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Sandeep B Bavdekar
Workshop at Institute of Research in Reproduction, IRR
11th August 2010
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Research advancement
Knowledge building
Experience sharing
Thought stimulation
Career advancement
Appreciation by colleagues
Enhances curriculum vitae Financial benefit
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All the thinking, all the textual analysis, all theexperiments and data gathering arent upto
anything until we write them up. In the world ofscholarship, we are what we write.
Donald Kennedy, 1997
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What do I have to say?
Is it worth saying?
What is the right format for the message?
Who is the message for?
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Case Reports
Letter to Editor Research articles/ Original articles
Editorial
Review articles Commentary
Viewpoint
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What is it?
A scientific communication providinginformation to the medical world about a rareor unreported feature, condition, complication,association or treatment
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The best teaching of Medicine is thattaught by the patient himself
William Osler
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A simple form of medical communication
In vogue for a long time A form of descriptive study
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A form of publication and study not dependenton large resources or research infrastructure
Can be interesting, accessible and readilydigestible for readers
Convey the art of medicine Not all research questions are amenable to RCT
An expedient way of communicating new ideas,
syndromes, treatments and adverse reactions
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Why did you start,
What did you do,
What answer did you get, and
What does it mean anyway?
This seems to me to be a logical order for a
scientific paper.Austin Bradford Hill, 1965
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I Introduction
MMethods
R ResultsAnd
D Discussion
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Introduction: Why did you start?
Methods: What did you do?
Results: What did you get?
And
Discussion: What does it mean anyway?
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Dos Describe current state of
knowledge
Enlist gaps in knowledge Provide enough information
for the reader to judge theneed to conduct the study
[Provide rationale] State the aim
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It should be brief and arresting
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Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is an important
health issue. It is the chief complaint amongst
12% patients visiting general practitioners1
and in6% patients referred to Pain Clinics.2 Althoughseveral medications have been shown to beefficacious, there is no unanimity amongst
experts regarding the standard treatment to beinstituted.3 As the information regardingeffectiveness, usually effective dose and safetyprofile of drug m in Indian population is limited;
we conducted a study to elucidate these issues.
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Three Questions:
What has been done?
What did you look for?How was it done?
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Dos
Study design: prospective/ retrospective
Setting
Who is the study about: Participants andcontrols, how selected; inclusion and
exclusion criteria What did you do?: Intervention, follow-up
What did you look for?: Outcome measure,how was the effect assessed
Statistical methods and Ethicalconsiderations
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Dos Donts
Study design: prospective/ retrospective
Setting
Who is the study about: Participants andcontrols, how selected; inclusion and
exclusion criteria, recruitment strategies What did you do?: Intervention, follow-up
What did you look for?: Outcome measure,how was the effect assessed
Statistical methods
Ethical considerations
Providingobservations!
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Provide enough details for other informedinvestigators to reproduce the study!
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Dos
How many were screened/ foundeligible for participation/consented to participate?
How many completed the study?
Reasons for lack of completeness Compliance with therapy or
protocol
What did you find?
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Dos Donts
How many were screened/found eligible for participation/consented to participate?
How many completed thestudy?
Reasons for lack ofcompleteness
Compliance with therapy orprotocol
What did you find?
Introduce new parameters Interpretation of results
Provide references
Using adjectives (most, some,
many, often..) Repeating data in text and
tables
Not accounting for all subjects/Errors in data
Mixing up data, erroneous data
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Virtues:
Organization of data
Good for showing specific results
Not good for showing trends
Not for quick communication of ideas
Tables should not be too large. If there are manycolumns or rows, try dividing them into multiple
tables Avoid repetition of data in text and tables
Use only as many tables as are needed to tell thestory
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A figure is worth a million words
An attribute that is very useful whiledealing with word count
Figures catch the Readers eye
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Type of graph used: Dependent on type of data
Line diagram: Usually event in relation to time
Bar diagram: Comparisons Pie charts: Parts of a whole
Histogram: Frequency distribution
Scatter diagram: Associations between variables
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Useful for RCT
Can also be used fordescribing other studies
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Summary of key findings: (primary outcomemeasures, secondary outcome measures, results
as they relate to a prior hypothesis) Why is this study special?
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Provide previously published evidence, for andagainst
Discuss differences in findings and probable
reasons for the same
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Discuss strengths and limitations of the study (studyquestion, study design, data collection, analysis andinterpretation)
Relevance to practice
Interpretation and implications in the context of thetotality of evidence
What this study adds to the available evidence,
effects on patient care and health policy, possiblemechanisms
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State controversies raised by this study and newquestions it poses
Provide directions for future research
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Reiterating selected results Emphasizing strengths, not weaknesses
Inflating the importance and generalizability
of findings Going beyond the evidence and drawing
unjustified conclusions
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First thing a reader sees
Should know what the study is about
Should interest the reader
Should make the reader curious
Concise, descriptive, not declarative
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The sequence of the human genome
Initial sequencing and analysis of thehuman genome
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Indicative (states what the paper covers,not what it says)
Informative (good to start writing with)
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Effect of asthma on linear growth in children
Does asthma reduce linear growth?
Linear growth deficit in asthmatic children
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Follow IMRaD pattern, 150-250 words No information that is not included in the main
body of the paper
Do not copy sentences from the main body Include actual data on primary outcome
measures
Include the main statistical conclusions
It is a good idea to write a structured Abstract
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The foundation on which your work is built
Provides scientific background that justifies theresearch undertaken and methods used
Provide the context in which your researchshould be interpreted
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The foundation on which your work is built
Provides scientific background that justifies theresearch undertaken and methods used
Provide the context in which your research
should be interpretedReferences should not be collected, as anafterthought, when the research ends
Literature search and reading relevantreferences: starting point
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Allows the reader to locate the source material
Accurate, current and complete
Too many or too few references
Reference section (Journal article, books,website)
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Citations in Introduction: Backgroundinformation, explain why research wasundertaken
Citations in Material and Methods: Supportmethods and procedures used
Citations in Discussion: Interpret and explain
your results, defend hypothesis
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Harvard Vancouver
References are Cited in the text by
giving authors nameand year of publication
in brackets
Author, reader andresearcher-friendly
Provides researchersworld view and his/ herevolution of thoughts
References are numbered consecutively
as they appear in thetext
Identified by a number inthe text
Librarian friendly. Author
just a number in the textand list of references
Ease in indexing
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Follow Instructions/ Guidelines: Format, Number
Cite the most valid, most important and most recentliterature
Cite studies that have been rigorous and provide highquality evidence
Prefer citing references that give facts, not opinions
Check original paper
Avoid: Non-peer reviewed articles and personalcommunications
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Style: Choice does not rest with you
Accuracy of references: Your responsibility
Inaccurate references: Reviewers tend to bemore critical
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Patel K, Kedia M, Gogtay NJ, Mehta SS,
Kshirsagar NA. Evaluation and economicburden of adverse events presenting to theEmergency medical services in a tertiaryreferral centre. Drug Safety 2005; 34: 15-19
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Give it sufficient time
Put it away
Give it to your enemy/ real friend for review
Revise, revise and re-revise
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The notion that a scientific paper should bewritten in a special language is nonsense. Itshould be written in good, plain English.
People dont ambulate and take oral fluids,they walk and drink.
John Ellard
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If the science is bad, no amount of writing skillswill make it publishable.
If the science is good, editors will help youdress it up.
Rajendra Kale, Editor- Editorials, BMJJPGM Goldcon, September 2004
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