Writing a scientific article & Playing the citation game

Guest Speakers

Associate Professor

Department of Real Estate and Construction

The University of Hong Kong

Director, Loughborough University Doctoral College

Why is this important?

A large proportion of what researchers of is writing
This is how you disseminate your research and ideas
Journal papers are one of the fundamental measure of your effectiveness and quality as a researcher and academic
At present, probably the single most important thing in terms of career progression (promotion, grants, external appointments etc.)

The process of writing

Keep writing, regardless of quality and purpose!! You get better at it over time
Expect to draft and redraft text many times!
Read as much as possible!
Make coherent notes on relevant papers and books you read
Try to emulate scholars you admire and the styles/format of journals you might target

“Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.”

——George Eilot

Writing for publication

Introduction

Provide the setting for the paper and introduction the reader to the topic under investigation and provide at least a partial description of what is to come (the first two sentences are important!!)
Explain the significance of the research or paper, and justifies why it is important and interesting – so what?
Make sure you have a statement of the purpose of the paper / research
Depending on the journal, the introduction might include the discussion of relevant literature – current state of the art
It can be useful to explain how you have structured your argument, i.e. what is to come
The knowledge gap fallacy

For more information, refer to the soft copy….