Modified from "Doing Science: Question, Observe, Conclude" by Rudolph Prins, Department of Biology, Western Kentucky University (1994).
[TITLE]
(statement of the problem)
INTRODUCTION
(background and significance of problem)
MATERIALS AND METHODS
(basic procedures used)
RESULTS
(presentation of data)
DISCUSSION
(exposition of problem)
CONCLUSION(S)
(concise statement of findings)
LITERATURE CITED
(books and periodicals used)
Many books are available to help scientific writers, such as McMillan (1988). Writing in a scientific manner requires you to follow certain straight-forward rules, including a few notable ones that will be included here.
Prepare all reports on a typewriter, or better still, a word processor, using the format guidelines below for technical organization. Use common sense! The report will be double spaced. Computer labs have processing and printing equipment and are availab Handwritten reports will not be acceptable. A. Title page (see p. 26 for sample)
B. First Page
C. Subsequent Pages
D. Each section of your paper should begin with a heading. When typing headings, such as "Introduction", use the format of the first page (see B.), triple spacing after the heading.
E. Comments on Tables and Figures (see p. 9 ff). In summary, no freehanding of lines and numbers permitted; all graphics (Figures) must be produced by computers or prepared on professionally printed graph paper using black or blue ink (i.e., no colors).
All reports must conform to the following outline, and format as shown. Brief comments are provided on expectations for each section.
The title is a statement of the problem and gives insight as to what the report is about. If you have a properly stated question, you can reword it as a statement and use it as a title. See "Writing Proposals". If an organism is used, include its scientific name in the title. Remember that the Title Page is a separate page and requires its own format.
The introduction gives the reader some background, including information sources (references) to get the reader interested in the problem, and to possibly understand the significance of the problem. Citing sources adds depth to your study. In the Introduction you clearly state the rationale and the objective(s) of the study. You may want to write the introduction last, after you have the entire study behind you and the results in perspective. Sources can include your Journals and others, Technical Notes, Videotapes, and other literature in the lab or the science library.
This section must be detailed enough so that someone else can understand your basic experimental design in terms of how you set up your experiment. Someone may want to repeat it. However, do not give excessive details nor repeat the step-by-step protocol that you followed during the experiment. Write plainly and simply to make your operation well understood. If something is commonly known, like how to prepare a 10% solution of something, you do not need to provide details. If something is well described elsewhere, describe it very briefly and/or cite a reference. The methods narrative describes how you performed steps using the materials in operational order if at all possible. You describe durations of operations, times of day, if pertinent, how solutions were prepared, etc. etc. Here is an example narrative that shows tense and combination of materials and methods descriptors: "Three treatments and one control were set up using 100 ml of a 5% stock solution in each of three 250 ml beakers. Samples of10 ml were removed from each treatment at the end of the 10 minutes and analyzed for oxygen content by using an RPI oxygen meter. Each experiment was repeated twice." Above all, this section is not a list of particulars (i.e. like the Materials list you prepared in the Proposal).
In the Results section, you relate significant findings in an organized, readable form; summarize and illustrate here. Present numerical data in tables. Show relationships between and among factors in figures. Figures visualize pertinent data in Tables. Tables and figures are numbered separately so that in the text you can refer to Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. All tables and figures must have titles describing their contents. These rules were discussed below under Data Presentation
. The Results section basically consists of a narrative in which you report significant findings of your study, citing those significant quantitative data (and referring to tables and figures after you do so). Descriptive narrative alone is not acceptable. You should refer to all the data in your figures or tables here. Do not make judgements, draw conclusions, explain, or cite literature here. Keep the Results precise.
Remember to place tables and figures in the text as soon after they are cited as is convenient.
Examples of how to cite tables and figures in text:
A table is a place where data (numerical or observational) are entered in an organized manner. A table format will be designed and entered into your log when you design the experiment, and be ready to receive data when the experiment is performed. During an experiment, data are never written on scratch paper, paper towels, etc. They are entered directly into the table that is already prepared in the log. This will be a table of "raw data". Before you write your report, the raw data may need to be reorganized so the results will more clearly be communicated to the reader.
In the final presentation for your report, there will be no freehand lines on Tables or graphs (Figures). Computer products or ruled lines on purchased graph paper will be the minimum expected.
FORMAT: The table has a title above it which describes its contents. Units of the dependent variable are given, and the reader is told in a footnote how many observations were used to calculate the averages. Study tables in your textbook for addtional models.
| Table 1. Overall averages of pulse rates for non-athletes vs. athletes.* | ||
| Non-athletes Athletes |
Pulse Rate in Beats/min. | |
| Before Exercise | After Exercise | |
| 72 | 146 | |
| 72 | 146 | |
| *10 subjects in each group; 3 trials for each subject | ||
A graphic is a means to display tabulated data visually to the reader for easier analysis. It would be confusing to the reader to show all the data for 10 individual subjects in a graphic; however, one showing frequency distribution of these numbers would be useful. The type of graph used here is a frequency histogram. The data are collected into classes and the number of observations in each class is shown on the y-axis. This kind of graphic is called a Figure. All data were entered in tabular form in your Logs, of course. The average pulse rates for 10 non-athletes (simulated) before exercise were arranged in ascending order: 67, 68, 70, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 79. The range is 67-79. The data are divided into classes (intervals). The choice of intervals depends on the data, but each interval will be the same size. Generally, the more data there are the more classes are used. The class data that follow may have been organized in ones log; we will use them to construct Figure 3. Data for athletes are not included for this example.
