Научный «туризм» - Владимир Михайлович Пушкарев

main principle of advertising – tell the truth, a lot of true, much more true, than they wait from you, but never tell all the truth. Indeed, that extremely convenient simplification of a well-known method which has allowed you to obtain such wonderful results in fortnight term, appeared to result in a complete and irretrievable loss of your enzyme already at the second stage of the isolation procedure. So refrain from needless details there, where you feel any doubts.

Experiment can be considered successful if it is necessary to reject no more than 50% of obtained results to reach accordance with the theory.

(2nd corollary of Myers law )

Results

If you have got such data that there is nothing to discuss, the section is better to be named “results and discussion”. In this part of paper you are obliged to bring in the accessible form all the obtained information to the reader. This can be done very simply. The table of data is presented, and then every figure of this table is described in great details. It takes at least 3 pages in order to describe even a small table; the description of big tables can be stretched up to 20 sheets. The material should be expounded in a self-possessed, sustained scientific language, periodically inserting archaisms, but it is not worth to turn completely on old language – the reader can think, that this is study in philology. In general, the section should be written in the way that any expert could not read it up to the end, otherwise crazy thought to repeat your experiments can come to his mind.

Never try to repeat successful experiment.

(Fett’s law)

Always provide the statistical analysis of data even if you have not done it. To achive this, add to the plotted figures 0.65 with plus and a minus. Explaining what is this is unnecessary – this would humiliate your dignity. Usually one experiment is enough to write a paper. Otherwise you are at risk to obtain absolutely non-concerted data that will deprive you of calmness and self-confidence, and also (most unpleasant) will lead to the necessity of the third experiment. If you nevertheless, in an impulse of diligence, have carried out the second experiment and received an opposite data, with some share of risk you can forward it to other journal.

Discussion

If facts do not confirm the theory, it is necessary to get rid of them.

Myers

The more verbose theory is, the better it is.

1 corollary of Myers’s law.

In this section you should show all your imagination and fantasy. Discuss all the obtained facts separately all over again. By detailed consideration, each fact can become a source of a small theory or, at least, hypotheses. Then discuss your data in various combinations, look whether they are connected (and if they are not connected what is the reason at that) between themselves, whether they fit an integral picture of the phenomenon. At last, discuss the results in comparison with the data of other authors. The obtained data should confirm the theory of your chief (if any) and to contradict the data of his opponents. With the latters you should not be ceremonious at all. Do not hesitate to accuse them of the principal methodical mistakes – they are far, and will not read your paper, and the chief will consider this favourably. When analysing the data, try to think up as much as possible variants of explanations, but do not give visible preference to any of them. No matter how the things turn out subsequently, you will be always right, and you should remind about it once more in your future publications.

Illustrations

Consider them very attentively. Good illustrations can rescue the most inutile paper. The reader will not penetrate into meaning of plots – he will admire cleanness of lines and a composition of the figure. You should give more plots (the reviewer will write: «paper is perfectly illustrated”), it is possible to include especially successful graphs from your earlier papers (it will be pleasant for a reader to meet a familiar place) even if they confirm opposite data. It is also desirable to refer to figure when it does not illustrate your conclusion – the reader will be studying your figure for a long time while feeling the deep respect to the author and not less deep sensation of own narrow-mindedness. Legends to figures should be very detailed. Try to copy section “Methods” into the “Legends” – this will considerably increase the volume of paper, and add to it necessary weight. If there is nothing on yours gels, specify by arrows position of assumed peptides with values of their molecular weight. As a last resort, draw a band with ink and make photo once again. It is also a good idea to prepare a “bank” of images after protein blotting or PCR and then to compose necessary results using bands from different gels.

The paper for illustrations (and in general for manuscript) should be of the highest quality, preferably with watermarks.

Conclusions

In “Conclusions” retell “Results and discussion”, only a little bit shorter and without references to figures. It is possible simply to list all the obtained data in alphabetic order. One conclusion should be global (a role of investigated process in the evolution of biosphere or something like that). Do not be afraid to summarize all literature data on the problem even if it is your first paper in this field. Easily put in hypotheses. If you will take the wrong sow by the ear (be wide of the mark), it will be attributed to your youth, but if your hypothesis will prove to be true, you can begin each following paper with words: “As early as in 1985…”

Title

Undoubtedly, the major part of a paper, its name