Preparing Manuscripts & Presentations Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering

Manuscript Organization Abstract Introduction Method Experimental Design * Subjects Apparatus Stimuli * Procedure Results Discussion Conclusion * * Denotes section that are not always necessary Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering

Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering Abstract Important part of the paper. Should summarize purpose what you did, what you found, your conclusions or inferences Often people will decided whether to read a paper based on the abstract. Remember abstracts are often used for search and retrieval. Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering

Introduction (Literature Review) Summarize findings of relevant research Should lead to why the current project is important objective of your research Do not plagiarize Use first person only to avoid ambiguity Use gender free language Define terms, don’t use technical jargon that would be unfamiliar to readers Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering

Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering Method This should be written so that someone could repeat your study Subjects who (WSU students, men and /or women) where screening how many average age anything relevant Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering

Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering Method Continued Apparatus description of equipment used how equipment was set up model numbers, equipment accuracy information when relevant calibration required Stimuli Describe what information or stimulus looks like. (E.g., if showing pictures to subjects, how were they created and what was included.) Sometimes people confuse stimuli and procedure Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering

Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering Method Continued Procedure What procedure was followed to run a subject Training What was presented to the subject, in what order, How subjects responded Description of multiple tasks Questionnaire at the end of the experiment? Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering

Common Problems That Lead to Rejection Premature publication Redundancy Trivial experiment Experimental procedure or analysis unclear Experiment doesn’t address intended problems Confounds Inadequate analysis Misinterpretation of results Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering

Questions Reviewers Ask What was the author trying to do? Was it worth it? How well did s/he do it? What happened What did we learn? How well is everything communicated? So What? Department of Biomedical, Human Factors, & Industrial Engineering