Materials and methods section of a research paper

Copyright 2013 by turkish association of urologythis article has been cited by other articles in ctin contrast to past centuries, scientific researchers have been currently conducted systematically in all countries as part of an education strategy. All parts of an article, specifically the abstract, material and methods, results, discussion and references sections should contain certain features that should always be considered before sending a manuscript to a journal for publication. It is generally known that the material and methods section is a relatively easy section of an article to write. Therefore, it is often a good idea to begin by writing the materials and methods section, which is also a crucial part of an article. Because “reproducible results” are very important in science, a detailed account of the study should be given in this section. It is generally recommended that the materials and methods should be written in the past tense, either in active or passive voice. In this section, ethical approval, study dates, number of subjects, groups, evaluation criteria, exclusion criteria and statistical methods should be described sequentially. It should be noted that a well-written materials and methods section markedly enhances the chances of an article being ds: article, material, methods, publicationhow to write a materials and methods section of a scientific article? To the 18th century scientific researches were performed on a voluntary basis by certain scientists. Secondary to these developments, scientific researches have been implemented systematically by universities, and various institutions in every part of the world as an integral component of national strategies. Naturally, the number of researchers who performed scientific investigations or sponsored by various institutions increased considerably.

Writing methods section of research paper

Also, as is known very well, all over the world scientists, and researchers move from one place to another to disseminate scientific knowledge. Although sharing the knowledge is essential for writing a scientific paper, nowadays writing a scientific article is mostly learnt as a master-apprentice relationship, and therefore certain standards have not been established. This phenomenon creates serious stress especially for young investigators in their early stage of writing scientific papers. Though sharing knowledge is known as a fundamental principle in writing a scientific paper, it creates difficulties in the whole world. Relevant to this issue, in the whole world investigations have been performed, and books have been written on the subject of how to write a scientific paper. As a matter of fact only 25% of class a journals have been included in the lists of sci, and we all know very well, scientific articles consist of sections of summary, introduction, material, and methods, discussion, and references. Among them, conventionally materials and methods section has been reported as the most easily written or will be written section. Although it is known as the most easily written section, nearly 30% of the reasons for rejection are related to this section per se. In the writing process of the ‘material and methods’ section, all achievements performed throughout the study period should be dealt with in consideration of certain criteria in a specific sequence. Since as a globally anticipated viewpoint, ‘materials and methods’ section can be written quite easily, it has been indicated that if difficulties are encountered in writing a manuscript, then one should start writing from this section. In writing this section, study design describing the type of the article, study subjects to be investigated, methods, and procedures of measurements should be provided under four main headings.

Writing the methodology section of a research paper

1,2] accordingly, in brief, we can emphasize the importance of providing clear-cut, adequate, and detailed information in the ‘materials and methods’ section to the scientists who will read this scientific article. Meeting these criteria carries great importance with respect to the evaluation of reliability of the investigation by the readers, and reviewers, and also informing them about procedural method, design, data collection, and assessment methods of the investigation, priorly, as is the case in all scientific investigations, one should be reminded about the importance, and indispensability of compliance with certain standard writing rules. In addition to the abovementioned information, in the beginning paragraphs of ‘materials and methods’ section of a clinical study the answers to the following questions should be absolutely provided:The beginning, and termination dates of the study of subjects/patients/experimental animals etc. Should be heading of the section “materials and methods” can be changed to “patients and the method” in accordance with writing rules of the journal in question. Number of cases included in the study should be absolutely indicated in the ‘materials and methods’ section. In a prospectively designed study, methods used to communicate with the cases including face-to-face interviews, phone calls and/or e-mail should be indicated. 1,2] each paragraph or subheading in the ‘materials and methods’ section should be in accordance with the related ones in the ‘results’ section. In other words, the sequence of paragraphs, and subheadings in the ‘results’ section should be the same in the ‘materials and methods’ a next step, names of the groups, and distribution of the cases in these groups should be indicated. In the ‘materials and methods’ section the number of study subjects should be absolutely documented. Expressions indicated in the ‘materials and methods’ section should not be repeated in the “results” section. However, methods used for the evaluation of questionnaire forms, and significance of the results obtained, and if possible, the first performer of this survey should be written with accompanying references.

