How to Write a Scientific Paper

1. How to Write a Scientific Paper

2. Standard: Abstract Introduction Materials & Methods Results Discussion References Review paper: Abstract (mostly) Introduction Subheadings Conclusion References Paper Format

3. Journal Article Summary • THESE ARE PRIMARY SOURCES • What were their aims? • Pay attention to abstract • It will guide you through the paper • Pick out main points and methods used • What were their main conclusions? • Did they miss anything?

4. Abstract • Overview of entire paper • Summarize: • what you did • how you did it • results • conclusions • Concise

5. Introduction • Background information • Summarize previous studies • Cite all appropriate references • Outline question/problem to be addressed

6. Materials & Methods • What you did • How you did it • Enough information for someone else to repeat your experiments • Falsifiability

7. Results • What you found • Often use tables and figures • graphs • graphical representations of results • Should be easily understandable • Should address every point from the methods, if not more

8. Discussion • The real meat of the paper • Put your results in light of other studies • How does your study conflict or support other studies? • Big picture • Problems encountered • Future directions

9. General Writing Style • Don’t be too personal • I think that ... • They say this, but I don’t believe it ... • Use evidence (or lack) • Our data show that ... • They say this, but their evidence is, at best, sketchy ...

10. General Writing Style • Be clear and concise! • Say what you need to say, then quit • Who is your audience? • No word contractions • e.g., don’t, won’t, can’t • Avoid colloquialisms • Shows bad English, and we have enough of that already

11. References • Journal-style referencing is best • Refer to handout • Posted online • Reference EVERY article that you cite and use (and cite every reference in the text)