From Common Sense to Scientific Knowledge: Steps for Writing a Paper

Abstract

Currently, it is increasingly required that investigations are published, contributing to the knowledge that goes beyond common sense. However, writing a scientific paper is not an easy task. This task imposes a lot of motivation, time, and persistence for the researcher. Helping students and young researchers to design a paper structure according to the norms of the American Psychology Association (APA) and the scientific journals guidelines is the present objective. Research methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed) are mentioned, preceded by the different sections that constitutes a scientific paper (title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusions and references). In each section, it is briefly mentioned what its content should be, trying to clarify its composition, focusing on the importance of carrying out a deliberative process regarding the selection of the journal where is intended to publish.