FORMATFORTHEPAPER

Scientificresearcharticlesprovideamethodforscientiststocommunicatewithotherscientistsabouttheresultsof
theirresearch.Astandardformatisusedforthesearticles,inwhichtheauthorpresentstheresearchinanorderly,
logicalmanner.Thisdoesn'tnecessarilyreflecttheorderinwhichyoudidorthoughtaboutthework.Thisformat
is:

TITLE

1. Makeyourtitlespecificenoughtodescribethecontentsofthepaper,butnotsotechnicalthatonly
specialistswillunderstand.Thetitleshouldbeappropriatefortheintendedaudience.

2. Thetitleusuallydescribesthesubjectmatterofthearticle:EffectofSleepinginclassonAcademic
Performance"

3. Sometimesatitlethatsummarizestheresultsismoreeffective:StudentsWhoSleepinClassGetLower
Grades"

AUTHORS
1. Thepersonwhodidtheworkandwrotethepaperisgenerallylistedasthefirstauthorofaresearchpaper.
2. Otherpeoplewhomadesubstantialcontributionstotheworkarealsolistedasauthors.

ABSTRACT
1. Anabstract,orsummary,ispublishedtogetherwitharesearcharticle,givingthereadera"preview"of
what'stocome.Theyallowotherscientiststoquicklyscanthelargescientificliterature,anddecidewhich
articlestheywanttoreadindepth.Theabstractshouldbealittlelesstechnicalthanthearticleitselfyou
don'twanttodissuadeyourpotentialaudiencefromreadingyourpaper.
2. Yourabstractshouldbeoneparagraph,of100250words,whichsummarizesthepurpose,methods,results
andconclusionsofthepaper.
3. Itisnoteasytoincludeallthisinformationinjustafewwords.Startbywritingasummarythatincludes
whateveryouthinkisimportant,andthengraduallypruneitdowntosizebyremovingunnecessarywords,
whilestillretainingthenecessaryconcepts.
4. Don'tuseabbreviationsorcitationsintheabstract.Itshouldbeabletostandalonewithoutanyfootnotes.

INTRODUCTION
Whatquestiondidyouaskinyourexperiment?Whyisitinteresting?Theintroductionsummarizestherelevant
literaturesothatthereaderwillunderstandwhyyouwereinterestedinthequestionyouasked.Onetofour
paragraphsshouldbeenough.Endwithasentenceexplainingthespecificquestionyouaskedinthisexperiment.

MATERIALSANDMETHODS
1. Howdidyouanswerthisquestion?Thereshouldbeenoughinformationheretoallowanotherscientistto
repeatyourexperiment.Lookatotherpapersthathavebeenpublishedinyourfieldtogetsomeideaof
whatisincludedinthissection.
2. Ifyouhadacomplicatedprotocol,itmayhelpfultoincludeadiagram,tableorflowcharttoexplainthe
methodsyouused.
3. Donotputresultsinthissection.Youmay,however,includepreliminaryresultsthatwereusedtodesign
themainexperimentthatyouarereportingon.("Inapreliminarystudy,Iobservedtheowlsforoneweek,
andfoundthat73%oftheirlocomotoractivityoccurredduringthenight,andsoIconductedall
subsequentexperimentsbetween11pmand6am.")
4. Mentionrelevantethicalconsiderations.Ifyouusedhumansubjects,didtheyconsenttoparticipate.Ifyou
usedanimals,whatmeasuresdidyoutaketominimizepain?

RESULTS

1.

2.
3.

Thisiswhereyoupresenttheresultsyou'vegotten.Usegraphsandtablesifappropriate,butalso
summarizeyourmainfindingsinthetext.DoNOTdiscusstheresultsorspeculateastowhysomething
happenedthatgoesintheDiscussion.
Youdon'tnecessarilyhavetoincludeallthedatayou'vegottenduringthesemester.Thisisn'tadiary.
Useappropriatemethodsofshowingdata.Don'ttrytomanipulatethedatatomakeitlooklikeyoudid
morethanyouactuallydid."Thedrugcured1/3oftheinfectedmice,another1/3werenotaffected,andthe
thirdmousegotaway."

TABLESANDGRAPHS
1. Ifyoupresentyourdatainatableorgraph,includeatitledescribingwhat'sinthetable("Enzymeactivity
atvarioustemperatures",not"Myresults".)Forgraphs,youshouldalsolabelthexandyaxes.
2. Don'tuseatableorgraphjusttobe"fancy".Ifyoucansummarizetheinformationinonesentence,thena
tableorgraphisnotnecessary.

DISCUSSION
1. Highlightthemostsignificantresults,butdon'tjustrepeatwhatyou'vewrittenintheResultssection.How
dotheseresultsrelatetotheoriginalquestion?Dothedatasupportyourhypothesis?Areyourresults
consistentwithwhatotherinvestigatorshavereported?Ifyourresultswereunexpected,trytoexplainwhy.
Isthereanotherwaytointerpretyourresults?Whatfurtherresearchwouldbenecessarytoanswerthe
questionsraisedbyyourresults?Howdoyourresultsfitintothebigpicture?
2. Endwithaonesentencesummaryofyourconclusion,emphasizingwhyitisrelevant.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thissectionisoptional.Youcanthankthosewhoeitherhelpedwiththeexperiments,ormadeotherimportant
contributions,suchasdiscussingtheprotocol,commentingonthemanuscript,orbuyingyoupizza.

