Papers#
Academic papers provide a durable snapshot of our thinking about a particular topic in a particular point in time. They provide a great outlet for a creative synthesis of the different strands of a research project, starting from the relationship to previous research, through the methods that are employed, centering on the empirical findings, and ending with a meditation on the state of the world (also known as a discussion section). Because of that, papers can give their authors a tremendous amount of satisfaction. They are also important common currency in academic careers. So, we write papers. The bad news is that writing full papers is one of the hardest things we do.
Where you start writing the paper is often one of the hardest things to decide. The good thing is that by the time you are writing the paper, you have probably already done a lot of work that could serve as a starting point.
A good place to start writing is deciding on the figures that would appear in the paper. They don’t necessarily have to be finalized or fully polished, but a sequence of figures that contain the main results that will appear in the paper often start to tell the story that the paper will eventually tell.
This then allows you to write down the main results in sequence and see whether the logic flows.
Another good place to start is by writing down the methods.
Share ideas with co-authors and collaborators early on in the process A google doc, Overleaf doc, or a GitHub repository are all good places for people to read/comment/suggest.
Other resources#
Matteo Carandini wrote a short, succint and memorable essay that explains how to write a paper (with him).
If you take only one of Carandini’s recommendations to heart, it is that you should read “The science of scientific writing” by Gopen and Swan (1990)