GuidelinesforScientificPapers

I.ScientificLaboratoryReport
Writingalaboratoryreportislikewritinganoriginalresearchpaper.Themostcommonformatfora
scientificresearchpaperis:
Abstract
Introduction
MaterialsandMethods
Results
Discussion
References
Introduction
The"Introduction"ofthereportshouldexplainwhytheworkwasdone.Whatweretheobjectivesof
theresearch?Howdoestheresearchhelptofillaholeinourknowledge?TheIntroductionshould
includeaclearstatementoftheproblemorquestiontobeaddressedintheexperiment.Itisalways
helpfultoputthisquestionintosomecontextbystatingwhythisquestionneedstobeansweredorwhy
youfoundthisquestiontobeparticularlyinteresting.Anybackgroundmaterialthatisparticularly
relevanttothequestionshouldbeincludedinthissection.
MaterialsandMethods
The"MaterialsandMethods"sectiontellshowtheworkwasdone.ItshouldNOTbeasimplelistof
thematerialsused.Whatprocedureswerefollowed?Whatresearchmaterialswereused:theorganism,
specialchemicals,instruments?Insomeoftheexperimentsyouwillbedoing,manyoftheprocedures
aregiveningreatdetailinthehandouts.Itisnotnecessarytoretypetheseverbatim,butrather
summarizethemandcitethelaboratorymanualinyourreferences.Providedetailsonlyaboutchanges
fromthehandoutandaboutyourindividualproject.Themostimportantfeatureofthissectionshouldbe
toincludeenoughdetailinyourdescriptionofhowyourexperimentwassetupandrunsothatanyone
readingtheMaterialsandMethodscouldrepeatyourexperiment.
Results
The"Results"sectionexplainsinwordswhatyoufound,thedatathatyougenerated,explained
succinctlyinthebodyofthereportandpresentedindetailastablesorgraphs.Theresultssectionshould
bewrittensothatanycollegestudentcouldreadthetexttolearnwhatyouhavedone.Forexample,you
mightuseaparagraphtoexplainwhatisseenonaparticulargraph;Whentheenzymewassoakedin
sulfuricacid,nochangeinabsorbancewasobserved(Table1)Donotmakethecommonmistakeof
writing,Weperformedtheexperiment,seefigures14.Thatistoobriefanddoesnotconveytoa
novicewhatyouhavedone.Whenstatingyourresultsinthebodyofthetext,refertoyourgraphsand
tables.Donotattempttodiscusstheinterpretationofyourdataexplanationsshouldbeincludedinthe
Discussionsection.Eachtableandfigureshouldbenumberedsequentiallyforeasyreferenceinthe
text,andallfiguresmusthaveabriefdescriptioncalledalegend,whichprovidesthereaderenough
informationtoknowwhatyoudidtoproducethedata.
Discussion
The"Discussion"sectiontypicallyincludesyourappraisalofwhatyourresearchmeans,
includingitssuccessinmeetingtheobjectivesstatedintheintroduction,anditssignificancein
advancingyourknowledgeofthesubject.Thissectionalsoistheplacetoexplaindiscrepanciesor
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difficultieswithexperiments,aswellassuggestionsforfuturework.Forexample,ifyouhadknown
initiallywhatyouknownow,howmightyouhavechangedyourexperiments?Mostimportantly,the
Discussionprovidesanopportunitytocompareyourresultswiththoseofothers.Whatprevious
informationexiststhatisrelevanttoyourresearch?Doyourresultssupportorsupplementthat
information?Onceagain,whenprovidingyourinterpretationofthedata,directthereadertospecific
tablesandgraphstoproveyourpoint.
References
Finally,itisimportanttoplaceyourworkinperspectivewiththepublishedworkofotherscientists.
WewillnothavemuchopportunitytousereferencesinIntroductoryBiology,butreferencesarean
importantcomponentofanyreport.Scientificjournalsusuallyrequirespecificreferenceformats.We
willdiscussthepreferredformatforyourreports.

II.PresentationofResultsinScientificReports:FiguresandTables
Datathathavebeencollectedneedtobepresentedclearlyandsuccinctly.Asaresult,twoformsof
presentationaremostcommonlyusedinscientificpapers:figuresandtables.Whichmethodtouse
dependssomewhatonthedata,butingeneralanythingthatcanbedisplayedpictorially(e.g.agraphor
diagram)ismoredesirable,becausethereadercanimmediatelyseethetrendsinthedata.Inthepaper
itself,graphsarereferredtoasFigures,andarenumberedsequentiallyintheorderofpresentation
(Figure1,Figure2,etc).Tablesalsoarenumberedsequentially.Althoughfiguresandtablesoftenare
placeddirectlyintothemiddleofscientificpapers.Forsimplicity,youmayincludethemattheendof
yourreport,withonefigureortableperpage.

Graphs
GraphscanbemadeusingagraphingprogramsuchasExcel.Remembertolabeleachaxis,
includingunitsofmeasurement,andclearlyidentifythedatayouaredisplaying(e.g.labeleachlineina
graph).Inaddition,everygraphmusthaveashortdescriptionbelowittotellthereadersomebasic
informationaboutthatdataandthewayitwasobtained.Thisdescriptionisknownasalegend.The
legendstartswiththefigurenumber,followedbyaonesentencetitle.Thetextofthelegendshouldbe
nomorethanoneshortparagraphandshouldbeasbriefaspossible.Followingisanexampleofagraph
withlegend:

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RegenerationofChlamyFlagella
10

7.5

2.5

0
0

20

40

60

80

Time(min)

Figure1.RegenerationofChlamydomonasflagellaasafunctionoftime.
FlagellawereremovedfromcellsusingthepHshockmethodandallowedto
regrowunderconstantlight.Eachdatapointrepresentstheaveragedresultof
20individualcellsandtheerrorbarsrepresentthe95%confidenceinterval.
ThisgraphwasmadeusingthestatisticalprogramExcel.Noticehowtheaxesarelabeled,andthe
figureisnumberedandtitled(boldtype).Thelegendexplainshowthedatawereobtained.Pleasealso
lookatthesamplescientificpaperspostedinthelaboratoryasotherexamplesoflegends.

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Tables
Tablesshouldbemadeusingthesameprinciplesoutlinedforgraphs,thoughtheformatisdifferent.
TablescanbecreatedwithWord,usingtabstocreatethedifferentcolumns.Tablesarenumbered,but
thisnumberusuallyappearsatthetopofthetable.Thetitleusuallyfollowsthetablenumber:
Table2.ListofstudentswholovedIntroBiology(1837present)
Name
AlfredNobel
CharlesDarwin

DateClasswasTaken
Fall,1923
Spring,1897

FinalGrade(%)
94
81

Tablesgenerallydonotcontainlegends.Often,though,footnotesareincludedunderatabletoprovide
explanatoryinformation.Ofcourse,allcolumnheadingsshouldbeclearlylabeledtodescribethedata
listedbelowthem.
Whenpreparingyourdataforapresentation,thinkaboutthemosteffectivewayofshowingyourdatato
theaudience.Someinformationcanbeconveyedmosteffectivelyinatable.Otherinformationcanbe
conveyedmosteffectivelyinafigure.Ifyoudodecidetouseafigure,thenconsiderwhattypeof
figurewillbemosteffective.

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