Friday, May 25, 2012

Andrew Gelman's advice on writing research articles

As they say here in NZ, good as gold.
 
Advice on writing research articles

From a few years ago:

Both the papers sent to me appear to have strong research results. Now that the research has been done, I’d recommend rewriting both articles from scratch, using the following template:

1. Start with the conclusions. Write a couple pages on what you’ve found and what you recommend. In writing these conclusions, you should also be writing some of the introduction, in that you’ll need to give enough background so that general readers can understand what you’re talking about and why they should care. But you want to start with the conclusions, because that will determine what sort of background information you’ll need to give.

2. Now step back. What is the principal evidence for your conclusions? Make some graphs and pull out some key numbers that represent your research findings which back up your claims.

3. Back one more step, now. What are the methods and data you used to obtain your research findings.

4. Now go back and write the literature review and the introduction.

5. Moving forward one last time: go to your results and conclusions and give alternative explanations. Why might you be wrong? What are the limits of applicability of your findings? What future research would be appropriate to follow up on these loose ends?

6. Write the abstract. An easy way to start is to take the first sentence from each of the first five paragraphs of the article. This probably won’t be quite right, but I bet it will be close to what you need.

7. Give the article to a friend, ask him or her to spend 15 minutes looking at it, then ask what they think your message was, and what evidence you have for it. Your friend should read the article as a potential consumer, not as a critic. You can find typos on your own time, but you need somebody else’s eyes to get a sense of the message you’re sending.

Also,
(a) Don’t write something unless you expect people to read it.
(b) This principle holds for tables and figures as well.

More at the above link.


Saturday, May 12, 2012

Haibun: The Morning Sun


I walk alone through the lovely deep wood. The wood talks to me as the wind blows through the trees. Waves of the pacific ocean lash the beach by the wood. A lazy sunday morning unfolds. A father and son ride their bikes on the trail. I walk alone, both hands tucked in my trouser pocket. A freezing morning five degree unfolds outside. Rings of misty condensed air blow out of my mouth.

Morning sun dances on the waves
Dews on the blade of grass in this autumn morning glow like sun
The ocean breeze connects me to the world