Writing to Survive
Tossed in at the Deep End:
Writing to Survive in Academic
Medicine
Yellowlees (Jane) Douglas
Faculty, CTSI
Associate Professor, Center for
Management Communication
Warrington College of Business
yellowleesdouglas@gmail.com
Writing to Survive
Why Writing Is So Important
• Requirement for significant patientoriented research
• Demand for publications, even as
journals decrease acceptance rates
(>16%), with increasing submissions
from outside US (tripling over 20
years)
• Necessary as a prerequisite for
extramural funding
• Extramural funding a must for
Writing to Survive
How are articles published?
• Prepared according to structural requirements of the
journal.
• Scanned by a senior editor for appropriateness; around
half of articles rejected at this point.
• If appropriate mailed to two “experts” in the field- “peer
review”.
• Task: Read the article carefully; should the article be
accepted as it is; accepted with revisions; resubmitted
after rewriting; or rejected.
• Senior editor reviews article with comments, and
presents it to the editorial board.
• Most articles are rejected. NEJM accepts 10-15% of
those sent out for review. JAMA and BMJ around the
same. Regional journals up to 50%.
Tackling an Article
Writing to Survive
• Consider:
– What is novel or useful about your
findings?
• Case reports and reviews educate
clinicians by providing novel presentations
or summaries.
– What is unknown or poorly
understood?
• What data already exists?
• What data can you collect inexpensively,
without extra- or intramural funding?
Writing to Survive
Consider Collaboration
• Approach your mentor or faculty in
other disciplines to collaborate on
studies that involve GI/hepatology
patients.
• For example,
– ESLD has broad impacts outside
hepatology, particularly on QoL
– Gastroparesis may be co-morbid with
endocrine, ob-gyn or rheumatology
disorders.
Writing to Survive
Identifying journals….
• Where are other articles addressing
your topic published?
• Who is your audience?
• Is it research? If so, are you sure
you recognize limitations that could
change where it is submitted?
• If your assignment is primarily
clinical and you lack funding,
consider retrospective data
analysis, reviews, and case reports.
Writing to Survive
Online Journals: Case Reports
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Grand Rounds
Journal of Medical Case Reports
Case Reports in Medicine
Cases Journal
BMJ Case Reports
Radiology Case Reports
Journal of Surgical Case Reports
Writing to Survive
Consider Impact Factors
• Submit to the journal with the highest impact factor
first.
• Impact factor = # of times articles were cited in
indexed journals during a year/# of articles
published in a journal.
• Impact factors:
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NEJM – 53.4
Nature - 36
Lancet – 33.6
Cell – 32
Science - 31
JAMA – 30
BMJ – 13
Am J Med - 5
Classic organizational structure
Writing to Survive
*FIRST: Read the Instructions for Authors very carefully*
• Abstract: structured vs. non-structured
• IMRAD
– Introduction- why did I do it? Why was it needed? Brief
synopsis of what’s gone before—and how your study
redresses existing oversights or omissions. Shows the
importance of the study…but keep it under 4 paragraphs.
– Methods-what did I do? Most important! Describe
subjects, selection and exclusions, statistical methods,
ethical issues.
Writing to Survive
Structure
– Results- what did I find?
• Basic descriptive data
• Emphasis on relevance
• Text=story, tables=evidence, figures=highlights
• Use CI’s, not just p values
• Clinical significance: NNT, absolute and relative
risk reduction
– Discussion- What does it mean? Or “So what?”
• Principal findings
• Strengths and weaknesses in comparison to other
studies (especially limitations);
• Results in context of policy or change in practice;
• What’s next?
Important details
Writing to Survive
• Title (include design if possible)
• Abstract
• Minimize references; essential only
• Cover letter…short and to the point
• Authorship- consider carefully, read
guidelines
• Acknowledgments, competing interests
Writing to Survive
Common errors in journal
submission
• Wrong format or length (READ THE
INSTRUCTIONS)
• Excessively long introduction
• Inadequate methods section
• Clear identification of primary outcome measure
• Tables and figures that are confusing and do not
stand alone
• Irrelevant material in the results that should be
irrelevant in the discussion
• Making conclusions that are not borne out by the
data in the abstract or discussion
• Limitations
• Case series
Writing to Survive
Potential reviewer objections
• Almost all articles require revision “We
are sorry….”
