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Dr. Satyajit Ghosh talk on "Unraveling Research Papers"
HOW TO WRITE RESEARCH PAPERS
(compilation and documentation by Sreejita Ghosh)
About the Speaker:
Talking about Dr Satyajit Ghosh or rather Dr Sat Ghosh as he is better known, is like counting no. of stars in the sky. However much we say about him, we’d only be touching the surface of this vast ocean of knowledge- not just in science and engineering, but also in literature, music, everything. Dr. Sat Ghosh is currently Senior Professor, Environment Division, School, of Mechanical and Building Sciences, VIT University, India. He is also an Associate Member of the School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, U.K. He is an awardee of the Prestigious National Science Talent Search Scholarship. Currently, he is an Associate Editor of the journal,- Atmospheric Science Letters published by the Royal Meteorological Society, U.K. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed international journals in many areas of the atmospheric sciences and his research has been presented in many prestigious international conferences, throughout the world and referees articles for leading international journals. He is therefore one of the best person to guide our students regarding, how to write a research paper. On September 26, 2012, EMBS had organized a talk on “Unraveling research papers” which was presided over by Dr.Satyajit Ghosh. The venue was packed with excited and enthusiastic students but as Dr.Ghosh began speaking, the ambience changed, a sense of calmness prevailed. He had mixed the essence of Philosophy, English literature, drama, poems and prose to the ‘art’ of writing a technical paper.
Dr. Satyajit Ghosh Talk:
“It’s all the more gratifying that you’re pondering on such an issue even at an undergraduate stage. This is a reflection of how our society has changed. Writing research papers was the perfume of PhD students and staff researchers. But in a changing society writing skills become very important even as undergraduate students. Why? Because you want to prove yourself to the rest of the world. In an increasingly connected society, you have access to knowledge in other parts of the world,- the developed world, the underdeveloped world, English speaking nations and non-English speaking Nations. But, we must start with the fact that English is the link language wherever we are. And because you are so connected you have to express yourself in the most lucid way that you can, so that your ideas can be understood by everyone around. And once you can be understood, you can be judged and once you can be judged, you can be awarded and recognized. Once you are recognized, you feel gratified and fulfilled and you perform better.”
“Quoting Paulo Coelho, ‘Of all the weapons of destruction that man could invent, the most terrible and the most powerful, was the word. Daggers and spears left traces of blood; arrows could be seen at a distance. Poisons were detected in the end and avoided. But the word managed to destroy without leaving clues.’- so what is he telling us? So mechanical violence can result in imprints but words of violence also basically leave an imprint.”
“Words are always associated with dynamism,” he continued, “You can use words to emote, to express softer feelings.” “When you write a poem you have to be a master of words, because not only are you expressing a theme, you are writing words that sets in a rhythm and as human beings, our DNA is patterned with a rhythm inside it and resonate to a rhythm wherever we see a pattern, a form or harmony. Quoting Shelley, ‘What is life? Thoughts and feelings arise, with or without our will, and we employ words to express them. We are born, and our birth is unremembered and our infancy remembered but in fragments. We live on, and in living we lose the apprehension of life. How vain is it to think that words can penetrate the mystery of our being. Rightly used they may make evident our ignorance of ourselves, and this is much.’ -In essence he is trying to say that memories, recollections, thoughts and in essence wisdom, if written up properly, maybe in a poem or in prose. Shelley uses apprehension of life,-we appreciate life better. Moving on to writing in general, earlier, in school, a child would be first taught grammar, paragraph, rules of English himself. But now, we introduce the child to reading- let him pick up the rules, get a sense of style, how to introduce a theme. “
“The first stage of writing properly, is we have to expose ourselves to the best of literature in that language and we have to acknowledge it to our advantage. Ofcourse we’ll be reading books and poems, watching films and drama,- expose yourself to the power of the visual media- plays and theatres and books and novels. If you are surrounded by all that, your brain distills impressions of the power of beautifully spoken sentence,- because when a dialogue is delivered, it is delivered with such force that it reminds you the story. So,
Theme 1:- acquaint yourselves with the nuances of the language through the available media.”
Theme2:- How to write technically correct English.
What is the Difference between technical writing and literary writing?
1) Be abreast of the technical vocabulary of the subject. – When you write an abstract you extract keywords after it- those are the technical vocabulary which a computing system will search for those keywords when it is looking for potential viewers.
2) Identifying your target audience: A general essay should be comprehensive to all. Beyond a stage, a literary work is a piece of art. For technical paper, the target audience is who you are writing for- this gives you the freedom to use technical vocabulary, complicated terms- your target audience will understand.
