52

Motivation: Why Teaching

Technical/Scientific Editing ?

In industry, as well as in the academia,

written reports and multimedia
presentations are the most important
means of informing other people about
your work.
Good work that is reported badly may
be misunderstood, or simply ignored.
53

1
 Technical/Scientific Editing

Every supervisor in the industry and

academia has strong views on what
constitutes a well-written report, and each
is different.
Therefore you should expect to get
conflicting advice on this subject, and you
should be prepared to change your style to
meet different requirements.
54

Scientific Journals
Biomedical Engineering is a young
discipline, developing very rapidly

New scientific knowledge is

added every day!

The frontier and state-of-the-

art knowledge can therefore
be found in Scientific Journals
rather than in textbooks 55

2
 Scientific Journal Reports
for these reasons, the introductory lectures of
this course are concerned with
-reviewing the structure of a scientific article
-searching for information in journal articles
the standard article structure will be
discussed as a model for scientific writing
the acquired skills are expected to be useful while
writing the final project of this course as well as while
submitting literature survey reports, laboratory reports
and other technical reports during the course of study
56

The Peer Review Process

Aimed to ensure the quality of Research Journal Articles
Each manuscript that is submitted for publication is sent by
the editor to at least two expert reviewers, for evaluation
The reviewers submit a written report to the editor
generally referring to the the following questions:
Is the paper important?
Will the paper add enough to existing knowledge?
Does the paper read well and make sense?
Based on these reports, the editor should decide
whether to accept the manuscript for publication
57

3
 The Peer Review Process (cont.)
NOTICE THAT MOST INTERNET JOURNALS AND
REPORTS DO NOT FOLLOW A PEER REVIEW POLICY

THEREFORE, A SCIENTIFIC REPORT SHOULD BE

BASED ON JOURNAL ARTICLES THAT WERE
EVALUATED IN A PEER REVIEW PROCESS RATHER
THAN ON INTERNET PUBLICATIONS
58

Report Sections
Standard Structure of Scientific and Technical Reports
Title Page
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
METHODS (or APPARATUS or PROCEDURE)
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
CONCLUSIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS (Optional)
REFERENCES
Appendices (Optional) 59

4
 Example: Title
Short Abstract
Published in the
Proceedings of Introduction
an International
Scientific
Conference
Methods

Results and
Discussion

Conclusion

References
60

Report Sections (cont.)

Reports will be expected to contain a title page,

abstract, introduction, methods or experimental
apparatus and procedure, results, discussion,
conclusions and recommendations, references
and appendices sections

You do not have to use these

particular headings and, in fact, you
are encouraged to be more creative
61

5
 ABSTRACT
Identifies the purpose and main features
of the report
States the main conclusion(s) quantitatively
May state recommendations
Is written in non-technical language
Is brief
Should be written last
NOTE:
It is not usual to use I , we or you in any part of
a report. Use passive voice instead
62

INTRODUCTION
Generally consists of three parts
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
start the paper with general statements defining the
field and problem to explain what you are talking about
SCOPE
state the focus of your work within the general field
described above, detailing what has been done so far,
with reference to the up-to-date literature
state explicitly what was NOT done, or done
improperly, in the previous literature, that justifies the
present work
OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENT WORK
list the specific goals of your work 63

6
 METHODS

Examples of what should be included:

schematic diagram of equipment.
list of all chemicals/drugs/medications
used and approximate quantities.
a table of experimental conditions.
a step-by-step procedure that someone
else can follow.

64

RESULTS

presents the evidence

results of tests, facts as compared to arguments,
details, data.
summarizing figures or tables should
appear in here.
can be written in different orders, e.g.
- chronological order
- subject order

65

7
 DISCUSSION
The results should be presented and
explained clearly.
Do not assume that the reader is going to
analyze your results: YOU must do that.
Explain the results: why are they as they
are; is there agreement between theory and
practice (if not why not, can the theory be
modified to work better); what could be
done differently; what other experiments
need to be done (why) ?
66

CONCLUSIONS

re-state the major conclusions drawn in

the Discussion
should be given in order of
importance (most important first)
should NOT be supported by any new
information (at this stage)

67

8
 RECOMMENDATIONS

should be strong and convincing

again, there should be nothing new in

this section; like the conclusions, the
recommendations are a summary of
points in the main part of the report.

68

OTHER PARTS (if needed)

Title Page
Table(s) of Contents (not necessary here)
References
Appendices

69

9
 REFERENCES

Why Referencing ?
fulfils your moral obligation to give credit
where credit is due
tells reader who was the originator of an
idea or expression
tells reader where the cited works can be
found (for retrieving more information)

70

REFERENCES (cont.)
What Needs Referencing ?
direct quotations of someone else's words
paraphrases of someone else's words
ideas derived from someone else
research data and theories, if not widely
known and very generally used (e.g. Newton
Laws)
illustrations (tables, graphs, etc.) taken from
other sources
NOT general information / common knowledge
71

10
 REFERENCES (cont.)
How to Reference ?

Use "Author - Date" system

In "References" or "Works Cited" section:

list all works cited (and only works cited)
alphabetically by last name of the first
author

72

References: Examples

73

11
 References: Examples (cont.)
In text of document:
The rise of the human foot s arch may affect its shock
absorption capacity (Saltzman and Nawoczenski, 1995).

