Suggestions for better papers

1. Suggestions for better papers • What the judges look for in a paper • Why judges reject papers

2. Suggestions for better papers What the judges look for in a paper: • Objectives that are clearly stated in the introduction • Concise methods that are logical and free from jargon • Results that relate to the objectives • Conclusions that are justified by the results

3. Organization • Introduction • Materials and methods • Results • Discussion • Conclusion

4. Introduction • Include some background • State your objectives • Explain why the research is important • If your research is similar to something published, explain how your work is different • We often reject papers that are “copies” of published work

5. Materials and Methods • Should be a logical description of what you did • Make sure that a lay person would understand your methods • Explain how your methods will allow you to meet your objectives • Do not list materials used in your project

6. Results • The most important section of your paper (and your presentation) • Should be easy to interpret by all judges • Emphasize the important points of your results (don’t make us guess)

7. Results: Figures • Usually better than tables • Make sure that figures can stand alone • Make sure that the figures clearly indicate something important • Each figure should be referenced in the text of your results

8. Discussion and Conclusion • Should relate to the objectives stated in the introduction • Should be clearly tied to your results and should not go beyond your data

9. Why judges reject papers • Literature searches • Work that is a repeat of something published and does not expand beyond the original work • Poor study design • If we cannot interpret your results • If we do not understand what the figures are supposed to indicate

10. Problems in Study Design • Sample size insufficient to indicate a trend • Samples insufficiently distributed on the x-axis • Samples should usually be randomly drawn and independent of one another

11. Not enough data to indicate a trend

12. Sample insufficiently distributed on the x-axis r2=0.78, F1,4=6.07, P=0.032

13. Balanced Linear Regression r2=0.89, F1,38=389, P=0.000

14. Sample insufficient across the x-axis r2=0.01, F1,38=.07, P=0.841

15. Independent Samples?

16. When are non-independent samples are OK? • Multiple measurements on an individual to track a response • Before and after measurements on subjects • Can be dealt with statistically (repeated measures ANOVA or paired t-tests)

17. Statistical outliers • What do we do with outliers? • Do nothing when you can’t justify deleting • In regression, conduct “robust regression” • Delete if you can justify

18. Examples from previous speakers • To illustrate some common problems

22. Rule 2: Avoid Jargon and be careful with abbreviations

24. (pos 173) (neg 11) (neu. 6647)

25. Low PP accumulators High polyphenol accumulators Medium polyphenol accumulator Low pp accumulators Radical scavenging activity (µ mole Trolox/mg dry leaf powder) and total polyphenol (g/100 g dry leaf powder) in the leaves of 60 sweetpotato genotypes

26. Linear correlations between the total polyphenol contents (g/100g dry matter) and radical scavenging activities (RSA; mol Trolox/g DM) of sweet potato leaves

27. Photomicrographs A and B show crystals produced by 500 µM melamine and 500 µM cyanuric acid in H20 (sample 11), at 400X magnification and 40X magnification, respectively. Photomicrographs C and D show crystals produced by 500 µM melamine and 500 µM cyanuric acid in artificial urine (Sample 6), at 400X magnification and 40X magnification, respectively.

28. Pellet weights for Trial 3 samples