Recently, I was invited to a college of a university in a foreign country to make a report entitled "doing my own scientific research". The summary of the report reads: "scientific research is everywhere. Scientific research is neither a snow in the sun nor a child." do your own scientific research " As the name suggests, in the scientific community, although there are some basic principles and common practices in the scientific research process, it mainly depends on the researchers' own efforts to practice. Through their own personal experience, they can feel the charm of scientific research, understand the essence of scientific research and experience their own scientific research methods. Everyone has a little understanding of scientific research methods The taste of "testing shoes with feet" depends on one's own understanding and practice. The lecture is only the speaker's experience in scientific research and learning and practicing the advanced scientific research ideas of predecessors over the years, which is only for reference. Because any good scientific research results come from the researchers' own practice and perception of the scientific research process. " . this report consists of four parts: scientific research concept; the "creation" of academic papers; how to write a high-quality application for scientific research projects and attend academic conferences. Due to time constraints, this report generally only covers the first three parts. The content of this report was posted on science.com five years ago and has been greatly supplemented and revised.

After returning to Wuhan, a professor sent me a letter asking me to provide him with some detailed information on the writing of academic papers. I understand that one of the main contents and the greatest pressure of the daily assessment of teachers and their graduate students in the university is to publish academic papers. I personally "work hard" in the University Although decades old teachers have always attached importance to publishing academic papers, the quantity and quality of academic papers are not satisfactory due to various reasons. However, as we often say: the elderly eat more salt than the young, and walk more bridges than the young. This is a metaphor for us "academic elderly" I have more experience than young people. Publishing academic papers is the same. I can't remember a lot of rejection and repeated overhaul scenes, and sometimes I can't hold on. Therefore, I'm willing to take some time to tell you my "creation" experience of academic papers. The title of my blog is "creation" of academic papers I want to express my understanding of the production process of academic papers, such as the innovation of the topic selection and the production process of achievements, which have something in common with the creation of "works of art".

Academic papers are academic summaries of scientific achievements. She depends on the innovation of the topics, the scientific process of the results, the accumulation of scientific research and the writing skills of the author. The academic papers emphasize the "why" in the readers' achievements, which is the total result of the theory of achievement, which is different from the technology and patent achievements. What is more, the academic paper should clarify the "advanced nature" of the results in theory. And the difference with other similar achievements. Instead of just describing what the achievements "have done" and what specific results have been achieved. Let's take my field of Geology and geophysics as an example to talk about the structural style of the paper:

Title of the thesis: it is concise and appropriate to express the main content of the thesis. Refining a topic appropriate to the content of the thesis depends on the author's comprehensive academic quality and reading understanding of peer literature.

Abstract: the abstract of an academic paper is not a simple list of the results of the paper, but should include: a brief description of the research objectives, scope and research methods, and a summary of the results, significance and main conclusions of the paper. In fact, the form of the abstract of an academic paper is similar to the 400 word Abstract designed in the project application of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, that is, the research significance and the research methods planned to be adopted The difference is that the text format of the abstract of the academic paper is "completion tense", while the project application is "future tense".

Key words: the key words of the paper generally have two purposes: one is to meet the editing and management needs of literature retrieval institutions; the other is to facilitate the periodical editors to arrange reviewers. 3-5 words closely related to the content of the paper are selected as the key words. The papers in our geological and geophysical research field mainly involve: 2-3 descriptions of the paper results, 1 method and 1 research area (for applied research results).

Hot spots: generally do not appear in published papers. Some journal manuscripts need to provide about three hot spots when submitting. If it is an English paper, each hot spot is generally less than 100 characters. The hot spots reflect the most innovative achievement of the paper, which provides a reference for editors and reviewers to judge whether the paper has publication value.

Based on the extensive investigation of the relevant achievements of peers and papers, this paper expounds the starting point of the research achievements of the paper in detail, and puts forward the "scientific and technological problems" involved in the paper And the significance and characteristics of the results. The preface is to tell readers why this paper is worth reading. Therefore, the preface needs to provide sufficient background information to make readers understand whether the author has fully referred to the relevant papers of his peers. The preface generally includes: 1. The nature and scope of the research questions; 2. Comment on the published results of his peers, indicating that the paper results are based on his peers On the basis of research. In this regard, some authors do not pay much attention to it, but list some peer-reviewed relevant literature, and lack of comments. 3. Introduce the research methods and main results. It should be noted that some of our researchers do not pay much attention to the writing of the preface, especially do not fully read peer-reviewed literature and make serious and objective comments on peer-reviewed achievements In fact, Gao Shui's comments can highlight the author's academic level and show that the paper is to study the important problems existing in this field. Therefore, I think the preface is one of the two most difficult parts of an academic paper, and the other part is "discussion" (introduced below).

GEOLOGICAL GEOPHYSICAL BACKGROUND: academic papers mainly aimed at applied research types. It is convenient for readers to understand the basis and reliability of the practical application part of the paper results.

Research (analysis) methods: introduce in detail the methods used for research or analysis, such as the details (resolution and accuracy) of analytical instruments, so that readers can judge the reliability of data. Calculate the mathematical and physical models and relevant parameters proposed by geophysics, so that readers can repeat the results of the paper. Complex calculation formulas can be arranged at the end of the paper in the form of "appendix".

Results: maps, tables and descriptions reflecting the results of the paper are mainly arranged. Obviously, the selection and production of charts that properly reflect the characteristics of the results reflect the author's academic research skills and knowledge. Generally, the discussion on the significance of the results is not arranged in this part. Therefore, the editor of Geophysics miscellaneous believes that the length of the results of a well written academic paper is often short.

Discussion: I think the discussion part is one of the most important parts of an academic paper (the other part is the preface) This paragraph needs to fully demonstrate the significance of the results. By comparing the results published previously with the peers, the paper expounds the advanced nature of the results, discusses the similarities and differences between the results of the same fields and the same trade, and explains the reasons. The theoretical significance and possible practical application of the results are expounded. However, the format of the papers in some journals is slightly different, and the results and discussions are integrated into one. Since then, it's just a different structure.

Conclusion: the conclusion needs to summarize the results and their importance briefly. Pay attention to the differences between the conclusion and the abstract. The conclusion only states the main results and significance of the paper. The abstract needs to summarize the content of the paper, including the research purpose, significance, methods and results. Because the information retrieval organization usually only needs the abstract of the paper when collecting the information of a paper, except the information of journals and authors The length of the conclusion part of an academic paper is often the shortest.

Acknowledgment: thank those who have provided help in analyzing and calculating data and revising papers in the manuscript. For example, some peers who have participated in discussions on relevant contents of the manuscript in different ways should be reflected in the acknowledgment. Full respect for the help of peers shows that the author's style of study is rigorous, which is of positive significance to improving the author's academic reputation in the academic circle.

References: select important journals closely related to the paper as much as possible. Pay attention to the quotation of peer representative and classic works and the timeliness of documents. Serious reviewers pay more attention to the citation of the author of the paper to the important representative works recently published by their peers. A famous scholar said that some reviewers have mastered the basic information of the manuscript after reading the title and abstract of the manuscript After rest, the reviewer will read the references of the paper first. If the reviewer finds that the manuscript does not cite some important recently published literature of the same industry he knows, it will often weaken his impression of the quality of the manuscript and the author's academic level. The quality of citation can also judge the author's understanding of the importance of peer literature. Sometimes we find that some papers may have average results, but due to the work Readers can get good research information from high-quality citations. At this time, readers will feel "wrong" when reading this paper.