This session describes the basics of scientific writing. Initially, we discussed about the overview, bias language, manuscript structure, publishing manuals with comparisions, search engines, quality of journals, impact factors, reputed publishers, and interactive practical session on in-text citation and reference list preparation.

1. Scientific Writing Part-1
APA (American Psychological Association 7th edition)
Dr. Rajeev Kumar,
MSW (TISS, Mumbai), M.Phil., (CIP, Ranchi), UGC-JRF, Ph.D., (IIT Kharagpur)

2. Content of the session
Dear all, in this session, we will cover following points:
1. The overview of scientific writing.
2. The use of publishing manual
3. The APA (American Psychological Association)
4. Differentiation between APA 6th and APA 7th edition.
5. Overview of five more publication manuals.
6. Manuscript structure (IMRAD)
7. Reducing Bias in language
8. Assessing strength of journal and article (Impact factors and reputed
publishers)
9. An overview and demonstration of various scientific search engines
10. Practical demonstration of in-text citation and reference listing

3. What is scientific writing ?
• Scientific writing is a technical form
of writing that is designed to
communicate scientific information
to other scientists. Depending on the
specific scientific genre—a journal
article, a scientific poster, or a
research proposal, for example—
some aspects of the writing may
change, such as
its purpose, audience,
or organization.

4. What do we cover in scientific writing?
A detailed guidelines on
• Types of article
• Ethical concern
• Manuscript structure
• Writing style
• Reducing Bias in language
• Grammar and usage
• Plagiarism
• In-text citation and references
• Types of references
• Publication process

5. Some other publication manuals

6. Type of source we credit in research paper
Most commonly used
Journal articles
Books
Book chapters
Organization report
Less used
Unpublished thesis/Dissertations
Conferences
Encyclopaedia
Videos
Newspaper Article
Magazine article

7. Manuscript structure
(IMRAD)

8. IMRAD

9. Reducing Bias in language
Gender Bias
• avoid ambiguity in sex identity or gender role by choosing
nouns, pronouns, and adjectives that specifically describe your
participants.
• For example avoid terms “Chairman” “Manpower” “Policeman”
and consistent use of “He” for both the genders.
• Rather use “chairperson” “Human resources” “Police officer”
and “He/She”.

10. Bias related to disabilities
• The overall principle for "nonhandicapping" language is to maintain the
integrity (worth) of all individuals as human beings.
• Avoid language that objectifies a person by her or his condition (e.g., autistic,
neurotic), that uses pictorial metaphors (e.g., wheelchair bound or confined to
a wheelchair), that uses excessive and negative labels (e.g., AIDS victim, brain
damaged), or that can be regarded as a slur (e.g., cripple, invalid).
• Use people-first language, and do not focus on the individual's disabling or
chronic condition (e.g., person with paraplegia, youth with autism). Also use
people-first language to describe groups of people with disabilities.
• For instance, say people with intellectual disabilities in contrast to the
retarded (University of Kansas, Research and Training Center on
Independent Living, 2008).

11. In-text citation and references (Practical session)

12. Important search engines and their websites
Name of
search
engine
Link
Google
Scholar
https://scholar.google.com/
Pubmed https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
Science
direct
https://www.sciencedirect.com/
Scopus https://www.scopus.com/standard/marke
ting.uri
Cochrane https://www.cochranelibrary.com/

13. How do you know the quality and strength of research
study? Impact factor and its calculation

14. Some high impact factor journals (few examples)

15. Some reputed publications

16. In-text citation and referencing (Practical)
• Instead of all sources, we will practice only selective sources.
Such as books, book chapter, journal article, and organization report.

17. Difference between APA 6th and APA 7th edition
In late 2019, the American Psychological Association (APA) published a revised style guide: the 7th
edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. This edition contains a
few minor changes to the 6th edition of the manual.
• Key changes at a glance
• Et al.: “et al.” is used in the first in-text citation for works with three or more authors.
• Up to 20 authors cited: In the reference list, give the surnames and initials for up to 20 authors.
• Website names: Website names are now included as well as the webpage title.
• Publication location: The location of the publisher (i.e., city, country/state code) is no longer
required.
• Ebook publisher: You no longer need to give the platform, format, or device (e.g., Kindle) for
ebooks, but you do need give the publisher.
• "Retrieved from": You no longer need to write “Retrieved from” before a URL.
• DOIs: DOIs are formatted the same as URLs. You do not need to write "DOI."
• Spelling and capitalization of ethnic and racial terms: Ethnic and racial groups are capitalised.
• Minor changes: Inclusive language, Formatting assignments; The mechanics of style; Tables,
figures, and graphs; Heading levels.

