Structure, format, content, and style of a scientific paper: Difference between revisions
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|What does it mean? | |What does it mean? | ||
|Discussion | |Discussion | ||
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|Acknowledgments | |||
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|Whose work did I refer to? | |||
|Literature Cited | |||
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|Extra Information | |||
|Appendices (optional) | |||
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The scientific format may seem confusing for the beginning science writer due to its rigid structure which is so different from writing in the | The scientific format may seem confusing for the beginning science writer due to its rigid structure which is so different from writing in the | ||
humanities. One reason for using this format is that it is a means of efficiently communicating scientific findings to the broad community of scientists in a uniform manner. Another reason, perhaps more import ant than the first, is that this format allows the paper to be read at several different levels. F | humanities. One reason for using this format is that it is a means of efficiently communicating scientific findings to the broad community of scientists in a uniform manner. Another reason, perhaps more import ant than the first, is that this format allows the paper to be read at several different levels. F |
Revision as of 22:23, 18 September 2016
Why scientific format
Research | Section of Paper |
---|---|
What did I do in a nutshell? | Abstract |
What is the problem? | Introduction |
How did I solve the problem? | Materials and methods |
What did I find out? | Results |
What does it mean? | Discussion |
Who helped me out? | Acknowledgments |
Whose work did I refer to? | Literature Cited |
Extra Information | Appendices (optional) |
The scientific format may seem confusing for the beginning science writer due to its rigid structure which is so different from writing in the
humanities. One reason for using this format is that it is a means of efficiently communicating scientific findings to the broad community of scientists in a uniform manner. Another reason, perhaps more import ant than the first, is that this format allows the paper to be read at several different levels. F
or example, many people skim
Titles
to find out
what information is available on a subject. Others may read only titles and Abstracts . Those wanting to go deeper may look at the Tables and Figures
in the
Results , and so on. The take home point here is that the scientific format helps to insure that at whatever level a person reads your paper (beyond title skimming), they will likely get the key resul ts and conclusions.