The key is to prepare your paper in the sequence that a storyteller would It is the first step in crafting a story. This seems counterintuitive, but it works. Instead, start with the answer, figure out what the question should have been, and build on that. If you try to fit the answer to the question, you risk ending up with a compendium of results that is less cohesive than it could be. What does gene w do? How does cell x develop? Can method y help us understand disease z? At some point, you feel that you have gained enough insight to begin writing a paper – but more often than not, the data don’t provide an answer to the precise question you began with. You likely began your study with a question in mind. So if not with the figures, where should you start? With the plot. I have no nostalgia for those cumbersome methods – but they did help make sure that thought preceded action. Back in the day, when micrographs were generated with an enlarger and graphs with Letraset, it was necessary to have a definitive plan before starting to print and draw. The 'figure first' strategy is a product of Photoshop and Illustrator. It makes me feel bad to think about the wasted time and effort.ĭon’t think I’m trying to overturn long-held dogma. As we go through draft after draft, panels are often added, removed or altered – and always rearranged. In my lab, and despite my pleas, people often bring me excellent figures along with fragments of text or no text at all. Then write the text and revise it a few times before arranging and polishing the figures. A simple expedient is to collect rough versions of panels with minimal editing on a digital bulletin board – PowerPoint slides work well. This is not to say that you should ignore your data at this stage: you absolutely need to know what you have and don’t have before you write. But all this is a displacement activity (definition: an unnecessary activity that you do because you are trying to delay doing a more difficult or unpleasant activity). After a day of cropping micrographs, adjusting font sizes, and arranging the panels in perfect rectangles, you feel like you’ve gotten something done. It is easier and more fun to make figures than to think or write. That said, I do understand why it has become common practice to prepare figures before writing the text. Take operas for example: even though they are all about the music, the libretto is usually written before the score. Starting with the text is not as strange as it might seem. Maybe the histogram could go under the micrograph In this article I will explain why I think it is better to reverse this sequence. It is therefore no surprise that authors often begin by preparing the figures, then move on to Results, and save the Introduction for near the end. The three most important parts of a paper are the figures, the Results and the Introduction, probably in that order. I think that the key is to prepare your paper in the sequence that a storyteller would. Nonetheless, it can be done and done well. Second, we have to deal with restrictive formats, such as length limits, figure limits, and mandated order of sections. First, we have to tell the truth, a restriction story-tellers do not face. Aside from the fact that few scientists are trained in writing, there are two major problems. Of course, scientific story telling is not easy. Scientists can take advantage of this basic human desire by incorporating elements of storytelling when they prepare articles for submission to scientific journals: articles that tell a story will be better understood by and have a greater impact on readers. Well, we’re big boys and girls now, but we still love stories. From time to time, you probably asked a parent to tell you a story or read you a storybook. 17, 153–160 (1980).Think back to when you were a little girl or boy, going on a long drive or getting ready for bed. in Pulmonary Emphysema and Proteolysis (ed. Genet., Paris (eds de Grouchy, J., Ebling, F. in Statistical Methods for Research Workers, 78–97 (Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, (1944).
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