When just starting a manuscript, it’s often helpful to begin by writing your methods. If we think about the hourglass concept of a research article, the methods occur in the narrowest part of the hourglass, meaning that we are writing with a lot of specificity and focus. Writing about methods also means writing about what we’ve already done, which is a tangible and sometimes easier place to start (as opposed to the synthesis required for writing an intro and lit review). So, today’s post will provide some tips on writing the methods section.

As a researcher, publishing your work is crucial to advancing your academic career. However, publishing your research in reputable journals can be daunting. That's where a genre-based approach can help. The genre-based approach is based on the IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) structure commonly used in research articles. Each section has specific expectations that researchers must meet to effectively communicate their research findings to the reader. In the e-book Preparing to Publish, the authors depict this structure using an hourglass. That shape allows us to consider which research article sections will be general/broad and which will be specific/narrow.

How to Use ChatGPT for Academic Purposes: Artificial intelligence (AI), specifically ChatGPT, has recently received a LOT of attention. I’ve personally found myself wondering, Has the time finally come? Are the robots taking over? Jokes aside, ChatGPT is a powerful language model developed by OpenAI and can be used in various contexts, including academic writing. ChatGPT is designed to understand and generate human-like text using probability algorithms without getting into too much technical detail.

Critical appraisal is the process of carefully and systematically assessing the strengths and limitations of a research study to determine its suitability for informing clinical decision-making. This process involves asking questions about a study's design, conduct, results, and interpretation to evaluate its quality and usefulness. The types of questions asked during a critical appraisal vary based on the level of evidence.