Methods:
The development of writing skills is outlined and information provided to assist an author's progress through the publication process is provided. Writing requirements are presented with recommendations on how to achieve the desired writing outcomes.

So what?
The process of writing for publication can be rewarding. Just as for a multitude of other tasks within our work environment, writing for publication can be assisted by developing a set of skills and knowledge.

Key words:
Writing, publication, health promotion

Introduction
This special issue of the Health Promotion Journal Of Australia focuses on health promotion in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. While assisting new authors to publish their articles in this special issue a number of questions about writing and publishing were asked by those authors. In the past other new authors had asked similar questions. This article provides answers to those questions and tips authors have found most useful.

Writing styles
Articles in health-based peer-review journals are mostly written in a succinct, scientific data presentation style. This style is for a specific readership and provides no space for creative writing or glimpses into the personalities of the writer or the project participants. An enriched style of article presentation can, however, be produced by combining the Indigenous oral tradition of passing on information with the succinct article/report-writing technique. In this way a 'storytelling' style can be accepted for its difference and meet the criteria for peer-reviewed journals.

Writing skills

Focussing the writing
Before beginning to write it is important to clarify the main message to be conveyed to, and remembered by, the reader. Journals/publishers are particularly interested in what is unique about a project and anything which may assist other health promotion practitioners in their work. What is the relevance of your work to health promotion?

It is also important to select the audience, for example, which journal the paper will be sent to, who will read the paper, what is their level of expertise, what is their interest in the topic?

A strategy often used to identify the focus of a paper is to write, on a large sheet of paper, all thoughts about the importance of the findings, and new approaches used. These thoughts can be used when preparing the outline of the paper (described in detail below).

Writing should be clear and unambiguous. There are two ways to achieve this. Firstly, by using clear language and putting thoughts in order within sentences. This can be achieved through practice, by reading then rewriting, by getting someone else to read it, by reading it out aloud, and by reading other journal articles. Secondly, the use of an outline and headings will direct the writing process and the reader through the story, argument or evidence being presented.

Structuring the writing

Templates and outlines:
Some journals provide templates or lists of headings they prefer to be used. This journal has a brief report template and two templates were developed specially for this issue which focuses on health promotion in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Neville Ehan, Territory Health Services - Alice Springs, was instrumental in the development of a template which could be used by communities, while a separate template was developed for use by health promotion officers. Both templates provide a list of headings which assist the process of information gathering and facilitate rewriting of this information into an article format.

The conventional structure for research papers uses the 'IMRaD' outline. Introduction -why the program or evaluation was done; methods - how it was carried Out: results - what happened or what was found; and discussion - what the author thinks it means (such as, the significance of the findings or the implications for further research). This format can be used with adjustments to present most types of project reports.

I: In the introduction or background the reader is provided with information about the problem or issue being discussed and why this issue warrants special attention. The importance of an issue can be shown by referring to work done by other people in the field, although absolute neglect of an issue may be the very reason the project is worthwhile. Most often these references will be to published articles. The scene can be set by describing the location, basic infrastructure or population.

M: The methods section describes exactly how the intervention, program and/or evaluation were done. It provides enough information for the reader to be able to do the program themselves, or to decide whether the methodology was strong enough to support the conclusions drawn. If there was no evaluation undertaken, or only minimal evaluation, the reasons for this need to be made clear.

R: Results of the program, evaluation or analysis are usually presented as a separate section which describes the most important findings of the work. If the paper is not describing research, the results will be an outline of the outcome of the program.

D: A discussion section will talk about the results and their implications and provide reflection, comparison, conclusions and finally, recommendations.

Headings:
Headings are used to direct the focus of the writing and to direct the reader through the article. They are particularly useful if the concepts being described are complicated.

If the writing becomes confused, paragraphs can be given headings of their own which state what they are about. The article can then be reordered by placing similar paragraphs together. If there is a paragraph for which no heading can be found it probably has an incomplete thought or is of little use to the overall argument or story After rewriting the article, unwanted headings can be removed. Most word-processing packages have a function for collating headings into a computer-generated table of contents which may assist in this process.

The writing process
When writing the article, the outline should be followed, being careful to maintain the focus of the paper.

Once the article has been drafted, it can be shown to one or more colleagues who are asked to determine whether the writing is clear and unambiguous, whether there are any gaps, whether the focus of the paper is clear and to provide recommendations for improvement. Writing in a team will bring more expertise and ideas to the article.

Guidelines for Authors
The Guidelines for Authors of the journal the article will be submitted to should be read before the article is written. Prior to submission to a journal the article should be presented as requested by the journal in that journal's Guidelines for Authors (for this journal they appear on the last two pages of each issue). Particular attention should be paid to the referencing style of the journal. It should be copied as closely as possible taking care to include all necessary information. Presenting the article in this way makes it easier for the editorial office and reviewers to carry out their tasks.

The review process

Value of the review process
The process of peer review and feedback is extremely valuable, not only to the author's article, but also to the author's future methodology. Comments by reviewers include recommendations on how to improve the article and may also suggest areas where methods could be improved.

An outline of the review process
Every manuscript is read by the Editor, other members of the Editorial Board and often an external reviewer. Two or three reviews are undertaken.

'Right of reply' to reviewers
Reviewers nearly always recommend changes to be made to an article. In each case, authors are given the opportunity to make these changes and resubmit the article. When resubmitting, all authors have the 'right of reply' to a reviewer; that is, if authors disagree with criticisms or recommended changes they can outline their reasons. If they agree with recommended changes they can edit their article and provide details of the changes made.

Dependent on the time taken by reviewers and authors to respond to requests made by the journal, the review process takes between three and six months.

Further Reading
Most public libraries will have books on writing for publication, for example, Robert Day's "How to write and publish a scientific paper" and Edward Huth's "How to write and publish papers in the medical sciences".

Authors
Lynette Saeck, John B Lowe
Health Promotion Journal of Australia Brisbane, Queensland

References

1. Day R,4. How to write and publish a scientific paper, 4th edn. Cambridge.Cambridge University Press, 1995.
2. Huth EJ. How to w?ite and publish papers in the medical sciences, 2nd edn. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1982.