Smith et al. (1999) has pointed out that ...

According to NIH projections (NIH Annual Report, 1999),

...

Many texts on technical writing provide examples of

proper documentation (see, for example, Hirsch, 2000)

74

REFERENCES (cont.)

Failure to Cite Literature

Reports using Appropriate
Referencing is PLAGIARISM

75

12
 FIGURES

Should be numbered sequentially from the

beginning of the report, e.g., Fig. 1: A
Schematic Diagram of the Experimental
Apparatus .
Must be referenced in the text of the report:
The force plate and related equipment used
in this lab are shown schematically in Fig. 1.
Do not fit excel trend-lines to measured data
points unless for a specific purpose.
76

FIGURES (cont.)

Should be located close to (but always

after) the point where they are discussed in
the text of the report.
The title of a figure should appear BELOW
the figure describe the figure clearly. Fig. 3:
Temperature versus time is inadequate.
All axis must be labeled clearly, including
units.

77

13
 Example Figures

78

TABLES

Should be numbered sequentially from

the beginning of the report: Table 1:
The Conditions of Each Experiment .

Must be referenced in the text of the

report: The experiments conducted
here included a range of temperatures
and flow rates. See Table 1 for the
details.
79

14
 TABLES (cont.)

Should be located close to (but always

after) the point where they are
discussed in the text of the report (as
with Figures).

The title of a table should appear

ABOVE the table and describe the table
clearly. All columns and rows must be
labeled clearly, including units.
80

Example Table

81

15
 Literature for Improving Writing and Editing Skills
Exact Science and Engineering Library, Tel Aviv University

I. Bly, R.W., and Blake, G., Elements of Technical

Writing, Pearson Higher Education, 2000; ISBN:
0020130856.

II. Hirsch, H.L., The Essence of Technical

Communication for Engineers: Writing,
Presentation, and Meeting Skills, IEEE, 2000;
ISBN: 0780347382.

III. Zeleznik, J.M., Benson, P., and Burnett, R.E., 2000,

Technical Writing : What It Is & How to Do It,
Learning Express, 2000; ISBN: 1576852679.
82

83

16
 84

What is MEDLINE ?

MEDLINE is a database service managed by the

US National Library of Medicine (NLM).
It provides access to over 11 million medical,
life science and biomedical journal article
citations, back to the mid-1960's.
More than 4000 different journals are indexed.
The service includes links to many sites
providing full text articles and other related
resources.
85

17
 How to Access MEDLINE ?

MEDLINE can be accessed freely through the

World Wide Web, for example, via

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
http://research.bmn.com/medline

86

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

87

18
 How to Search MEDLINE ?

MEDLINE searching is easy, just enter

search terms in the query box, and press
the Enter Go or click Go.

You may enter one or more terms (e.g., vitamin c common

cold) in the query box and MEDLINE automatically
combines (ANDs) significant terms together.
The terms are searched in various fields of the citation.

88

How to Search MEDLINE ?

Search Results

Article Title
Authors

Year, Volume, Issue & Page No.

Journal Title

89

19
 How to Search MEDLINE ? (cont.)
How to search for Author Names ? enter the name in the format
of last name plus initials (no punctuation), e.g., smith ja, jones k. A
name entered using this format will search in the author field.

90

How to Search MEDLINE ? (cont.)

How to limit your search ? Click Limits from the Features bar to
limit your search to specific age group, gender, or human or animal
studies. Limits also allows you to restrict to publications in a specific
language, and to specific types of articles such as review articles.

91

20
 How to Search MEDLINE ? (cont.)
Note:
If you select a limit and either run a search or move to
another screen, a check will appear in a box next to Limits on
the Features bar to indicate that limits have been selected.

Tip: you may limit your search to REVIEW articles for obtaining
a more general survey on the issue under investigation

To turn off the limits before you run your next search,
click on the box to remove the check.
92

How to Search MEDLINE ? (cont.)

Note:
The search instructions found at
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query
/static/help/pmhelp.html#Index
are pretty helpful and are a very good place to
start experiencing with MEDLINE.

93

21
 How to Search MEDLINE ? (cont.)

Homework Assignment
The assignment will not only familiarize you with
MEDLINE - a very important tool at your disposal -
but is also intended to develop some skills of
digging in the libraries.
You will need the experience acquired during
preparation of this assignment when carrying out
your final project in this course.

94

Science Citation
Science Citation Index is another important scientific database.
It allows to count how many times was a specific journal article
(published after 1988) cited by later articles, in order to evaluate its
importance and impact.
http://wos.isiglobalnet.com/

95

22
 96

The Visible Human Project has its roots in a 1986 long-range

planning effort of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It
foresaw a coming era where NLM's database services would be
complemented by libraries of digital images, accessible via
high speed computer networks

OBJECTIVE
Development of a digital database of
medical cross-sectional (2D) and three-
dimensional (3D) images of the female and
male human bodies, for applications in
clinical medicine and biomedical research
97

23
 The Visible Human Project of the US NLM is the creation of
complete, anatomically detailed, three-dimensional
representations of the normal male and female human bodies.

