Scientific writing 3.0: A reader and writer's guide - Jean-Luc Lebrun, Justin Lebrun 2021

Bridge to title words
Bridge the knowledge gap
The reading toolkit

Readers have chosen to read your paper because certain keywords in its title attracted their attention. This very fact is of utmost importance. Because of it, and as incredible as it sounds, the knowledge gap of the reader is predictable. Each specific keyword in your title attracts two types of readers: the readers who are very familiar with the keyword and do not require any background, and the readers who would like to know more about that keyword and who indeed require background. Identify these keywords, and you have an idea of the background you need to cover in your paper. It is that simple.

Let us use a sample title to identify its potential readers. But before we start, some background might be helpful. To manufacture a non-stick frying pan, you need to deposit a hard coating on top of the metal pan. That coating is hydrophobic, which simply means water-repellent. The process to deposit the coating is called the sol-gel process. The sol is a chemical solution serving as a precursor which, after it enters into reaction with the gel made of polymers, will form the hydrophobic hard coating.

“Hydrophobic property of sol-gel hard coatings*”

What are the keywords?

1)Sol-gel: a subset of technologies for making coatings

2)Hard coatings: a subset of surface coatings

3)Hydrophobic property: a subset of the properties of surface coatings such as hardness, etc...

The knowledge field presented in this paper is established by these three keywords. Only experts among the readers have enough knowledge in all three. It should come as no surprise to find among the readers people with knowledge lacking in one or more of these keywords. And it should also be expected that, given the name of the conference (Technological Advances of Thin Films and Surface Coatings), all participants are somewhat familiar with the main knowledge sets: coatings, coating technologies, or coating properties.

Now ask yourself what these readers would like to know, and which part of your paper is going to provide them with an answer.

Hydrophobic property: What in the sol-gel process influences the hydrophobicity of hard coating? How is hydrophobicity related to other properties of the coating such as surface structure, transparency, or mechanical properties? How is hydrophobicity measured and quantified?

Hard coatings: How are hard coatings made by sol-gel technology? How does hydrophobicity affect or confer the hardness of the coating? How hard is the coating made of sol-gel material?

Sol-Gel: What are the sol-gel precursor materials used? How are the sol-gel coatings solutions prepared? What are the coating processes used?

Here is what should NOT be covered in the background because it falls outside the scope of your paper: hydrophobicity of soft coatings, other properties of materials independent of hydrophobicity, or hard coatings produced by other processes than sol-gel.

In this exercise, the title allowed you to identify five overlapping reader profiles, with different background needs:

1)People interested in sol-gel

2)People interested in hard coatings but only vaguely familiar with sol-gel

3)People interested in the hydrophobic properties of any coating material hard or soft

4)People interested in the mechanical properties of sol-gel hard coatings eager to know if the mechanical properties are compromised by the hydrophobic properties of the coating

5)People interested in the hydrophobic properties of sol-gel hard coatings (your contribution).

Now that you understand the principle, conduct the same exercise on the title of your own paper.

Before you write your introduction, use the title keywords to identify who your readers are, and provide the background they probably need to understand and benefit from your paper.