• Read the letter very carefully for
suggestions by the editor; they are more
important than what the reviewers said
• If rejected, most journals allow an appeal,
but justification is needed along with
revision
• If you disagree with a reviewer’s
comments regarding content, style or
structure, say so gently
Writing to Survive
Nuts and Bolts: Writing Well
• Writing well increases the odds of
your getting published.
• Once you tackle the challenges of
experimental design, data analysis,
and anticipating your reviewers’
objections, proceed with writing
carefully.
• Note the caveats and principles that
follow as you write.
General Challenges to Readers
Writing to Survive
• Lexical
– Unfamiliar words or words with multiple
meanings slow processing and inhibit
accurate recall (Zwann, 1996; Just et. al.,
2004)
– Familiarity or constraint = readers proceed
directly to identifying and fixing word meaning
– Meaning and syntax may be interdependent
• The rebel [noun] rebels [verb] by giving a
rebel [adjective] yell.
General Challenges to Readers
Writing to Survive
Syntactic
– Anticipate how sentence will play out
– Readers rely on deeply embedded syntactic
preferences (Ferreira and Clifton, 1986; Britt,
Perfetti, Garrod and Rayner, 1992; McWhorter,
2001).
– Atypical syntax slows down reading, with increases
in cortical activity until readers identify syntactic
pattern (Hagoort, Brown & Groothusen, 1993).
• Conventional syntax is better: S-V-O
• Left-branching/heavy NP are worst (Parker &
Riley, 2005)
• Whether suppressed mRNA translation due to
hypoxia is exaggerated in hypoxic aged muscle is
currently unknown.
General Challenges to Readers
Writing to Survive
• Syntactic
– But…
– Even with conventional S-V-O, length
and complexity slow down reading and
increase cortical activity (Just,
Carpenter, Keller, Eddy, and Thulborn,
1996).
General Challenges to Readers
Writing to Survive
• Syntactic
– Active construction is easier than
passive
– Passive construction obscures agency
– Passives require semantic roles
assigned in atypical order: object of
action before subject
– Subjects recalled implausible passive
sentences as plausible 25% of the
time, relying on semantic/schematic
heuristic, not syntactic algorithms
(Ferrerira & Stacey, 2000)
General Challenges to Readers
Writing to Survive
• Syntactic
– Comprehension is based on
prediction.
– Significant slowing of reading speed
and degradation of recall when
grammatical subjects > 7 words after
beginning of sentence (Keller,
Carpenter, Just, 2001).
– Readers handle complexity better after
achieving predication (Ferstl, d’Arcais,
1999).
– Readers have poorest recall of
material in the middles of sentences
(McWhorter, 2001).
Writing to Survive
For Example…
• Outflow obstruction from neurogenic sphincter
disturbance, chronic bladder infection, direct
mechanical trauma from an indwelling catheter, and
potentiation of infection by corticotrophin may all
play a part.
• –Cases Journal, 2008
Writing to Survive
For Example…
• Outflow obstruction from neurogenic sphincter
disturbance, chronic bladder infection, direct
mechanical trauma from an indwelling catheter, and
potentiation of infection by corticotrophin may all
play a part.
• –Cases Journal, 2008
• Too much complexity in the grammatical subject can
inhibit identification of verb.
Writing to Survive
For Example…
• The variations in the microscopic sizes, numbers and
states of polarization of neurons, the distances and
velocities of communication, and the strengths of
mutual excitation and mutual inhibition relative to
negative feedback strength all contribute to the
breadth of distributions and variations in the center
frequencies of the mesoscopic oscillations. At rest
the cortical dynamics tends to symmetry, in which
the three types of feedback (negative, mutual
excitation, mutual inhibition) are balanced, giving the
power-law PSD observed in resting ECoG that
contains power at all frequencies in a spectral
continuum (Freeman 1975).
• –Cognitive Neurodynamics, 2009
Writing to Survive
For Example…
• The variations in the microscopic sizes, numbers
and states of polarization of neurons, the distances
and velocities of communication, and the strengths
of mutual excitation and mutual inhibition relative to
negative feedback strength all contribute to the
breadth of distributions and variations in the center
frequencies of the mesoscopic oscillations. At rest
the cortical dynamics tends to symmetry, in which
the three types of feedback (negative, mutual
excitation, mutual inhibition) are balanced, giving the
power-law PSD observed in resting ECoG that
contains power at all frequencies in a spectral
continuum (Freeman 1975).
