# How to convert Thesis to Research article/paper?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cixNZAtMXA

[00:03] Hello all, in this presentation we will be discussing about how to prepare a journal article from your thesis which is already completed.
[00:13] So this is your thesis which is already completed.
[00:16] Now how to make this uh thesis uh to this uh article that is what we are going to discuss in this presentation.
[00:24] This entire slide will speak about the presentation.
[00:26] First of all, we have to understand whether it is thesis or journal article.
[00:31] The IMRAD style of scientific reporting is followed.
[00:34] That is we will discuss about the scientific findings with introduction, methodology, results and discussion.
[00:45] In between we have objectives, uh review of literature and all.
[00:48] So this is followed in both uh your thesis and in journal article.
[00:51] The difference between a thesis and a journal article is for about 100 to 200 pages in a thesis.
[00:59] But in a journal
[01:01] article, we have to condense it to 5 to 15.
[01:05] The audience is going to be very narrow.
[01:07] Maybe your guide, your colleagues, your university people and so on.
[01:12] But for a journal article, there is a wide audience uh everywhere in this uh uh online platforms.
[01:19] So now we have to understand the key differences between thesis and journal article that is in title.
[01:24] Most of the times our thesis title will be uh slight modification of our objective.
[01:29] But in a journal article you can use results and uh you uh you can show your result as a title that I will show how uh in the subsequent slides.
[01:43] Now uh the review of literature which which will occupy more than onethird of your thesis uh document will be compressed into a paragraph in introduction and about a paragraph or so in discussion.
[01:57] That's all.
[02:00] So we have very less space for review of literature
[02:02] In journal article when compared to thesis which was very elaborate.
[02:08] Then in methodology you you might have got some uh 10 to 15 uh subheadings like study area, sample size, statistical methods, inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria.
[02:20] All these have to be converted into paragraph in your in your journal article.
[02:25] Paragraphs, it should be converted into paragraphs probably uh two to three paragraphs.
[02:29] Now we moving on to the results.
[02:32] So results we will be focusing on the individual parameter.
[02:34] So we we might have spent about 20 to 30 tables or figures for describing the results.
[02:43] But uh for a journal article it is going to be 50 5 to 15 uh page document.
[02:49] So we have to condense all your results into about uh two to three uh uh or maximum five tables or figures uh in the results and all your thesis article will be having 100
[03:03] References approximately will be condensed to about 20 to 30 references in a thesis article.
[03:10] So this entire slide describe about the process of how you are going to make the journal article from a already completed thesis.
[03:17] Now let us uh see about these topics individually that is the title that we should keep in mind that title is your opportunity to attract the reader attention.
[03:31] So after reading your title only it should provoke the minds of mind of the readers to read uh your article completely.
[03:40] So it is just a oneline description about the study.
[03:45] We have to use very specific words uh and apt words uh for our study.
[03:52] And we should think about one more thing uh that uh uh in order to make our title appear in all the search engines we should make certain key terms present in the title.
[04:02] As uh you have your objective
[04:05] in uh thesis as uh title you can also have uh your result.
[04:12] For example, in this case, moderate alcohol consumption lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes is a finding which can also be a title of the study.
[04:20] So, which will make uh readers to uh uh read your complete article.
[04:24] Then uh moving on to the introduction.
[04:29] The ultimate purpose of in introduction is to create the interest about the topic.
[04:35] You should uh define about the problem.
[04:37] What is the nature and magnitude of the problem?
[04:38] Then you should define uh about this is the review of literature which is getting condensed into about a paragraph.
[04:44] Then where you where you will explain about the current knowledge of the disase and what are all the gaps in the current existing knowledge and you should say in your study you are going to fill in this gap uh through your uh uh objectives.
[05:00] So it will end in the uh objectives and you will mention uh or
[05:06] state your hypothesis clearly.
[05:08] So this is the sequence you should create the interest you should uh tell about the problem and then what is the current knowledge about the problem what are all the gaps in that current existing knowledge and what are you going to do to fill in that gap in that knowledge so that will end up in the need for the study or objectives of the study.
[05:27] So we should be clear with the hypothesis also.
[05:30] So now moving on after uh mentioning the objectives we should be clear about the materials and methods where uh we have different uh checklists available for different uh or different study designs.
[05:43] You can look at this equator network.org that is enhancing the quality and transparency of uh health research.