REFERENCES(LITERATURECITED)
Thereareseveralpossiblewaystoorganizethissection.Hereisonecommonlyusedway:
1. Inthetext,citetheliteratureintheappropriateplaces:
Scarlet(1990)thoughtthatthegenewaspresentonlyinyeast,butithassincebeenidentifiedinthe
platypus(IndigoandMauve,1994)andwombat(Magenta,etal.,1995).
2. IntheReferencessectionlistcitationsinalphabeticalorder.
Indigo,A.C.,andMauve,B.E.1994.Queerplaceforqwerty:geneisolationfromtheplatypus.Science
275,12131214.
Magenta,S.T.,Sepia,X.,andTurquoise,U.1995.Wombatgenetics.In:WidiculousWombats,Violet,Q.,
ed.NewYork:ColumbiaUniversityPress.p123145.
Scarlet,S.L.1990.IsolationofqwertygenefromS.cerevisae.JournalofUnusualResults36,2631.

EDITYOURPAPER!!!
"Inmywriting,Iaverageabouttenpagesaday.Unfortunately,they'reallthesamepage."
MichaelAlley,TheCraftofScientificWriting
Amajorpartofanywritingassignmentconsistsofrewriting.
Writeaccurately
1. Scientificwritingmustbeaccurate.Althoughwritinginstructorsmaytellyounottousethesameword
twiceinasentence,it'sokayforscientificwriting,whichmustbeaccurate.(Astudentwhotriednotto
repeattheword"hamster"producedthisconfusingsentence:"WhenIputthehamsterinacagewiththe
otheranimals,thelittlemammalsbegantoplay.")
2. Makesureyousaywhatyoumean.
3. Insteadof:Theratswereinjectedwiththedrug.(soundslikeasyringewasfilledwithdrugandgroundup
ratsandbothwereinjectedtogether)
Write:Iinjectedthedrugintotherat.
4. Becarefulwithcommonlyconfusedwords:

Temperaturehasaneffectonthereaction.
Temperatureaffectsthereaction.
Iusedsolutionsinvariousconcentrations.(Thesolutionswere5mg/ml,10mg/ml,and15mg/ml)
Iusedsolutionsinvaryingconcentrations.(TheconcentrationsIusedchangedsometimesthey
were5mg/ml,othertimestheywere15mg/ml.)
Lessfood(can'tcountnumbersoffood)
Feweranimals(cancountnumbersofanimals)
Alargeamountoffood(can'tcountthem)
Alargenumberofanimals(cancountthem)
Theerythrocytes,whichareintheblood,containhemoglobin.
Theerythrocytesthatareinthebloodcontainhemoglobin.(Wrong.Thissentenceimpliesthat
thereareerythrocyteselsewherethatdon'tcontainhemoglobin.)

Writeclearly
1. Writeatalevelthat'sappropriateforyouraudience.
"Likeapigeon,somethingtoadmireaslongasitisn'toveryourhead."Anonymous
2. Usetheactivevoice.It'sclearerandmoreconcisethanthepassivevoice.
Insteadof:Anincreasedappetitewasmanifestedbytheratsandanincreaseinbodyweightwas
measured.
Write:Theratsatemoreandgainedweight.
3. Usethefirstperson.
Insteadof:Itisthought
Write:Ithink
Insteadof:Thesampleswereanalyzed
Write:Ianalyzedthesamples
4. Avoiddanglingparticiples."Afterincubatingat30degreesC,weexaminedthepetriplates."(Youmust've
beenprettywarminthere.)

Writesuccinctly
1. Useverbsinsteadofabstractnouns
Insteadof:takeintoconsideration
Write:consider
2. Usestrongverbsinsteadof"tobe"
Insteadof:Theenzymewasfoundtobetheactiveagentincatalyzing
Write:Theenzymecatalyzed
3. Useshortwords.
"Iwouldneverusealongwordwhereashortonewouldanswerthepurpose.Iknowthereare
professorsinthiscountrywho'ligate'arteries.Othersurgeonstiethem,anditstopsthebleedingjust
aswell."
OliverWendellHolmes,Sr.

Insteadof:

Write:

possess

have

sufficient

enough

utilize

use

demonstrate

show

assistance

help

terminate

end

4.

Useconciseterms.

Insteadof:

Write:

priorto

before

duetothefactthat

because

inaconsiderablenumberofcases

often

thevastmajorityof

most

duringthetimethat

when

incloseproximityto

near

ithaslongbeenknownthat

I'mtoolazytolookupthe
reference

5.

Useshortsentences.Asentencemadeofmorethan40wordsshouldprobablyberewrittenastwo
sentences."Theconjunction'and'commonlyservestoindicatethatthewriter'smindstillfunctionseven
whennosignsofthephenomenonarenoticeable."RudolfVirchow,1928

Checkyourgrammar,spellingandpunctuation
1. Useaspellchecker,butbeawarethattheydon'tcatchallmistakes.
a. "Whenweconsidertheanimalasahole,..."Student'spaper
2. Yourspellcheckermaynotrecognizescientificterms.Forthecorrectspelling,tryBiotech'sLifeScience
Dictionaryoroneofthetechnicaldictionariesonthereferenceshelfinthelibrary.
3. Don't,use,unnecessary,commas.
4. Proofreadcarefullytoseeifyouanywordsout.