Tips on writing a scientific paper. Danny Tang, PhD Environmental Lab & Ocean Monitoring Division Orange County Sanitation District

Transcription

1 Tips on writing a scientific paper Danny Tang, PhD Environmental Lab & Ocean Monitoring Division Orange County Sanitation District

2 Purpose of a scientific paper Tool for conveying new discoveries. Contains enough info that others can use to replicate/verify the study. Serves as a guide to related research.

3 General structure of a scientific paper Title Authors & Addresses Abstract Introduction Materials and Methods Results Discussion Acknowledgements Literature Cited *Follow the format & style of the Bulletin of the SCAS This structure facilitates info retrieval as well as the review process.

4 Title (What is the paper about?) Devise a succinct title ( 20 words) that describes the content of the paper. From Allen and Andrews (2012). A good title grabs the reader s attention. Using key words in your title will help readers find your paper via online database searches (e.g., Web of Science, Science Direct, PubMed, Google).

5 Authors and addresses (Who did the work?) From Amber et al. (2015). From Matey et al. (2015). Use superscript to designate authors institutional address (only if >1 institution). Include address of the corresponding author at bottom of Title Page of your paper.

6 Abstract (What did you do in a nutshell?) Provide a succinct summary ( 250 words) of the paper that includes: i. question(s) investigated/purpose of study, ii. methods used, iii. main findings, and conclusions. From Allen and Andrews (2012).

7 Abstract (cont.) One of the most important sections of a paper because: i. it helps readers decide whether or not to read the remainder of the paper, and ii. apart from the title, it may be the only major section freely available online (e.g., on journal websites) or in published documents (e.g., conference programs). *Abstract submission deadline for the SCAS 2016 Annual Meeting: Monday, March 14, midnight!

8 Introduction (Why did you do it?) Provide the context of the study in the beginning of this section. End with purpose of the study (usually in form of hypothesis or question) as well as rationale/approach of the study. General info Purpose/rationale

9 Introduction (cont.) When you use information from primary literature (and other sources), you must paraphrase the info in your own words, as well as cite those sources. i. Use author-date method of citation: If the author is the subject of the sentence, include author s last name and enclose the year in parentheses. Example 1 (single author): From Cooper and Muchlinski (2015).

10 Introduction (cont.) i. Use author-date method of citation: If the author is the subject of the sentence, include author s last name and enclose the year in parentheses. Example 2 (two authors): *Use and, NOT & between last names. From Spies et al. (2014).

11 Introduction (cont.) i. Use author-date method of citation: If the author is the subject of the sentence, include author s last name and enclose the year in parentheses. Example 3 (more than two authors): From Myers and Ambrose (2015). *Use et al. (abbreviation of Latin phrase et alia = and others ) after last name of first author.

12 Introduction (cont.) i. Use author-date method of citation: If the author is NOT the subject of the sentence, enclose author s last name & year in parentheses (usually at end of sentence). Example 1 (one source): From Spies et al. (2014). *Do NOT include a comma after author s last name.

13 Introduction (cont.) i. Use author-date method of citation: If the author is NOT the subject of the sentence, enclose author s last name & year in parentheses (usually at end of sentence). Example 2 (more than one source): *List sources in chronological order and use semi-colon to separate sources. From Fandel et al. (2015).

14 Introduction (cont.) i. Use author-date method of citation: If the author is NOT the subject of the sentence, enclose author s last name & year in parentheses (usually at end of sentence). Example 3 (two or more sources with the same publication year): From Allen and Andrews (2012). *List sources with same year in alphabetical order.

15 Introduction (cont.) i. Use author-date method of citation: When two or more cited works share the same authors and dates, use a, b, c designations after the year. From Spies et al. (2014). *Do NOT add a space between year and alphabet.

16 Methods (How did you do it?) Provide chronological description of how the study was carried out. Include relevant info such as: i. organism(s) studied, ii. description of study site, iii. description of experimental design (e.g., control/treatments, exposure time), iv. special equipment used (e.g., PCR, gas chromatography mass spectrometry), and v. statistical methods used (e.g., ANOVA).

17 Methods (cont.) Include Figures (e.g., picture, map, diagram) if necessary. i. Figures are numbered sequentially (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2 ), but separately from Tables. ii. Cited within parentheses in the text. If the Figure contains a single picture, map, etc., then cite Figure as follows: Use Fig., NOT Figure. From Spies et al. (2014).

