Scientists sometimes advise each other to start a paper by writing the Methods. I totally get it! It makes you feel achieved to get something on paper. But it’s bad advice.
Here’s why:
1 Writing the Methods puts you in the wrong mindset
Writing the Methods puts you in a detail-oriented mindset. But that’s not the type of mindset you need when you start writing a paper.
First, you need to get into big picture thinking. You need to figure you what your results mean and how to place them into context, so you can create a strong narrative.
You can’t do that if your brain is fussing over minor details.
2 You need to know what’s going in the Results first
You can’t write a Methods section if you don’t know what’s going into the Results.
The whole point of the Methods is to explain how you obtained the Results. So if you don’t know what Results to include, it’ll be hard to write a logical Methods section.
That doesn’t mean you can write any methods down at all. Keeping track of how you collected data and carried out your research is always useful (and quite essential).
3 It’s like shooting a movie without a script.
Starting your paper by writing the Methods is akin to shooting a movie without a script. Chaotic. Confusing. Overwhelming.
Sure, some directors pull it off. But most of us mortals need a plan.
Same goes for writing a paper. You need a plan, so you know what to write.
How to start writing instead
Start by writing a short summary of your research. What did you study? And why? What did you find? This is similar to the questions you’ll answer in the abstract, but now quite the same – the abstract should reflect the final version of the paper, not the first draft.
If you can answer these three questions, you’ll have a much better time writing your paper.
Original post: 📄 3 reasons why you should *not* start by writing the Methods