18. Many authors: In-text citations ("et al." in the first
citation)
• In APA 6th ed., for works with three to five authors, the first time the source is cited the in-text
citation lists all names followed by commas:
• (Smith, Khan, & Zhang, 2019)
• Smith, Khan, and Zhang (2019)
• In APA 6th ed. subsequent in-text citations for works with three to five authors only include the
first author followed by “et al.” (which means “and others” in Latin) and the date:
• (Smith et al., 2019).
• Smith et al. (2019).
• APA 6th ed. all in-text citations for six or more authors include only the first author followed by
“et al.” and the date.
• APA 7th ed. in-text citations for works with three or more authors include only the first author
name and “et al.” (which means “and others” in Latin) is used in all citations, including the first in-
text citation:
• (Smith et al., 2019).
• Smith et al. (2019).

19. Many authors in the reference list
• APA 6th ed. uses “. . .” (an ellipsis) to replace all authors between the sixth author
and the last author (no more than seven authors are listed):
• Smith, J. D., Khan, V., Zhang, H., Williams, T., Garcia, J., Sato, Y., . . . Laurence, D.
• If there are 6 or 7 authors, all of their names are spelled out in the reference list.
• APA 7th ed. includes the surnames and initials of up to and including 20 authors
in the reference list. For works with more than 21 authors, use an ellipsis
between the 19th and final author. There should be no more than 20 names:
• McDuff, C., Smith, J., Kensington, K., Jones, S., Coughlan, S., Bortolin, L., Witte, M.,
Scott, A., Newport, A., Jensen, K., Wutzler, J., van Staden, I., McLean, J., Bergsma,
G., Dowman, B., Petrie, K., Higgens, D., McCloud, R., Jessop, L., …Duncan, P.
(2017). An introduction to quantitative analysis in finance. Houghton.
• (McDuff et al., 2017).
• McDuff et al. (2017).

20. Reference of book
• Publication location
• The 6th ed. includes the publisher location in reference list entries. If the
city is not in the United States, the country is also written, after a comma:
• Palmerston North, New Zealand:
• Oxford, England:
• For cities in the United States, the 6th ed. uses the two-letter postal code
abbreviation for the state instead of the country:
• Anaheim, CA:
• The 7th ed. omits publisher location from reference list entries:
• Lawford, C. K. (2009). Moments of clarity: Voices from the front lines of
addiction and recovery. William Morrow.

21. When publishers and authors are same
• Note: When the author and publisher are the same, omit the publisher in
the reference.
• Ministry of Education. (2009). Research ethics in New Zealand: A student
guide.
• American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the
American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
• Note: Multiple publishers are listed in the order shown on the copyright
page of a work, separated with a semi-colon:
• Neftci, S. N. (2009). Principles of financial engineering (2nd ed.). Academic
Publishing; Massey University Press.

22. E-book format
• The 6th ed. includes the e-book format, platform, or device (e.g.,
Kindle) but not the publisher:
• Roach, M. (2010). Packing for Mars: The curious science of life in the
void [Kindle version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com
• The 7th ed. omits the e-book format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle)
but includes the publisher:
• Forsyth, D. (2018). Probability and statistics for computer
science. Springer Publishing Company.
https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319644097

23. Retrieved from
• The 6th ed. includes the words “Retrieved from” before the url in the reference
list:
• Forsyth, D. (2018). Probability and statistics for computer science. Springer
Publishing Company. Retrieved from
https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319644097
• Ministry of Education. (2009). Measuring hauora in primary schools. Retrieved
from http://www.education.govt.nz/school/student-support/haurora/
• The 7th ed. omits the words “Retrieved from” before the url in the reference list:
• Forsyth, D. (2018). Probability and statistics for computer science. Springer
Publishing Company. https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319644097
• Ministry of Education. (2009). Measuring hauora in primary
schools. http://www.education.govt.nz/school/student-support/haurora/

24. DOI format
• The 6th ed. includes the label “doi:” before the DOI number in the
reference listing:
• Gelkopf, M., Ryan, P., Cotton, S., & Berger, R. (2008). The impact of
“training the trainers” for helping tsunami-survivor children on Sri
Lankan disaster volunteer workers. International Journal of Stress
Management, 15(2), 117-135. doi:10.1037/1072-5245.15.2.117
• The 7th ed. omits the label “doi:” from the reference listing, and
starts a DOI link with https://doi.org/ instead:
• Smith, J. D. (2009). Research ethics in New Zealand: A student
guide. https://doi.org/10.1000/182

25. The glimpse of the next session
Dear all, in the next session we will discuss on
1. Strategies for literature review
2. Gap analysis
3. Making concept note
4. Reference management using Mendeley software
(https://www.mendeley.com/download-reference-manager)

26. References
• https://owll.massey.ac.nz/referencing/apa-6th-vs-7th-edition.php
• https://sites.middlebury.edu/middsciwriting/overview/

27. Thanks for your patience!!
Keep learning!!!!
Will continue……..