• –Cognitive Neurodynamics, 2009
Writing to Survive
Challenges and Remedies
Challenge
Lexical
Remedy
Clarity
Syntactic
Inference-building
Continuity
Coherence
Writing to Survive
Guiding the Reader: Clarity
1. Prefer active construction to
passive.
2. Place grammatical subjects as
close to beginnings of sentences
as possible.
3. Place verbs close to subjects.
Introduce syntactic complexity after
the verb.
Writing to Survive
Guiding the Reader: Clarity
4. Prefer S-V-O order.
5. Avoid there is/there are and other
expletive constructions that invert
S-V-O order.
6. Pronouns may require readers to
verify antecedents, slowing down
reading: avoid using them as
subjects.
General Challenges to Readers
Writing to Survive
• Inference-building within sentences
– Schemas resolve syntactic and lexical
ambiguity
• Information wants to be free
– Confirm initial identifications of words
and meanings against LT memory
– Rely on 5 categories to turn sentences
into scenarios: time, space, actor,
cause, and intention (Zwaan et al.,
1995)
Writing to Survive
General Challenges to Readers
• Inference-building between sentences
– Schemas may extend across sentences
– More easily activated if sentences conform to
iconicity assumption (Zwann et al., 1995)
– Implicit or explicit causation speeds reading
times (Brown & Fish, 1983)
– Verbs that concretely attribute causality to an
explicit agent speed times further (Green &
McKoon, 1995)
General Challenges to Readers
Writing to Survive
• Inference-building across sentences:
– Best if close fit between syntactic representation and
chronological order of events
– Explicit connections between elements in time, space,
causation, or intention speed reading times (Zwann,
1996)
– Referential continuity trims reading times (Garnham,
Oakhill, and Johnson-Laird, 1982)
– Priming effects: repetition of key words in paragraph
makes schemas easily accessible (Kintsch, 1992;
Perfetti, 1999)
– Primacy and recency effects may help link together
content across sentences (Huang, 1986)
Writing to Survive
Guiding the Reader: Continuity
1. Link content from the end of a
sentence to the content at the
beginning of the next sentence to
form a tight sequence.
2. Use transitions, particularly
indicating relationships in
time/space/causation/intention.
3. Use common grammatical subjects
throughout paragraphs to trigger
schemas.
Writing to Survive
Challenges to Readers
• Thiazides achieve their diuretic action via inhibition
of the Na+Cl- cotransporter (NCC) in the rental distal
convoluted tubule. The NCC facilitates absorption of
sodium from the distal tubules back to the
interstitium and accounts for about 7% of total
sodium reabsorption. By decreasing sodium
reabsorption, thiazides cause an increase in fluid
loss to urine, which leads to decreased extracellular
fluid (ECF) and plasma volume. This volume results
in diminished venous return, increases in renin
release, reduced cardiac output, and decreased
blood pressure. Acutely, the decrease in cardiac
output increases total peripheral resistance (TPR),
which stems mostly from activation of the
sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and renin-
Writing to Survive
Challenges to Readers
• Thiazides achieve their diuretic action via inhibition
of the Na+Cl- cotransporter (NCC) in the rental
distal convoluted tubule. The NCC facilitates
absorption of sodium from the distal tubules back to
the interstitium and accounts for about 7% of total
sodium reabsorption. By decreasing sodium
reabsorption, thiazides cause an increase in fluid
loss to urine, which leads to decreased extracellular
fluid (ECF) and plasma volume. This volume
results in diminished venous return, increases in
renin release, reduced cardiac output, and
decreased blood pressure. Acutely, the decrease in
cardiac output increases total peripheral resistance
(TPR), which stems mostly from activation of the
sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and renin-
Writing to Survive
General Challenges to Readers
• Inference-building across
sentences:
– Schemas easier to access if
information is front-loaded
– Priming: key themes/content at outset
of paragraph speeds processing and
improves recall (Wagner, Stebbins,
Masciari, Flesichman & Gabrieli, 1998;
Vernon & Usher, 2003)
Writing to Survive
Challenges to Readers
• Upper extremity motor dysfunction after stroke leads to
enormous functional disability, which affects quality of life
and normal daily living activities like feeding, dressing, and
holding delicate objects. To accomplish these upper
extremity functions, skill hand movements are required.
Loss of hand function accounts for about 90% loss of
upper extremity function. Hand recovery after stroke often
plateaus in about one year and usually upper arm
functions are better than hand function after stroke.
