General Remarks on Scientific Work

And Recommendations For Reports

by T. Schiedek

The following remarks and recommendations are not complete and should be looked at as a
guideline.
General remarks on scientific work: .................................................................................. 1
Recommendations for reports and scientific paper:............................................................ 2
Structure of a report or paper: ......................................................................................... 3
Citing within the text flow, samples: ................................................................................. 3
Reference sample:........................................................................................................... 3

General remarks on scientific work:

1.

2.

3.
4.

5.
6.

7.

8.

9.

Before you do a field sampling campaign, think about which parameter are necessary,
useful or crucial to investigate or to measure and why are they important for the scientific scope of your work.
Before you go into the field, you are experienced with the sampling technique, the
equipment and the laboratory techniques, as well. Check your technique and the
equipment at the institute (e.g. in the back yard) and know how to handle and how to
repair it in the field.
Take sufficient amounts of samples! Try to calculate the mass or volume needed for an
excellent analysis and consider reserves for additional experiments or analyses.
All methods or techniques are verified by a minimum of triple experiments, you always
check or know the analytical, physical or chemical limits of your methods or techniques.
Laboratory experiments are performed as triple experiments with so called "blank" experiments (no reaction, no compound, "clean condition", and so on) in parallel. Use a
standard as a sample to proof your analytical method (standard = sample with known
concentrations, e.g. a spiked soil or water sample).
You should know the possible errors of your methods, as well as fundamental parameters such as reproducibility, recovery, exactness, and so on.
If an experiment fails, check your physico-chemical, laboratory and/or system conditions, repeat your experiment and vary 1 condition, keep other conditions in the same
state. Repeat systematically the experiment until you find the problem. Never change 2
or more conditions or factors at the same time, thus you will not be able not separate
the problem or the influence of a certain factor on your experiment design.
Sampling intervals within time dependent experiments should be considered in linear
(equidistant interval) or logarithmic scales. Think about possible processes or events,
which can lead to an increase, decrease or tailing of a parameter. For instance a tracer
field test or column laboratory test shows often a long tailing period, which requires
sampling intervals, such as 1, 3, 7, 10, 15, 30(time units, e.g. hours or days, even
weeks).
Experiments from the literature should be proofed with the conditions described in the
original scientific paper. If it does not work after all, contact the author. Do not vary any
conditions before you get the expected result described in the original paper.
All steps of your field and laboratory work and remarkable events (including the
weather) are recorded in a field or laboratory book, which is always stored at a safe
place. A simple (arti)fact, problem or boundary condition could be sometimes the rea-

10.

son for a failed experiment. Do not hesitate to ask your colleague about a problem or
discuss a problem with your advisor.
Always make a time, work package and/or milestones plan. Write down at which time
scales a problem should be solved or an aim should be reached. Draw graphical plots
of your plans. Define reasonable deadlines for interim- and end-reports.

Recommendations for reports and scientific paper:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.
7.
8.

9.

Every report or scientific paper is based on a reasonable outline, which is prepared as

early as possible during the lifetime of a project (see example for a report/paper structure below).
All pages should be numbered in the same layout and design. The depth of the headlines should not be more than 4 captions, e.g. 1.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.1.1, listings of used abbreviations, shown tables and figures should be located after the content table.
Mapping reports describe the geology of the investigated area usually beginning with
the oldest formations or units. Typical locations are described with the following information: How to get there, northing, easting (GPS data or data of any other positing or
grid system), specific phenomena, sampling points, measuring points and additional
data. The role of the site within the regional geology is described.
Citing important original literature supports every description. Within a text flow the reference could be cited with the name of the author and the publishing year in parentheses. If more than 2 authors published the paper the name of the first author followed by
"et. al." from the latin expression "et alii" which means "and others" (see some examples below) is cited. The complete reference can be found in the chapter "References",
for instance in that manner "Schiedek, T. (1995): Impact of Plasticizers (Phthalic Acid
Esters) on Soil and Groundwater Quality.- Proceedings 'International Conference on
Groundwater Quality: Remediation and Protection (GQ95)' IAHS, Publ. no. 225: 149156."
Figures (diagrams, plots, pictures etc.), tables or other elements in your report should
be consecutively numbered, always have captions and the numbers and labels should
be readable with out a microscope! The captions of figures are usually under the figure.
The captions of tables are usually above the table! The caption should give enough information to understand the figure or the table. Figures should be as simple as possible, with as much information as needed, and sufficiently labelled. Formulas are consecutively numbered and described in the text. Abbreviations are defined in the text or
a specific abbreviation listing (do not use the same abbreviation for 2 different parameters!):
x = y + 2 [1]
with x = time in [s] and y = area in [cm2]
All elements (tables, figures, boxes or formulas) are mentioned and/or described in the
text at least one time!
Big figures such as maps, tables with detailed data or information are attached in a
appendix. In the text the appendix is cited in a suitable way.
Try to tell a story: In every report the central theme should be recognisable. Why did
you do this or that, what is the problem behind! Make it clear, write it down.
Text, tables and figures should fit together (e.g. 1 lettering, consistent layout and design). At the beginning of the writing of every report or paper usually stands the preparation of figures or maps and the text is written "around the figure". 1 figure tells more
than 1000 words.
Check your writing stile! No slang words in a scientific report! Beliefs and facts have to
be clearly separated!