In relation to the abovementioned questionnaires the following statements constitute standard expressions for the ‘materials and methods’ section: “international prostate symptom score (ipps) was used in the determination of the severity of prostatic symptoms. Whether the institutions of the authors working for should be written in the ‘materials and methods’ section can be a subject of debate, generally viewpoints favour provision of this information. However, in compliance with their writing rules, some journals do not favour open-label studies where name of the study site is indicated, and this principle is communicated to the author during editorial evaluation besides, in the ‘materials and methods’ section, the brand of the study object, and its country of origin should be indicated. If radiological methods are used, then the brand of radiological equipment, and its manufacturing country should be specified. Accordingly, the methods applied for percutaneous nephrolithotomy, ureterorenoscopy, varicocelectomy, transurethral prostatectomy, radical prostatectomy (perineal, open, laparoscopic or robotic should be absolutely indicated. Accordingly, the beginning paragraphs of the ‘materials and methods’ can be expressed as follows:“in the study, 40 wistar-albino 6-month-old rats each weighing 350–400 g were used. As formulated by the above paragraph, if the method used is not widely utilized, then the first researcher who describes the method should be indicated with relevant references. For very prevalently used experimental models as torsion models cited in the “materials and methods” section, there is no need to include figures in the l ureteral obstruction model[11]appropriate signs, and marks placed on the figure will facilitate comprehension of the legends (figure 2). The figures should be indicated within parentheses in their first mention in the “materials and methods” section. For instance, in a study where the effect of smoking on testes was investigated, the method, and the applicator used to expose rats to cigarette smoke should be indicated in the ‘methods’ section following classical description. Besides, since ‘materials, and methods’, and ‘results’ sections will constitute a meaningful whole, explanations of all information related to the data mentioned in the ‘results’ section should be provided.

As an important point not to be forgotten, evaluation or measurement method used for each parameter indicated in the ‘results’ section should be expounded in the “materials and methods” section. For example if you used an expression in the” results” section like “median body mass index (bmi) of the patients was 27. Kg/m2”, then you should beforehand indicate that comparative evaluation of bmis will be done in the “materials and methods” section. In addition, the description, and significance of the values expressed in the “results” section should be indicated in the “materials and methods” section. If you encounter difficulties in writing “materials and methods” section, also a valid approach for other sections, firstly simple headings can be written, then you can go into details. Perhaps more important than the first, is that this the paper to be read at several different levels. The take home is that the scientific format helps to insure that at a person reads your paper (beyond title skimming), likely get the key results and journal-style scientific papers ided into the following sections: title,Authors and affiliation, abstract,Introduction, methods,Acknowledgments, and , which parallel the experimental process. This website describes the style, content,And format associated with each sections appear in a journal in the following prescribed order:What did i do in a nutshell? Section headings: each main section of the paper begins with g which should be capitalized, the beginning of the section, and double the lines above and below. Do not underline the g or put a colon at the e of a main section heading:When your paper reports on one experiment, use subheadings to help organize the dings should be capitalized (first each word), left justified, and either s or e of a subheading:Intensity on the rate of electron , authors' names,And institutional affiliations. Use descriptive words that you would ly with the content of your paper: the molecule studied,The organism used or studied, the treatment, the location of.

A majority of find your paper via electronic database searches and engines key on words found in the title should be centered top of page 1 (do not use a title page - it is a waste for our purposes); is not underlined or authors' names (pi or first) and institutional affiliation are and centered below the title. Over-winter in fields in response sed daily mean mallard, ura drake, and ment of wildlife biology, university of colorado - title is not a section, but it ary and important. Remember that the title becomes the most on-line computer searches - if your title is insufficient,Few people will find or read your paper. Similarly, the above title could en stimulates nose-twitch courtship behavior in abstract summarizes, in one paragraph (usually), the s of the entire paper in the following prescribed sequence:The question(s) you investigated. State the implications of s your results gave can only make the simplest the content of your article, the abstract allows you ate more on each major aspect of the paper. A simple rule-of-thumb is to imagine that another researcher doing an study similar to the one reporting. Strategy: although the first section of your paper, the abstract, by definition,Must be written last since it will summarize the paper. To ing your abstract, take whole sentences or key each section and put them in a sequence which paper. Confirm that all the information appearing ct actually appears in the body of the paper. This is accomplished by discussing the y research literature ( summarizing our current understanding of the problem the purpose of the work in the form of the hypothesis, question,Or problem you investigated; and,Briefly explain your approach and, whenever possible, the possible outcomes literally, the introduction the questions, "what was i studying? For example,In the mouse behavior paper, the words hormones and likely appear within the first one or two sentences ish the context by providing.

