Scientific communications

Scientific communications have two main forms, oral presentation at scientific meetings, accompanied by audio-visual aids, and manuscripts prepared for publication in scientific journals. In an oral presentation, the author should be prepared to speak for ten minutes, without depending on notes, and have prepared answers to anticipated questions. Slides are standard aids to summarize and reinforce the material. Preparation of manuscripts follows well-established guidelines available from scientific journals. Manuscripts should proceed from introduction to methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Prior to writing, the author should answer the following: 1) What is the purpose of this communication? 2) How is this communication different from other data already in the literature? What is its unique contribution? 3) Who is the audience? Manuscripts will go through as many as seven drafts.