Customer Reviews

From Research to Manuscript: A Guide to Scientific Writing

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are looking for a very solid, well-written, practical guide to writing research papers, this is a great choice. It begins with a strategy of turning an outline into a paper, then moves into basic statistic and approaches to developing good figures, graphs, and tables that lay out the significant results of the work. (This is a real strength, and not something you usually find in these kids of books.) Then, it follows each section in a reseach paper, providing very practical explanations, approaches, and examples. I would definitly consider this book appropriate to require for a college senior-level scientific writing course, such as a senior capstone thesis course. The only drawback is that this is not a "pretty" book. The diagrams are in black and white (helping to maintain the reasonable cost) but honestly not very well done. It really needs a professional layout/graphic artist's touch.

I consider Chapter 3 of Part I to be the gem of this book. The author teaches you how to construct a sound paragraph from scratch. It's hard and lengthy work, but it guarantees that you'll overcome the writer's block. A valuable lesson gained is that I can approach my article and work on a single paragraph while forgetting about the rest. This simple realization dispelled my false belief that I had to contend with the whole article every time I lay my hands on it. It also means it's not neccessary to set aside large chunks of time to write.

In Part II, the author chops the paper into a hierarchy of subsections, beginning with the standard first level (Abstract,Intro,Methods,Results,Discussion ,Conclusion) down to paragraphs, so that you can use the aforementioned methodology. Very useful for those with an unclear idea on how to tackle with the Intro and Discussion sections.

I used to consider writing a paper as some kind of arcane art, but this book provided me with a clear protocol I can apply every time. Make no mistake, writing your paper will still require hard work from your part, but it'll be an efficient chore.

I find it very helpful and useful guide. It will be a great for all scientists especially to all postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers who will be in the business of writing manuscripts for publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Too many example (weird to say that) and seemed unnecessarily long. The info it provided was good and the flow of the book was good.

Highly recommended book for graduate students. A plenty of useful information for those who are starting to write research papers and for those who want to improve their writing. Helpful guide indeed.

Does give you the information needed to pursue a scientific paper. Wish it would list publishers of these type of manuscripts.