Course Project How to Write Scientifically

1. Course ProjectHow to Write Scientifically

2. Swim against the current • In direct opposition to everything your high school teacher and probably your college English professor taught you… • We’re simply conveying information • Be direct, to the point, without “fluff” • Shorter is better! • Overall and sentences

3. Writing about science: Effective writing about science is clear and interesting. Here are seven tips to consider: • Quality • Abbreviations • Objective language • Passive Voice • Past or Present • Sentences • Paragraphs

4. Quality • Be clear – avoid unnecessary detail! • Be simple – use direct language and avoid vague and complicated sentences • Be unbiased – state the facts and only the facts and then, support your statements with evidence! Also, avoid assumptions such as “Everyone knows that…”

5. Quality • Be logical – write sequentially and use section headings if necessary • Be concise – too many words can be confusing and can lose the point

6. Concise Consider this, from a well-known Materials text: “The selection of the proper material is a key step in the design process because it is the crucial decision that links computer calculations and the lines on an engineering drawing with a real or working design”. What does it say? “Materials selection is important”, and we knew that already. It is wasting the reader’s time.

7. Abbreviations • Use abbreviations when possible • Make sure to define them first! • Ex. In retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) • However, minimize the use of acronyms and abbreviations. • Ex. The MEM, analyzed by FE methods, was photographed by SEM and chemically characterized by SAM.

8. Objective Language • Objective: The experimenter took two hours to…. • Subjective: The experiment was fun and time flew by that we couldn’t believe that two hours had passed. (YUCK!!!!)

9. Passive Voice Scientific language often uses the passive voice to convey what was done and not who did what. • Ex. Ten milliliters of acetone was added to the mixture. • Instead of: I added ten milliliters of acetone.

10. However: • Which is clearer? • Difficulty was experienced in evaluating bias… • OR • I had difficulty evaluating bias because… • Is there a better way to phrase this?

11. Past or Present • Write in the past tense when you speak about what WAS done. • Ex. Temperatures were recorded at 10-minute intervals. • Write in the present tense when you’re talking about generalities or current issues. • Ex. Increasing temperature generally occurs when this reagent is added.

12. Sentences • Watch sentence length • Try to vary lengths when possible • Build connections by combining sentences. Don’t assume the reader can do this on her/his own.

13. Paragraphs • Break up your text by using paragraphs. • Paragraphs should convey a complete thought. • Generally, paragraphs should begin with a transition sentence that leads into a new thought.

14. Before You Write • Be completely familiar with problem, possible solutions, methods, analyses and implications • Know your stuff • Know the “story” (plan what you will write) • Where does it begin (problem, possible solution) • What goes on in the middle (try out the solution) • How does it end (did the solution work) • Know who your audience will be

15. Start Writing – Kind of… • Detailed outline to the level of each paragraph • List topic sentences for each paragraph • Topic sentences should summarize an idea and content of paragraph • Include Goal and List of Objectives • Review topic sentences for logical structure • Do the topic sentences follow the story line Reality – Often, this after you’ve written But, IT MUST BE DONE!!!

16. Write like you’ve never written before! • Be “clear, simple, concise, and organized” • Rules • 1. Never tell me anything I don’t need to know • 2. Never fail to tell me anything I need to know • To repeat the study • To understand the study/results • 3. Never tell me something more than once (except maybe in discussion for emphasis)

17. Introduction • “Set up” problem • Summarize current knowledge and state any gaps (this is what you will be addressing) • Have an obvious “knock me over the head with it” problem statement (what is needed) • State Goal (general statement) • Should directly address problem statement • State specific objectives • Numbered objectives are always good • Answers/results from objectives should achieve goal

18. Study Area • If research is conducted in a specific geographic area… • Present information about study area in past tense (e.g., precip., temp.) • Figure showing study area at the state level is always good

19. Methods • Organize in order of objectives • For each objective have an obvious method. “To determine density I (we) …” “To estimate survival I(we)…” • If the method/analysis is new, describe in detail • If the method/analysis has been used before, describe briefly and cite those responsible for originally describing • 2 Parts – 1. Data collection 2. Data analyses • Data collection • Who, WHY, when, where, how • Do not describe anything that is not used in an analysis • Data analyses • Should be clear (from data collection section) where data for each analysis came from

20. Separate “second level” headingData Analysis • State analyses explicitly do not leave anything open to interpretation • Important for repeatability • Again follow order of objectives • Make sure there is an analysis for each objective • Make sure there is not an analysis that is not presented as an objective

21. Results • Present sample sizes • Arrange according to objectives • These can be very short at times (don’t worry) • Use tables and figures to present information more concisely • Highlight pertinent information from table in text • Reference Tables/Figures correctly (see guidelines) • Do not include extraneous information • Extraneous – not needed for replication or understanding

22. Discussion • Do not repeat information in results section • Use this section to convince me whether you solved the problem (or not!) • What have/would others say about your results • This section should contain quite a few citations • Should we do anything else to clarify the problem • Did the results create any new/interesting questions?

23. Literature Cited Check! Journal! Guidelines!!