Thread by @DoctorODonovan

👋Welcome back to the second #tweetorial in an 8 part series on "How to write a paper"

✍️This series is designed to help you improve your academic writing & includes top tips from established academics & journal editors.

THIS WEEK = "How to write a Methods Section"... 🧵👇👇

1/❓Why write a Methods Section at all?

🗣️I like @DrSicchia's articulation of why a Methods Section is important:

🧁Think of your Methods Section like a recipe...

"It should be clear so that readers can see & interrogate exactly what’s been done & how to replicate the study"

2/ The Methods Section is a description of how the study was carried out.

👇It should outline:

➡️Study design
➡️Study setting
➡️Participants
➡️What was done to answer the RQs
➡️How the findings were analysed
➡️Resources used
➡️Ethics

[+ more if relevant]

3/ ✅ Many experienced researchers like to START their paper by writing the Methods Section first.

👀 They pay close attention to relevant reporting guidelines. This facilitates structure & makes sure no key points are missed.

🔗For common guidelines: equator-network.org/library/guidan…

4/ 🔰Let's look at a nice Methods section from a recent paper by @ramsedhom et al in @JOP_ASCO.

✅This is our exemplar paper for this week.

📕 "Can Community Health Workers Increase Palliative Care Use for African American Patients? A Pilot Study.

🔗ascopubs.org/doi/pdf/10.120…

5/ ➡️ The authors begin their Methods section by clearly stating the frameworks they used in the study design.

🔗They provide appropriate links & references to these.

⚠️This keeps things concise, but enables the reader to access these resources if they wish.

6/ ➡️ Next, they clearly state how the intervention was designed, which stakeholders were engaged & how the outcome metrics were chosen.

💡REMEMBER - if someone wanted to replicate your study have you given them enough detail to do this?

7/ Next they outline the participants & training

✍️ They describe inclusion/exclusion criteria.

⚠️N.B. USE SUB-HEADINGS. In my opinion this is very important. It helps to break up big blocks of continuous prose & improves readability.

👩‍🎓REMEMBER - ALWAYS THINK OF THE READER!

8/ 🎨 They nicely provide a VISUAL REPRESENTATION of the components of the intervention.

👏👏👏This is GREAT because again it improves readability, breaks up big blocks of texts, and provides a clear summary of their work.

🔑CLARITY = KEY

9/ Finally they describe:

✅Outcome measures (including rationale and citations)
✅How data was entered, systems used for this, and analysis
✅Statistical analysis techniques
✅Ethical approval details

📌 TOP TIP - IF SHORT ON WORDS - USE SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

10/ ⚠️Some common pitfalls when writing the Methods Section:

❌ Not enough information
❌Background material included (belongs in Introduction)
❌Verbose descriptions
❌Results reported (belongs in Results)
❌Sources of error discussed (belongs in Discussion)

@seyeabimbola

11/ Some additional useful top tips from seasoned researchers for writing METHODS SECTION:

1⃣ 🗣️ @mattrbo "Keep a “study diary.” Document *everything* you do (bullet points are fine)...then the methods is mostly just fleshing out the bullets and deciding how much detail to keep"

12/ Did I mention, CLARITY?

🗣️ @ClaireJStandley "In terms of content, it sounds obvious, but clearly delineating each step is critical. Think to yourself: would someone from outside my field be able to follow this?"

Clarity prevents confusion.

13/ Some helpful resources for you when writing your Methods Section:

➡️I CAN'T RECOMMEND THIS CHECKLIST ENOUGH:
documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri…

➡️ A useful paper: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15447808/

👍 Thanks for reading PART TWO - I hope this was helpful.

🔜 Next week = "How to write your Results section"

🙏 Credits this week: @seyeabimbola @DrSicchia
@mattrbo @GemmaeFix @dnepo @ClaireJStandley @Kedest_M

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