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Survival Guide for Scholarship, Dissertations, Theses, and Scholarly Projects

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Writing for Publication

If you are new to writing for publication, here are a few sources that can help get you started.

Writing an Abstract

The journal where you are submitting your abstract may have rules for the type of abstract they accept (structured vs. unstructured). Be sure to check the author guidelines for details.

Writing the Introduction/Background

The purpose of the background or introduction is to introduce your topic, identify the problem being studied, and establish your research objectives. It also should logically lead to the next section of the paper, your literature review, by setting up the subjects that are relevant to your topic. 

Writing the Literature Review

The literature review is the section where you highlight the most relevant sources for your topic. It is the section where you define the scope of your topic and establish why your research project is necessary by identifying a gap in the literature. In addition, depending on your topic, it may also be the section where you identify relevant theoretical frameworks and define concepts. 

Writing the Methods

The methods section provides a description of how the research was done. It is the section that begins your case for internal validity and allows for reproducibility. It may or may not include references to other sources. If you use methods based on another person's work or guidelines, you'll want to cite those here. If your method is novel or unusual, you may also want to cite sources that help explain the choice.

Writing the Results

This is the heart of your paper. It is where you report your findings without interpretation.  

Writing the Discussion and Conculsion

These sections are where you interpret the results and tell your readers why those results are significant.