Research Paper

Types of Cohort Studies

Prospective cohort study: Concurrent cohort
study or longitudinal study
Retrospective cohort study: Non-concurrent
cohort or historical cohort study

Differentiating between Prospective and

Retrospective
Prospective cohort study
Investigator Starts the study (from the beginning)
with the identification of the population and the
exposure status (exposed/not exposed groups)
Follows them (over time) for the development of
disease
Takes a relatively long time to complete the study
(as long as the length of the study)

Differentiating between Prospective and

Retrospective
Retrospective cohort study
Investigator Uses existing data collected in the past to
identify the population and the exposure status
(exposed/not exposed groups)
Determines at present the (development) status of disease
Investigator spends a relatively short time to: Assemble
study population (and the exposed/not exposed groups)
from past data
Determine disease status at the present time (no future
follow-up)

Combined Prospective and Retrospective Cohort Study

Investigator uses existing data collected in the past to:

Identify the population and the exposure status (exposed/not
exposed groups)
Follow them into the future for the development of the disease
Investigator Spends a relatively short time to assemble study
population (and the exposed/not exposed groups) from past
data
Will spend additional time following them into the future for
the development of disease

Structure of a Scientific Research

paper

Structure of a scientific paper

A scientific paper is a written report describing
original research results.
A scientific paper should have, in proper order,
a Title, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and
Methods, Results, Discussion and References.

Title
A title should be the fewest possible words that
accurately describe the content of the paper.
Omit all waste words such as "A study of ...",
"Investigations of ...", "Observations on ...", etc.
If the study is of a particular species, name it in
the title.
If the inferences made in the paper are limited to
a particular region, then name the region in the
title.

Authors

Names
Adam H. Ahmad
Affiliation
Corresponding author

Abstract
A well prepared abstract should enable the reader to
identify the basic content of a document quickly and
accurately, to determine its relevance to their interests, and
thus to decide whether to read the document in its entirety.
The abstract should concisely state the principal
objectives and scope of the investigation where these are
not obvious from the title.
More importantly, it should concisely summarize the
results and principal conclusions.
The abstract must be concise, not exceeding 250 words.

Keyword
Up to 6 words

Introduction
The Introduction should begin by introducing
the reader to the literature.
A common mistake is to introduce authors and
their areas of study in general terms without
mention of their major findings.
The introduction can finish with the statement
of objectives or, as some people prefer, with a
brief statement of the principal findings.

Materials and methods

The main purpose of the Materials and Methods section is to
provide enough detail for a competent worker to repeat your
study and reproduce the results.
The scientific method requires your results be reproducible,
and you must provide a basis for repetition of the study by
others.
Often in field-based studies, there is a need to describe the
study area in greater detail than is possible in the Introduction.
Usually authors will describe the study region in general terms
in the Introduction and then describe the study site and climate
in detail in the Materials and Methods section.

 Equipment and materials available should be

described exactly
Sources of materials should be given if there is
variation in quality among supplies.
Modifications to equipment or equipment
constructed specifically for the study should be
carefully described in detail.
The method used to prepare reagents and stains
should be stated exactly, though often reference
to standard recipes in other works will suffice.

 The usual order of presentation of methods is

chronological
However related methods may need to be described
together and strict chronological order cannot
always be followed.
If your methods are new (unpublished), you must
provide all of the detail required to repeat the
methods.
However, if a method has been previously
published in a standard journal, only the name of
the method and a literature reference need be given.

 Be precise in describing measurements and

include errors of measurement.
Ordinary statistical methods should be used
without comment; advanced or unusual
methods may require a literature citation.

Results
In the results section present your findings.
It is important that your findings be clearly and simply
stated.
The results should be short and sweet, without verbiage.
Do not say "It is clearly evident from Fig. 1 that bird species
richness increased with habitat complexity".
Say instead
"Bird species richness increased with habitat complexity
(Fig. 1)".
Combine the use of text, tables and figures to condense data
and highlight trends.

Discussion
In the discussion you should discuss the results.
How do your findings compare to the findings of others or
to expectations based on previous work?
Are there any theoretical/practical implications of your
work?
Continually refer to your results (but do not repeat them).
Be sure to address the objectives of the study in the
discussion and to discuss the significance of the results.
Don't leave the reader thinking "So what?".
End the discussion with a short summary or conclusion
regarding the significance of the work.

Acknowledgement

References
Whenever you draw upon information contained in
another paper, you must acknowledge the source.
All references to the literature must be followed
immediately by an indication of the source of the
information that is referenced.
"A drop in dissolved oxygen under similar conditions
has been demonstrated before (Norris, l986)."
"Williams (1921) was the first to report this
phenomenon."
". . . as discussed in detail by Ramsay (1983)."

 If two authors are involved, include both surnames,

"The dune lakes of Jervis Bay are not perched in the
generally accepted sense (Smith and Jones l964).",
However if more than two authors are involved, you are
encouraged to make use of the et al. convention. It is an
abbreviation of Latin meaning "and others".
"The significance of changes in egg contents during
development is poorly understood (Webb et al., 1986)."
"Williams et al. (1921) were the first to report this
phenomenon."
Do not use the et al. abbreviation in the reference list at
the end of the paper.

 If two or more articles written by the same author in the same

year are cited, then distinguish between them using the suffixes
a, b, c etc in both the text and the reference list (e.g. Smith and
Jones, 1982b).
A list of references ordered alphabetically on author's surname,
must be provided at the end of your paper. The reference list
should contain all references cited in the text but no more.
Include with each reference details of the author, year of
publication, title of article, name of journal or book, volume and
page numbers.
Formats vary from journal to journal, so when you are
preparing a scientific paper for an assignment, choose a journal
in your field of interest and follow its format for the reference
list.

