Science Writing - Scientific Report

Question 1

What’s important when writing a report’s methods? (7)

Answer 1

Include all methods (in chronological order and with data crunching), use subheadings, past tense, full sentences and paragraphs, don’t write a recipe.

Question 2

What’s important when writing a report’s results? (11)

Answer 2

Don’t include raw data (convert to results), Include all the data no matter how dodgy it is, Use ‘figure’ instead of ‘graph’, label figure axes, ‘Table 1’ goes above tables, ‘Figure 1’ goes below figures, make sure you describe figures (reference them as ‘Figure 1’ or ‘(Fig. 1)’, don’t think in the results just describe, descriptions go above figures and tables.

Question 3

What’s important when writing a report’s discussion? (7)

Answer 3

Make sense of your results, show off your critical thinking skills, lots of references, restate aim in first sentence, restate results, were the results expected?, compare results to other studies, discuss possible reasons for the results,

Question 4

What’s important when writing a report’s conclusion? (2)

Answer 4

Summary of discussion, main focus on implications and recommendations.

Question 5

What’s important when writing a report’s introduction? (7)

Answer 5

Introduce the topic (set the scene, context), define the problem in detail, present current scientific knowledge (literature review), identify the gap in the knowledge, disclose the aim of the study, at least 4 paragraphs long.

Question 6

What’s important when writing a report’s title? (2)

Answer 6

Descriptive, around 10 words.

Question 7

What’s important when writing a report’s abstract? (6)

Answer 7

5-10% of the total word count, summarise the introduction, aim, methods, main results and conclusions/implications.