How to

write a
scientific
paper

CGheorghe_2013_How to Write a Scientific Paper 1

 When you write about scientific topics to specialists in that field of science,
this is scientific writing.
The scientific paper has developed over the past three centuries into a tool to
communicate the results of scientific inquiry. The main audience for scientific papers
is extremely specialized. The purpose of these papers is twofold: to present
information so that it is easy to retrieve, and to present enough information that
the reader can duplicate the scientific study. A standard format with six main part
helps readers to find expected information and analysis:

Title - subject and what aspect of the subject was studied

Abstract - summary of paper: the main reason for the study, the primary
results, the main conclusions
Keywords – terms who describe the main concepts of the paper
Introduction - why the study was undertaken
Methods and Materials - how the study was undertaken
Results - what was found
Discussion - why these results could be significant (what the reasons might
be for the patterns found or not found)
Conclusions – summing up
Acknowledgments - optional
Literature Cited - add your works cited section

There are many ways to approach the writing of a scientific paper, and no
one way is right. Many people, however, find that drafting chunks in this order
works best: Results, Discussion, Introduction, Materials & Methods, Abstract, and,
finally, Title.

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 Title

The title should be very limited and specific. Make your title specific enough
to describe the contents of the paper, but not so technical that only specialists will
understand. It should be appropriate for the intended audience and usually
describes the subject matter of the article:

Examples:

"Effect of Smoking on Academic Performance"

"Renal disease susceptibility and hypertension are under independent genetic

control in the fawn hooded rat"

"Territory size in Lincoln's Sparrows (Melospiza lincolnii)"

"Replacement of deciduous first premolars and dental eruption in

archaeocete whales"

"The Radio-Frequency Single-Electron Transistor (RF-SET): A Fast and

Ultrasensitive Electrometer"

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 Abstract

This is a summary of your article. Generally between 100-250 words, it

should state the purpose, methods, results, and the main conclusions of your study.
It is giving the reader a "preview" of what's to come. The abstract should be a little
less technical than the article itself. Don't use abbreviations or citations in the
abstract. It should be able to stand alone without any footnotes.

Paragraph 1: What the problem is and why people should care

Introduce the context of your study, perhaps including the particular issue or
question your study responds to. In general people don’t mention their study in this
paragraph, but use this opportunity to set up the context of the study and
demonstrate their understanding of current literature. It helps if you can
demonstrate that your question or issue is interesting and worth answering.

Paragraph 2: Your approach, and your results

This is where we get the real meat of what you might present. Outline your
project, the theoretical or practical techniques you used, the experiment or source
material, and how you answered the question you outlined in paragraph 1. The
number of words you have to play with governs to a certain extent how much
detail you go into, but it’s worth trying to make this important section as
meaningful as possible. Remember to explain your evidence and where it comes
from, not just what it is you’re arguing. If your paper is an argument, remember
to establish the steps you go through to get to the final point.

Paragraph 3: Conclusions, and why people should listen to you

Here you discuss briefly how your work affects the wider context of your
discipline, and why it is relevant and exciting. You need to convince the reader that
your research is significant and that you deserve the time to present it.

CGheorghe_2013_How to Write a Scientific Paper 4

 Example One
Hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia are risk factors for life-
threatening complications such as end-stage renal disease, coronary artery disease
and stroke. Why some patients develop complications is unclear, but only
susceptibility genes may be involved. To test this notion, we studied crosses involving
the fawn-hooded rat, an animal model of hypertension that develops chronic renal
failure. Here, we report the localization of two genes, Rf-1 and Rf-2, responsible
for about half of the genetic variation in key indices of renal impairment. In
addition, we localize a gene, Bpfh-1, responsible for about 26% of the genetic
variation in blood pressure. Rf-1 strongly affects the risk of renal impairment, but
has no significant effect on blood pressure. Our results show that susceptibility to a
complication of hypertension is under at least partially independent genetic control
from susceptibility to hypertension itself. (Brown, Donna M, A.P. Provoost, M.J.
Daly, E.S. Lander, & H.J. Jacob. 1996. "Renal disease susceptibility and
hypertension are under indpendent genetic control in the faun-hooded rat." Nature
Genetics, 12(1):44-51)

Example Two
We studied survival of 220 calves of radiocollared moose (Alces alces) from
parturition to the end of July in southcentral Alaska from 1994 to 1997. Prior
studies established that predation by brown bears (Ursus arctos) was the primary
cause of mortality of moose calves in the region. Our objectives were to characterize
vulnerability of moose calves to predation as influenced by age, date, snow depths,
and previous reproductive success of the mother. We also tested the hypothesis that
survival of twin moose calves was independent and identical to that of single calves.
Survival of moose calves from parturition through July was 0.27 ± 0.03 SE, and
their daily rate of mortality declined at a near constant rate with age in that
period. Mean annual survival was 0.22 ± 0.03 SE. Previous winter's snow depths
or survival of the mother's previous calf was not related to neonatal survival.

