Writing Tips for The Monitor

Do

• Start by telling the readers what the paper is going to discuss and why. In other words, “Tell me what you’re going to tell me, and tell me what you expect me to take away from reading your paper.”
• Spell out all acronyms and abbreviations the first time you use them. Then use the acronyms and abbreviations consistently after that. Readers might not automatically understand what the letters stand for. Even your editors have to look up things like AAHRPP, CISCRP, and CDISC every time to make sure what they mean if you don’t tell us. And since Monitor issues get passed around from ACRP members to nonmembers, many readers (especially those from other countries!) will not necessarily know a CRA from a CRC unless you explain it to them.
• Use the full, correct names of any listed organizations in your articles. For example, OHRP is not the Office of Human Research Protections; it is the Office for Human Research Protections. Little errors like this make it look as if you are not being careful about your sources.
• Watch time references. A reference to “this year” or “next year” in the article you submit in October might be incorrect when we publish it in February. Be specific about what year events occurred in (months are usually not necessary).
• Explain the basic facts about infamous problematic research, whether modern or historic, if you must refer to it. Do not assume that everyone will readily remember or understand what the TeGenero incident was, why Tuskegee is an example of unethical practices, or that thalidomide was never approved in the U.S., etc.
• Explain where you got any statistics, and how old the data are, because timeliness and reliability are important to readers. A five-year old estimate of how much research activity is expected in a particular region based on a small survey from a marketing firm is quite different from a one-year old estimate based on a large survey by an independent nonprofit firm.
• Stick to the facts. Qualitative phrases that betray your personal feelings belong in opinion articles, not in peer reviewed pieces describing professional practices.
• Be accurate about ACRP’s structure, events, certifications, etc., if describing it in your article. We often must correct authors on such basic items as the kinds of certifications we offer, the full name of our Global Conference & Exhibition, etc.
• Make your article gender neutral as much as possible. “First-in-man,” “mankind,” and “manpower” become “first-in-human,” “humankind,” and “labor,” for example, and not all doctors are “he.”
• Make a conclusion that reiterates the point of the paper and summarizes the takeaway points.
• Illustrate with tables, figures, and bulleted or numbered lists where appropriate. They break up the text and are easier for people to grasp. Give each figure a name and a number and reference it in the text. It cannot – and probably will not – fall exactly where it is mentioned in the text. (So step-by-step explanations with figures, which work so well in slide presentations, do not lend themselves very well to print.) Visualizing the article in print will help.
• Use subheads to break up the text – not too many, but definitely a few.
• Reference your sources as appropriate. Use sequential numbers in the text, and list the references at the end (numbered correspondingly in order of appearance). Ensure that the citations and the reference list match, and verify all references against the original sources. Each reference must start by listing all authors, then year of publication, title of article, and full journal name followed by volume and issue numbers and the page numbers.

Don't

• Don’t use first person.
• Don’t try to be “formal”; just write it. The peer reviewers will give you advice and guidance on how to improve and polish it. If it is accepted, your paper will then get copyedited at the headquarters office. So do not be too concerned about how you say something; be more concerned about what you have to say.
• Don’t put two spaces after a period. Removing dozens or hundreds of extra spaces from your article can be awkward and time consuming.
• Don’t use regionally idiosyncratic phrases or pop culture references; they will not mean anything to readers in other countries. It won’t sound clever if they don’t know what you’re talking about.
• Don’t make promotional statements that refer to your company or your product or otherwise promote a specific company or product in any manner.

How Many Figures?

The word-limit (2,000-2,500 words) produces four print pages, the average length of an article in The Monitor. One or two figures on one page is fine; more than that looks “cluttered” and is hard for readers to follow. With the three-column format, any large (screenshot) figure will span at least two columns, and still might not be readable.

Questions?