Acquisition of transverse CT, MR and cryosection images of

representative male and female cadavers has been
completed.
The male was sectioned at one millimeter intervals, the
female at one-third of a millimeter intervals.
Details on this project could be found at:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html
http://www.madsci.org/~lynn/VH/tour.html
98

CT of the Head

MRI of the Knees

Cryosection of the Head

99

24
 Planes of Section

Transverse (X-Y) Coronal (X-Z) Sagittal (Y-Z)

100

How the sections were made...

The original setions were cut in the transverse plane.
The body was frozen to preserve the tissues and organs.
Sections were 'shaved' off the frozen block in micro-thin layers to
expose underlying tissues.
A picture was taken and another thin layer was removed to expose
more of the body.
The process of cutting through one plane obviously ruins the
possibility of obtaining sections in the other two planes (coronal
and sagittal in this case).
The digital information from the transverse images was thus
processed by computational methods to create a 3D matrix of the
body from which coronal and sagittal sections could be generated.
101

25
 These coronal (bottom) and sagittal
(right) animations go through the entire
body. These coronal and sagittal
images were produced using
computational image reconstruction

102

3D skull
Reconstructions

skin surface

thorax

pelvis
colon
103

26
 On-Line Visible
Human Viewers

104

Some recommended
On-Line Visible Human Viewers
can be found at
http://www.dhpc.adelaide.edu.au/projects/vishuman2/
http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/MedEd/GrossAnatomy/
vhp/Visible.htm
http://www.dal.qut.edu.au/cgi-bin/manscan.pl
http://vhp.med.umich.edu/RegionalB.html

see
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/applications.html
for additional viewers and browsers 105

27
 106

Motivation: Why Teaching

Efficient WWW Data Search ?

The wealth of scientific information and

academic knowledge accessible via the
Web is virtually limitless.
Getting to it, however, is proving more
complicated and time-consuming by
the day.

107

28
 SEARCH ENGINES

A program that searches documents for

specified keywords and returns a list of the
documents where the keywords were found.
Although search engine is really a general class of
programs, the term is often used to specifically
describe systems like Alta Vista and Google that
enable users to search for documents on the
World Wide Web.

108

SEARCH ENGINES (cont.)

Typically, a search engine works by sending out a

spider to fetch as many documents as possible.
Another program, called an indexer, then reads
these documents and creates an index based on
the words contained in each document.
Each search engine uses a proprietary algorithm
to create its indices such that ideally, only
meaningful results are returned for each query.
109

29
 SEARCH ENGINES (cont.): GOOGLE

http://www.google.com

highly recommended due to its efficient indexing

and relevance classification algorithms which
search the keywords by their context (and not
necessarily by their prevalence of appearance)
110

SEARCH ENGINES (cont.): ALTA VISTA

http://www.altavista.com/

extremely rich indices and versatile, high option

abilities for advanced search & search limitations
111

30
 How to search for Multimedia Resources ?
Digital Images, Digital Videos, Digital Sound

Example: Alta Vista

use the advanced
image/video/audio
search options

112

SEARCH ENGINES (cont.): others

YAHOO http://www.yahoo.com/
EXCITE http://www.excite.com/
LYCOS http://www.lycos.com/
MSN http://www.msn.com/
HOT BOT http://hotbot.lycos.com/
WEBCRAWLER http://www.webcrawler.com/
ASK JEEVES http://www.askjeeves.com/

try using different search engines to explore their

sensitivity to terms in specific field or discipline
113

31
 SPECIALIZED SEARCH ENGINES
SCIRUS - limited for scientific information only!
http://www.scirus.com/?c

covers MEDLINE, many medical information

web site, university web sites etc.
114

SPECIALIZED SEARCH ENGINES

MEDWEB - limited for medical information only!
http://WWW.MedWeb.Emory.Edu/MedWeb/

MedWeb is a catalog of biomedical and health related web sites

maintained by the staff of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center
Library at Emory University 115

32
 Technical information and specifications can
also be found in the manufacturer s web site
For example, comprehensive reviews on Medical Imaging
Technology can be found at the web site of Philips Medical,
one of the major manufacturers of this equipment
http://www.medical.philips.com/news/publications
/medica_mundi/index.asp

* Note that the information provided by sources of this type may

sometimes be diverted due to commercial interests 116

117

33
 Final Project
The final project involves writing a chapter for an electronic
textbook on biomedical engineering.
Each chapter will be written by a group of two to three
students, and will be based on a specialized area of
biomedical engineering or one of the body's systems or
senses.
Projects will be written as Word Documents and/or
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and will contain links
to images (or movies, and even sound, if appropriate).
Reports may be submitted in Hebrew or English, and
are limited to 15 pages maximum.
BEST PROJECTS WILL BE PRESENTED
IN THE COURSE WEB SITE ! 118

Specific instructions will be

distributed in class

119

34