4 If necessary, refer to preliminary experiments and to any consequent changes in technique. The Abstract helps readers decide whether they want to read the rest of the paper, or it may be the only part they can obtain via electronic literature searches or in published abstracts. Function: The function of the Discussion is to interpret your results in light of what was already known about the subject of the investigation, and to explain our new understanding of the problem after taking your results into consideration. Problematic example: In this example the reader will have no clue as to what the various tubes represent without having to constantly refer back to some previous point in the Methods. The abstract is usually written last. Unilateral application of 1 to 20 mM Ca2+ to the root cap always induced unequivocal curvature of roots away from the Ca2+ source in Alaska pea and to a greater extent in the roots of the agravitropic mutant, ageotropum (Figs.
For example, if you found that the mean height of male Biology majors was significantly larger than that of female Biology majors, you might report this result (in blue) and your statistical conclusion (shown in red) as follows:. Below are the possible components of a report, in the order in which they would appear. Always make sure to describe any modifications you have made of a standard or published method. They might be flow diagrams, accumulation of data from the literature, or something that shows how one type of data leads to or correlates with another, etc. An abstract is intended to be self-explanatory without reference to the paper, but is not a substitute for the paper. Style: Write the text of the Results section concisely and objectively. A scientific report is a document that describes the process, progress, and or results of technical or scientific research or the state of a technical or scientific research problem. Do not introduce new results in the Discussion.
Readers of this handout may also find Scientific Reports useful. An appendix is an optional part of the paper, and is only rarely found in published papers. ) to two or three sentences, if possible. The following advice comes from Robert Barrass’ book Scientists Must Write (Chapman & Hall,1978:135-136):
1 List the equipment used and draw anything that requires description (unless this is very simple). The objective of this study was to determine a possible relationship between endogenous cytokinins with male sterility in the genic male sterile system in Brassica napus.
CBE Style Manual: A Guide for Authors, Editors and Publishers in the Biological Sciences. It is often a good idea to include a map (labeled as a Figure) showing the study location in relation to some larger more recognizable geographic area. In either case you should discuss reasons for similarities and differences between yours and others’ findings. Avoid repetitive paragraph structures. ” Improved Example: Same actions, but all the important information is given in a single, concise sentence. Schizosaccharomyces pombe h90, the homothallic, readily sporing haploid strain, was used.
You must relate your work to the findings of other studies – including previous studies you may have done and those of other investigators. , journal articles) and, to a lesser extent, books. What does your reader want to see in the report and what will they do with it. For example, is your large increase a ten-fold increase or a ten thousand-fold increase. Whereas the Title can only make the simplest statement about the content of your article, the Abstract allows you to elaborate more on each major aspect of the paper.
Main thesis about writing scientific reports
An abstract is more than a summary. Instead, it tells how your study has moved us forward from the place you left us at the end of the Introduction. The failure or inability of an individual to produce functional gametes under a given set of environmental conditions is known as sterility. It is important to demonstrate your understanding of the science that you have studied and practised by writing about it in a scientific report. Always make sure to describe any modifications you have made of a standard or published method. Male sterility in plants is generally associated with the lack of production of viable pollen; however its expression can vary (Frankel and Galun 1977, Kaul 1988).
Likewise, when you report that one group mean is somehow different from another (larger, smaller, increased, decreased, etc), it will be understood by your reader that you have tested this and found the difference to be statisticallysignificant, especially if you also report a p-value < 0. 5th Edition, revised and expanded. Instructions for writing full citations for various sources are given in on separate page. Consider the following two examples:. The 2014 Impact Factor for Scientific Reports is 5. " "One way ANOVA was used to compare mean weight gain in weight-matched calves fed the three different rations. Why are you writing the report. " Improved example: Notice how the substitution (in red) of treatment and control identifiers clarifies the passage both in the context of the paper, and if taken out of context. The text of the Results section should be crafted to follow this sequence and highlight the evidence needed to answer the questions/hypotheses you investigated. Organize the information to present the more general aspects of the topic early in the Introduction, then narrow toward the more specific topical information that provides context, finally arriving at your statement of purpose and rationale. Materials and methods (included if applicable) Similar to procedure, but more appropriate to scientific or engineering report writing. Discussion Who helped me out. Verbal communication is temporal and easily forgotten, but written reports exist for long periods and yield long-term benefits for the author and others. The effect of Ca2+ on root elongation has been reported to be both stimulatory and inhibitory (Burstrom 1969, Evans et al. This section describes an organizational structure commonly used to report. Coli culture using an inoculating loop. Check your work: Once you have the completed abstract, check to make sure that the information in the abstract completely agrees with what is written in the paper. The general rule to remember is that the Materials and Methods section should be detailed and clear enough so that any reader knowledgeable in basic scientific techniques could duplicate the study if she/he wished to do so. The title should be short and unambiguous, yet be an adequate description of the work. , how the experiment or study was structured. You would then calculate the descriptive statistics for those samples (mean, SD, n, range, etc) and plot these numbers. Although you might occasionally include in this section tables and figures which help explain something you are discussing, they must not contain new data (from your study) that should have been presented earlier. Title page (always included) This should normally include the title, your name and the name of the tutor to whom it is being submitted, date of submission, your course/department, and if applicable, the name of the person and/or organisation who has commissioned the report. Someone else should be able to go to the exact location of your study site if they want to repeat or check your work, or just visit your study area. Seeds exposed to the 2-day treatment had the highest cumulative germination (84%), 1. The bacteria were then incubated at 37 C for 24 hr.
