Author Guidelines
Submission
Submissions are accepted on an on-going basis; in other words, articles can be submitted at any time of the year. The journal publishes two issues per year, one in June and the other in December. Submissions received between October and March are prioritized for publication in June (if accepted). Articles submitted between April and September, when accepted, are considered for publication in December.
Formatting Guide
An article’s length should be of about 20 pages; summaries should not exceed 4 pages, including the first page.
Articles submitted to the journal Tecnologias, Sociedade e Conhecimento must follow the formatting guidelines outlined in the template below, available in the format DOCX and ODT. Only submissions in the DOCX or ODT format will be accepted. Any information identifying the authors should only appear in the final version of the article.
Structure of the article
A scientific article is usually divided into six sections according to the following recommendations.
Introduction
- What is the research about (context)? Why was this study carried out?
- What was already known about this subject when the study began?
- Or better, what was NOT known about the topic that motivated the study?
- What is the research hypothesis (or the research question)?
Method (Material and method or methodology)
- What were the steps in executing this study?
Results
- What did you find? What facts does the study reveal?
Discussion
- What is the meaning of the results presented?
- Are the findings in accordance with results from other studies or do they diverge from other authors?
- What does this study add to what is already known about this subject?
Conclusion
- What is the author of this study’s stance, one that is coherent with the study’s objectives?
References Cited
- All authors cited in the text must be referenced in the bibliography at the end of the article.
The Introduction is the part of the scientific article in which the author describes what was researched and why the study was conducted. This is the place to make clear the unique aspects of the research, such as its justification, its originality, and the logic that guided the study (motivation). Some questions help in writing this section: What is this study about? Why was it done?
One must also demonstrate that this study is based on solid ground. Therefore, in the introduction, one must discuss and draw connections to pertinent literature in the field. What is known about this subject in the beginning of the study? What was not known and motivated the need for this research? You might want to include a section with background information on pertinent literature in the field, which, usually, is placed after the introduction and before the section on methods.
The objective of the article itself usually is written at the end of the introduction. If the chain of ideas in the beginning of the article is clear, the objective will come as a natural consequence and close the introduction. When you begin writing, it is helpful to have the objective of the article written out. This will guide you while writing the remainder of the article. Reviewers evaluating the quality of an article usually try to verify if the essay reflects the objective and, particularly, if the objective and conclusion make sense together. Therefore, it is important to have a clear objective, or the main research question in mind, while writing out the article.
In the section on Methods the author must describe the framework chosen for the research. It is important that the chosen framework be suited for achieving the proposed goals. One must point, in the methods section, how the study was framed, how data was collected, what type of analysis (statistical or not) was used to achieve the research goals and, if applicable, what ethical aspects were considered.
The purpose of the Results section, as its name indicates, is to reveal the research findings. This part of the article is composed of relevant data obtained and synthesized by the author. Main results are those directly related to the article’s objectives. If the objective can be posed as a question, in this part of the article one would answer this question. There is also room to explain relevant or unexpected secondary findings that are worth mentioning.
A few principles can help in the description of research results, such as: present the results and related images in a logical sequence; emphasize only the important information and do not describe, unnecessarily, all the information in the image (figure or table) in the written text; and, if relevant, indicate the statistical significance of the results.
In the Discussion section, one must interpret and comment the meaning of the results, provide a comparison with other research finding on this topic, and describe the conclusions the authors reached, one that is in line with the research objective or hypothesis formulated.
A convenient way in which to begin a discussion section consists in emphasizing, in a few words, the most important findings or the knowledge produced by the research.
It is considered good practice to point to positive aspects as well as shortcomings in the research. In other words, point to limitations that might negatively influence the result of a study. One can also comment on measures that might be adopted to minimize these limitations.
The discussion is usually a hard section to write. Formulating the discussions in the way that was suggested here eases the process and helps to avoid the omission of essential information. Therefore: highlight relevant and original findings, critically evaluate one own’s research (limitations and positive aspects), provide a critical comparison of one’s research with relevant literature in the field, and interpret the findings.
Finally, every description of a scientific study needs a Conclusion. The conclusion is the author’s stance and must be coherent with the study’s objectives. The conclusion can be followed by generalizations, implications of the research, descriptions of future research, and recommendations.
This essay was adapted from: PEREIRA, Mauricio Gomes. Estrutura do artigo científico. Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde [online]. 2012, vol.21, n.2. Retrieved from: http://scielo.iec.gov.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1679-49742012000200018
References
Though we provide various examples of how to write your References of the various sources you cited in the text, contained in our templates (*.DOCX or *.ODT in the beginning of this page), the site ABNT (which is maintained by Vilson J. Leffa) can be useful and an instructive starting point to deepen explanations and solve any lingering doubts.
A second alternative is the MORE system (Online mechanism for references, provided by the Rexlab at UFSC). The function of this site is to provide specific forms for each type of publication and generate the reference according to the ABNT standards.
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