Blog – How to turn your thesis into publications

When it comes to writing your thesis, it’s common to be in a position where you are simultaneously writing up the same work to produce a paper for publication. This can be quite tricky because the two often require different writing styles and structures. For example, the methods section in your thesis will always be far more detailed than the methods section for a paper. In theory, anyone with lab competency in your field should be able to pick up your thesis and use your methods section as if it were a book of step-by-step protocols. With the exception of methods-specific journals like Nature Protocols or the Journal of Visual Experiments, you will never have to write in such detail for a paper.

If you find yourself in this situation – having to write part of your thesis as a paper – it can be easy to get overwhelmed and conclude it’s not worth it. Your thesis takes priority right? Yes and no. Lets forget about wider career growth for now and focus purely on getting your PhD. Yes, you do need to submit your thesis in order for your work to be assessed and viva’d. However, a key part of the viva is working out whether or not what you have done has furthered your field. Defending that is so much easier if you have published some of that work. Imagine your assessor asks ‘but how do we know that what you have done is novel?’ You can reply by saying ‘because it was published via peer review in journal X’.

With that in mind, let’s work together to summarise the key points to help you write this paper. Hopefully the following makes things easier.

1. Structure

So we have talked about this a bit already. However, it is worth touching on it a bit more. Every journal is structured differently. You find most adhere to a similar structure but there are still nuances you need to be aware of (e.g. does this journal want a combined results and discussion? Do they want methods at the end? Do I insert my figures in text or attach separately?) Before you even think about writing something, work out which journal you will submit to first. I say first because it is very common for your paper to get rejected by the first journal. Don’t take this personally, it’s totally normal. Either way, the website for a journal will always contain a ‘guide for authors’ section. In here you will find details on how they want the paper to be formatted. Once you know what sections you need to include, you can sketch them out ready for you to complete. It will probably look a bit like this – Title, Author Info, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Author Contributions, Acknowledgements, References.

If you are not sure about sections such as author contributions or acknowledgements, simply take a look at some of the papers published recently in that journal to get an idea.

2. Identify Core Message

Now for the next thing to remember. With your thesis you are writing a book. When it comes to a paper, you are taking 1-2 chapters of that book and converting them into a jazzy summary. You are putting it into a format that will make people want to read it. The important question is; what is the core message of that part of your thesis? And it likely it will differ to the overall message of your thesis in the sense that it will be more specific. It will also be the main thing you want to get across in the title of your paper. Let me give you an example from my thesis to help here:

The title of my PhD thesis is ‘Development of Biopolymer Hydrogels as Complex Tissue Engineering Scaffolds’. There are 2 papers associated with parts of my thesis and they tell very different stories despite falling under that same theme of ‘growing cells in hydrogels and doing interesting things’. The first paper covers a part of my thesis where I demonstrated that you can change the physical properties of a hydrogel and, subsequently, influence the biological responses of cells embedded within by applying sonication to the gel before you stick cells in there (definitely don’t sonicate after unless you want to kill everything’. The title of the paper is very different to my thesis title:

• PhD Title – ‘Development of Biopolymer Hydrogels as Complex Tissue Engineering Scaffolds’
• Paper Title – ‘Controlling the rheology of gellan gum hydrogels in cell culture conditions’

The other paper covers a part of my thesis where we developed a novel way to 3D bioprint tissues using hydrogels and cells. Once again –

• PhD Title – ‘Development of Biopolymer Hydrogels as Complex Tissue Engineering Scaffolds’
• Paper Title – ‘Suspended manufacture of biological structures’

Your paper title and overall theme needs to convey the specific message you want to get across from whatever part of your thesis you are looking to publish. Make sure you get that across.

3. Simplify

Now that you have the core concept nailed on, it’s time to continue simplifying. For context, journal articles are usually 3000-8000 words long. It needs to be concise and you can start with your introduction. I have never written more than 2 pages for an introduction. The point is to set the scene and make the work sound exciting and interesting. If you spend too much time telling the story, the message can get lost. Avoid things like long literature reviews and focus on setting the scene and getting the key messages across. When it comes to methods and results, use tables where possible to nicely summarise anything that cannot be presented in a figure (for example primer details if you have done PCR or summaries of quantitative data). Finally, ensure the whole thing weaves together nicely. If a paragraph starts and it feels jarring, it is a sign that you are missing a nice transition sentence that links it to the previous passage.

4. Get Feedback and Submit (and Revise)

Once you have a draft, send it to every author that you have named to get their opinion. This might seem like a lot of work but nobody likes to be blindsided by a paper that they haven’t seen prior to submission. Also, the more eyes on it at this point, the better. Get as much feedback as you can before creating a final draft. Submit, wait for reviewer feedback and revise if required. This can be a laborious process and some comments can seem harsh but don’t take it personally. It is part of the process and your paper will be stronger afterwards. You are one step closer to the final step.

5. Celebrate

This is the most important step in my mind. Once you have been through peer review and finally got that paper accepted make sure you celebrate. Do this for every paper you publish. Less than 1% people across the globe can say they have published a scientific paper. It is an incredibly significant thing that we so often take for granted in our ‘publish or perish’ insane culture. So celebrate because you have earned it!

Dr Sam Moxon

Author

Dr Sam Moxon is a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. His expertise falls on the interface between biology and engineering. His PhD focussed on regenerative medicine and he now works on trying to develop 3D bioprinting techniques with human stem cells, so that we better understand and treat degenerative diseases. Outside of the lab he hikes through the Lake District and is an expert on all things Disney.

Follow @DrSamMoxon