The unofficial guide for authors

The paper provides 'rules of thumb' for writing research articles (RA) andgetting them published. These were discussed during the "Scientific writingcourse" organized for ITC PhD students by Cressie Communication Services.Important aspects of macro and sub-structure of a paper were selectedthrough group discussions. The substructure and functions of differentsections of RAs are described. Results of previous investigations andinterviews among journal editors were used to summarize what makes a goodRA. It was concluded that clear, logical, coherent, focused, good argument andwell-structured writing gets the paper published and read. Some importantrules of the thumb selected were: “Adjust your writing to the audience andpurpose”, “Avoid redundancy and unnecessary explanations” and “Write likeyou speak and then revise”.abstract shouldbe short butgive the overallidea:what was done,what was foundand what are themain conclusions when selecting KWs,imagine you aresearching for yourarticle in somedatabase