WRITING (AND READING) A SCIENTIFIC PAPER

15 January 2014D. M. Sorger (North Carolina State University)

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HOW TO WRITE (AND READ) A SCIENTIFIC PAPER

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Writing (and Reading) a Scientific Paper

• Scientific writing vs. “regular” writing

• How a scientific paper is organized

• How to build a good paragraph

• EXERCISE

• Writing tips & Common mistakes

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Scientific writing vs. “regular” writing

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Scientific writing vs. “regular” writing

• What is the purpose? – to inform!

• Simple & clear

• Organization: IMRAD

• Writing with the reader in mind!

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How a scientific paper is organized

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Organization & Formatting

• Different journals want different things

• Author’s responsibility to follow instructions

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Instructions for authors

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Material & Methods at end

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short & sexy

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TITLE

• Descriptive, what is the paper about

• Avoid abbreviations or too technical terms

• Include common but also scientific name of your organism (include order and family if appropriate)

• Funny titles better for posters, not so much papers

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TITL

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present main results

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TITL

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ABSTRACT

• brief description of the content of the paper

• Rationale: 1-2 intro sentences

• What was done: brief description of methods

• What was found: explain results

• What it means: main conclusions

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AB

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Rationale/Intro

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AB

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What was done/Methods

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AB

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What was found/Results

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AB

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Main conclusions/Discussion

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KEYWORDS

• Search terms

• Think about what makes sense (imagine you are searching for this article in a database)

• Not too many

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KEY

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INTRODUCTION

• Hourglass method: start broad, end broad

• First paragraph

– First sentence: bigger picture (many references)

• 2nd-nth paragraph

– background information (what has been done so far, what the reader needs to know about system, why the organism you used is a good model organism, etc.)

• Last paragraph

– explain hypothesis, predictions, what you did and end the paragraph by making a reference to the bigger picture ( first sentence)

• Tense: Present tense

– Past research: Past tense

– Predictions: Future tense

– Hypotheses: Present tense 21

INTRODUCTION

• For instance, 5 paragraphs:

1. Broad to narrow paragraph (overall thesis)

2. Background 1

3. Background 2

4. Background 1*2 (link previous paragraphs)

5. Hypotheses & Methods

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INTR

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TIO

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1st paragraph: Introduce the topic – FIRST SENTENCE

Set the stage with a bold statement and use lots of citations to back it upThink: WHY should we care?

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INTR

OD

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TIO

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1st paragraph: Introduce the topic

What is known in the field

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INTR

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1st paragraph: Introduce the topic

Confounding factors of past studies, introduce the gap

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INTR

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2nd – nth paragraph: Getting more specific

more background

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INTR

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Last paragraph: Introduce your work

Hypotheses, predictions, describe what you did

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INTR

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Last paragraph: Introduce your work – LAST SENTENCE

Relate back to bigger picture (first sentence of first paragraph)

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METHODS

• Be precise, someone else needs to be able to repeat what you have done

• Make sure reader knows motivation for each procedure you used

• Justify your sampling design (use references)

• This section can be divided into subheadings

• Tense: Past tense

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MET

HO

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Subheadings

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MET

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DS

Step back and think if someone could repeat exactly what you did with this information

Which statistical tests were done, which programs were used

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RESULTS

• First sentence: summarize general pattern and exceptions

• Good general description of results, refer to tables (but don’t repeat all information from table)

• Use subheadings (if it makes sense, same ones used for methods)

• Tense: Past tense

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RES

ULT

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First sentence: summary results

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Subheadings

RES

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DISCUSSION

• First sentence: summarize results (positive sentence!)

• Relate to your hypotheses & predictions

• Relate to previous research (references you used in intro) – bring in new papers if they relate to your results

• Be critical: mention limitations & pitfalls

• Last sentence: next steps, future work (even if you don’t plan on doing this, what would you recommend)

• Tense: Past tense

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DIS

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SSIO

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First sentence: summarize results

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DIS

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Compare findings to previous studies

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DIS

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Mention limitations and pitfalls

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Last sentence: next steps, future work

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• Authors are never included in acknowledgements (even if they are your mentors)

• Don’t forget permit-giving institutions and funding sources

• Don’t be greedy!

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AC

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Funding sources

Permit-giving institutions & places where research was conducted

People who proofread or gave comments, also reviewers

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REFERENCES

• Formatting matters!!!! – journal can decline your paper if it’s not formatted correctly

• Look up references in other papers in the journal if you come across something tricky

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REF

EREN

CES

Global Change Biology

Nature

PLOS One

PNAS

The American Naturalist

Myrmecological News

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FIGURES & TABLES

• Refer to tables and figures in the text but don’t repeat entire information

• When submitting a paper to a journal these will be on the last page, all together, in order of appearance in text (legend at top)

• Tense: Present tense

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FIG

UR

ES &

TA

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Summary statement and reference to table

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APPENDIX

• Or “Supporting online material”

• More information, detailed data tables like species lists, etc.

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AP

PEN

DIXDetails on genetics

Detailed species classifications

Species lists

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How to build a good paragraph

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How to build a good paragraph

• First and last sentence of each paragraph should make you understand

• First sentence: thesis sentence

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Thesis sentence prepares the reader for what’s coming

BU

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EXCERCISE: Let’s put it into practice

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Your turn

• Write the….

– First sentence of the introduction

– First sentence of the discussion

– Last sentence of the discussion

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Porter, S. D., and D. A. Savignano (1990), Ecology 71: 2095-2106.

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What Porter & Savignano did…

• They measured ant abundance and diversity in fire ant infested vs. uninfested sites.

• They found that fire ant infested sites had lower ant species richness.

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First sentence of introduction

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First sentence of introduction

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First sentence of discussion

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First sentence of discussion

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Last sentence of discussion

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Last sentence of discussion

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Writing tips & Common mistakes

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Some basic tips

• Use active voice

• Avoid -ing-words (they weaken your statements)

• Reduce wordiness

– Use definite, specific, concrete language

– Omit needless words

– Keep related words together

• Use references appropriately

• Use appropriate tenses

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Grammar, spelling and an overall check

• Use the grammar check but don’t rely on it!

• Read your paper out loud at least once before you turn it in!

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LITE

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