Biology

In any academic and research scientific work, publications are essential. It is therefore important for any scientist to be aware of the basic element of an effective scientific research paper.

This paper is to discus the basic elements of a scientific research paper.

Before a scientist starts writing a research paper, it is important to first decide to which journal he or she intends to submit the paper. This decision will depend on the probability of the paper being accepted in the journal and how the journal will impact on the paper. The journal chosen also depends on the publication lag and the intended audience. The choice of the journal is followed by an inquiry in order to familiarize with the instruction for authors for the particular journal to ensure that the paper is not rejected.

Although the element of a research paper may differ from one journal to another, there are some similarities in most of the elements of the paper. All scientific research paper must have a title which should be kept as short as possible. The title should clearly depict the continent of the paper. The paper should have a short abstract (100 to 200 words) which summarizes all aspect of the paper. The abstract should give the major objectives, methodology, results and inferences. The abstract should not be detailed and aims at attracting the attention of the reader to read the paper. The best abstracts are written last after the paper is complete.

An effective scientific research paper needs to have an introduction which summarizes what the reader need to know about previous researches in order to have an idea of what the paper is all about. In many cases, writing the introduction is the most difficult part of the paper because the explanation of the subject matter may not attract the reader or it may explain the content very clearly leaving no suspense to enable the reader find out what you did in the your research work. The introduction should be followed by the research method used and can justify the choice of the techniques where necessary. The most important part of the paper is the results and discussions. The results should be presented as simply as it is practically possible and only the relevant results should be included. Use of statistical techniques such as graphs and figures make the interpretation easier. In many cases, a reader will first read the abstract of the paper followed by the introduction and then move to the results and discussion. The reader develops an expectation on the results and discussion section before they look at them. It is therefore important for the discussion to start by analyzing the major findings of the research and interpret them based on the introduction. The conclusion should also be based on the introduction and the results. The quality paper should have a list of work cited, tables as specified for the journal and all the relevant figures.

In conclusion, the element of a scientific research paper determines whether the paper will serve the intended purpose or not. By following the basic principles of writing research papers, the writer will avoid the paper being rejected by the editors or the paper failing to attract the attention of the reader.