How to Write a Scientific Research Paper



How to Write a Scientific Research Paper

Title Page:

▪ Include the name of your project and your name. If you know what category you will be competing in, please include this on this page.

▪ Be specific. "Nassau County Flora" is too broad for a project that is really "Differences in Flora at Different Elevations in Nassau County, New York."

Every page after title page:

▪ Make sure every page after your title page has your name (last name, first name) in the upper right hand corner. Every page should also be numbered at the bottom in the middle.

▪ Your paper should be double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point.

▪ Margins should be 1” all the way around.

▪ Anytime you state previously known information, you must cite where you obtained the information.

i.e. Disco cows are good luck. (Kurtz, 2003)

Weinreich’s (2003) study shows that research is fun.

▪ Papers should be written in PAST TENSE as it is something you have already done.

Abstract:

▪ Write a concise summary of your project that includes the problem, hypothesis, procedures, principal results and conclusions. Two sentences per section are usually appropriate. The abstract should not exceed 250 words.

▪ The abstract should be the only thing on the page.

Introduction:

▪ The introduction should have three parts:

1) The first part should give general background

information on your topic.

2) The second part should describe what was known

about the topic prior to your research. (literature review)

3) The third part should state your hypothesis and the

purpose of your research.

Methods and Materials:

▪ Describe your work so that the reader could replicate the study if they wanted to.

▪ Include type of equipment, volumes, weights, doses, settings number of subjects, treatments, etc. in your methods.

▪ Avoid giving instructions (write in past tense!).

▪ Include any formulas used for calculations.

▪ Any statistics that were used should be stated here.

▪ State the variables and what type (independent/dependent) of variable.

Results:

▪ Describe what you got when you carried out the procedure.

▪ Report results quantitatively (use numbers!).

▪ Figures should support the text and supply details, but what happened should be clear from the text itself.

▪ Figures should be clearly labeled and cited in the text.

▪ You do not have to write “See Figure 1,” just say something like “The osmotic concentration of the bodily fluids was higher in x than in y (Fig. 1).”

▪ Figures and tables should be numbered separately, a series of numbers for figures and a series of numbers for tables. In addition, they should be numbered in the order in which they are referred to in the text. Never refer to Table 2 before you refer to Table 1.

▪ Tables should have a number and title above it (Table 1: Absorbance for pigment A at each wavelength tested.).

▪ Graphs or figures should also have a number and title, although these are often found below them as a caption (Figure 1. Absorption spectrum for pigment A.)

▪ Tables and figures should be found within the text of the paper at the appropriate time.

Discussion and Conclusion:

▪ In the first paragraph you should start with a restatement of your hypothesis, why it was posed and whether or not your data support or do not support the hypothesis.

▪ NEVER say that you have proven ANYTHING in your paper. You have not. You have merely gathered evidence that either supports you hypothesis (fails to reject) or fails to support (rejects) your hypothesis.

▪ You must also deal with alternative explanations for the results (such as having observed at different times of day in the two sites) and with weaknesses in your design, as in "The study would have been improved by a larger sample."

▪ If your conclusion is that your hypothesis was wrong, say so and why. In addition, data are never wrong (as long as there were proper controls and the methods were followed properly). They are just your data.

▪ Do not do a lot of data-bashing in your discussion. There is not a requirement that research turn out the way you expected it to.

▪ It is OK to pose further hypotheses to be tested in the future.

Literature Cited:

▪ You are required to learn how to cite references, both in the text and at the end of the paper. The style presented here is similar to those used in many journals.

▪ Please cite your references alphabetically by author.

**VERY IMPORTANT**

Please spell check and proofread all parts of your research paper. Make sure you are making the point you actually want to make.

Several rules for writing:

1.Always avoid alliteration. 13. Be more or less specific

2.Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. 14. One-word sentences? Eliminate.

3.Avoid clichés like the plague. (They're old hat.) 15. Who needs rhetorical questions?

4.Employ the vernacular.

5.Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.

6.Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.

7.It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

8.Contractions aren't necessary.

9.Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.

10.One should never generalize.

11.Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."

12.Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.

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Last name, First name

16. Do not start a sentence with a number, unless it

is in written form (Fifteen, not 15).

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