A Guide to Writing Scientific Papers

A Guide to Writing Scientific Papers Scientific experiments are challenging and very exciting efforts. To have an impact, results must be effectively communicated to other researchers, scientists, medical professionals, the government, and the public. A research paper is the main method of communication to tell others about the data you have generated and your conclusions about those data in the context of your research. Scientific writing is a difficult skill to master and varies greatly from most types of writing you are used to doing and reading. Scientific writing requires proper usage of the English language, and this will be considered in evaluating your writing. Scientific papers must be written clearly and concisely so those that read the article with backgrounds like yours can understand with ease what experiments you have done and how you have done those experiments so should they want to repeat or extend your work, they can do so. When writing papers for this course, you can assume that your audience will be readers much like you with similar knowledge. Scientific journals can differ somewhat in their specific requirements but a general format that would be acceptable for most biological journals includes: Title Abstract Introduction Materials and Methods Results Discussion Conclusions Acknowledgements Literature Cited Do not begin each section on a new page. If one section ends part of the way down the page, the next section heading follows immediately on the same page. For the most part, the paper should be written in the past tense (was, were). The present tense (is, are) is used when stating generalizations or conclusions. The present tense is most often used in the Introduction, Discussion, and Conclusion sections of scientific papers. The paper should generally be read in a manner that the author describes what was done and the results of those experiments. Title Every paper must have a self-explanatory title. The title should make clear to the reader the work being reported without having to read the paper itself. For example, “A Biology Laboratory Report” tells the reader nothing about the contents of the paper itself. A good example of a title would be: “The Effects of Light and Temperature on the Growth of Populations of the Bacterium, Escherichia coli”. From this title, the reader can determine that the researcher has done three things: 1. The environmental factors that were manipulated were light and temperature. 1 2. The parameter that was measured was growth. 3. The specific organism that was studied was the bacterium, Escherichia coli. There are some exceptions to these rules when it comes to titles. If several factors were manipulated, not all of them must be listed in the title. In this case, the title might read: “Effects of Several Environmental Factors on Growth of Populations of Escherichia coli.” Additionally, if more than two or three organisms were studied the title might read: “Effects of Light and Temperature on the Growth of Four Species of Bacteria”. The types of bacteria studied would be listed in the materials and methods section of the scientific paper. Abstract The intention of the abstract is to be self-explanatory without reference to the paper but is not a substitute for the paper. The abstract is more than a summary and is a concise digest of the content of the paper. Many scientific journals have a word limit for the abstract section. In about 250 words, the abstract should depict the purpose of the paper, general materials, and methods (including, if any, the scientific and common names of organisms), summarized results, and major conclusions. Detailed descriptions of organisms or materials and methods do not belong in the abstract. Also, tables or figures, references to tables or figures, or reference to literature cited usually are not included in this section. Because the abstract is a summation of the work, it is usually written last. A helpful tip in writing the abstract is to extract the most important points from each section of the paper and piece those points together to build a brief description of your work. The abstract is also a place where the author can indicate if their hypothesis was supported or not supported by the results of their work. Introduction The Introduction is the statement of the problem that you investigated. It should give readers enough information to appreciate your specific objectives within a larger theoretical framework. After placing your work in a broader context, you should state the specific question(s) to be answered. This section may also include background information about the problem such as a summary of any research that has been done on the problem in the past and how the present experiment will help to clarify or expand the knowledge in this general area. All background information gathered from other sources must, of course, be appropriately cited. A helpful strategy in this section is to go from the general, theoretical framework to your specific question. However, do not make the Introduction too broad. Remember that you are writing for classmates who have knowledge like yours. Present only the most relevant ideas and get quickly to the point of the paper. 2 For example, part of an introduction for the experiment described in the Figure Legend Assignment may read as follows: “The dynamic exchange of essential substances between cells and their environment plays a pivotal role in a multitude of processes in living organisms. The fundamental biological principle of substances being able to cross the cellular membrane is dictated by the balance between surface area and volume of cells. Both single-celled and multicellular organisms constantly navigate the exchange of ions, gases, nutrients, and wastes with their surroundings. The goal of this study is to demonstrate that a high surface-areato-volume ratio is critical for cells to efficiently exchange various substances with other cells and its environment in an efficient manner.” Material and Methods This section explains how and, where relevant, when the experiment was done. The researcher describes the experimental design, the apparatus, methods of gathering data and type of control. If any work was done in a natural habitat, the worker describes the study area, states its location, and explains when the work was done. If specimens were collected for study, where and when that material was collected are stated. The general rule to remember is that the Materials and Methods section should be detailed and clear enough so that any reader knowledgeable in basic scientific techniques could duplicate the study if they wished to do so. Do not write this section as though it were directions in a laboratory manual. Simply describe how the experiment was done. Do not list the equipment used in the experiment. The materials that were used in the research are simply mentioned in the narrative as the experimental procedure is described in detail. If well-known methods were used without changes, simply name the methods (e.g. standard microscopic techniques; standard spectrophotometric techniques). If modified standard techniques were used, describe the changes. Results In the results section, the researcher(s) present summarized data for inspection using narrative text and, where appropriate, tables and figures to display summarized data. Only the results are presented. No interpretation of the data or conclusions about what the data might mean are given in this section. Data assembled in tables and/or figures should supplement the text and present the data in an easily understood form. Do not present raw data. If tables and/or figures are used, they must be referred to in the narrative text. Do not repeat extensively in the text the data you have presented in tables and figures. However, do not restrict yourself to passing comments either. For example, “Results are shown in Table 1” is not sufficient. The text describes the data presented in the tables and figures and calls attention to the important data and trend that the researcher will discuss in the discussion section to support the conclusions. 3 For figures: • The appropriate type of graph should be used to present the data. • Error bars when applicable. • Axes labels are correct with units. • In the paper, no titles for graphs and legend are included. • Figure caption(s) are located below the figure(s) and include all the important information. Discussion In the discussion, the researcher(s) interpret the data in terms of any patterns that were observed, any relationships among experimental variables that are important and any correlations between variables that are discernible. The author should include any explanations of how the results differed from those hypothesized, or how the results were either different from or like those of any related experiments performed by other researchers. Remember that experiments do not always need to show major differences or trends to be important. “Negative” results also need to be explained and may represent something important such as a new or changed focus for your research overall. A useful strategy in discussing your experiment is to relate your specific results back to the broad theoretical context presented in the Introduction. Since your Introduction went from the general to a specific question, going from the specific back to the general will help to tie your ideas and arguments together. Conclusions This section is sometimes combined with the discussion. Conclusions are meant to simply state what the researcher(s) think the data mean and should relate directly back to the problem/question stated in the introduction. If separate from the discussion, the conclusion section does not provide any reasons for the conclusions. As a reader, looking at the introduction and the conclusion sections, a reader should have a good idea of what the researcher(s) investigated and discovered. Acknowledgements In this section you give credit to other individuals that have helped you with the research or with writing the paper. If your work has been supported by a grant, you also give credit for that funding in this section. Literature Cited This section lists all published information in alphabetical order by author that was referred to anywhere in the text of the paper. It provides the readers with the information needed should they want to refer to the original literature on the general problem. The literature cited section includes only the references that were actually metioned (cited) in 4 the paper. Any other information that the researcher may have read about the problem but did not mention in the paper is not included in this section. The system of citing reference material in scientific literature varies with the particular journal. Listed below are several examples of how citations should be presented in the text of your paper. The name(s) and the author(s) and year of publication are included in the body of the text. Sentence structure determines the placement of the parentheses. 5