The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of aJournal-Style Scientific Paper | Table of Contents | FAQs | PDF Version | | Rationale | Sections | Section Headings | Title | Authors and Affiliation | Abstract| Introduction| Methods| Results| Discussion | Acknowledgments| Literature Cited | Appendices Why a Scientific Format. Always report your results with parenthetical reference to the statistical conclusion that supports your finding (if statistical tests are being used in your course). Top of page Be sure to clearly state the purpose and /or hypothesis that you investigated. ) Limit your statements concerning each segment of the paper (i. Remember to use the past tense throughout – the work being reported is done, and was performed in the past, not the future. This parenthetical reference should include the statistical test used and the level of significance (test statistic and DF are optional). Therefore, enough key information (e. “A Spec 20 was used to measure A600 of the reaction mixtures exposed to light intensities of 1500, 750, and 350 uE/m2/sec immediately after chloroplasts were added (Time 0) and every 2 min.
Top of Page MATERIALS AND METHODS This section is variously called Methods or Methods and Materials. Why did you choose this kind of experiment or experimental design. Again, keeping your topic or question in mind, reject anything which is not 100% relevant. A summary is a brief restatement of preceding text that is intended to orient a reader who has studied the preceding text. Such symmetrical treatment of root caps with Ca2+ did not cause curvature of the roots. Function: The function of the Discussion is to interpret your results in light of what was already known about the subject of the investigation, and to explain our new understanding of the problem after taking your results into consideration. Which data transformations were used(e. ” or “We investigated three possible mechanisms to explain the. If any work was done in a natural habitat, the worker describes the study area, states its location and explains when the work was done. If your Abstract was the only part of the paper you could access, would you be happy with the information presented there. Do not interpret the data here. For example, “Effects of Light and Temperature on the Growth of Four Species of Bacteria” would be correct. The above statements apply regardless of the complexity of the analysis you employ. In situations when multiple appendices are used, the Table and Figure numbering must indicate the appendix number as well (see Huth and others, 1994).
More content about writing scientific reports:
Although the main headings are standard for many scientific fields, details may vary; check with your instructor, or, if submitting an article to a journal, refer to the instructions to authors. Remember that the title becomes the basis for most on-line computer searches – if your title is insufficient, few people will find or read your paper. If it is group work, who exactly is responsible for what. The objective of this study was to determine a possible relationship between endogenous cytokinins with male sterility in the genic male sterile system in Brassica napus. Popular literature and the Internet should be used sparingly and with caution.
The researcher describes the experimental design, the apparatus, methods of gathering data and type of control. There is no evidence that short-term growth of epidermal cells is controlled through the orientation of microfibrils. Instructions for writing full citations for various sources are given in on separate page. Cytokinins, gibberellins, auxins and abscisic acid, as well as polyamines, are all known to affect pollen and stamen development in a number of species (e. Confirm that all the information appearing the abstract actually appears in the body of the paper. Do not waste entire sentences restating your results; if you need to remind the reader of the result to be discussed, use “bridge sentences” that relate the result to the interpretation:.
