results and discussion section will be first author, followed by the student involved with writing other sections in descending order of contribution. Dr. Stewart is last author. Dr. Stewart is expected to review the publication at all stages (abstract, outline, drafts, and final draft), provide editorial guidance (spelling & grammar, organization, graphics), help guide your research plan, and analyze the results and discussion. Dr. Stewart is not an English professor. He gets frustrated when he sees too many typographical errors. Students are encouraged to visit the UTEP University Writing Center between each draft to improve the writing before sending it to Dr. Stewart. In the case were a student is not making progress on a paper, it may be necessary for Dr. Stewart to take over. In that case, Dr. Stewart will become the first author. Students should recognize that this is a bad sign. It may indicate that dismissal from MERG is imminent. Communicate with Dr. Stewart about your writing progress regularly to avoid this possibility. Format Formatting can be the difference between your research being taken seriously and your research being treated like a student lab report by reviewers. Research papers are to be written in Microsoft Word. A manuscript template is available on Dropbox. This document will be periodically updated, so make a new copy each time you write a new article. Read the book “Writing Science” [2]. Read Whiteside’s article on how to write a scientific paper [6]. [6] Whitesides, G. M., 2004, “Whitesides' Group: Writing a Paper”, Advanced Materials, 16(15). Figure 4 – Styles Pane In the manuscript template, custom “Styles” have been defined that will help you format your manuscript as depicted in Figure 4. The styles “Title, Header 1, Header 2, and Header 3” must be applied when writing your manuscript. Major headings such as the “Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Models, Results, and Discussion” are assigned to Header 1. Sub headings that exist instead of the major headings are assigned to Header 2. We assign Sub-Sub headings to Header 3. Never go lower than Header 3.
Figure 5 - Navigation Pane (a) how to view it (b) what it looks like When headers are properly applied, the outline of your document will appear when you click “View-> Show -> Navigation Pane” as depicted in Figure 5. If you click on the header, word will instantly jump you to the selected section of the manuscript. Figure 6 - Insert Captions Feature The “Captions” feature should be used in Microsoft Word as depicted in Figure 6. This feature helps you to number and label Figures, Tables, Equations, and References. It will automatically manage the labelling and numbering and update the numbers when you add new references or rearrange you figures, tables, and equations. To add a caption, go to “References -> Captions -> Insert Caption”. To cross-reference the caption into the text of your manuscript, go to “References -> Captions -> Cross-reference”. Select the “Reference Type” in the left dropdown box. Select the reference format in the right dropdown box “Insert Reference to:”. To refresh caption and reference numbering click Ctrl+A to select everything and then F9. Figure 7 - Mathtype (a) add-on in word (b) software Equations should be written using the software Mathtype as depicted in Figure 7. We have several licenses for this software which is an add-on for Microsoft Word. Request a copy from Dr. Stewart. Equations should be placed inside of a 1 row by 3 column table with No Borders. To add an equation click “Inline” in the Mathtype add-on. The equation should be placed in the center column and aligned center. An equation number using the “Captions” feature should be placed in the right column and aligned right. The equation caption should exclude the label such that it appears as “(1)”. See the example below. (1) Figure 8 – Sigmaplot Interface