Writing for publication: Argument and evidence

SummaryThe rules for writing a research report for publication are well defined but are much less clear for scholarly scientific papers.The purpose of this paper is to enable new writers to confidently apply the skills of scientific writing within a scholarly paper for publication.Similarities and differences between scientific argument and debating are discussed. Achieving the right ‘tone’ and emphasis in writing is considered. How to use the correct verb tense is outlined. The importance of a clearly defined question is explained. The elements of an effective scholarly paper are presented and examples given. The elements are the: question, thesis, introduction, body of the paper, conclusion and finally, an abstract.