3) Referencing- it is a field of ethics. We should give credits to the people or authors who have preceded us.
4) Word limit and precision:- You have to be very precise in technical writing. Sometimes the journals have a page limit. Ex:- A letter to the Nature has to be in 4pages. Sometimes journals limit the number of words.
How to write the paper:
1. Title of paper:-Choose your paper’s title very appropriately:- It should be interesting- people would want to read your paper-> the title is what attracts their attention primarily.
2. Abstract:- It is a summary of the most important parts of the paper. The starting lines of the abstract should be very bold and punchy- shouldn’t insipid. Starting line of an abstract should be direct and forceful. In the abstract, say what you have done, in your paper. First tell what was novel about your experiment. How is it different from something similar that already existed, or is it entirely new… Then say what other what things you have done. Then wrap up the abstract. If you think your work is something new, novel, then mention it at the outset and then qualify that.
3. Qualify your statements quantitatively:- give numbers in your paper.
4. Extract keywords from the abstract-
5. An abstract should be followed by an introduction. In the introduction you set the context- for this you need a sense of style. Setting the context is not easy. Would you be referring to an immediate context or a context far in the past? State how your research will relate to the most immediate breakthroughs in your field. Support your ideas with facts and figures. Give credits to the source of information- cite the references. Section your paper properly. In any journal paper, when you are talking about a concept, a definition sketch or an image is very important. The picture has the force of a paragraph of writing. Use a definition sketch or image in your introduction.
6. Methodology:- Describe the experimental methodology. What concepts, models, simulations, methodology that you have used in your work.
7. Result:- Write your result , support it with graphical data.
8. Conclusion:- A conclusion should never repeat words from an abstract. Though both the abstract and the conclusion has the result if the experiment- or the research work, the abstract has to be precise- it has a word limit (about 200words) but a conclusion has no word limit. You can expand it the findings from the result, in the conclusion. In the conclusion, you must also state how this research of yours will promote other new research in that area.
9. Acknowledgements:- Here you write the references.
Frequently Asked Questions and guidelines:-
1. What type of paper can be written by an undergrad student? Should it be a completely new idea? Can it be an innovation on an existing model?
Ans:- Write papers that immediately concern you. If you can look at problems that are around you- if you’re considering an international journal-> a new India specific story will appeal to the reviewers-> something that is happening in this part of the world and not elsewhere would make a lot of sense.
2. Choosing the journal where you want to publish your work:- your guide will help you out here.
3. Even when you are citing the reference DO NOT copy the sentences directly- paraphrase them in your own words.
4. Can the same paper be submitted to various paper presentations?
Ans:- NEVER! This brings your reputation down.
5. Choosing a journal:- Journals:- If your work is very novel, choose very high impact factor journals. What are impact factor journal? Research that promotes other new research, the number of citations of your paper, - the impact factor of a journal takes into account, all these- how many people are reading your paper, how many people are citing your paper, how it has initiated new findings in that area- all that decides the impact factor of the journal.
6. There are specific formats to be followed for specific journals. Refer to the journal’s site for details.
7. The system of the journal:- The editorial team judge the paper. They first pick up the keywords and check if it that journal is appropriate for that research work. If yes, then the editorial team assigns referees all over the world, to review the paper. However finally only two expert referees are chosen and the paper is sent to them. This is called a peer review. ‘Peer; meaning someone who is your equal- someone who has the technical competence to evaluate your paper. These referees send back the paper to the authors, with their critical comments on it.
8. Referees and rejection:- If the paper is very bad then the referees out rightly reject them. Better the journal more will be the rejection. So, DO NOT fear rejection. Always aim for the best journals even if it comes back rejected- atleast it comes back with critical comments, which you can address and then send it to a lesser impact factor journal.
Talk Conclusion:
If your paper gets contradictory response from the two referees, then the editor has to decide whether to accept or reject your paper. If your paper is accepted then editors responds as “Accepted with major revisions.” The authors now have to address the critical comments of the referees and make the necessary modifications and re-send the revised paper to the editor, with a reply- mentioning where and what changes have been made according to the referee’s suggestions. NEVER antagonize the referees even if the referee is being unreasonable. You can request the editor separately, to assign another referee.
Article Copyrights: This written documentary of Dr Satyajit Ghosh's talk on Sept 26, 2012, organized by IEEE EMBS on 'Unraveling Research Papers' is an intellectual property of IEEE EMBS VIT Chapter. Copying, sharing, distribution of the documentary in any form for any purpose, will be counted nothing short of plagiarism.