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Write Like a Scientist

Learn essential strategies and guidelines for effective scientific writing in various fields. Understand the importance of asking questions, considering your audience, and maintaining a formal tone. Explore lab report formats, from abstract to references, for clear communication of research findings.

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Write Like a Scientist

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  1. Write Like a Scientist By: The Writing Center

  2. How to Approach Scientific Writing • Ask questions • What are you interested in? Why? • What do you know and what do you want to know more about? • What is not known—or what has not been well researched? • Gaps in the literature • What kinds of resources do you have at your disposal? • Be realistic and start gathering information early

  3. Good sources • Scholar.google.com, Jstor, Pubmed, Stetson OneSearch • There should always be an author listed • The publisher may be an organization different from the author • Recent information is usually better

  4. Style of Scientific Writing • Style varies depending on the journal and field you are writing for • Formal, factual tone • Do not use flowery language • Use appropriate scientific terms • Give Latin names • Limit 1st person • Do not use quotes (paraphrase / use your own words) • Use symbols for numbers over 10

  5. Scientific Writing: Consider your audience • Always ask yourself who the intended reader is • Your professor • May adopt certain informalities, but this is a model of good scientific writing • Other scientists • Use academic language, assume your audience has a scientific basis • The public

  6. Passive vs. Active Voice Passive Active The subject is performing the action. Example: We analyzed the data using a paired t-test. Ask your professor which to use! • The subject is being acted upon. • Example: • A paired t-test was used to analyze the data.

  7. Turbek, S. P. et al. (2016)

  8. Lab Report: General Format • Do not indent paragraphs • Section heading • Do not skip a line after heading • Use bold, capital letters, or both • Skip line at the end of each section

  9. Lab Report: Title • At Stetson, a lab report will usually include: • A specific title that will mention results • Wolf spiders exposed to scent show decrease in predation

  10. Title Examples • Dominance Behavior in Rhesus Monkeys • Adrogen-Induced Social Dominance in Infant Female Rhesus Monkeys MacMillan, V. E. (2016).

  11. Lab Report: Abstract • Summarizes the contents of the whole lab report • 1-4 sentences summarizing each section

  12. Lab Report: Introduction • An introduction that starts broadly and narrows to your topic (think, why is your topic relevant to someone in another discipline?) • Introduction is your roadmap to the paper • Give background information on topic, summarize previous research • Build to why your research fills in gaps in the existing literature • Eg. High levels of chemicals in runoff over the last decade have been affecting marine life …. Decreased fertility rates have been observed in X snail species …. X snail species’ fertility is affected in Y way by Z chemical

  13. Lab Report: Methods • Methods written in past-tense • Give measurements and quantities • Include materials and species used—if you are using a sample of water, where was the water collected (ie, lake water from Beresford) • Unless your professor states otherwise, do not describe the individual steps of a common scientific procedure • Remember: Think about the audience • Describe data collection / data analysis

  14. Methods Examples • Each nest was checked frequently for signs of predation. • Each nest was checked twice daily (at 0800 and 1600) for signs of predation on eggs or nestlings. MacMillan, V. E. (2016).

  15. Lab Report: Results • A results section will not address the significance of the results or whether your hypothesis was supported

  16. Lab Report: Discussion • Address whether results supported hypothesis • Discuss results in wider context of current research • What results were unexpected, and why does this matter? • Discuss what remains unknown and what research should be done next

  17. Lab Report: Tables & Figures • Graphs and tables are at the end of the lab report • No title on top of the graph • Figure legend beneath the graph will describe the data being depicted • What do your error bars represent? P-value?

  18. Examples • Figure legends • Below figure • Give relevant statistics • Ie, p-value • How large was the sample size? • What is being measured? • Example: • Figure 2. Mass (g) vs. standard length (cm) of Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus collected in Volusia Blue Springs, Fl between 2005 and 2013 (n = 1378). Gibbs, M., Kurth, B., & Bridges, C. (2013).

  19. Lab Report: References/Literature Cited • Section heading at top—References • Alphabetical order by author’s last name • List all authors by last name, comma, first initial, period, comma, next author’s last name • Hanging indentations: what are they good for? • Shows authors’ last names and allows reader to scan literature quickly • Highlight citation right/control click  paragraph  indentation  special  hanging

  20. Lab Report: More on APA style • Every time you reference previous research or findings, you need an in-text citation • In ( ) at the end of the sentence, before the period: • Author’s last name & year of publication • If there are multiple authors, list the first author’s name followed by et al. • Birds have shown no difference in mobbing behavior when nesting or with young, and thus, mobbing cannot be viewed as a behavior that evolved solely to protect young (Chiver et al. 2017).

  21. Context: Scientific Writing as a Narrative • Look at the big picture • What do the results mean? • Patterns? Relationships? • Why is it important? Why do we care? • Does it support/contradict your hypothesis? • Do the results of the study help you develop your research? Future experiments? Example: • Remember the citation at the end!

  22. Annotated Bibliography • Goal: Find research that will help you develop/design your experiment or support your research • How to start: • Do any of the articles interest you? • Where can you take the experimental knowledge a step further? • How will the article help you in your research? • Briefly summarize the authors’ intentions, methods, and findings

  23. Lab Writing Tutor • Set up an appointment: • My.Stetson  Resources  Stetson SSC  Get Help  Tutoring  Writing Tutoring • Sage Satellite Office Hours: • Monday @ 2 pm – 5 pm • Wednesday @ 6 pm – 9 pm • Located in the Natural History Museum • Email: writingcenter@stetson.edu

  24. Works Cited Cody J Weinberger, James A Evans, & Stefano Allesina. (2015). Ten simple (empirical) rules for writing science. PLoS Computational Biology, 11(4) Gibbs, M., Kurth, B., & Bridges, C. (2013). Age and growth of the loricariid catfish Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus in Volusia Blue Spring, Florida. Aquatic Invasions, 8(2), 207-218. MacMillan, V. E. (2016). Writing papers in the biological sciences (6th ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. Turbek, S. P., Chock, T. M., Donahue, K., Havrilla, C. A., Oliverio, A. M., Polutchko, S. K., . . . Vimercati, L. (2016). Scientific writing made easy: A Step‐by‐Step guide to undergraduate writing in the biological sciences. The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 97(4), 417-426.

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