The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper

The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Scientific Paper

Most journal-style scientific papers are subdivided into the following sections:  Title  Table of Contents  Introduction  Materials and Methods  Results  Discussion  Literature Cited (Bibliography)  Appendices – Tables and Graphs Title  Title: Your question/problem being solved with Independent and Dependent variables (“How does the type of fertilizer affect the growth height of a soybean plant?”)  Format: centered at the top of page 1  The title is NOT underlined or italicized.  The authors' names are double-spaced from and centered below the title. When more then two authors, the names are separated by commas

INTRODUCTION  Function: introduce your experiment by discussing your background research literature (with MLA citations) and summarizing your current understanding of the problem you are investigating;  State the purpose of the investigation in the form of the question, or problem you investigated  Discuss your predicted results (hypothesis) and the reasons behind your predictions  The Introduction must answer the questions: 1. Why was this study performed? - Usually this stems from a previous experiment or some observation of nature. 2. What is the hypothesis? - A hypothesis is a general, testable statement about a phenomenon or behavior. - Ex. Question: Why are mature chiles red? Hypothesis: Mature chiles are red to attract birds. 3. What information already exists on this topic? - Ex. The hypothesis was developed out of the knowledge that many other plants produce bright red colored fruits with seeds that birds are attracted to and eat, thus allowing for dispersal of the seeds. 4. What is the experimental design? - Ex. Birds were allowed to select between red and green mature chiles. 5. What are the predicted results? - A prediction is what one expects to see when the experiment is performed if the hypothesis is correct. - Ex. It was predicted that the birds would select the red chiles over the green chiles.  Structure: an inverted triangle - the broadest part at the top representing the most general information and focusing down to the specific problem you studied. o Begin by clearly identifying the subject area of interest. Do this by using key words from your Title in the first few sentences o Provide a brief review of the Research literature that you have done on the subject. . Summarize (for the reader) what is known about the specific problem before you did your experiments or studies. Review the research literature (with citations) but do not include very specific, lengthy explanations . Lead the reader to your statement of purpose/hypothesis by focusing your literature review from the big picture to the more specific topic of interest to you . Do not discuss here the procedures used in your study (this will be done in the Materials and Methods)

MATERIALS AND METHODS  This section is variously called Methods or Methods and Materials.  Function: explain clearly how you carried out your study o Describe the organism(s) studied (plant, animal, human, etc.) and their pre-experiment handling and care, when and where the study was carried out (only if location and time are important factors); note that the term "subject" is used ONLY for human studies. o Describe how the experiment or study was structured. . The control variables, treatments (independent variables), dependent variable(s) measured, how many samples were collected, etc.) . How the experimental procedures were carried out, and how the data were analyzed o Organize your presentation so your reader will understand the logical flow of the experiment(s); subheadings work well for this purpose.  Style: this section should read as if you were verbally describing how you conducted the experiment. o Avoid use of the first person in this section. o Remember to use the past tense throughout - the work being reported is done, and was performed in the past, not the future. o The Methods section is not a step-by-step, directive, protocol as you might see in your lab manual. o Describe your experimental design clearly. Be sure to include the hypotheses you tested, controls, treatments, variables measured, how many replicates you had, what you actually measured, what form the data take, etc. o Describe the protocol for your study in sufficient detail that other scientists could repeat your work to verify your findings.  Describe the "quantitative" aspects of your study - the masses, volumes, incubation times, concentrations, etc., that another scientist needs in order to duplicate your experiment.  Describe how the data were summarized and analyzed. o NOTE: You DO NOT need to say that you made graphs and tables.

The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Scientific Paper RESULTS  Function: objectively present your key results, without interpretation, in an orderly and logical sequence using both illustrative materials (Tables and Figures) and text.  Important negative results should be reported, too.  Style: Use the past tense.  Do not interpret the data here.  If you are testing for differences among groups, and you find a significant difference, it is not sufficient to simply report that "groups A and B were significantly different". How are they different? How much are they different? For example, "Group A individuals were 23% larger than those in Group B", or, "Group B pups gained weight at twice the rate of Group A pups."  Report the direction of differences (greater, larger, smaller, etc) and the magnitude of differences (% difference, how many times, etc.) whenever possible  Organize the results section based on the sequence of Table and Figures you'll include. o The first Table you refer to is Table 1, the next Table 2 and so forth. o Similarly, the first Figure is Figure 1, the next Figure 2, etc. o Each Table or Figure must include a brief description of the results being presented and other necessary information in a legend. o Table legends go above the Table; tables are read from top to bottom. DISCUSSION  Function: interpret your results and to explain your new understanding of the problem after taking your results into consideration. o Connect to the Introduction by way of the the research you cited, but it does not simply repeat or rearrange the Introduction. Instead, it tells how your study has moved us forward from the place you left us at the end of the Introduction. o Fundamental questions to answer here include: 1. Did the experiment support or reject the hypothesis? Why? How? 2. If rejected, was there some sort of error or bias that affected the outcome? 3. What analyzed evidence produced that conclusion? 4. What is the significance of those conclusions? 5. How does this experiment apply to the “bigger picture?” 6. What improvements could be made in the future? 7. What other experiments could be developed from these results? 8. What is your opinion about the outcome of the experiment and what are your thoughts about the implications of the experiment?  Given your conclusions, what is our new understanding of the problem you investigated and outlined in the Introduction?  Ask what experiments would you do next?  Style: Use first person, but too much use of the first person may actually distract the reader from the main points.  Make references your research from your Literature Cited to support your interpretations. Science Fair Display Board

