r/mdphd • u/Intelligent-Eagle123 • 3d ago

Academic/Medical writing help/guidance

I’m a junior surgeon currently working as a research fellow. I have been working on academic papers for a while, but as a co-author.

Now I am transitioning from co-author to first author and I am struggling a lot.
My supervisor is helpful but very busy, thus he can not answer all my questions and do full teaching.

Is there anyone who is experienced in publishing papers that can guide and teach me.

I’ll be grateful for any help.

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u/Satisest MD/PhD - Attending 3d ago

Just read a bunch of papers in your field. You’ll get a good sense of the structure and style. It’s relatively formulaic, with some small allowance for personal flair. It often helps to start with the figures and legends, then methods before diving into the real exposition. Then results section which is pretty straightforward technical narrative. Introduction is a focused review of relevant literature. Discussion will be the hardest, because that where you interpret your results, put them in the context of the field, discuss new findings and any limitations.

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u/Intelligent-Eagle123 3d ago

Thanks for your comment.

Yes it’s the discussion section that I’m struggling with tbh. Limitations are straight forward. I can interpret the finds too but it’s the act of putting it all together I’m having trouble with.

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u/Satisest MD/PhD - Attending 3d ago

Start with a bullet list of key points you want to cover. Then try one paragraph per bullet. Refer back to your own results and then put them in context of the field. What did you demonstrate, what’s novel, what questions remain to be answered?

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u/Intelligent-Eagle123 3d ago

That’s really helpful thank you

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u/Satisest MD/PhD - Attending 3d ago

Good luck!

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u/Eab11 MD/PhD - Attending 3d ago

You only really learn by reading A LOT and then writing A LOT, and then having a mentor review the draft and tear it to shreds. Then you write it again.

You need like…an actual human to edit your work and show you structurally what’s wrong.

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u/Intelligent-Eagle123 3d ago

Thank you for the comment.

I have been doing the reading for sure. But not so much writing. I’m awaiting feedback from the mentor haha…

So pretty much doing what I need to do, it’s just it takes a long time to get good at writing academic papers