10.

We never make intentionally errors or failures (e.g. laboratory work), but we describe
the errors and failures, which occurred and try to quantify them if required or suitable.

Structure of a report or paper:

Front cover sheet

Summary (short, only the most important facts and information, if possible several
languages)

Content, Outline

Listings of used abbreviations (with units), shown tables and figures

From introduction on, a chapter numbering is introduced:

1. Introduction
2. Problems, scope and aims
3. Test site, methods and materials
4. Results
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
7. References
8. Recommendations
9. Appendix with data tables, additional figures

Citing within the text flow, samples:

Schiedek (1996) showed, that this phenomenon is due to the structural complexity. Schiedek
& Beyer (2007) investigated this area again.
This phenomenon is due to the structural complexity (Schiedek, 1996). The qualitative impact of urban areas on groundwater has been documented in numerous studies worldwide
(e.g., Ford & Tellam 1994, Appleyard 1995, Eiswirth & Htzl 1997, Voronov et al. 1999, Zilberbrand et al. 2001, Lhnert 2002, Turkman et al. 2002, Trojan et al. 2003, Taylor et al.
2006). The heterogeneous distribution of aquifer permeability parameter and physicochemical processes are leading to a spatial, heterogeneous contamination pattern (Ptak &
Teutsch 2000, Schiedek et al. 2004).

Reference sample:
Schiedek, T. (1995): Impact of Plasticizers (Phthalic Acid Esters) on Soil and Groundwater
Quality.- Proceedings 'International Conference on Groundwater Quality: Remediation and
Protection (GQ95)' IAHS, Publ. no. 225: 149-156.
Schiedek T, Beier M, Lerch C (2004): Quantification of fuel-related organic contaminants in
urban areas of Germany.- In: Zhu, Y., Balke, K.-D., Prinz, D. (eds.): Proceed. Water and Development II, Proceed. Hangzhou, China, Geological Publishing House Beijing, P.R.C, 57
60.

2.0
Cl concentration Cwm

1.8

Cl flux F

normalized to mean value

1.6
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2

31

30

to
30

to
29

28

to

29

27

26

to
26

to
25

24

to

25

23

22

to
22

to
21

20

to

21

20

19

to
19

37

to

18

17

to
17

to
16

15

to

16

15

13

to
14

to
12

11

to

12

0.0

Fig. 1: The Cl concentration vs. Cl flux for selected Zs; the data represent the Cwm (see
equation (4)) and the calculated flux F (see equation (1)) for the Z borders; concentrations
and fluxes are normalized to mean values.

Table 1: Occurrence of PAH and implication of biodegradation due to decreasing concentrations of potential electron acceptors, such as SO4, NO3, and the occurrence or increase of
Fe2+ and Mn2+; values deviating clearly from mean in bold; location of the GMW see Fig. 4.
Sampling
campaign
2001

PAHa

SO4

HCO3

NO3

[ng l-1]

NH4

Fe2+

Mn2+

[mg l-1]

GMW 47, Z30

219

8.0

232

26

0.01

0.10

0.05

GMW 29, Z4

275

111

494

67

0.18

0.10

0.08

GMW 12

2352

130

214

3.7

0.01

0.84

0.32

GMW 73, Z21

7580

202

574

4.0

0.06

0.14

0.61

580
n.d.
0.05
0.45 0.28
GMW 56, Z10 23451
126
Sum of 16 PAH according to US Environmental Protection Agency