Examples:
Ogunseitan OA (1998). Protein method for investigating
mercuric reductase gene expression in aquatic environments.
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:695702.
Gueye M, Ndoye I, Dianda M, Danso SKA, Dreyfus B (1997).
Active N2 fixation in several Faidherbia albida provenances.
Ar. Soil Res. Rehabil. 11:63-70.

Tables and Figures

Tables and figures should be used when they are a
more efficient way to convey information than a
written description.
Tables and figures must be accompanied by
explanatory captions that allow them to be
understood by someone who has not read the text.
Information in the tables and figures should not
be repeated in the text, but do cite the tables and
figures, with a summary statement when that is
appropriate.

General formatting information

1) Use a standard font like Times New Roman, size 12.
2) Use 1.5 line spacing for text
3) Cite each figure and table in the text in numerical order. For
example, Fig. 5 or Figs. 8, 9.
4) Italicize Latin words
5) Give the Latin name for species in parentheses after the
common name.
6) Abbreviations should be defined the first time they are used in
the text
7) Uppercase should be typed without periods (USA, UK);
lowercase with periods (u.v.)

 8) Use s.e.m. and s.d. for standard error and standard

deviation.
9) Whole numbers less than 10 are spelled (one frog, two
seeds, etc.) Use the numerical symbol for numbers larger
than nine (10, 11, etc.). All decimals are expressed with
numerical symbols. Do not start a sentence with a
numerical symbol.
10) Table captions appear above the table, figure captions
below the figure.
11) Do not use vertical lines in tables.
12) Make use of the spell check and grammar check
features of your word processing software before
submitting your paper.

Case reports

Critical Elements

Title
Introduction/Background
Case
(Literature Review)
Discussion
(Conclusion)
References
Abstract

 Introduction
Summarize your case report in a sentence.
Mention how rare this condition is, and why
your case report is important

Case report
The general approach is to describe the history,
examination findings, investigations and
treatment in that order, without the headings.
Avoid any unnecessary details, and only
mention the important positive and negative
findings from each part of the clinical
assessment.
Try and include one or two images to keep the
reader engaged.

Discussion
Explain why your particular case is important,
and of interest to the reader.
Describe what has already been reported about
your topic, and what the main hypotheses and
theories are that explain the clinical findings.
Remember that reviewers will be looking for
evidence that your case is rare.
Finally, describe in detail the message that you
are conveying through your report.

 Summary points
Some journals will ask for a brief conclusion, or
summary of learning points
Abstract and references
It is often easier to write the abstract once you
have completed the main body of text.
References should be listed in the style requested
by the journal

Order of Your Writings

Case
References
Introduction/background
Discussion
Abstract
Title

Review article

What is a review article

A critical, constructive analysis of the
literature in a specific field through summary,
classification, analysis, comparison.
A scientific text relying on previously
published literature or data.
New data from the authors experiments are
not presented (with exceptions: some reviews
contain new data).

General points
Try to make your research paper an integrated synthesis of
the literature, rather than a jumbled regurgitation of facts.
Start out with a clear idea of the question you are trying to
answer in the paper.
Take notes, including full citations (authors' names, journal,
date and page number) from each paper as you read it.
Outline your paper before setting pen to paper for anything
else!
Use the draft system: Write a first draft. Leave it for a day or
two. Come back to it and revise it as much as you can, then
let someone read it.

 When writing a review paper your job is to

present what is known about a specific topic
and to synthesize all the unconnected threads
of the individual studies into an integrated
"State of the Science" type of review.
Your review paper should have the following
sections:
Title, Abstract, Introduction, body, Conclusion,
Acknowledgements and Literature Cited

 Body: In this portion of your paper you will outline the

background for your idea and begin to synthesize ideas from
the papers you've read.
Cover one idea, aspect or topic per paragraph.
Avoid referring to only one study per paragraph; consider
several studies per paragraph instead.

Preparing a review article in 18 steps

Stage: Prepare
1. Narrow the topic, define a few research
questions or hypotheses
2. Search for literature sources, refine topic and
research questions during the search*
3. Read, evaluate, classify and make notes
4. Redefine the focus and the research questions,
define the take-home message
5. Compose a preliminary title

 Stage: Develop structure

6. Find a structuring principle for the article (e.g.
chronological, subject matter, experimental
procedure)
7. Prepare an outline, find headings for the
sections in the text body
8. Plan the content of each paragraph in the
different sections
9. Prepare tables, concept maps, figures

Stage: Write draft

10. Draft the methods section (if needed)
11. Draft the body sections
12. Draft the conclusions
13. Draft the introduction
14. Draft the abstract

 Stage: Revise
15. Revise drafts of different sections, abstract
& title, tables, figures & legends
16. Revise citations and references
17. Correct grammar, spelling, punctuation
18. Adjust the layout

 Nature Reviews Genetics*

Nature Reviews Microbiology*
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology*

Submitting Research Paper

 Co-authors should all give feedback on

manuscript before submission
Decide on authorship up front: First author: does
most work, listed first 2nd, 3rd, etc authors:
listed in order of contribution.
Must have made meaningful contribution to one
component of work and know who is responsible
for other components.
Senior author: listed last; often invistigator of the
whole thing

 Need to designate a corresponding author

(i.e. contact person). Usually 1st or senior
author.
Involve co-authors and be specific about what
you need from them
Do not submit paper or case for publication or
presentation without final approval of all
authors

Which type of paper I will chose

for my study