” or “We investigated three possible mechanisms to explain the. When you are first learning to write in this format it is okay, and actually preferable, to use a pat statement like, “The purpose of this study was to. Many important discoveries can be traced to “bad data”. You must refer to each Table and/or Figure individually and in sequence (see numbering sequence), and clearly indicate for the reader the key results that each conveys. When writing papers for the biology department, you can assume that your audience will be readers like yourselves with similar knowledge. A good strategy is to note, on a draft of each Table or Figure, the one or two key results you want to addess in the text portion of the Results. Always analyse your brief carefully, making sure that you fully understand the topic, question or case, that you know what the purpose of the report is, and who it is being written for.
If your Abstract was the only part of the paper you could access, would you be happy with the information presented there. Excerpted from: Nick, P. Try not to gather too much information. Inducible defensive responses in plants are known to be activated locally and systematically by signaling molecules that are produced at sites of pathogen or insect attacks, but only one chemical signal, ethylene, is known to travel through the atmosphere to activate plant defensive genes. Because the key words identify a specific behavior, a modifying agent, and the experimental organism. This is the system we will use.
By looking at only the Introduction and Conclusions sections, a reader should have a good idea of what the researcher has investigated and discovered even though the specific details of how the work was done would not be known
” Top of Page Organize the results section based on the sequence of Table and Figures you’ll include. If warranted, what would be the next step in your study, e. This parenthetical reference should include the statistical test used and the level of significance (test statistic and DF are optional). NOTE: Very frequently the experimental design and data collection procedures for an experiment cannot be separated and must be integrated together. (1) blah, blah. Roots of Silver Queen corn also showed an increase of approximately 70% in growth 3 h following application of 20 mM Ca2+ (Table 1).
Report negative results – they are important. You may include your terms of reference and procedure/research methods if not covered elsewhere. Thus, an analysis of a number of cytokinins in various organs of the wild type and genic male sterile plants was conducted. The Results section should be organized around Tables and/or Figures that should be sequenced to present your key findings in a logical order. However, do not make the Introduction too broad. In addition to describing the conventional rules about the . Although the main headings are standard for many scientific fields, details may vary; check with your instructor, or, if submitting an article to a journal, refer to the instructions to authors. Methyl jasmonate, a common plant secondary compound, when applied to surfaces of tomato plants, induces the synthesis of defensive proteinase inhibitor proteins in the treated plants and in nearby plants as well.
If it is group work, who exactly is responsible for what. Materials and Methods What did I find out. Who are you writing the report for. The loop was moved lightly back and forth over the agar to spread the culture. If you did a field study, provide a description of the study site, including the significant physical and biological features, and the precise location (latitude and longitude, map, etc); the experimental OR sampling design (i. Try not to gather too much information.
From the Skills Team, University of Hull. NOTE: For laboratory studies you need not report the date and location of the study UNLESS it is necessary information for someone to have who might wish to repeat your work or use the same facility. Writing high-quality scientific papers takes time, but. In the mouse behavior paper, for example, you would begin the Introduction at the level of mating behavior in general, then quickly focus to mouse mating behaviors and then hormonal regulation of behavior. The paper should read as a narrative in which the author describes what was done and what results were obtained from that work. After 3 days in darkness at 25oC, 4-mm hypocotyl segments were excised below the hook of the 3 cm long etiolated seedlings. Popular literature and the Internet should be used sparingly and with caution.
Because the site of action for Ca2+ in gravitropism is considered to be the root cap rather than the zone of elongation, we focused on the role of the Ca2+/cap interaction in root growth as well as in gravitropic responses. If your Abstract was the only part of the paper you could access, would you be happy with the information presented there. ] These results show a strong correlation between an increase of Ca2+ levels in the root cap and stimulation of root elongation. The results are in contrast to the previously proposed model that an increased level of Ca2+ in the root cap mediated inhibition of root growth (Hasenstein et al. The text should guide the reader through your results stressing the key results which provide the answers to the question(s) investigated. It is much more informative to say something like, “Group A individuals were 23% larger than those in Group B”, or, “Group B pups gained weight at twice the rate of Group A pups.
So, in an introductory course your analysis may consist of visual inspection of figures and simple calculations of means and standard deviations; in a later course you may be expected to apply and interpret a variety of statistical tests
Authors usually write the text of the results section based upon the sequence of Tables and Figures. For some studies, age may be an important factor. Some of the newer search engines will actually send you alerts of new papers that cite particular articles of interest to you. Use of the first person is okay, but too much use of the first person may actually distract the reader from the main points. Function: The Literature Cited section gives an alphabetical listing (by first author’s last name) of the references that you actually cited in the body of your paper. Methods FAQs.