[05:51] So this site contains various tools here.
[05:54] Here you can see uh all randomized control trial, obser randomized control trial, consort guidelines, observational studies, strobe guidelines, systematic reviews, prisma guidelines, case reports, care guidelines,
[06:07] then diagnostic studies, start guidelines or tripod guidelines.
[06:11] All these uh documents are available uh free.
[06:14] The most advantage of these documents is you can have a checklist approach uh and you can use these check documents and you can check in your document whether the essential things uh which are required uh are present or not.
[06:31] So that is about materials and methodology.
[06:33] Then in results u we should be always focused on the uh answering our objectives.
[06:39] So there are two ways to represent our uh data that is the descriptive statistics and inferial statistics.
[06:46] In descriptive statistics you just describe in inferial statistics you infer something out of that data which is present using the statistical test.
[06:56] So for that you need to know apply the right statistical test.
[07:01] So all these thing you should have done in your thesis.
[07:03] Now you have to recheck whether the for the article it is uh correct or
[07:08] Not. Then uh you your explan your figures as a general rule both in thesis and in article it should be self-explanatory.
[07:13] The slide should uh speak for itself.
[07:17] Then uh don't worry about uh significance.
[07:21] When you get a p value greater than of 05 then uh you should not think that your game is over and you should try again like that.
[07:31] Even p value when there is no significance that is also a finding.
[07:34] So people can stop uh uh doing research in that particular topic and move on to next uh topic wherever significance is there.
[07:42] We there is nothing harm in reporting uh a two factor having no significance and we should always keep in our mind that most dangerous of all falsehood is a slightly distorted truth.
[07:59] So then uh now in discussion in discussion we have to interpret that results why we have got that results.
[08:04] Then we have to uh explain biologically
[08:10] Why this uh results we have got in the study.
[08:15] Then we have to explain about the possible bias and confounders.
[08:18] Then we have to mention about the limitations that is before somebody picking our we humbly say that that I am uh this study was uh not able to cover these aspects.
[08:30] So this was the limitation of the study.
[08:32] Then people appreciate before they finding it out.
[08:34] Then in discussion most commonly what we used to do is we just gossip about the finding of the others.
[08:41] We just compare the already existing literature and using this uh literature we just um try to fit in our research into that scientific knowledge pool and we will give some future directions also what in that field of research is needed.
[08:57] uh when somebody quote your future direction and they make their uh introduction from your uh discussion then uh that will be the uh best reward you can get out of a scientific article.
[09:12] Uh so then uh now the references as I said the number will be uh from 100 uh to should be decreased to 25 to 30.
[09:20] Usually we will uh use journals, website, books.
[09:26] We should be we should be aware about the styling of the references.
[09:31] Vancor reference this is the most commonly used reference uh in universities.
[09:33] This IC MJ uh reference is most commonly used by the journals nowadays.
[09:40] If we are using uh any softwares like zotiro uh enote or mainly changing over to Vancouver uh and IGCME will not be a major uh uh defect.
[09:54] It is just a matter of a single click using that software.
[09:56] In my next presentation, you will be seeing how to use this uh mainly uh for referencing.
[10:04] Uh you should be aware about the references.
[10:06] Then before come submitting your article, you should uh be aware of two things.
[10:09] One is the plagiarism.
[10:11] Uh in
[10:14] order to save your time, you can uh copy and paste.
[10:17] But what will happen is you will get caught out of plagiarism.
[10:20] Plagiarism is kidnapping somebody's idea.
[10:22] In in Greek word it means kidnap which means you steal somebody's ideas uh without their permissions use their own words uh instead of using uh your own words or your own ideas.
[10:37] So the penalties include uh expulsion from the academic institutions, heavy fines and jail time.
[10:41] So not only that uh the journal will uh not remove the uh article which is uh plagiarized.
[10:50] So later if they found out that the article is plagiarized then they will uh do this uh retracted uh then they will display this retracted into the same article but it will be available still in that journal.
[11:03] Then uh this is about uh plagiarism.
[11:05] The second thing which you should be aware is about the English grammar.
[11:07] People who are giving research in English are not having their own mother tongue as English.
[11:12] So their language proficiency will be limited.
[11:17] In that case, we should understand our uh weakness.
[11:23] And we can uh nowadays uh uh softwares uh like uh Grammarly and all is available.
