Notes on Science Research Writing

This note is summarized from the book Science Research Writing: For Non-Native Speakers of English by Hilary Glasman-Deal. I would recommend the book for those who are new to science research writing or want to get better at it, especially for beginners.

Scientific Publication Structure

  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Methodology
  • Results
  • Conclusion/Discussion
  • References

Introduction Section

The best time to write the Introduction section is after you have written, or drafted, the Methodology and Results sections. In the introduction you start out by being fairly general and gradually narrow your focus, whereas the opposite is true in the Discussion/Conclusion.

Grammar and writing skills

Tense pairs

  • Present Simple tense is used in science writing to state accepted facts and truths.
  • Besides time of the verb, i.e. when it happened, another key difference between Present Simple/Present Perfect is the relevance of the event to the situation NOW.

Signalling language

  • Connect one sentence or idea to the next so that your reader is carried carefully from one piece of information to the next. It also forces you to develop your ideas logically.
  • Overlap sentences, meaning to repeat something from the previous sentence.
  • Use a pronoun (it, they) or pro-form (this method, these systems) to glue the sentences together.
  • Don't finish the sentence at all, but join it to the next sentence with a semicolon or a relative clause (a which clause). This works when two sentences are very closely related and one of them is quite short.
  • Use a signalling sentence connector (therefore, however) to indicate the relationship between one sentence and the next, or one part of a sentence and the next.
  • Functions of signalling language: cause (because), result (hence), contrast/difference (whereas), unexpectedness (although), addition (in addition).

Passive/Active

  • You can use we to refer to your research group or team, but do not use it to refer to people or humanity in general.
  • Use a construction with It (It is know/thought that...) if you are referring to people in general.
  • It is also common to use the passive instead of we, especially in the Methodology/Results sections (was measured, was added, etc.).
  • If you are writing as an individual, write in the passive from and avoid using I.
  • Use words like here and in this study to refer to your own work.
  • The agent (the person who performed the action of the verb) is often not mentioned in the passive form. If this causes confusion, use dummy subject (This article, The present paper) to take the place of I or we rather than the agentless passive (x is presented).

Paragraphing

  • A paragraph in academic writing often starts with a topic sentence, which gives the main idea of the paragraph, and tells the reader what the paragraph is about.
  • When the topic or idea moves too far away from the first sentence, begin a new paragraph.
  • To create paragraphs that have a logical and coherent structure, write down each idea/concept that you want to talk about, check that they are in a logical order and then list what you want to say about each, using bullet points.

The model of writing introduction

Part 1

  • Establish the importance of the research topic.
  • Provide general background information or facts.
  • Do the above two things again, but in a more specific/detailed way.
  • Define the terminology in the title/key words.
  • Describe the general problem area or the current research focus of the field.

Part 2

  • Provide a transition between the general problem area and the literature review.
  • Provide a brief overview of key research projects, previous and/or current research and contributions.

Part 3

  • Locate a gap in the research.
  • Describe the problem you will address.
  • Present a prediction to be tested.

Part 4

  • Describe the paper itself.
  • Give details about the methodology reported in the paper.
  • Announce the findings of the paper.

Methodology Section

Grammar and writing skills

Passive and tense pairs

  • Use the Present Simple tense to describe what is normally done or to describe a standard piece of equipment used in the research.
  • Use the Past Simple tense to describe what you did yourself.
  • Use the agentless passives for both cases above.
  • To make your own contribution clear and easy to identify, mark it with words -- by adding phrases like In this study or In our experiments and by identifying the procedure used by other researchers with careful references at the appropriate place in the sentence like In Brown (1999).

Use of A and THE

  • Use the if or when you and your reader both know which thing/person you mean.
  • Use the if there is only one possible referent.
  • Use a if it doesn't matter or you don't know or your reader doesn't know which thing/person you are referring to.
  • The, a, or plural can all be used generically, i.e. when expressing a general truth.
  • A is used before consonant sounds, while an is used before vowel sounds. Sounds not spelling, so write an MRI scan because the letter "M" is pronounced "em", but a UV light because the letter "U" is pronounced "yoo".

Adverbs and adverb location

  • Adverb location may cause invisible errors, which are easy to make and hard to detect.
  • Adverbs needing prepositions can be ambiguous (Look at that dog with one eye can either mean USING one eye or HAVING one eye).
  • Adverbs may attach themselves to unexpected parts of a sentence.
  • Be careful if more than one adverbs are used. It is generally better to avoid adverb clusters and rewrite the information in a different order.
  • If your adverb relates to the whole sentence (i.e. clearly, last January, as a result) then consider putting the adverb at the front of the sentence.
  • Consider breaking the sentence down into units, each with its own adverb.