Your project should be displayed in a neat, clear, visible, well-organized format. Use your creativity to design the display, with the following important guidelines: Display boards will be provided for you by NCS. You do not need to purchase these. The following information should be evident on your display board:  The Title of the Project  The Purpose/Question  Hypothesis  Variables – Independent, Dependent, Constants  Procedure and Materials  Results with a Table and Graph  Photos/drawings/diagrams  Conclusions  Abstract

Make sure you include your name and grade clearly somewhere with a marker on the reverse of the display board. All text should be clear and large enough to be seen from a distance (approx 24 font sizes, minimum). Charts, graphs, photos and drawings should be clearly labeled and the person who took the photographs needs to be credited on the display board.

The area in front of your poster display should be used for your full written Science Fair Paper, your journal, and forms.

This isn’t the only way but it’s a start! LITERATURE CITED . Function: gives an alphabetical listing (by first author's last name) of the references that you actually cited in the body of your paper. . Instructions for writing full citations for various sources are given in on separate page. o NOTE: Do not label this section "Bibliography". A bibliography contains references that you may have read but have not specifically cited in the text. Bibliography sections are found in books and other literary writing, but not scientific journal-style papers.

Cites within the paper Any information that was gathered from a secondary source (a published article, a university lecture class, the internet, etc.), MUST be cited both in the paper and at the end. When a reference is cited in the paper it is appropriate to list the primary author’s last name and the publication year in parenthesis after the SUMMARIZED referenced information. Scientific writing does not favor quoted information. The researcher must BOTH restate the referenced material in their OWN words and cite the reference.

Ex. The snow leopard is a difficult animal to study because of its camouflage coloring and loner mentality. In an attempt to track, photograph, and research these elusive phantoms of the animal kingdom, a team of wildlife biologists traveled to the Himalayas in Tibet, one of the few remaining habitats of the snow leopard (Jackson and Hillard, 1986).

**If the reference only has one author: (Wexler, 1994) **If the reference has two authors: (Jackson and Hillard, 1986) **If the reference has multiple authors: (Jongmans et al., 1997)

Citations at the end of the paper In the end list, all information is given about the referenced material so that a reader can refer back to the secondary sources if they are interested in learning more about that topic. Keep in mind that every journal requires a different format. A good format that includes all the necessary information is shown in the following examples:

Articles: One Author (author format can be used for book, chapter or website as well) Wexler, M. 1994. The art of growing giants. National Wildlife. Vol 32, No. 6: 20-26.

Two Authors (author format can be used for book, chapter or website as well) Jackson, R. and Hillard, D. 1986. Tracking the elusive snow leopard. National Geographic. Vol 169, No. 6: 793-809.

Multiple Authors (author format can be used for book, chapter or website as well) Jongmans, A.G., van Breemen, N., Lundstrom, U., van Hees, P.A.W., Finlay, R.D., Srinivasan, M., Unestam, T., Giesler, R., Melkerud, P-A., and Olsson, M. 1997. Rock-eating fungi. Nature. Vol 389, No. 6652: 682.

Books: Bird, W.Z. 1990. Ecological aspects of fox reproduction. Berlin: Guttenberg Press. Book Chapters: Campbell, N.A and Reece, J.B. 2002. The darwinian revolution. In Biology 6th Ed, ed. B. Wilbur, pp. 432-444. San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings.

Websites: Council-Garcia, C.L. 2003. Biology 122 Laboratory Syllabus, Room 109. Retrieved June 12, 2003 from . **If you have found a reference on the web that is a journal article, newspaper article, book, etc., this CAN NOT be used as a website cite, because a published hardcopy exists. You must find all the information about the actual, hardcopy reference and then cite it as a book or journal article.**

APPENDICES  Function: contains non-essential information but may present information that further clarifies a point  Headings: Each Appendix should be identified by a Roman numeral in sequence, e.g., Appendix I, Appendix II, etc.  Each appendix should contain different material.  Figures and Tables in Appendices

General Style Comments

1. When taking and recording measurements, make sure to use the metric system and do not forget to include the units.

2. Scientific writing is often written in third person; avoid using the pronouns, I and we.

3. Be wary of switching verb tense in a paper from present to past. Try to keep the entire paper in the past tense; after all you already conducted the experiment.

4. Remember, this is a FORMAL paper. DO NOT include comments like “I did not like…, I learned a lot…,” etc. They are inappropriate and irrelevant. ABSTRACT  Function: summarizes, in one paragraph (usually), the major aspects of the entire paper in the following prescribed sequence: o The question(s) you investigated (or purpose) . State the purpose very clearly in the first or second sentence. o The experimental design and methods used . Clearly express the basic design of the study without going into excessive detail o The major findings including key numerical results, or trends . Report those results which answer the questions you were asking o A brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions o Clearly state the implications of the answers your results gave you.  The Abstract SHOULD NOT contain: o Lengthy background information o References to other literature o Abbreviations or terms that may be confusing to readers o Any sort of illustration, figure, or table, or references to them