1. References, acknowledgements and covering letters

2. Acknowledgements Intellectually honest A very easy way to build up good will Liberal acknowledgement is:

3. References Should not interfere with communication: Introduction Population III (Pop III) stars are the key to understanding primeval galaxies (Johnson et al. 2008; Greif et al. 2008; Johnson et al. 2009; Greif et al. 2010; Jeon et al. 2012; Pawlik et al. 2011, 2013; Wise et al. 2012), the chemical enrichment and reionization of the early IGM (Smith & Sigurdsson 2007; Smith et al. 2009; Chiaki et al. 2013; Ritter et al. 2012; Safranek-Shrader et al. 2013), and the origin of supermassive black holes (Bromm & Loeb 2003; Johnson & Bromm 2007; Djorgovski et al. 2008; Milosavljevi´c et al. 2009; Alvarez et al. 2009; Lippai et al. 2009; Tanaka & Haiman 2009; Park & Ricotti 2011, 2012; Johnson et al. 2012; Whalen & Fryer 2012; Agarwal et al. 2012; Johnson et al. 2013c; Park & Ricotti 2013; Latif et al. 2013a,b; Schleicher et al. 2013; Choi et al. 2013). Population III (Pop III) stars are the key to understanding primeval galaxies [1-8], the chemical enrichment and reionization of the early IGM [9-14] and the origin of supermassive black holes [15-31]. Alternatively:

4. Covering letters

6. A covering letter is like an opportunity to have a two-minute, informal face to face talk with the editor. Take advantage of it!

7. Dear Dr. X, Enclosed please find a manuscript, “A new way to make stuff out of copper,” which we would like to submit for publication in Nature. The paper reports a new technique for fashioning copper very rapidly into essentially any weird shape you like by using light and sound as shaping tools. We expect this technique to have wide applications in areas ranging from X to Y, and therefore our work should be of interest to Nature's broad, interdisciplinary readership.

8. Second paragraph: The manufacturing of copper objects has long been plagued by the material's inherent softness and low melting temperature. Contrary to earlier expectations, we've now shown empirically that the precise application of light and sound can stabilize copper and allow virtually any shape to be made very easily. We expect this method to come rapidly into common use and to revolutionize most of copper-based human technology, etc.

9. Third paragraph: Given the peculiar nature of our work, and its potential importance for both basic science and technology, we have below suggested the names of a number of scientific experts we feel would be well suited to act as referees for the manuscript: Copper technology Hans Bochum (contact details)‏ Herbert Bernum (contact details)‏ Light and sound Helmut Belcher (contact details)‏ etc.

10. From Monya Baker, Publishing in Nature and Nature Journals

11. Things to remember: Never be afraid to show some excitement – it's why we all (including your editor) went into science in the first place! Say in the simplest language possible what it is you've done, why its important and why you think others will be interested. The point of a covering letter is not to flatter the editor ('your esteemed journal'), but to communicate. Think of this letter as containing everything you'd really like to say to the editor if you were there in person handing him/her a copy of your paper. Imagine having this conversation.