HOW TO SET UP, CONDUCT AND REPORT A SCIENTIFIC STUDY
Figure 5. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) of flexural strength of Zirconia specimen bars as influenced by surface grinding (surface) and
heat treatment (heat). Note that heat has not a significant influence but surface condition has. There are no significant interactions.
If a reader has been drawn into the paper by the title,
then the abstract is the next thing he/she will look
at. Therefore it is important that the abstract is well
done and informative, because it will then motivate
the reader to continue reading. Furthermore
abstract, title and keywords are extremely important
Table 1a-d: SI Units (Taylor and Thompson 2008)
Table 1a. SI Base Units.
Base quantity
Figure 6a. Example of reporting parametric data as bar graphs with standard deviation. Tensile strength of composite bonded to two
ceramics after different cleaning procedures of saliva contaminated ceramics.
is high. All the recommendations given above to
write the “Introduction” and “Materials & Methods”
apply of course. There are a few more however.
The working title must be now converted into the
final title of the publication. Some journals limit the
number of words. A title is the first thing a potential
reader sees. Therefore it should be appealing and
motivate the reader to continue. The title should:
• Be concise, precise
• Adequately represent the contents of the article
• May not promise something it can not deliver
• Must specify animal species/clinical,
in vivo/in vitro, methodology
Key words must be assigned to the paper.
The authors sequence is a topic that often raises
conflicts, despite the fact that the rules about who
should be where are obvious. 20 Only persons
who have contributed to a significant degree
scientifically/intellectually to the paper are included
in the author line. Other contributions can be
accounted for in the Acknowledgements at the end
of the paper. Each author should know the article
and be able to take on scientific responsibility for
it. Who had the most scientific/intellectual input
96
Figure 6b. Example of reporting non parametric data as box
plots. Margin quality (% of excellent margin) of six different
adhesives (c=control).
for the paper to be found in databases, since only
these are used to index the paper. 21, 22, 23
The chapters "Introduction" and "Materials and
Methods" are already done, so in the phase of
writing the first version of the manuscript, they can
be taken with only slight modifications. So the next
chapter is "Results". Here the results are displayed
in form of tables and figures. Examples are shown in
Tab 2, Fig. 6a and b. The text can be short and should
mention the outcome of the statistical analysis as
well which can be printed as a table. Furthermore
the text should point to the reader some specifics
of the results and highlight important outcomes. No
explanations and interpretations should be given in
the chapter “Results”. Common errors are that the
data are directly copied from the statistical analysis,
where the computer calculates as many digits after
the dot as instructed thus suggesting a precision
which does not reflect the data (5,79438 ± 3,22459
instead of 5,8 ± 3,2). The graphic display of the data
should correspond with the type of analysis: bar
graphs with mean and SD for results of parametric
tests and box-plots for non parametric tests. It is not
recommended to use 3D graphics unless there is a
need for (displaying the relationship of 3 parameters
in one graph). And finally table and graphics must
should be the first author. Conflicts may occur in
mentor-student situations. My personal view here
is that the amount of contribution of the student
should determine whether he/she is first author or
not. If the idea came from the student, the mentor
helped and advised, the student performed the
experiment and wrote the manuscript (even with
help of the mentor), then it is clear that the student
is the first author. On the other hand, if the idea and
the experimental design are from the mentor, the
student performed the experiment, but the mentor
wrote the manuscript, then the mentor should
deserve the first place in the author’s list. To avoid
conflicts more and more journals require disclosure
of the contribution of every author.
The next thing to write is the "Abstract". This is a
difficult task for many reasons. Very often the journal
guidelines restrict its number of words and imply
a specific structure. The abstract must summarize
in a very condensed form the objective, what was
done, how it was done and the results. Usually
a conclusion is the final point of an abstract. It is
important to include the statistics and hard numbers
of the results.
Stoma Edu J. 2017;4(2): 90-101
http://www.stomaeduj.com
SI base unit
Name Symbol Name Symbol
length
mass
time, duration
electric current
thermodynamic temperature
amount of substance
luminous intensity l, x, r, etc.
m
t
I, i
T
n
I v meter
kilogram
second
ampere
kelvin
mole
candela m
kg
s
A
K
mol
cd
HOW TO SET UP, CONDUCT AND REPORT A SCIENTIFIC STUDY
Table 1b. Examples of coherent derived units in the SI expressed in terms of base units.
Derived quantity
SI base unit
Name Symbol Name Symbol
area
volume
speed, velocity
acceleration
wavenumber
density, mass density
surface density
specific volume
current density
magnetic field strength
amount concentration, (a)
concentration
mass concentration
luminance
refractive index (b)
relative permeability (b) A
V
v
a
σ, ṽ
r
r A
v
j
H
c square meter
cubic meter
meter per second
meter per second squared
reciprocal meter
kilogram per cubic meter
kilogram per square meter
cubic meter per kilogram
ampere per square meter
ampere per meter
mole per cubic meter m 2
m 3
m/s
m/s 2
m -1
kg/m 3
kg/m 2
m 3 /kg
A/m 2
A/m
mol/m 3
r,g
L V
n
m r kilogram per cubic meter
candela per square meter
one
one kg/m 3
cd/m 2
1
1
(a) In the field of clinical chemistry this quantity is also called "substance concentration"
(b) These are dimensionless quantities, or quatities of dimension one, and the symbol "1" for the unit (the number "one") is
generally omitted in specifying the values of dimensionless quantities
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