Writing an academic paper

So, you’re about to write your first scientific article. Exciting and congrats! Every paper is hard to write, but the first is definitely the most difficult. Especially since the guidebooks out there are kind of stuffy, long, and boring. This blog isn’t about that. We’re going to make writing as fun as it can get.

First things first, open PowerPoint (or your equivalent slide platform). Yes, PowerPoint not Word. On the first slide add the title and save it as “YYYYMMDD_Papertitle”. Congrats. You’ve made the first big step because now your paper exists and isn’t just in your head. The reason we’re starting in PowerPoint is because we want to start with an outline. Pull up the journal you want to submit to and look to see what requirements it has. Usually, they have font and text requirements as well as what sections your paper should include. Add this all to the first content slide (so your slide looks like the one below-which is based on ACS chembio).

After you’ve gotten this far, you’re ready to start filling out your outline and there’s a few ways you can do this. The first is to use outline view on PowerPoint and create an actual outline where you go through and write down a brief description of what you want to include in each of the sections. The other option is to use the normal view and create sections (the latter is my preferred method but mainly because I really like having each thought on its own slide so I can move them around easily) but outline view can be a very powerful tool.

This is what my slides look like before I add any content. For simplicity’s sake I didn’t break the figures and experiments down into their own slides but that’s normally what I do, as you’ll see in just a little bit.

Now that your outline is created you are ready to conquer this paper. I’m not going to lie and say things are going to get easier from here, but your paper has a backbone now. All that’s left is fleshing it out, which for me is easier when I’m not staring at a blank page (which is totally not what I’m doing atm 👀).

I’m going to keep going with the body analogy so now we’re going to add in the muscles of the paper. Make all your pretty little graphs and figures and add them into the slides. Add a bullet point (it doesn’t even have to be a complete thought) describing what the data is showing and what it means. The beauty of doing this in PowerPoint is the graphs don’t even need to be in order. Maybe you have something as figure 1 but then realize “you know this actually would be better as figure 3” well you can just click and drag to reorganize, and your writing won’t be affected.

Everyone has their own opinion on this, but for me the method section is the easiest part to start writing. I start out by just listing all the experiment related to the paper on one slide so I can make sure I have them all. Once that’s done, writing the actual methodology is just putting everything I’ve done into a paragraph format. I do this part in Word, just because a gazillion paragraphs on PowerPoint is no fun for anyone. The reason I like starting with the methods is because there’s not a lot of thought or confusion that goes into this section, especially when my lab notebook has all the info I need.  

After the methods, I go to the introduction that way I can fully grasp the broader context of the data and create a story. What is the problem we’re trying to solve? Why do we need these methods? What is known (or unknown in the field)? I write out what questions I want to answer into the outline and then using bullet points write down quick facts and previous literature. I also copy/paste all the DOIs so I can have the citations on hand when the writing starts.  

Now that I have the broader context, I move on to the data and figure out how I can use my data to finish telling the story. How does each figure answer the questions I posed in the introduction and what order should I put them in. This part is the hardest for me because there’s always so much back and forth on whether you like the order and if there should be more (or less) data to really get the point across. Once I get some order that I like now I’m ready to start really writing.

You might be thinking, omg we’ve put in all this effort and haven’t even STARTED writing?? And yeah, you’re right it is a lot, but now your paper is almost done, and you haven’t even started writing. It is so much easier to write when you have a rough idea of what to include than trying to write and think about what you want to say at the same time. Plus, with the PowerPoint your thoughts are more organized while still being flexible enough to move around with shifting thoughts. Basically, at this point you’re adding the “skin” to your body (also this is gross I don’t know why I chose this of all analogies). 

At this point I just elaborate on everything I’ve added to the PowerPoint. It’s not easy, nor is it fun (as you can probably tell from all the complaints and memes out there). But the key thing to remember is that it’s always easier to edit and make things sound nice when there’s words than to edit a blank page. While in the draft process, I legitimately have comments on the side bar of my manuscripts where I highlight sentences and say things like, “what am I even trying to say here??”

Here’s an actual snippet from my dissertation when I was still on the first draft.

Before you’re off, just remember getting the words on the screen is the hardest part. That said, it is incredibly easier to edit words that exist compared to a blank screen. If you’re struggling to write, you’re not alone. It takes time and practice, and even then, we all have our off days. Try just writing for 25 minutes and if you’re not feeling it, go do something else for a while and either try coming back to it or saving it for the next day. Most of the time that first 25 minutes can get you in the zone but if it doesn’t, you don’t need to push yourself. You will get it done, just maybe not today and that’s okay.

Happy writing!