NOTICE FORMAT: the Figure has a title below it which describes its contents. Tables and figures are numbered separately; i.e. the first table is called Table 1 and the first graph is called Figure 1 (graphs are not called "Charts"). They appear in the report as soon after first cited as possible or on separate page after first cited.
In Figure 3, the classes were labelled on the x axis with the midpoint (rather than the intervals, like 67-69, etc.) to simplify the graphic. This can also be done by averaging data. Either way is acceptable. Remember to also identify the y axis.
In our simulation we were interested in comparing pulse rates of non athletes with those of athletes, so it may be useful to see the data from the two groups side-by-side. It may be convenient for the reader to see the data on the same set of axes rather than having to compare one figure with another. However, you should avoid including too much data into one figure. The after-exercise pulse data, for example, probably should be a separate figure. Figure 4 is an example of combining data to make clearer comparisons possible for the reader. NOTICE: the two groups must be clearly differentiated, so a key is provided with the figure.
Another useful type of figure, especially for rates, is the line graph. The dependent variable is graphed on the y-axis as a function of the independent variable (x-axis). Each value is plotted as a point (represented by a dot or other symbol), and the points are connected to each other. Again, notice the key to identify line symbols.
What you do with respect to creating tables and figures from your raw data is to clearly present data (numerical or observational) so that you can communicate to the reader specific findings (results) of your experiment, always keeping your question in mind and reporting findings that relate to it. Furthermore, you simply report findings, you do not inject judgements, conclusions, what others found, etc. As you write about the main points of the data generated, cite the tables and figures properly and insert the table or figure after you call attention to your findings. To put a table or figure in a report and include no narrative about the data is not an acceptable "Results" section in your report. Likewise, a report with no data is not a scientific report. Students confuse "Results" and "Discussion" components of reports, so study the differences carefully.
After you have conveyed to the reader your significant results, you now need to explain their meaning in relation to the question asked. You also need to relate what you discuss to the literature if at all possible. This is the purpose of the Discussion section of your paper.
In this section you interpret the results, explain their significance, compare with other studies, and explain any weaknesses of the experimental methods or design. This is the most important section of your paper, and it is worth more points than any other section. It is also the most difficult section to write. Except when citing authors directly, write in present tense and avoid excessive repetition of results.
Some specific suggestions on how to "build" the Discussion may include an outline with the following components. These are only suggestions, but ultimately the Discussion must show clarity of understanding of the Results in relation to concepts and or other studies you may have read about.
The above examples was from an investigation of the question: Does exercise affect cardiovascular fitness? Each table and figure presented in the results contains data that should contribute to answering this question. However, your data may be conjectural, supportive of a larger body of knowledge, etc. and require explanation and or clarification. You may even discover new insights from your data. Address these matters in the Discussion section of your report.
The following, in reference to the simulation above, are examples of kinds of results that might be considered in the discussion. Table 1 shows that pulse rates of athletes and non-athletes were very similar both before and after exercise. This was not a result the lab team expected, but it must be presented and discussed nonetheless because one cannot ignore a finding. The discussion could address reasons for the similarity. For example, the team may review their choices of non athlete subjects and realize that most of them engage in aerobic exercise themselves. They may also do some reading and find that the average pulse rate for 20-year-old males is 72 beats/minute, so both groups are simply average. You can bring up these points in your discussion and provide perspective to a larger picture.
Figure 3 includes only non-athletes; it may be better not to use that figure and use Figure 4 instead. Figure 4 shows that the distribution of pulse rates is also similar for both groups. Why is it important to include this figure as well as the averages? You could discuss this.
Figure 5 tells a different story: there is a difference between the two groups in rate of recovery. That is, athletes return to a normal (resting) heart rate faster after exercise than do non-athletes. This is evidence of superior cardiovascular fitness that didn't show up when only resting and exercising pulse rates were considered. This interesting observation was possible only because data were further manipulated to produce Fig. 5.
In the Conclusions section, paraphrase the essential findings of your study rather than repeat the exact wording you us in, say, the Results or Discussion sections. Do not report about other studies or about anything you did not deal with in your study. Be precise. One conclusion need only be one or two sentences long.
There are two styles for citation of literature in text. One is to put a reference number in parethesis (1), or (3, 9) or to use the last name of the author followed by the year of the publication (Daubechies,1988) or for two authors (Howard and Beechy, 2003). If there are more than two authors then you would put the first author followed by an et.al., (Holt, et.al., 1999).
If the first style of literature citing is used, then the numbered references should be presented sequencially in the literature cited section. Note the formating of the following references. Reference one is for a journal article, 2 is for a book, and 3 is for an article from an edited book, and 4 a URL.
If you cite literature based on the last name and years, then you would leave
off the numbers in the literature shown above and order them alphabetically
by the last name of the first author. If there are two papers with the same
authors order these chronologically by year. If there are two papers with the
same authors with the same year then you will need to distinguish them by putting
an a, b, etc., after the year in both the citation and in the literature cited.