1. Scientific Article – Reading and Writing KaustavMajumder ALES-204, 19th October, 2011

2. Organization of a Scientific Article An article layout Title Abstract Introduction Materials and Methods Results Discussion Conclusion Tables and Figures Table titles and Figure legends References

3. Reading a Scientific Article Effective reading or Selection of an article Title and Abstract How relevant the title is? Connection between the title and the abstract. Introduction Scan the initial paragraphs. Put emphasis on the concluding paragraphs. Understand the logical flow between earlier studies and the present one. Relevance of the article Rationale of the article

4. Reading a Scientific Article Contd.. Tables and Figures Read the titles of the table and/or figure legends. Relationship with abstract. Conclusion Identify the achievement, correlation and the future prospects. Workflow of the article Take home messages Serve Your Purpose Acceptance or Rejection of the Article

5. Reading a Scientific Article Contd.. Article is closely related with your purpose Results and Discussion Most important section of an article. Identify the novel elements discussed in this section. Understand the relationship and the context of the study. Materials and methods Identify the newly developed method. Source of the materials. References Look when it is required. Depth of the article Quality and compactness of the article

6. Critical Reading of a Scientific Article Type of the article Individual experiment type. Cohort or population based study. Randomized control and trial study. Review article Narrative Systematic Meta- analysis

7. Critical Reading of a Scientific Article contd.. What questions does the article address? What was the research design? Is it appropriate? What are the main conclusions of the article? What evidence supports those conclusions? Do the data actually support the conclusions? What is the quality of the evidence? Why are the conclusions important? These questions are specifically for individual study, cohort study and random trial study NOT for Review article

8. Critical Reading of a Scientific Article contd.. What questions does the article address? Type of questions Descriptive: What is there? What did the authors observe? Comparative: How does it compare to other organisms/animals/population? Are the findings general? Reproducibility and applicability? Analytical: Underlying mechanism of action or the story behind the study?

9. Critical Reading of a Scientific Article contd.. What was the research design? Is it appropriate? The design of the study can answer the addressed question The statistical strength of the design and relevant statistical analysis Correct use of an animal model/ cell-line or proper use of a computer simulation

12. Critical Reading of a Scientific Article contd.. What is the quality of the evidence? The methods used in the study is well established A new method should be published on a peer-reviewed journal first.. The methods are reproducible. Materials?

13. Critical Reading of a Scientific Article contd.. Why are the conclusions important? Do the conclusions make a significant advance in your knowledge? Do the conclusions help in the advancement of future scientific research? Do they lead to new insights, or even new research directions?

15. Should include both inclusion and exclusion criteria.

17. Often deals with numeric data.

19. Writing a Scientific Article Contd.. Implementation Write…edit…edit…edit… Strive for accuracy and clarity Emphasize the central idea Identify the ‘Junks’….delete them Publication Choose the Journal Read the instructions to the authors. Maintain the style and proper format Select reviewers and editor. Submit for publication.

20. Writing a Scientific Article Contd.. INTRODUCTION METHODS MEMORY GAME TITLE RESULTS REFERENCES MATERIALS ABSTRACT Image Courtesy: http://www.joconl.com/article/id23578

21. Publishing a Scientific Article Select a specific Journal Choose the quality of the Journal Impact factor Quality of the journal in a specific field of study Calculating Impact factor: Citation of recent items/Number of recent items. (last year Vs current year) Immediacy Index How the journal is currently operation Calculation of Immediacy index Citation of recent items/Number of recent items. (current year Vs current year)

22. Journal Databases General database PUBMED WEB of SCIENCE Specialized database Food and Nutrition : Food Science and Technology Abstracts (FSTA) Agricola CAB Abstracts SCOPUS FoodNetBase (for e-books) CINAHL EMBASE Natural Standard SCOPUS

23. Journal Databases Animal Science CAB Abstracts BIOSIS Previews AGRICULTUREnetBASE Knovel Plant Science and Soil Science Agricola Environment Complete CAB Abstracts More Plant Science Databases

24. Class Activity Tweet about THREE new things you learn today. Respond to ONE another students tweet. Tag #ALES204, @JessL