It's a Story, Not a Study: Writing an Effective Research Paper.

References: 1. Bordage G. Reasons reviewers reject and accept manuscripts. Acad Med. 2001;76:889–896. 2. Lingard L, Driessen E. How to tell compelling scientific stories. In: Cleland J, Durning SJ, eds. Researching Medical Education. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell; 2015. 3. @WriteforResearch, Twitter. 4. Lingard L. Joining a conversation: The problem/gap/hook heuristic. Perspect Med Educ. 2015;4:252–253. 5. Sword, H. Stylish Academic Writing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard; 2012. 6. Chan AW. Bias, spin, and misreporting: Time for full access to trial protocols and results. PLoS Med. 2008;5:e230. Author contact: [email protected]; Twitter: @LingardLorelei What’s the difference between study and story? First, the difference is structural: • A study lives in the methods and results of a report. • A story unfolds in the introduction and discussion/conclusion. Second, the difference is rhetorical: • The study must be reported accurately. • The story must be told persuasively. A good story is understandable, compelling, and memorable. It needs a good study at its core, but it uses that study as a launching point to contribute to a conversation in the world about a shared problem.