Preparing your research story for peer review and publication

Recorded Mary 2019

About this Webinar

Considering how important writing is to a career in science, many scientists receive little formal training in the writing process. In this seminar, Mary shares tips to help overcome common writing problems, drawing on her 25 years of teaching about scientific writing.

In this presentation, Mary Williams outlines the key steps in writing a paper, preparing figures, and navigating the review process, including how to frame the significance of the question being addressed, how to put the results in context, and how to present the key findings in the abstract, title, summary figure and cover letter. She also discusses best practices for figure presentation, from cropping and contrast adjustment to layout and design. The second part of the presentation covers how the manuscript is reviewed, from initial submission to final acceptance, in order to demystify this process and help early-career researchers understand how they can ensure a smooth process. I describe the author’s roles at various stages of the review process, how editors and reviewers are solicited, how a decision is reached, and how authors can respond to reviewer comments.

SPEAKER

Mary Williams, Features Editor, The Plant Cell

Mary received her PhD in Plant Molecular Biology from Rockefeller University. From 1995 to 2009 she was a Professor of Biology at Harvey Mudd College, a liberal arts college of science and engineering. In 2009 she joined The Plant Cell as the developer of Teaching Tools in Plant Biology. In addition to her editorial role at The Plant Cell, she mentors students through the Plantae platform, edits Plant Science Research Weekly, and gives workshops in writing, teaching, and communicating at conferences and universities. Mary is very active on Twitter as @PlantTeaching.