How to write the first science paper
Most students write their first real science papers when they are dangerously close to the end of their degree program. There is often little time to rehearse, and a lot of pressure to get it right. This is a terrible combination, which leaves very little space for imagination, creativity, and good writing. The following is a recipe for writing an okay-ish first science paper, despite all that. It’s the kind of recipe I would have liked to have twenty-five years ago when I wrote my first papers. Ten simple steps. The key, in short, is to write early, to write dirty, to get feedback early, and then to revise, revise, revise.
Write some of the technical parts of the paper. This should be done as soon as those technical steps are finished. It could cover the data acquisition, experiments, equipment, the fieldwork, some analysis steps, some model implementation, caveats and tests, those kind of things, everything that is self-contained. Focus on reproducibility, include only the information needed to follow and understand those procedures. Write something. Don’t worry about style, that will come later. Write this up as soon as possible, then send it away for feedback.
Think of a story. This should not be complicated. Most science stories are very simple: A question at the beginning, and an answer, or an attempt at an answer, at the end. It could be more than one question, or more than one answer, but it should not be more than three. In between a path, sometimes long and winding. The question does not even have to be the one you set out to answer when you started the project.
Write a short summary for the story. This is called the abstract. It should contain the original motivation, the basic facts about the method, some results and conclusions. Again focus on the most important results, not more than three. And yes, I recommend to write the abstract before writing the paper. If possible, weeks earlier. Then send it away for feedback (a recurring theme).
Decide on a rough outline for the story. For a large number of science stories the outline is simply introduction, methodology, results, discussion. Try to be a little bit more creative. Choose a structure that fits your story. Use descriptive headings instead of generics. Make it your story. Four or five sections are good; subsections are often needed, but avoid subsubsections. This is the skeleton of your paper. Decide on your outline, then send it away for feedback.
Pick figures to illustrate the story. Some of these you probably already made during the project. Some have to be made once you decided on the storyline. Don’t include any figures that are not fitting to the story. Aim for at least one figure for each section, one figure for each important result. Make figures as clear as possible. Make all labels so big that you can easily read them even when you pin the printed PDF to a wall and go two steps away from it.
Write a paragraph for each figure. These paragraphs should be very simple and descriptive. What does the figure show? What do we learn from that? Fit in the technical parts you have written earlier. Don’t worry about style, that will come later. Write something. Now you have already about a couple of pages of text and another couple of pages in figures. That’s the foundation of your paper. Send it away for feedback.
Decide on a handful of references that are important for your story. These are papers you have probably already read. Write a few sentences about each of these papers and how they relate to your work. Then link these bits of text to a narrative. Write it like a funnel: Start with the larger context and then narrow it down to the specific question you are trying to answer. That’s the introductory section to your paper. Send it away, you saw that coming, didn’t you.
Fill in the gaps. Start every section with an introductory statement. End each section with a quick summary. Write transitions from one figure to the next. Write a discussion that links your work to the question posed in the introduction, and possibly arrives at an answer. Don’t worry if that answer is not conclusive. Most papers don’t provide any conclusive answers. Stay with your results. Keep going. Write something.
Write an extended summary at the end. Don’t read the abstract before doing this, to avoid duplicating matters. This summary could be just a list of bulletpoints with the most important steps and results of the story. It should include the answers you were aiming for, the end of the story. Send away for feedback.
Read, revise, edit. This (and the feedback) is the most important part of the writing. Make sure you have at least a week left. Check everything again, all numbers, all figures, all references. Read the whole paper from top to bottom, sentence by sentence. Think about each sentence for a moment. Is that sentence necessary? Is it phrased as simple as possible? Can the sentence be split in two? Does it use unnecessary jargon? Does it say what you want it to say? When done, send away for feedback, and wait a couple of days. Then repeat the whole process.
