19  Before you Write

19.1 Key Insights

The first principle of good scientific writing comes into play even before we sit down to write. Scientific writing is:

Contextual Your writing is a vehicle used to deliver a specific message to a specific audience.

What is your message, and to whom are you communicating?

19.2 Scientific Writing is Contextual

19.2.1 Step 1: Identify your Target Audience

Scientific writing is just a specialised form of communication. Like all modes of communication, it is necessarily targeted to a specific audience. Identifying your target audience before you begin writing is key to knowing how to frame your material.

{exercise, name="A character sketch"} Write a character sketch of this audience.

{exercise, name="Key words"} What are the key topics that interest this audience.

19.2.2 Step 2: Know your Take-home Message

Your research article should have a clearly-stated key take-home message. What is the key conclusion you are trying to communicate to your audience?

{exercise, name="Key take-home message"} Write one sentence describing your _key take-home message_.

19.2.3 Step 3: Sketch an Outline

It’s easy to get lost in the details, but you’ll need to frame your research by thinking about the big picture. This means that, after you’ve identified your key take-home message, you need to put it into a broader framework.

Write a complete sentence that answers each of the following questions. If you have a hard time writing a complete sentence, just begin with some key words. You can fill in the blanks afterwards.

Remember, the details will come later. At this point you just need to have a broad overview.

{exercise, name="State-of-knowledge"} What is the key background, i.e. the _state-of-knowledge_ in which you are conducting your research?

{exercise, name="Lack-of-knowledge"} Given this background, what is the central question, i.e. the _lack-of-knowledge_ that you are attempting to address?

{exercise, name="Primay Method"} What is the primary method you've used to address this _lack-of-knowledge_?

{exercise, name="Key result"} What is the key result that you obtained from this method?

{exercise, name="Advance-in-knowledge"} What is your main contribution to the research community? i.e. What is your _advance-in-knowledge_? This is your interpretation of the results and should match the _key take-home message_ above.

```{exercise, name=“Key interests.”}

Write a sentence addressing the key interests of your target audience. This refers to the first step, above, and may include possible applications of your research in a wider context. e.g. product or drug development, informing policy decisions, laying the theoretical foundations for further applied research.

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