A hardworking researcher may fail to publish his/her works if due to lack of skills needed
to develop the manuscript for publication in a medical journal. Skills of medical writing
would greatly facilitate publication of sound research work. The checklist for critical
appraisal of the paper would bring to light these glaring omissions easily. In the long run it
pays to master the trade rather than the tricks of the trade. Familiarity with scientific
writing is also required for clinicians and health professionals even if they are not actively
involved in carrying out research. Practicing clinicians keep abreast by reading the medical
journals which in turn influence their decisions regarding management options in care of
their patients. They should be able to critically appraise the published literature to reject
conclusions not based on sound scientific premises. As one gains seniority in the
profession, one may find oneself on the panel of reviewers of proposals for research or for
refereeing articles intended for publications. In all these situations, one needs a sound
knowledge of the fundamentals of scientific writing. This paper attempts to highlight the
core issues one should consider to make the attempt the best possible effort.

Salt lake community college (SLCC) is a fully accredited, student-focused urban multicampus college serving the greater salt lake city community. with more than 60.000 enrolled students, SLCC is the largest institution of higher education in Utah. SLCC operates three full-service campuses as well as eight teaching centres and an "eCampus" for distance learning.

This paper describes work in progress of an electronic assessment project at the University
of Sydney. The Faculty of Medicine has developed an online format for the Modified Essay
Question (MEQ) written assessments used in its problem based learning (PBL) medical
program.  The MEQ is used to assess a student's approach to a problem, particularly their
reasoning skills and understanding of concepts. The goals of this project include assisting
students perform optimally in the MEQ assessment, implementing improvements to the
efficiency of written assessment administration and enhancing the quality of feedback to
students. Four trials of the online MEQ have now been conducted.  Faculty and student
feedback on all four trials have been very positive. Students have reported that they have
more time to plan and draft their answers and that the electronic format is more motivating
than using the traditional paper assessment format. Faculty staff have reported that the
online MEQ reduces the burden of marking student answers, while also improving the
provision of student feedback. This project is attempting to meet the assessment challenges
faced by a medical school with large student enrolment numbers by efficiently assessing
the application of knowledge and clinical reasoning in a PBL context.
Keywords: online, assessment, medical education, problem based learning

All manuscripts submitted to the Br J Ind Med should conform to the uniform requirements for
manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals (known as the Vancouver style).
The Br J Ind Med, together with many other international biomedical journals, has agreed to
accept articles prepared in accordance with the Vancouver style. The style (described in full in Br
Med J, 24 February 1979, p 532) is intended to standardise requirements for authors.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and editing for biomedical publication [document on the Internet]. ICMJE;2003 [updated 2004 Oct; cited 2005 Apr 14]. Available from: http://www.icmje.org/. Iverson C, Flanagin A, Fontanarosa PB, Glass RM, Glitman P, Lantz JC, et al. American Medical Association manual of style: a guide for authors and editors.
9th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 1998.