18 Methods (cont.) Figure caption placed at the bottom. Figure itself and caption must be selfexplanatory. Fig., NOT Figure. From Allen and Andrews (2012).

19 Methods (cont.) If the Figure contains multiple images, graphs, etc., as for example the one on the right, then use A, B, C labels to distinguish each image, graph, etc. and cite them as follows: From Matey et al. (2015). From Matey et al. (2015).

20 Results (What did you find?) Present key results in a logical sequence. i. Do NOT include your data interpretation! ii. Highlight results that answer the question under investigation. Usually contains no citations. Summarize results in Tables and/or Figures. i. Tables are also numbered sequentially (e.g., Table 1, Table 2 ). ii. Also cited within parentheses in the text. From Allen and Andrews (2012).

21 Results (cont.) iii. Table caption placed at the top. iv. Information in the Table and the caption also must be self-explanatory. From Spies et al. (2014). 1) Table is NOT abbreviated in the caption. 2) Use only horizontal lines to separate sections of Table. 3) Place unit of measurement in column header.

22 Results (cont.) For graphs (= Figures): Label axes Do NOT use color! Include legend (if >1 variable) Include caption From Blair et al. (2013).

23 Discussion (What does it all mean?) Present your interpretation of results. i. Evaluate and explain the significance of your study. Do the results answer your questions or support your hypotheses? Compare results with findings from previous studies (*Remember to cite those works!). i. Explain the significance of agreement or incongruity of results. State your conclusions. i. Does the study offer new insights? Propose future investigations if needed.

24 Acknowledgements (Who helped you out?) Thank people who assisted with the study (e.g., those who helped in the lab or reviewed the paper), as well as the funding agency. From Allen and Andrews (2012).

25 Literature Cited (Whose work did you refer to?) Include alphabetical list (by first author s last name) of all references cited in the body of the paper. i. Use correct citation style for the type of source (style of journal article book)! From Matey et al. (2015). Use the n dash " ", NOT a hyphen "- to connect page ranges!

26 Literature Cited (cont.) ii. For two or more cited works with the same authors and dates, maintain the a, b, c style and instead of repeating author names, use : Pesce, G.L., P. De Laurentiis, and W.F. Humphreys. 1996a. Copepods from ground waters of Western Australia, I. The genera Metacyclops, Mesocyclops, Microcyclops and Apocyclops (Crustacea: Copepoda: Cyclopidae). Records of the Western Australian Museum, 18: ,, and. 1996b. Copepods from ground waters of Western Australia, II. The genus Halicyclops (Crustacea: Copepoda: Cyclopidae). Records of the Western Australian Museum, 18: *In this example, the journal + volume are also identical. As such, the articles are listed according to the page numbering!

27 Literature Cited (cont.) ii. For two or more cited works with the same authors and dates, maintain the a, b, c style and instead of repeating author names, use : From Matey et al. (2015). *In this example, the journals are different. As such, you need to check the source for month/year or month/day/year of publication and then chronologically list the articles accordingly!

28 Literature Cited (cont.) iii. Avoid making these citation errors Do NOT abbreviate journal titles! From Fandel et al. (2015).

29 Literature Cited (cont.) iii. Avoid making these citation errors From Matey et al. (2015). Do NOT include the journal issue!

30 Literature Cited (cont.) iii. Avoid making these citation errors From Matey et al. (2015). In the article title, use initial capital letters only in the first word [of the title], as well as for proper nouns and genus names! CONSISTENCY is important!

31 Additional things to consider Follow the Bulletin of the SCAS guidelines! ( Write your paper in this order: i. Materials and Methods ii. Results iii. Discussion iv. Introduction v. Abstract vi. Title & Authors + Affiliations vii. References viii. Acknowledgements

32 Additional things to consider Use the metric system (e.g., cm, kg, ⁰C). Ask your co-author(s), mentor, teacher, and peers to review your paper. Proofread your paper before submission! Practice makes perfect. Deadline for paper submission (to Gloria): Friday, April 15, 2016! Visit the Jr. Academy page of the SCAS website ( for additional materials.

33 Useful websites writing/htwtoc.html