How to produce the first draft of research paper? - Pete Carr

Preliminaries

• Review and renew your literature search. (before writing)
• Determine who your audience is. 
  • what kind of paper is it research, review, tutorial.
  • what journal is it intended for.
  • Are the readers going to undergraduates, researchers, but always the reviewers?

The Big Picture

• Writing the initial draft is the creative part of the job. Resist the temptation to correct and edit as you go. Your job now is the produce a complete first draft. Important: produce a complete first draft not a perfect first draft. 

 The "Algorithm"

• Just get started don't procrastinate.
• Create an outline by making a list of all your figures and tables. Put them in order of presentation as they may appear in the results and discussion. Always work from an outline. If you have to stop you can easily pick up the writing later. You have the data so this part is easy.  
• Do not write the introduction now. It is the hardest part of the paper to write. Again it could be a waste of time to write it now.
• Begin with the experimental section. It is the easiest part to write and getting it done will give you a feeling of progress. 
• Now write the results and discussion following the outline.
• write the conclusions in a numbered format;
• now comes the introduction, the two most important things to address in which are the purpose and relevant background;
• Then collect the references.