WRITING (AND READING) A SCIENTIFIC PAPER 15 January 2014 D. M. Sorger (North Carolina State University) 1
HOW TO WRITE (AND READ) A SCIENTIFIC PAPER 2
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 3
Scientific writing vs. regular writing 4
Scientific writing vs. regular writing What is the purpose? to inform! Simple & clear Organization: IMRAD Writing with the reader in mind! 5
How a scientific paper is organized 6
Organization & Formatting Different journals want different things Author s responsibility to follow instructions 7
Instructions for authors 8
Material & Methods at end 9
short & sexy 10
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 11
TITLE present main results 12
TITLE 13
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 14
ABSTRACT Rationale/Intro 15
ABSTRACT What was done/methods 16
ABSTRACT What was found/results 17
ABSTRACT Main conclusions/discussion 18
KEYWORDS Search terms Think about what makes sense (imagine you are searching for this article in a database) Not too many 19
KEYWORDS 20
INTRODUCTION Hourglass method: start broad, end broad First paragraph First sentence: bigger picture (many references) 2 nd -n th 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 22
1 st paragraph: Introduce the topic FIRST SENTENCE INTRODUCTION Think: WHY should we care? Set the stage with a bold statement and use lots of citations to back it up 23
1 st paragraph: Introduce the topic INTRODUCTION What is known in the field 24
1 st paragraph: Introduce the topic INTRODUCTION Confounding factors of past studies, introduce the gap 25
2 nd n th paragraph: Getting more specific INTRODUCTION more background 26
Last paragraph: Introduce your work INTRODUCTION Hypotheses, predictions, describe what you did 27
Last paragraph: Introduce your work LAST SENTENCE INTRODUCTION Relate back to bigger picture (first sentence of first paragraph) 28
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 29
Subheadings METHODS 30
METHODS Step back and think if someone could repeat exactly what you did with this information Which statistical tests were done, which programs were used 31
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 32
First sentence: summary results RESULTS 33
Subheadings RESULTS 34
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 35
First sentence: summarize results DISCUSSION 36
DISCUSSION Compare findings to previous studies 37
DISCUSSION Mention limitations and pitfalls 38
Last sentence: next steps, future work DISCUSSION 39
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! 40
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Funding sources Permit-giving institutions & places where research was conducted People who proofread or gave comments, also reviewers 41
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 42
REFERENCES Global Change Biology The American Naturalist PLOS One Myrmecological News PNAS Nature 43
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 44
FIGURES & TABLES Summary statement and reference to table 45
APPENDIX Or Supporting online material More information, detailed data tables like species lists, etc. 46
APPENDIX Species lists Detailed species classifications Details on genetics 47
How to build a good paragraph 48
How to build a good paragraph First and last sentence of each paragraph should make you understand First sentence: thesis sentence 49
BUILD A PARAGRAPH Thesis sentence prepares the reader for what s coming 50
EXCERCISE: Let s put it into practice 51
Your turn Write the. First sentence of the introduction First sentence of the discussion Last sentence of the discussion 52
Porter, S. D., and D. A. Savignano (1990), Ecology 71: 2095-2106. 53
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. 54
First sentence of introduction 55
First sentence of introduction 56
First sentence of discussion 57
First sentence of discussion 58
Last sentence of discussion 59
Last sentence of discussion 60
Writing tips & Common mistakes 61
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 62
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! 63
LITERATURE 64