The model of writing methodology

Part 1

  • Provide a general introduction and overview of the materials/methods.
  • Restate the purpose of the work.
  • Give the source of materials/equipment used.
  • Supply essential background information.

Part 2

  • Provide specific and precise details about materials/methods (i.e. quantities, temperatures, duration, sequence, conditions, locations, sizes).
  • Justify choices made.
  • Indicate that appropriate care was taken.

Part 3

  • Relate materials/methods to other studies.

Part 4

  • Indicate where problems occurred.

Results Section

Grammar and writing skills

Sequence:

  • Time sequence means how long each step took and where it occurred in the sequence.
  • 8 groups of sequences:
    1. before the beginning: beforehand
    2. at the beginning/first step: at first
    3. indicate steps/order: next
    4. after a short while: shortly after
    5. at a late/later stage; after a while/longer period: later on
    6. one period/period occurring almost or exactly at the same time as another (possible causal relationships): as soon as
    7. at the end/last step, after the end: lastly
    8. after the end: afterwards

Frequency and Quantity

  • Results do not speak for themselves. Your reader needs to know what the numbers or quantities mean in order to understand them.
  • The results 23% can be communicated as a strong result (in as many as 23% of cases) or a weak result (in only 23% of cases). If you just write: As can be seen in Fig. 1, the effect occurred in 23% of cases, you have not added anything to what the reader can see for themselves.
  • One way to communicate your interpretation of the results is to use the frequency language, e.g. The effect was seen frequently or The effect was seen occasionally.
  • Beware that frequency language is often used in a subjective way, ranging from 100% sure to 0% sure.
  • Another way to communicate your comments on the numbers is to use quantity language. It can be used to replace numbers (many) or to comment on numbers (as many as 45).
  • 5 groups of quantity language:
    1. increase the size/quantity: considerable
    2. reduce the size/quantity: marginal
    3. emphasize how big/small/high/low the size/quantity is: far (above/below)
    4. the size/quantity is similar/close to another: approximately
    5. a reluctance to commit oneself to an interpretation of the size/quantity: fairly

Causality

  • In some of the verbs/phrases, the position of the cause and the effect fixed (cause produced effect, effect originated in cause). In others, such as x is linked to y, it depends on what the writer wishes to say.
  • Some verbs/phrases communicate a clear/strong causal connection (cause, produce, be due to), some refer to a partial cause (be a factor in, contribute to), some refer to initial or first cause in a causal chain (originate in, initiate*), and others communicate a weak causal connection* (be related to, link*).
  • To be a cause or a result of something implies that other factors were also involved, whereas to be the cause of or the result of something implies that it is the only cause or result.
  • x results from y means x is a consequence of y; whereas x result in y means y is a consequence of x.
  • You may also add frequency, quantity qualifier or model verb (may, could) to soften a causal statement, but if you add too many, the sentence may not mean very much at all.

The model of writing results

Always start by providing an overview. This enables you to show your reader the "wall" before you begin to describe the "bricks". It is more "reader-friendly" to start with some introductory material. This type of general overview may need to be repeated when you move from one set of results to another.

Make sure that you understand the difference between the explanation of a result (why it occurred as it did), the evaluation of a result (what the numbers mean), and the implication of a result (what the result suggests or implies). Your explanations in this section should be limited to fairly direct comments about your results. Leave the broader explanations and implications in the Discussion/Conclusion section.

Part 1

  • Revisit the research aim/existing research obtained by other researchers.
  • Revisit/expand your own methodology and adds more information about it.
  • Provide general overview/statement of results to begin a new paragraph.

Part 2

  • Comment on the results then invite the reader to look at results/figures/tables, etc.
  • Provide specific/key results in detail, with or without explanations, using language that comments on the results.
  • Compare with results in other research, using subjective, evaluative language.
  • Compare with model predictions.

Part 3

  • Mention problems in the results and use quantity language (e.g. slightly) to minimize its significance.
  • If you can, suggest possible reasons for the problem and/or offer a solution or a way forward.
  • Mention and acknowledge the problems or difficulties you encountered in the Methodology and Results section; it isn't appropriate to mention them for the first time in the Discussion/Conclusion.

Part 4

  • Provide possible implications and applications of the work/results.
  • Begin to open out the focus on the paper and transition away from the central "reporting" section towards the conclusion.

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WritingAlicia Tsai