A paper is a story wrapped around data.
We tend to treat a paper as a container for information. Readers need to be led, sentence by sentence, and every sentence should have a job the reader can see.
Scroll to take one apart, then try a few small exercises.
An independent explainer in original wording, inspired by the reverse-engineering approach in Hilary Glasman-Deal's Science Research Writing (2nd ed.). Not a reproduction of the book.
A paper is made of sentences
Every article you have read is a long run of sentences in a set order. Each square here stands for one.
Illustration, not real data.
Each part has a job
From top to bottom: introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion. Readers expect this order, so the order itself carries meaning.
Zoom in on one introduction
Six sentences from an invented introduction. Each does a different job, and together they walk the reader toward what the author did.
A paper has a shape
An introduction narrows from a wide context to one gap. Results are the narrowest point. The discussion opens back out. Title and abstract sit on top as a preview.
Copy the method, not the text
Model: map the job of each sentence in a good paper. Mine: collect the phrases that do each job. Master: the grammar choices that change meaning, such as tense. Update: journals change, so keep resampling.
Now your own paper
Pick five recent papers from your target journal. Label every sentence of one section with its job. Copy the phrases that do each job into your own list. Three exercises below get you started.
Each sentence in an introduction does one job.
Below is an invented introduction, for practice only. Pick a job for each sentence, then check. The first one is done for you.
One verb decides how sure a claim sounds.
Pick a form and see how a reader takes the same sentence. (This demo is about English tense.)
Eight questions to ask of your own draft.
Tick what you already do. What is left is your next round of edits.