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Writing a Scientific Paper

Welcome to the Guide on Writing a Scientific Paper!

The goals of this guide are to:

  • Provide essential information on writing a scientific paper.
  • Help users access essential resources through the Calder Library.

This guide is intended for affiliates of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and the Jackson Health System. It may also be helpful to anyone who is writing a scientific paper, though some resources are limited to UM/JMH users per licensing agreements.

You may navigate this guide by using the links on the Table of Contents at the left or by using the Tabs on top of each page.

Related Guides
Subject Guide Editor

Barbara M. Sorondo

  • Head of Learning, Research, and Clinical Information Services
  • bmsorondo@miami.edu
  • (305) 243-9505
Contact Us
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More Writing Help
  • Scitable by Nature Education
    Website sponsored by Nature journals to provide help in writing scientific papers. You must register for free at the website.
Create Your Researcher Profile
  • ORCID @ UM
    Information on creating and using an ORCID iD at the University of Miami. Your ORCID iD is a unique identifier for researchers that provides a persistent digital identifier to distinguish you from all other researchers.
Setting up your free ORCID account takes only minutes. Once you create your account, you can use it to keep track of all your scientific papers.
How to Write a Scientific Paper
The resources listed below might be useful as you begin writing your scientific paper.
  • Writing the Scientific Paper
    This writing guide was produced by the Colorado State University. It provides guidelines for the different parts of the paper.
  • Infographic: How to write better science papers
    This "Infographic" and short article was written by Natalia Rodriguez, from Elsevier Publishers. it provides tips for "writing research articles people will want to read." (Posted on 15 May 2015)
  • How to write your first research paper
    This article was written by Elena Kallestinova in Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine (2011). The paper presents guidelines on how to initiate the writing process and draft each section of a research manuscript.
When Writing Your Paper

The Introduction:

  • Objective of paper is clearly defined: Provide a sentence or two discussing the focus of the paper. Why is this topic important?
  • Background information on disease / condition has been included: Provide a few sentences about the disease / condition. Give basic information about the type of disease, common symptoms, etc.
  • Statistical information about the disease / condition provided (such as incidence, prevalence, etc.): Information could be incidence, prevalence, number of cases in the United States, or other relevant statistics. Is this a common disease/ condition? Is it rare? You may find this information in your articles. The Northeast Ohio Medical University's Health Data and Statistics library guide may also be helpful.
  • Background information on the two drugs or treatments is provided: Provide a few sentence on the drugs. Discuss things like pharmacologic category or mechanism of action. How do the drugs differ from each other? Provide a few sentences describing treatments. How do treatments differ from one another?
  • Note: A (narrative) review article can be a good resource for information for the introduction and discussion sections of the paper. The review article could cover the following topics: the disease or condition; one or both drugs; one or both treatments, etc. This article does not need to be a systematic review.


Research Article:

  • Objective of study provided: What was the clinical question? What was the focus of the article?
  • Hypothesis of study given: Provide a sentence of two on the hypothesis. It may be discussed as the intervention versus the comparison in the article.
  • Clinical research design of the study described: Is it a randomized control trial? A cohort study? Is there blinding?
  • Sample size provided: What was the sample size? What population is this study targeting?
  • Inclusion/exclusion criteria provided: Summarize the criteria stated in the article. Remember that this can influence the applicability of the research to a general patient population.
  • Methods described: Describe briefly the general methods utilized by the study.
  • Results described: Describe results found for primary and important secondary outcomes
  • Important statistical results discussed: Discuss all important statistical results for primary and important secondary outcomes. This includes p values (non-significant too), etc.
  • Conclusions of authors summarized: Provide a few sentences summarizing the authorsâ conclusions for the study.


Discussion:

  • Research Article critiqued: Critique the article. Provide evidence to support your critique of the article
  • Strengths and weaknesses given: Provide a few sentences describing the strengths and weaknesses of the study
  • Importance of the topic to medicine / pharmacy: Briefly describe the importance of this topic to medicine / pharmacy. How will these articles impact out knowledge about the topic?
  • Future trends in medicine / pharmacy: What is in the future in medicine / pharmacy for the treatment of this disease / condition?
  • Note: A (narrative) review article can be a good resource for information for the introduction and discussion sections of the paper. The review article could cover the following topics: the disease or condition; one or both drugs; one or both treatments, etc.

These are general guidelines which must be discussed with your professor.

Ideas for Paper Topics
These are only ideas for paper topics, you are not limited to these topics. You may choose your own paper topic as long as it meets the criteria listed in the guide.
General Information on Paper Topics

You will have the choice of one of the following topics for your literature review (see the drop down list for paper topic ideas). Your paper will discuss current research and look for future trends. You will need to compare two medications or treatments in regards to some aspect of treatment of a disease or condition.

Comparing a drug to a placebo is NOT allowed for the paper. You could write about comparing Lipitor to diet and exercise for treating high cholesterol (comparing a drug to another treatment). The topic can look at drugs to treat the disease / condition in general or some specific aspect of the disease (such as breast cancer rather than just cancer in general). Medical students can also compare two non-pharmacological treatments. At the end of this guide is a list of possible topics. You are not limited to these topics. You may choose your own topic if you like.

An example of a topic is: Comparing rosuvastatin to atorvastatin for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. I would like a review article to give background information for the paper introduction so I chose:

Schachter M. Chemical, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of statins: an update. Fundam Clin Pharmacol. 2005;19(1):117-25.

Your review article may focus on one or both the drugs/treatments or the disease/condition. It may provide you with background information for the introduction and discussion sections of your paper. It does not need to be a systematic review or meta-analysis.

I would also need to choose one of the two research articles that compare rosuvastatin to atorvastatin.

Jones P, Hunninghake D, Ferdinand K, Stein E, Gold A, Caplan R, et al. Effects of rosuvastatin versus atorvastatin, simvastatin, and pravastatin on non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoproteins, and lipid ratios in patients with hypercholesterolemia: additional results from the STELLAR trial. Clin Ther. 2004;26(9):1388-99.

Qu H, Xiao Y, Jiang G, Wang Z, Zhang Y, Zhang M. Effect of atorvastatin versus rosuvastatin on levels of serum lipids, inflammatory markers and adiponectin in patients with hypercholesterolemia. Pharm Res. 2009;26(4):958-64.

The two research articles are both randomized control trials and both compare rosuvastatin to atorvastatin to treating hypercholesterolemia.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism may lead to the failure of the assignment and the course. You are expected to cite articles within the text of the paper and in the literature cited section of the paper.  Quotation marks should be placed around small direct quotations.  The quotations must also be cited within the full text of your paper.
Style Guide
Citing within the Text

There are multiple citation styles. In medicine, the most used style is the American Medical Association (AMA) style, available in print format and also online: AMA manual of style : a guide for authors and editors (NY: Oxford, 2007).

The following journal articles are examples of the citation-sequence system.

Superscript number system
Number within parentheses method

For more help citing resources within the literature cited section of the paper, see the Citing Resources library guide.

Citation Managers

Citation Managers are used to organize citations, add references to your paper as you cite them, and to create bibliographies in multiple publication styles. The University of Miami supports the following citation managers:

EndNote

EndNote is a downloadable bibliography and database manager that enables you to:  (1) collect citation information from databases, websites, and more; (2) organize citations in folders; and (3) use the citations in EndNote to create in-text citations and bibliographies. University of Miami authorized users can download EndNote at http://it.miami.edu/a-z-listing/endnote/index.html

RefWorks

RefWorks is a web-based bibliography and database manager, used to easily create personal databases of imported references from text files or online databases, that facilitates reference storage, retrieval, formatting for publication, and sharing of folders or databases. Available to University of Miami authorized users.  Find additional login information at the Calder Library website eDatabases.

Mendeley Institutional Edition

Mendeley Institution Edition is a reference manager and academic networking resource. It allows users to create a fully-searchable library in seconds, cite while writing, share full text documents within user’s Mendeley network, and read and annotate PDFs on any device.  Available to University of Miami authorized users. Find additional login information at the Calder Library website eDatabases.