CGheorghe_2013_How to Write a Scientific Paper 5

 Selection for early parturition was evidenced in the 4 years of study by a
6.3% increase in the hazard of death with each daily increase in parturition date.
Although there was no significant difference in survival of twin and single moose
calves, most twins that died disappeared together during the first 15 days after
birth and independently thereafter, suggesting that predators usually killed both
when encountered up to that age. (Testa, J.W., E.F. Becker, & G.R. Lee. 2000.
"Temporal patterns in the survival of twin and single moose (alces alces) calves in
southcentral Alaska." Journal of Mammalogy, 81(1):162-168)

Keywords

Most journals require the author to identify three or four key words which
represent the major concept of the paper. These are used for indexing purposes.

CGheorghe_2013_How to Write a Scientific Paper 6

 Introduction

The introduction is where you sketch out the background of your study,
including why you have investigated the question that you have and how it relates
to earlier research that has been done in the field. It may help to think of an
introduction as a telescoping focus, where you begin with the broader context and
gradually narrow to the specific problem addressed by the report. A typical (and
very useful) construction of an introduction proceeds as follows:

Open with two or three sentences placing your study subject in context

"Echimyid rodents of the genus Proechimys (spiny rats) often are the most
abundant and widespread lowland forest rodents throughout much of their range in
the Neotropics (Eisenberg 1989). Recent studies suggested that these rodents play
an important role in forest dynamics through their activities as seed predators and
dispersers of seeds (Adler and Kestrell 1998; Asquith et al 1997; Forget 1991;
Hoch and Adler 1997)." (Lambert and Adler, p. 70)

Follow with a description of the problem and its history, including previous
research

"Despite the ubiquity and abundance of P. semispinosus, only two previous

studies have assessed habitat use, with both showing a generalized habitat use. [brief
summary of these studies]." (Lambert and Adler, p. 70)

CGheorghe_2013_How to Write a Scientific Paper 7

 Describe how your work addresses a gap in existing knowledge or ability
(here's where you'll state why you've undertaken this study)

"No attempt has been made to quantitatively describe microhabitat

characteristics with which this species may be associated. Thus, specific structural
features of secondary forests that may promote abundance of spiny rats remains
unknown. Such information is essential to understand the role of spiny rats in
Neotropical forests, particularly with regard to forest regeneration via interactions
with seeds." (Lambert and Adler, p. 71)

State what information your article will address

"We present an analysis of microhabitat use by P. semispinosus in tropical

moist forests in central Panama." (Lambert and Adler, p. 71)

"In this report, we summarize our analysis of genomic DNA extracted from
lyophilized whole blood." (Torrance, MacLeod & Hache, p. 64)

CGheorghe_2013_How to Write a Scientific Paper 8

 Methods and Materials

In this section you describe how you performed your study. You need to
provide enough information here for the reader to duplicate your experiment.
However, be reasonable about who the reader is. Assume that he or she is someone
familiar with the basic practices of your field.

It's helpful to both writer and reader to organize this section chronologically:
that is, describe each procedure in the order it was performed. For example, DNA-
extraction, purification, amplification, assay, detection. Or, study area, study
population, sampling technique, variables studied, analysis method.

Include in this section:

study design: procedures should be listed and described, or the reader should
be referred to papers that have already described the used procedure
particular techniques used and why, if relevant
modifications of any techniques; be sure to describe the modification
specialized equipment, including brand-names
temporal, spatial, and historical description of study area and studied
population
assumptions underlying the study
statistical methods, including software programs

Example description of activity

Chromosomal DNA was denatured for the first cycle by incubating the slides
in 70% deionized formamide; 2x standard saline citrate (SSC) at 70ºC for 2 min,
followed by 70% ethanol at -20ºC and then 90% and 100% ethanol at room
temperature, followed by air drying. (Rouwendal et al., p. 79)

