WHY did I do this work?
Papers that struggle through the editorial process often do not have a clear purpose that motivate the work and/or a clear problem. Why is this work/research question important? Was it driven by a medical or socio-economic problem? Was it curiosity? Was it a technical problem? Answers to this question will eventually develop into the Introduction of your paper.
Doing research is about finding solutions/answers to problems, not finding problems for solutions. Researchers who take on projects that are in search of problems to fit a solution often struggle to write and publish their paper. Therefore, consider the problem carefully, sharpen, define and articulate it in words.
WHAT were the results?
Doing science is like hunting for pearls in oysters. You might have opened 100 oysters (i.e. tested 100 different hypotheses or performed 100 different experiments or analysed your data 100 ways) to find just 3 pearls. Communicating science is about telling people your story or analysis of the 3 pearls. You must resist the urge to include all 100 oysters.
Gather your data in one place as you go. Filter them and concentrate on those that matter. The quality of your paper depends as much on what you choose to remove as on what you choose to include. Pick the best combination of hypotheses, objectives and data to build your story. The data and their interpretation will form the Results section of your paper.
WHAT are my contributions?
Your paper will not exist if people did not understand how and why your work makes a difference that matters. Did you help us understand the world better? Build a public resource or a new device? Or did you discover something? As Author, it is your responsibility to spell out the key outcomes for your readers. List your contributions and then try to shave them down to the top three and then a single, key point or conclusion. Knowing the main conclusion you arrived at with your data, or the key point you want to make in the paper, will help you write the rest of the paper. This key point will also form the core of your Cover Letter later on.
Once you have written down your thoughts, organize them into sections of a paper: Introduction, Results and Conclusions. Continuously organize and refine each section as your project progresses. Re-draw your figures as necessary until you come to one that is most intuitive and clearest to follow. Aim for around 5-6 display items.
You might want to print out the most relevant figures and write the big ideas on post-it notes. Moving things around helps you see how your data and message fit and flow together.