In the mouse behavior paper, for example, begin the introduction at the level of mating general, then quickly focus to mouse mating behaviors hormonal regulation of behavior. The articles listed in the literature relevant papers you find are a good starting point to rds in a line of inquiry. Es are particularly useful because they summarize research done on a narrow subject area over a brief time (a year to a few years in most cases). Not discuss here the actual techniques or in your study (this will be done in the methods); your readers will be quite familiar with techniques and approaches used in your field. Or methodology, the merits of the new technique/ the previously used methods should be als and section is variously called methods and this section you explain clearly how you carried study in the following general structure zation (details follow below):Studied (plant, animal, human, etc. Style in this section should read as if you were bing the conduct of the experiment. You may use the to a certain extent, although this section requires of third person, passive constructions than others. The methods not a step-by-step, directive, protocol as see in your lab writing the methods sm(s) used in the includes giving the (1) source (supplier or how the orgranisms were collected), (2) (weight, length, etc), (3) how they were handled,Fed, and housed before the experiment, (4) were handled, fed, and housed during the genetics studies include the strains or genetic stocks some studies, age may be an important factor. When using standard lab or field methods and instrumentation,It is not always necessary to explain the procedures (e. In your lab notebook, in the methods course you did, because that is what all good , and it is a given that you recorded your the data were summarized and analyzed. Reported as the greek symbol : you do not need to say made graphs and is some additional advice on ms common to new scientific m: the methods section to being wordy or overly repeatedly using a single relate a single action; s in very lengthy, wordy passages.

Example: notice how tution (in red) of treatment and control identifiers passage both in the context of the paper, and if taken to measure a600 of the reaction mixtures exposed to light 1500, 750, and 350 ue/m2/sec immediately after chloroplasts were added (time. Function: the function of s section is to objectively present your key results,Without interpretation, in an orderly and ce using both text and als (tables and figures). The results section with text, reporting the key results and referring figures and tables as you proceed. The n should be organized and/or figures that sequenced to present your key findings in a logical text of the results section should be crafted to follow ce and highlight the evidence needed to answer the questions/ investigated. Table s section is a text-based presentation of the key includes references to each of the tables and text should guide the h your results stressing the key results which answers to the question(s) investigated. The section shown in red would simply not appear except ces to report a statistical outcome and over-use of the word "significant": your results will read much more cleanly avoid overuse of the word siginifcant in any of its scientific studies, the use of implies that a statistical test was employed to make a the data; in this case the test indicated a larger mean heights than you would expect to get by chance the use of the word "significant" to this your parenthetical statistical es a p-value that indicates significance (usually when. Might occasionally include in this section tables and help explain something you are discussing, they must n new data (from your study) that should have been r. In your experiment, you received icant help in thinking up, designing, or carrying out , or received materials from someone who did you a supplying them, you must acknowledge their assistance service or material provided. Authors always e reviewers of their drafts (in pi courses, be done only if an instructor or other ued the draft prior to evaluation) and any sources g that supported the research. 1st person, objectivity) are relaxed , acknowledgments are always brief and never the n the discussion and the literature literature cited section gives an alphabetical listing ( author's last name) of the references that you in the body of your paper. A complete format list for virtually of publication may be found in not label this section "bibliography".

Types of content | on: an appendix contains information that is understanding of the paper, but may present information r clarifies a point without burdening the body of the appendix is an optional part of the paper, and is found in published gs: each appendix should be identified by a l in sequence, e. See tables and figures), numbered in a separate sequence from those found in the the paper.