CGheorghe_2013_How to Write a Scientific Paper 9

 Example description of assumptions
We considered seeds left in the petri dish to be unharvested and those
scattered singly on the surface of a tile to be scattered and also unharvested. We
considered seeds in cheek pouches to be harvested but not cached, those stored in
the nestbox to be larderhoarded, and those buried in caching sites within the arena
to be scatterhoarded. (Krupa and Geluso, p. 99)

Examples of use of specialized equipment

Oligonucleotide primers were prepared using the Applied Biosystems Model
318A (Foster City, CA) DNA Synthesizer according to the manufacturers'
instructions. (Rouwendal et al., p.78
We first visually reviewed the complete song sample of an individual using
spectrograms produced on a Princeton Applied Research Real Time Spectrum
Analyzer (model 4512). (Peters et al., p. 937)

Example of use of a certain technique

Frogs were monitored using visual encounter transects (Crump and Scott,
1994). (Sartorius and Rosen, p. 269)

Example description of statistical analysis

We used Wilcox rank-sum tests for all comparisons of pre-experimental
scores and for all comparisons of hue, saturation, and brightness scores between
various groups of birds ... All P-values are two-tailed unless otherwise noted.
(Brawner et al., p. 955)

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 Results

This section presents the facts--what was found in the course of this
investigation. Detailed data--measurements, counts, percentages, patterns--
usually appear in tables, figures, and graphs, and the text of the section draws
attention to the key data and relationships among data. Three rules of thumb will
help you with this section:
present results clearly and logically
avoid excess verbiage
consider providing a one-sentence summary at the beginning of each
paragraph if you think it will help your reader understand your data

Remember to use table and figures effectively. But don't expect these to
stand alone.

Example

Size of the aquatic habitat at Agua Caliente Canyon varied dramatically

throughout the year. The site contained three rockbound tinajas (bedrock pools)
that did not dry during this study. During periods of high stream discharge seven
more seasonal pools and intermittent stretches of riffle became available. Perennial
and seasonal pool levels remained stable from late February through early May.
Between mid-May and mid-July seasonal pools dried until they disappeared.
Perennial pools shrank in surface area from a range of 30-60 m² to 3-5- M².
(Sartorius and Rosen, Sept. 2000: 269)

CGheorghe_2013_How to Write a Scientific Paper 11

 Discussion

In this section you discuss your results. What aspect you choose to focus on
depends on your results and on the main questions addressed by them. For example,
if you were testing a new technique, you will want to discuss how useful this
technique is: how well did it work, what are the benefits and drawbacks, etc. If you
are presenting data that appear to refute or support earlier research, you will want
to analyze both your own data and the earlier data--what conditions are different?
how much difference is due to a change in the study design, and how much to a
new property in the study subject? You may discuss the implication of your
research-particularly if it has a direct bearing on a practical issue, such as
conservation or public health.

This section centers on speculation. However, this does not free you to
present wild and haphazard guesses. Focus your discussion around a particular
question or hypothesis. Use subheadings to organize your thoughts, if necessary.

This section depends on a logical organization so readers can see the

connection between your study question and your results. One typical approach is
to make a list of all the ideas that you will discuss and to work out the logical
relationships between them-what idea is most important? or, what point is most
clearly made by your data? what ideas are subordinate to the main idea? what are
the connections between ideas?

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 Conclusions

This section simply states what the researcher thinks the data mean, and,
as such, should relate directly back to the problem/question stated in the
introduction. This section should not offer any reasons for those particular
conclusions-these should have been presented in the Discussion section. 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.

Acknowledgements

In this section you should give credit to people who have helped you with
the research or with writing the paper. If your work has been supported by a grant,
you would also give credit for that in this section.

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 Literature cited

This section lists, in alphabetical order by author, all published information

that was referred to anywhere in the text of the paper. It provides the readers
with the information needed should they want to refer to the original literature on
the general problem. Note that the Literature Cited section includes only those
references that were actually mentioned (cited) in the paper. Any other information
that the researcher may have read about the problem but did not mention in the
paper is not included in this section. This is why the section is called "Literature
Cited" instead of "References" or "Bibliography".

The system of citing reference material in scientific journals varies with the
particular journal. The method that you will follow is the "author-date" system.
Listed below are several examples of how citations should be presented in the text
of your paper. The name(s) of the author(s) and year of publication are included in
the body of the text. Sentence structure determines the placement of the
parentheses.

One author: 'Scott's (1990) model fails to ...' or 'The stream model (Scott
1990) is ...'