Moreover, the hand performs many functions essential to
daily activities, including touching, writing, and grasping
and manipulating objects.
Writing to Survive
Challenges to Readers
• Upper extremity motor dysfunction after stroke leads
to enormous functional disability, which affects
quality of life and normal daily living activities like
feeding, dressing, and holding delicate objects. To
accomplish these upper extremity functions, skill hand
movements are required. Loss of hand function accounts
for about 90% loss of upper extremity function. Hand
recovery after stroke often plateaus in about one year and
usually upper arm functions are better than hand function
after stroke. Moreover, the hand performs many functions
essential to daily activities, including touching, writing, and
grasping and manipulating objects.
Writing to Survive
Guiding the Reader: Coherence
• Documents read most clearly when
they contain:
– A thesis/hypothesis sentence that
contains the document’s main idea
in a telegraphic form.
– Paragraphs organized into
issue/discussion/resolution format.
Writing to Survive
Guiding the Reader: Coherence
• You should always know when to break your
paragraphs because:
– A well-written paragraph always contains several
head sentences that introduce the paragraphs
primary focus and main points. Head sentences
may run from 1-6 sentences, but should occupy
no more than 1/3 of the paragraph’s length.
– Your body delivers on the promises sketched out
in the issue, developing the main points with
description, analysis, examples, or evidence.
– Your resolution or foot sums up the primary
conclusions of the paragraph and anticipates the
content of the next paragraph’s issue.
Writing to Survive
Accumulating evidence indicates that insulin resistance is associated with
enhancement of vasomotor and cardiac sympathetic drive and increases
in pro-inflammatory status 8. This evidence has led to the proposal that
hypothalamic inflammation could be responsible for increased sympathetic
drive and associated insulin resistance 9,10. In this model, sympathetic
tone, autonomic activity, satiety, and metabolic and fluid homeostasis are
all regulated by various hypothalamic nuclei 11. Moreover, animal
experiments have demonstrated that hypothalamic inflammation plays an
important role in insulin resistance12. …. 14. Furthermore, administration of
pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-4, exacerbates weight gain 15.
Studies have suggested that peripheral inflammatory responses initiate a
cascade of events that lead to increases in activated microglial cells in the
metabolic-relevant brain centers, including the hypothalamus 16.
Collectively, these observations indicate that an antiflammatory
therapeutic strategy targeting central inflammation may be effective. We
decided to test this concept with the use of minocycline, a welltolerated anti-inflammatory agent, in nine patients with obesity,
insulin resistance, and Type 2 diabetes. As an anti-inflammatory
agent, minocycline freely crosses the blood-brain barrier, is neuroprotective and inhibits microglial activation in the brain. Minocycline
also produces beneficial effects in acute and chronic brain disorders,
including stroke, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative diseases
17-20.
Writing to Survive
Your Best Bet: Use Gambits
• Gambits are opening moves that yield specific
results
• Writing gambits = paradoxical statements that excite
attention
• Attention heightens both focus and memorability
• Increase the odds of funding or publication
• Frontload these paradoxes to create a writing gambit
• Gambits also provide clear focus for organizing your
research
• If at a loss to start, try to see if any conventional
gambits resonate with your research.
Writing to Survive
Your Best Bet: Use Gambits
Conventional gambits:
– New developments in detection, diagnosis, treatment of a condition
– Mapping causal relationships between two states previously
considered unrelated
– Discoveries that redress shortcomings of established methodology
previously thought as immutable
– Inverse relationship between magnitude of a problem and paucity
of research or insight into it
– Substantial costs attached to a problem versus dearth of methods
to redress it
– Relationship between increase in focus/studies/interventions in a
problem and increased problems associated with it
– Contrast between apparent simplicity of a problem and its complex
structure
– Highlighting disparity between initial understanding of an issue and
the light shed by subsequent research or your study
– Acknowledged importance of a problem and dearth of available
methods or strategies to redress it
– Implications of an approach and results that differed significantly
from anticipated outcomes.
Writing to Survive
Submitting Manuscripts
• Compose your cover letter carefully,
targeting the article’s contents to the
journal’s audience, aims and scope.
• Also mention your qualifications and your
collaborators’ for writing this study.
• Identify potential reviewers carefully.
• Enlist mentors, ask your mentors for
suggestions, or direct the ms to scholars
whose work(s) you’ve cited.
Writing to Survive
Questions?
• Or objections?
• Or a bloody good argument?