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The Discussion is where you demonstrate to your reviewers and readers that you are current and knowledgeable about what other scientists in your field are doing and thinking. Compare your results to what others have done. Elaborate on what your experiments add to the field that makes your study worthwhile.

Potential points of discussion:

• Papers that used similar methods. Did you get similar results? If not, why?
• Papers asking similar questions. Explain why, given your results, you agree or disagree with their results ...

The Introduction is where you introduce your audience to your topic. Introductions often have word limits—be sure to read the Instructions to Authors for your target journal. These word limits are not “suggestions”; they should be strictly adhered to. Therefore you must be concise.

The Introduction should cover the following points:

• Place the topic in context. For instance if is an assay for adenovirus aggregation, then cite the increased use of adenoviruses for gene delivery in clinical trials.
• State the problem. Why is ...

The Materials & Methods section of a manuscript is where you describe in detail where you got all of your materials and how you did all of your experiments. The intent is to provide enough detail that another scientist would be able to reproduce your experiment and results.

Most likely different scientists were involved in producing the data, so start collecting the methods when you collect the data; each graph or table needs a corresponding section in Methods. Gather these methods ...

Journal manuscripts generally have the following sections in roughly this order:

• Title page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results: Tables, Graphs, Pictures, Flow charts, Legends
• Discussion
• References

The best place to start is with your data. Gather it all together and ask the following questions:

• What was your original premise?
• Did you have to alter direction part way through? Why?
• Is there a story here that no one else has told?
• Are the experiments reproducible?

Once you are satisfied with the data, begin to put it all into the same format. Often data is collected ...

As a scientific editor I add more value to your manuscript because I have written scientific manuscripts, understand the science, and have peer-reviewed submitted manuscripts for journals. Experiments are usually demanding and time-consuming. Presenting the results can be a challenge; that is where I come in—I can help you present your data in a clear and succinct manuscript.

As a general copy editor I will clean up your manuscript in a number of ways:

• Correct spelling errors
• Check the punctuation
• Make sure the verb ...