Two authors: 'Libby and Libby (1991) show...' or 'Previous moose migration
studies (Libby and Libby 1991)...'

Three or more authors: 'Roche et al. (1991) reported that ...' or 'During
April, moose sightings increased over those in a previous study (Roche et al. 1991)
.....'

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 Entries in the Literature Cited section are listed alphabetically by author(s)
and chronologically for papers by the same author(s). The following citations
illustrate the details of punctuation and order of information for a journal article,
book, Internet source, and your laboratory packet.

Schneider, M.J., Troxler, R.F. and Voth, P.D. 1967. Occurrence of

indoleacetic acid in the bryophytes. Bot. Gaz. 28(3): 174-179.
Stebbins, G.L. 1977. Processes of Organic Evolution. Prentice-Hall, New
Jersey. 269 pp.

MSW Scientific Names: Microtus ochrogaster. Online. Smithsonian

Institution. Available: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/cgi-bin/wdb/msw/names/query/
22128. updated August 8, 1996 [accessed 8/10/98]

Colby Biology Department. 1998. Salt Tolerance in Phaseolus vulgaris. In:

Introduction to Biology: Organismal Biology. Waterville, ME: Colby Custom
Publishing

Generally, most references will be to the primary literature (i.e., journal

articles) and, to a lesser extent, books. Popular literature and the Internet should
be used sparingly and with caution. Other sources such as book chapters and
pamphlets typically have their own specific citation formats. If necessary, be sure
to find out what these formats are and use them appropriately.

CGheorghe_2013_How to Write a Scientific Paper 15

 Use Tables and Figures Effectively

Do not repeat all of the information in the text that appears in a table, but
do summarize it. For example, if you present a table of temperature measurements
taken at various times, describe the general pattern of temperature change and
refer to the table.

"The temperature of the solution increased rapidly at first, going from 50º
to 80º in the first three minutes (Table 1)."

You don't want to list every single measurement in the text ("After one
minute, the temperature had risen to 55º. After two minutes, it had risen to 58º,"
etc.). There is no hard and fast rule about when to report all measurements in the
text and when to put the measurements in a table and refer to them, but use your
common sense. Remember that readers have all that data in the accompanying
tables and figures, so your task in this section is to highlight key data, changes, or
relationships.

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 Achieving the Scientific Voice

Eight tips will help you match your style for most scientific publications.
Develop a precise vocabulary: read the literature to become fluent, or at
least familiar with, the sort of language that is standard to describe what you're
trying to describe.
Be as precise as possible: limit language.
Once you've labeled an activity, a condition, or a period of time, use that
label consistently throughout the paper. Consistency is more important than
creativity.
Define your terms and your assumptions.
Be honest about the limitations of your knowledge or your research: give
the reader enough information to come to the same conclusions that you did (or
to come to different conclusions)
Include all the information the reader needs to interpret your data.
Remember, the key to all scientific discourse is that it be reproducible. Have
you presented enough information clearly enough that the reader could reproduce
your experiment, your research, or your investigation?
When describing an activity, break it down into elements that can be
described and labeled, and then present them in the order they occurred.
When you use numbers, use them effectively. Don't present them so that
they cause more work for the reader.
Include details before conclusions, but only include those details you have
been able to observe by the methods you have described. Do not include your
feelings, attitudes, impressions, or opinions.
Research your format and citations: do these match what have been used
in current relevant journals?
Run a spellcheck and proofread carefully. Read your paper out loud, and/
or have a friend look over it for misspelled words, missing words, etc.

CGheorghe_2013_How to Write a Scientific Paper 17

 References

http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writing/HTWtoc.html
http://www.bms.bc.ca/resources/library/pdf/GuidelinesScientificPapers.pdf
http://classweb.gmu.edu/biologyresources/writingguide/Introduction.html
www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/ug/research/paper.html
http://www.colby.edu/biology/BI17x/writing_papers.html
http://findsandfeatures.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/how-to-write-an-
abstract-for-a-conference-paper/
http://www.nature.com/scitable/ebooks/english-communication-for-
scientists-14053993/writing-scientific-papers-14239285
http://www.nmas.org/JAhowto.html
http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/~smaloy/MicrobialGenetics/topics/scientific-
writing.pdf
http://umech.mit.edu/freeman/6.021J/2000/writing.pdf
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Scientific-Paper
http://writing.colostate.edu/learn.cfm

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