Senin, 16 April 2012

DEVELOPING SCIENTIFIC PAPER


A.    Introduction
Scientific paper is one of the important thing. As a lecturer or another profession must be familiar with scientific paper. They must know what is the definition of scientific paper and what must be include in scientific paper. In this paper, we will learn ore about the scientific paper, the component in scientific paper, and so on.
B.     Content
1.      Definition of Scientific Paper
The scientific paper is a written and published report describing original research results.
The scientific paper, even though meeting all the tests of good writing, is not validly published if it is published in the wrong place. Scientific papers should be reviewed by scientific peers and published in a primary journal. Most governmental reports and conference literature do not qualify as primary literature.
The Council of Biology Editors (CBE) supports the following definition :
"An acceptable primary scientific publication must be the first disclosure containing sufficient information to enable peers to 1) assess observations, 2) repeat experiments, and 3) to evaluate intellectual processes; moreover, it must be susceptible to sensory perception, essentially permanent, available to the scientific community without restriction, and available for regular screening by one or more of the major recognized secondary services (e.g., currently Biological Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts, Index Medicus, Excerpta Medica, Bibliography of Agriculture, etc., in the United States and similar facilities in other countries". (http://bioweb.wku.edu/courses/biol398/paper/papertext.html).
We can write the definition of the scientific paper as a point :
§  The first publication of original research results
§  In a form whereby peers of the author can repeat the experiments and test the conclusions
§  In a journal or other source document readily available in the scientific community
Some types of journal content other than scientific papers are :
§  Review articles (summarize the literature on a topic)
§  Case reports
§  Editorials
§  Book reviews
§  Essays
§  Letters to the editor
2.      Component of Scientific Paper
In writing scientific paper, there are two polar that have strong influence. There are theories or references and the fact or data. Both of them is very important thing that needed in writing scientific paper. The references/ theories can be found on some books, journals, and another resources. Then, the fact/ data can be found by doing observation to collect more data that support the problem in the scientific paper. In collecting data we must consider about the meaning or the purpose of the observation, then the activity that include in observation, the procedures, context, relationship between the object in the observation and the last is about the pattern.  We also must consider about the normative term that must be there. There are :
a.       Ideology
b.      Philosophy
c.       Paradigm
d.      Theories
e.       Notions
f.       Rules
      Writing an effective scientific paper is not easy. A good rule of thumb is to write as if your paper will be read by a person who knows about the field in general but does not already know what you did. Before you write a scientific paper read some scientific papers that have been written in the format of the paper you plan to use. In addition to the science, pay attention to the writing style and format.
Each scientific paper should have, in order, its Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Literature Cited Sections. Any other order presents potential problems for the reader and probably the writer. GOOD ORGANIZATION IS THE KEY TO GOOD WRITING. An effective way to proceed in writing a scientific paper is to answer the following four questions :
1.   What is the problem? Your answer is the Introduction.
2.   How did you study the problem? Your answer is the Materials and Methods.
3.   What did you find? Your answer is the Results.
4.   What do these findings mean? Your answer is the Discussion.
     We can remember it by using IMRAD format for scientific paper :
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
The format of the paper are :
a.   Title
        The title of the paper is the most often encountered part of any paper and therefore has great importance in the success of the paper. Thousands of readers will scan the title but never read the abstract or paper itself. Abstracting and Indexing services will also utilize the title, therefore, all words in the title should be chosen with great care and their association with other words in the title carefully managed. What is a good title? The fewest possible words that adequately describe the contents of the paper. How long should the title be? Most titles are unnecessarily too long. Many journals now limit title submissions to 10 to 12 words. Consequently it becomes necessary to employ effective syntax (word order) and avoid waste words such as "Investigations on" and "Observations on" in titles. "Isolation of antigens from monkeys using complement-fixation techniques", is an example of syntax error which implies monkey capabilities which the content of the paper does not address. The title should be a label and not a sentence.
b.   Authorships
        Authorships should include only those who actively contributed to the overall design and execution of the experiments. Authors should be listed in order of importance to the experiments with the most important being the first or senior author, followed in order by the next most significant contributors to the project. The sequencing of authors on a published paper should be decided, unanimously, before the research is started. How many collaborators should be considered authors? Only those who contributed "substantially" to the work.
c.    Abstract
An abstract is a succinct (one paragraph) summary of the entire paper. The abstract should briefly describe the question posed in the paper, the methods used to answer this question the results obtained, and the conclusions. It should be possible to determine the major points of a paper by reading the abstract. Although it is located at the beginning of the paper, it is easiest to write the abstract after the paper is completed.
d.   Introduction
        The purpose of the introduction should be to supply sufficient background information to allow the reader to understand and evaluate the concept of the present study, provide the rationale of the study, and introduce the most outstanding conclusions as objectives or purposes of the study. The introduction should a) present the nature and scope of the problem studies, b) review the pertinent literature pertaining to the problem, c) state the general method of the investigation, and d) state the major observations of the study. As a general rule, most authors develop and write the introduction and abstract as the last sections of the paper.
e.    Methods and Materials
        The general statement having been made in the introduction, this section requires the full details of methodology be given. Sufficient detail must be provided to allow any competent investigator to repeat the experiments with equal likelihood of obtaining similar results. Sound scientific reports must be reproducable, consequently methods and materials sections are extremely important to the credibility of the work. Specific sources, qualities, and capabilities of reagents must be presented. Precise descriptions of quantities used, measurements required, and temperatures observed likewise must be given. Pertinent references where applicable should be provided.
f.    Results
        The result section is referred to as the "core" of the paper. The purpose of the result section is to provide the data resulting from application of the methods described earlier. Should data be generated from different methodologies, then they should be presented according to the experimentation design that yielded them. The greatest problem in putting information into the result section for publication is the decision as to which data are representative and should be included and which data are repetitive and have no value. The compulsion to include everything, leaving nothing out, does not prove that one has unlimited information; it proves that one lacks discrimination. The fool collects facts; the wise person selects them. Statistics used to analyze and treat data should be meaningful and presented responsibly.
g.   Discussion
The purpose of the discussion is more difficult to define than the other sections. As a result~ it is usually the hardest section to write. Likewise, many papers are not accepted for publication because of inadequate discussion preparation. Most discussions tend to be too long for their intended purpose or for the available results. Unfortunately the "squid" technique prevails and the author, not knowing what to say about the results, hides behind a protective cloud of ink. The discussion should attempt to :
1.)       present the principles, relationships and generalizations shown by the results. It should discuss, not reformulate the results.
2.)       point out any exceptions or lack of correlation and define any unsettled points.
3.)       show how your results and interpretations agree or disagree with previously published works.
4.)       discuss any theoretical implications or practical applications of the results.
5.)       reaffirm the major conclusions or findings as clearly as possible.
6.)       summarize the evidence of the study for each conclusion.
C.    Conclusion
Writing scientific paper is not easy. We must consider about the key to good writing. They are called IMRAD : Introduction, Method and Material, Results, and Discussion. All of the component must be there. So, we must try to write scientific paper because scientific paper has benefit to us.


Sources :
3.      http://www.google.co.id/#hl=id&q=definition+of+scientific+paper&oq=definition+of+scientific+paper

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