It's easier to find a paper using a search engine with the highlights.Your highlights should serve as a "levator pitch" for your article, describing the results and any new methods that you used.Your highlights will usually be no more than 3 or 4 bullet point phrases.You don't need to worry about your highlights until the final stages of editing your article.Strong highlights can give you an advantage in your research.
Step 1: You should include the most important part of your research in your highlights.
The first thing anyone will read is your highlights.The highlights can be used to tell potential readers why they should read your paper.Good highlights keep people from wasting time.If your paper doesn't cover information that they need to know or are interested in, highlights let them know immediately so they can read the rest of the paper.
Step 2: If you want to keep your writing concise, use active voice.
The sentences in your research paper should be subject-verb-object order."show" and "affect" are active verbs that can be used to describe what your study found.If you wrote "skin's overall health is affected by sun exposure", you wouldn't be writing about UV rays.Passive voice is more wordy and difficult to understand in research papers.Because highlights have a strict length requirement, using active voice allows you to stay within the character limits while including the most important information from your article.You might say that exposure to light damages skin cells.
Step 3: If you want to change, change for a general audience instead of your peers.
Your audience is the world at large when you're writing highlights.Don't use terms of art in your highlights.They should explain the paper in a way that a child would understand.Even if they aren't technically accurate, use the simplest words possible.You could say "skin cells" instead of "squamous cells."The specific cells studied will be the subject of your paper.
Step 4: Carefully read the proofread highlights.
A mistake will stick out like a sore thumb because highlights are so short.If you have typos in your highlights, you don't show up in as many search results as you should, which defeats the purpose of highlights.One way to make sure your highlights are correct is to read them backwards.The phrase as a whole encourages you to focus on each individual word.It's a good idea to let someone else read through your highlights.You know what you meant to say, so someone unfamiliar with your highlights or paper might notice errors.
Step 5: Do you want to use a document for your highlights?
Publishers can easily put your highlights online.They'll often ask for highlights using the same type of document you used to submit your manuscript, but this isn't always the case.The National Science Foundation wants each highlight to be on a Microsoft PowerPoint slide.Many journals and publishers use similar procedures to introduce highlights.If the journal or publisher tells you to use the requirements, you can get them at the website.
Step 6: Make sure you check the length requirements.
The length requirements can't be adjusted because highlights are used for search engines.The length requirements are usually given in characters.A maximum of 85 characters is the most common length.The bullet point itself isn't considered a character if you're giving your highlights in bullet points.All of the spaces and punctuation are.Some journals have a minimum length.Even if a specific minimum length isn't given, having a highlight that's only 2 or 3 words is not helpful to a potential reader.
Step 7: Permission to use highlights can be granted by completing required forms.
You're expected to sign and send in the release forms with your highlights for some publishers and organizations.Any forms you need will be provided by your editor's contact at the publisher.Before you submit your highlights, make sure you meet the publisher's requirements.The publication of your paper could be delayed if you violate the publisher's protocol.