[11:28] Book you can uh incorporate uh that uh into uh your uh uh word document and you can check for grammar uh uh spelling mistakes, punctuation marks, everything you can uh check.
[11:40] And one important thing is we have to use past tense for your study findings, present tense for the known facts and hypothesis.
[11:48] Then there are free check spell checkers available online.
[11:51] So you can do that.
[11:53] You can copy your content here and uh uh then uh you can uh click on this uh file.
[12:00] Then you can check for both Grammarly in a single click.
[12:04] Before uh publishing the paper, I should I should make you con uh convince why you have to publish a paper.
[12:11] So here is the answer.
[12:13] First of all, you have to exhibit your art.
[12:15] That is after making a
[12:18] wonderful drawing.
[12:21] It is a sin to keep just in your table.
[12:23] You have to exhibit to others and get appreciation from others.
[12:26] For that you need to publish the paper and make it online.
[12:29] Second is to improve your CV.
[12:33] So in research uh field this is the primary uh level of achievement.
[12:38] So based on this only we can be eligible to secure uh research Ghana grants.
[12:42] Then uh finally your quality and quantity of the publications is going to differentiate among the researchers.
[12:48] Then now the most important thing is the promotion in the job.
[12:54] So you need two articles original articles published uh in indexed journals uh by MCA criteria to become associate professor and from associate professor uh to professor also you need two papers.
[13:07] So and moreover it is the beauty of publication is you your contribution to science will always remain uh in that you just contribute a drop into the ocean of that science and if if somebody prove it wrong it will
[13:19] get evaporated.
[13:23] If uh your your science remains there then the ocean will be filled yours by your contribution and you can influence the policy makers and you can be a change maker.
[13:32] Then uh nowadays even uh university mandate for the PGs to publish the ejournal.
[13:37] So we need to publish our article.
[13:40] So you need not uh publish your primary objective and uh title as the thesis.
[13:46] So before uh appearing for exams or to be on the safer side you can use your secondary objective and get the paper published.
[13:54] So always remember uh that the journal needs paper almost as much as the authors need journals.
[14:00] So as much as we need the journals more than that uh journal needs uh papers uh research papers but the editors want their journals to be read and uh their papers to be cited that is they want to maintain the quality of their uh products.
[14:16] So they need to reject and
[14:19] Revise some papers.
[14:22] Here are some of the pro tips.
[14:25] Uh if you're uh if you really want to publish a paper nicely.
[14:27] So first is first we have to write first then we can edit it later.
[14:32] So something is always better than nothing.
[14:34] Then we have to tell a story.
[14:37] This will make the flow of the scientific article from the beginning to the end.
[14:40] So what you can do is you can make uh make your relative or your family member sit behind you and you can ask u uh them to hear your uh research article what you have done.
[14:52] So then you will understand where you are missing in that flow.
[14:56] Uh so that is my second uh tip.
[14:59] The third tip is ask your colleagues or experts to review.
[15:04] Don't uh I mean hesitate to ask people colleagues or experts to review you.
[15:07] If they give really wonderful uh review then you can offer authorship in return later.
[15:12] They can also offer authorship that should happen for a better paper.
[15:17] Then uh don't make the data old and
[15:19] relevant.
[15:22] Don't keep on uh data in your own table without getting published.
[15:25] So which makes the data old and irrelevant uh to scientific world then uh request for revision is always a good news.
[15:33] Never uh ever get worried with the revisions which appear on it is always a sign of uh getting published but but only after uh certain revisions.
[15:44] uh and always in uh research we should understand uh or pledge take this pledge that fabrication falsification or plagiarism in proposing performing reporting research results should be avoided.
[15:55] To summarize this is my uh entire glimpse of the slide.
[16:02] So when you are going to make uh uh convert a thesis article to a journal article.
[16:07] So you have to understand the fact that IMRAD um style remains the same for both of this uh uh type of uh scientific uh reporting.
[16:18] Pages will be reduced.
[16:18] Audience will be
[16:20] Increased in journal article.
[16:23] References will be reduced.
[16:24] Results size will be reduced.
[16:26] Methodology it was a subheadings here converted into a paragraph.
[16:31] Then review of literature which occupied almost one/ird of your thesis will be compressed into a few paragraphs.
[16:39] Then title uh I hope uh uh this presentation was a useful one.
[16:43] So please give us uh comments.
[16:46] Subscribe to my channel.
[16:46] Thank you.