AMA Style Citation Generator
  • AMA Style Citation Generator
    Good for generating journal and book citations. Does not provide full citations for websites, please use another resource. This online tool enables you to generate a journal article citation from the PubMed Identification Number. Citation is in AMA style. Easy to alter to NLM style if needed.
State and Local Resources
  • America’s Health Rankings
    The longest-running annual assessment of the nation’s health on a state-by-state basis.
  • CDC Community Health Improvement Navigator
    An interactive web application that produces health profiles for all 3,143 counties in the United States.
  • County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
    The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program is a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute designed to provide a reliable, sustainable source of local health data.
  • FLHealthCHARTS
    Health data provided by the Florida Department of Health.
  • Florida Health: Statistics & Data
    Lists of statistics and data provided by the Florida Department of Health.
  • Kaiser Family Foundation State Health Facts
    State Health Facts is a project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and provides free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the United States, counties, territories, and other geographies, comprised of more than 800 health indicators.
  • QuickFacts: Miami-Dade County
    QuickFacts from the Census about Miami-Dade County.
  • State & County QuickFacts
    Fast, easy access to facts about people, business, and geography from the U.S. Census.
National Resources
  • Agency for Health Care Research and Quality
    Research findings, data and statistical tools, and reports and publications from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ).
  • American FactFinder
    Population, housing, economic, and geographic data in the form of maps, tables, and reports from a variety of Census Bureau sources.
  • Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
    Survey conducted by the CDC to collect data regarding their health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive services.
  • CDC Data & Statistics
    Data and statistics by topic provided by the CDC along with other tools and resources.
  • CDC WONDER
    Utilizes a rich ad-hoc query system for the analysis of public health data.
  • Census Bureau
    Demographic data on national, state, county levels.
  • Census Bureau: Health
    The Census Bureau's portal for health statistics. Includes statistics on disability expenses and investments, fertility, health insurance, HIV/AIDS, and more.
  • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
    Research, statistics, data, and systems from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
  • FastStats
    Provides quick access to statistics on topics of public health importance, organized alphabetically.
  • Health Data, Tools & Statistics
    Links to data on the health of a population, compiled by the Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce, a collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations, and health sciences libraries.
  • HealthCare.gov Data
    Datasets provided by HealthCare.gov (website for the American Health Insurance Marketplace).
  • HealthData.gov
    Website managed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services containing health data.
  • Healthy People 2030
    Healthy People 2030 sets data-driven national objectives to improve health and well-being over the next decade.
  • MedlinePlus: Health Statistics
    The health statistics portal at MedlinePlus, with basic information, resource lists, and more.
  • National Center for Health Statistics
    Provides statistical information to guide actions and policies to improve the health of the American people.
  • National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect
    Acquires microdata from leading researchers and national data collection efforts and makes datasets available to the research community for secondary analysis
  • National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
    Program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States.
  • NCHHSTP AtlasPlus
    Tool to explore data reported to CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP)
  • Neighborhood Atlas
    Map-based measures of neighborhood disadvantage with downloadable dataset provided by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
  • NIOSH Data and Statistics Gateway
    Data and statistics from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
  • SAMHSA Data and Dissemination
    Data on drug use and health, provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ).
  • WISQARS
    Interactive, online database that provides fatal and nonfatal injury, violent death, and cost of injury data.
International Resources
  • OECD Data
    OECD data via charts, maps, tables and related publications, viewable by topics or countries.
  • The World Bank: Health Data
    The World Bank's comprehensive database of Health, Nutrition, and Population (HNP) statistics.
  • UN Data
    Statistical profiles of countries, datasets, and more.
  • UNICEF Statistics
    The global go-to for data on children, provided by UNICEF.
  • WHO Data Collections
    Wide range of data collections related to global health and well-being as mandated by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Acknowledgment
This page is based on the work conducted by Barbara M. Sorondo in collaboration with Lori Driver for the FIU Libraries Health Data and Statistics Resources Guide.