WRITING YOUR MANUSCRIPT RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Alyson Mahar

RESULTS v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example https: //www. nature.

RESULTS v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example Study participants Descriptive

REPORTING GUIDELINES v Your study design will determine much of what is critical to

IDENTIFYING MAIN MESSAGES What were the a priori research questions? If the reader knew

RESULTS v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example This Photo by

DISCUSSIO N v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example

DISCUSSIO N v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example Summary of

JOURNAL/DISCIPLINESPECIFIC GUIDELINES v Often the journal or the discipline you work in will determine

LIMITATIONS v No work is perfect v Balance between transparency and being your own

DISCUSSIO N v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example This Photo

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WRITING YOUR MANUSCRIPT: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Alyson Mahar, Ph. D Department Community Health Sciences Wednesday, August 15, 2018

RESULTS v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example https: //www. nature. com/scitable/ebooks/english-communication-forscientists-14053993/writing-scientific-papers-14239285

RESULTS v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example Study participants Descriptive statistics Main findings Secondary outcomes, subgroup analyses, sensitivity analyses

REPORTING GUIDELINES v Your study design will determine much of what is critical to report v There’s a reporting guideline for that: v Meta-Analysis Observational Studies: MOOSE v Systematic Reviews: PRISMA v Randomized Controlled Trials: CONSORT v STROBE: cohort, case-control, cross-sectional studies v Diagnostic studies: STARD v Prediction model studies: TRIPOD

IDENTIFYING MAIN MESSAGES What were the a priori research questions? If the reader knew nothing else that came from your study, what do you want them to walk away with? What is practice or paradigm changing? Ground breaking? Different from the existing literature? What are you the most confident in discussing? What do you plan on discussing?

RESULTS v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

EXAMPLE

DISCUSSIO N v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example

DISCUSSIO N v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example Summary of findings Fit with existing literature Alternate explanations Big pictureimplications Conclusion

JOURNAL/DISCIPLINESPECIFIC GUIDELINES v Often the journal or the discipline you work in will determine the key content, length, and style of your publication v Some journals can be very prescriptive and restrictive v BMJ v CMAJ

LIMITATIONS v No work is perfect v Balance between transparency and being your own worst critic- remember, the results aren’t worthless v Key considerations: sample size, study power, selection bias, measurement bias, confounding v How could these limitations influence your results? v What mitigation strategies did you take to address each limitation? Is this limitation common to other studies?

EXAMPLE

DISCUSSIO N v Purpose v Structure/Contents v Dos & Don’ts v Example This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA