Overview of a Medical Research Paper
Writing medical research papers demands an understanding of the set requirements.
It is important to note that these requirements influence the nature of the particular research paper.
Per se, a medical research paper could assume either a quantitative or a qualitative approach.
Papers adopting the two different approaches will be distinctive in their content and paper structure.
Features of a Good Medical Research Paper
A good medical research paper should exhibit some key characteristics.
Besides the common features that you need to understand when it comes to how to write a research paper, some particular characteristics of a good medical research paper include:
a) Should be evidence based: a medical research paper is a scientific work and should therefore rely solely on evidence to advance its arguments. This relates to the data used in the research paper.
Per se, information used must be credible and reliable.
Data used should not encompass personal opinions, descriptive information, poorly designed studies, or contradicting evidence.
b) Honesty: this is a critical feature of a good medical research paper. Honesty entails using research data correctly.
One aspect of such use involves ensuring that your research paper does not use fabricated data. In this, all data used should be genuine and accurate.
Falsified data should also be avoided at all costs. This looks at the manipulation of research processes, equipment, or materials.
Lastly, plagiarized content should be avoided. This seeks to ensure that all sources are well referenced.
c) Should be clearly written: this is one of the most important elements of a good medical research paper.
Notably, there has always been debate on whether accuracy or clear communication is the most important element in scientific papers.
This highlights the need to ensure that your research paper is clearly written. Accordingly, all the parts of your paper should be logical and coherent. This requires you to understand the various elements of scientific writing.
Such elements focus on the use of the right language and terms as well as correct sentence and paper structure.
d) Correctly addresses the target audience: this is another important element in medical research papers.
It requires you to clearly identify your target audience and produce work that they are able to easily understand and relate with.
You must ensure that you use the correct level of diction to avoid making your target audience feel alienated.
Steps on how to Write a Medical Research Paper
As earlier mentioned, the process of writing a medical research paper depends on its nature. In this, quantitative and qualitative papers are likely to adopt different approaches.
Nonetheless, common steps involved include:
a) Choosing a topic: this step involves deliberating on the area you want to explore and determining the specific research issue to focus on.
You should examine feasible medical research paper topics to determine the most suitable one to study.
Usually, you should concentrate on areas with unresolved issues or concerns. A thesis should be developed to guide the research process.
b) Collecting research data: In this step, you should conduct a rigorous study of available data relevant to the issue(s) being examined in the medical research paper.
This entails looking for information in books, on the web, and interviewing relevant individuals.
It is important to note down all your sources and examine their credibility when collecting the necessary data.
c) Compiling research paper themes: this step entails the process of organizing the collected data to form themes supporting your main argument.
These themes should be in the form of points derived from collected data.
Data with similar themes should be collated into points and ranked based on their strength in advancing the medical research paper argument(s).
d) Developing an outline: this involves organizing your paper in a logical manner. This outline should encompass all the features of an outstanding research paper.
In this step, you should analyze the points from collected data to determine the part they suit most.
e) Writing the paper: this step entails compiling the collected data to develop logical arguments to support the medical research paper thesis.
The arguments should be advanced through the sections and subsections with relevant information flowing in a logical sequence. Data tables and figures should be incorporated.
f) Incorporating the discussion and conclusion: this step involves deliberating the results of the paper, including their interpretations and implications.
The discussion part should reconcile the applicable theory and results. On the other hand, the conclusion should summarize all the major points in the essay.
g) Compiling the reference list: although you should cite your work as you write, this step is important in ensuring that your references are done correctly in line with the provided paper format instructions.
Structure of a Medical Research
Structure is critical on how to write a medical research paper. Usually, such a paper should assume the general structure of biophysical research papers.
Such a structure is usually used in other biophysical sciences works such as engineering research papers. It encompasses the abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and conclusion.
a) Abstract: usually, the abstract should be well structured, providing an overview of the entire research paper. It should contain relevant information like objectives, methods, results, and conclusions.
b) Introduction: the introduction covers the background of the research study. It should look at the research question(s), thesis statement, and study objectives.
Markedly, it should start by providing a broad context of the study and then narrow down to the specific area being addressed.
c) Methods: the methods section stipulates the steps entailed in the research process. Such processes include study design, data collection, and data analysis.
d) Results: the results section involves reporting what was derived from the processes in the methods section. It should provide the results in the form of statistics, text, tables, and figures.
Although you should be as brief and concise as possible, ensure that you report all the relevant information, including harms and deviations from the research plan.
e) Discussion: this section entails examining the implications of the research results. It should compare the findings with other studies and provide future research suggestions.
f) Conclusions: the conclusions section should summarize the medical research paper results and relate them to the study question.
Detailed approach on how to write a medical research paper is as illustrated in the link below.