on paper or a weighty version of random thoughts. The process of writing the paper should be analogous to the research process. This article describes and provides a template for the essential sections and features of a scientific report (structured abstract, introduction, hypothesis, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions), describes authorship guidelines that have been established by professional societies, and discusses the importance of adequate and correct references.

MeSH terms

  • Abstracting and Indexing
  • Authorship
  • Biomedical Research*
  • Humans
  • Peer Review, Research
  • Writing* / standards