The way I was taught to structure an introduction was that of an inverted triangle: with the broad, more general stuff at the beginning, narrowing down to your personal objectives and what you studied.
In the broadest sense you want your introduction to answer these questions:
What were you studying?
Why is this important?
What knowledge was there already of this topic?
Where can we go from here?
First describe the purpose and scope of your project and you can summarize current knowledge and information on the topic that you are studying. This leads on to the next step: background. For the background it is useful to expand on what was already written in the abstract, introduce the area (e.g. if it is a field course where were you? ), the organism or molecule studied and stresses on that organism (if applicable).
It is within your introduction that you outline the hypotheses you're investigating and the approach you will use to investigate it.
Show what knowledge there is on your topic, reference primary sources, such as other journals and review articles. Always reference any sources you have used.
Remember to keep everything short and concise but give all the background information required to understand your project.
Friday, 23 August 2013
Scientific Writing (Title and Abstract)
Title
Obviously the first thing that anyone s going to read is the title. Since most papers are now online a clear title helps them to be picked up in search engines. Ideally this should be kept to the minimum number of words necessary to convey the required information, in this case the topic of research.
A good way to do this is to pose the title in the form of a question.
You shouldn't include chemical formulae, for example Glucose should be used rather than C6H12O6, or any abbreviations.
A good idea is to include key words of the project, including the organism/molecule studied and where this study was carried out.
Abstract
The abstract could be likened to the blurb of a book, it contains key information that allows the reader to decide whether they would like to read the entire works. But, unlike a blurb, it contains the conclusions and results in addition to methods and aims...and all this in approximately 200 words. This, like the title, is important in allowing other readers and scientists to find the paper in a search engine or data base and allows them to see whether it is worthwhile them reading the study in full if it is relevant to their own research.
The 6 main topics that should be included in an abstract are:
1. Aims, Hypotheses and Objectives - what question where you trying to answer and what was the overall purpose of the study?
2. Introduction and Background -Where was the study carried out and under what conditions? It may be useful to give the reader some background knowledge to give the project some context.
3. Methods- How did you measure your variables? What equipment did you use? What statistical tests did you perform? Briefly outline the methodology.
4. Key Results- Which results supported your original hypotheses, state the overall trends and differences.
5. Firm Conclusions- Briefly summarize your conclusions and findings
6. Context- what are the implications of your results and what's next?
Obviously the first thing that anyone s going to read is the title. Since most papers are now online a clear title helps them to be picked up in search engines. Ideally this should be kept to the minimum number of words necessary to convey the required information, in this case the topic of research.
A good way to do this is to pose the title in the form of a question.
You shouldn't include chemical formulae, for example Glucose should be used rather than C6H12O6, or any abbreviations.
A good idea is to include key words of the project, including the organism/molecule studied and where this study was carried out.
Abstract
The abstract could be likened to the blurb of a book, it contains key information that allows the reader to decide whether they would like to read the entire works. But, unlike a blurb, it contains the conclusions and results in addition to methods and aims...and all this in approximately 200 words. This, like the title, is important in allowing other readers and scientists to find the paper in a search engine or data base and allows them to see whether it is worthwhile them reading the study in full if it is relevant to their own research.
The 6 main topics that should be included in an abstract are:
1. Aims, Hypotheses and Objectives - what question where you trying to answer and what was the overall purpose of the study?
2. Introduction and Background -Where was the study carried out and under what conditions? It may be useful to give the reader some background knowledge to give the project some context.
3. Methods- How did you measure your variables? What equipment did you use? What statistical tests did you perform? Briefly outline the methodology.
4. Key Results- Which results supported your original hypotheses, state the overall trends and differences.
5. Firm Conclusions- Briefly summarize your conclusions and findings
6. Context- what are the implications of your results and what's next?
Scientific Writing (in a nutshell)
Heyy, I'm back (again) after another temporary hiatus. Had a very busy (and stressful) summer so far with project write ups and work experience (more on that in a later post). But, I though now would be a good time to bring up a topic that many people (including myself) find quite difficult...scientific writing.
Now this is also a skill that seems to be vastly underestimated and many people don't appreciate how important it is in science to be able to express yourself clearly and concisely. Whether it's a project report, lab book or dissertation this is a necessary skill.
This is also a useful skill after graduation whether you want to go into academia or into a completely different field, e.g. Law or management consultancy.
In the next few posts I shall attempt to give some tips on how to write in the form of a scientific paper since that is what I am currently doing as part of my field course work.
The main sections in a paper (and which I shall be writing about) are:
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion
References
Now this is also a skill that seems to be vastly underestimated and many people don't appreciate how important it is in science to be able to express yourself clearly and concisely. Whether it's a project report, lab book or dissertation this is a necessary skill.
This is also a useful skill after graduation whether you want to go into academia or into a completely different field, e.g. Law or management consultancy.
In the next few posts I shall attempt to give some tips on how to write in the form of a scientific paper since that is what I am currently doing as part of my field course work.
The main sections in a paper (and which I shall be writing about) are:
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion
References
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