Requirements to Writing a Scientific Article
The main features of the scientific style are objectivity, logicality and exactness. They provide a reader’s definite perception of the article and its assessment.
To follow the objective character of the scientific style, the author should avoid emotional statements and personal assessments in his article.
Logicality suggests strict semantic connections on all levels of the text: information units, statements and words in sentences. The author should followsemantic exactness when he forms paragraphs. In particular, the first sentence should be topical. It means it should include a question or a short introduction to the further text. The second and further sentences of the paragraph are to contain specific information such as data, ideas and arguments. The conclusion summarizing the paragraph is to be given in its final sentence. The important condition for the text understanding by a reader is its simplicity, so each sentence should keep only one idea.
Exactness means monosemanticity of statements. To do this, the author should use suitable scientific terminology correctly.
He is to fulfill the following rules:
- to apply clear terminology being in general use;
- to explain the meaning of a new and rare term if he puts it in use;
- not to use a two-meaning concept without any notion which of its meanings it is going to be applied in;
- not to use one word in two meanings or different words in one meaning;
- not to use foreign terms if there are their Russian equivalents.
The author should ask himself three questions when he starts his work with the article:
1. What is its main aim? He should define exactly:
– if he describes some new results of his research (it will be an experimental article);
– if he gives a new explanation to the results published earlier (it will be a summary analytical article which suggests and gives proof of a substantial hypothesis);
– if he makes a review of literature or develops an important theme (he will have to demonstrate his critical attitude to the material which is under consideration providing its analysis and generalization).
2. What is the difference of his article from other researches devoted to the same topic? What is its novelty?
He should clarify:
– what the article’s contribution in science is;
– how his results are connected with other researches in this branch of science;
– if the same research has been published before.
3. Where will his article be published? What audience is it aimed at? Articles in the journals recommended for publication by VAK must contain empirical analysis, conclusions of theses with the author’s own research results or his groundwork, but they mustn’t include a review of literature on the research problem.
The author should know his article’s recipient in advance. He is to describe the novelty of his research in the way that can be completely clear to the article’s reader. The most difficult parts of the article must be explained. If the article develops someone’s or the author’s previously published ideas, there is no sense to retell them. It’s better to address the reader to the original source of information.
The next stage of work is to define the article’s idea or its main hypothesis. The author has already shaped it generally. Nevertheless, it is to be analyzed once again. The ideal article should raise only one question and contain the volume of information that allows answering it comprehensively. So, the author is to think through all possible replies to it and to formulate some working hypotheses: it doesn’t matter if he is going to prove and deny them.
The article must contain a very short and clear analysis of state-of-the-art for the research, its purpose and methods, results and their discussion. These may be the author’s experimental results, generalization of production experience, analytic review of information gathered in the branch of the author’s study.
The article describing an experimental (practical) research should include the description of experimental methodology, accuracy evaluation and reproducibility of the results obtained. It’s desirable that the research results have a visual presentation like tables, graphs or diagrams.
The main purpose of any scientific publication is to show the scientific society the author’s research results, to bring out his priorities in the branch of science selected by him.