scientific writing sigrid agenäs aug 16th 2013. scientific writing - how to communicate science to...

Scientific writing

Sigrid Agenäs Aug 16th 2013

Scientific writing

- How to communicate science to the academic community

Scientists need to communicate in many different situations

Written• Reports• Applications• Statements• Newspaper

articles• Scientific

literature

Oral• Meetings• Lectures• Conferences• Interviews• Debates

literature

Who is the audience?- Peers, teachers, your family, the public,

experts in the field or those with no prior knowledge?

What is the purpose?- Inform, Explain, Persuade

articles

• Scientific literature

Who is the audience?- Peers, teachers, your family, the public,

experts in the field or those with no prior knowledge?

What is the purpose?- Inform, Explain, Persuade

Different kinds of scientific literature

• Textbooks

• Scientific papers• Review papers

• Conference proceedings– Abstracts– Invited papers

• Anyone can publish a textbook!!!

• Peer review process• Summarises published

literature, can be biased, not always peer reviewed

• Submitted abstracts often undergo a ”peer revier light” while invited papers often are not reviewed

• Textbooks

• Who decides the content of a textbook?

• Textbooks

Putting together a scientific paper

1. Propose the research and find funding

2. Carry out the research and analyse the data

3. Consider possible target journals

4. Obtain the journal’s instructions to authors

5. Draft the paper6. Revise, get feedback and revise again7. Submit to the journal8. Initial screening of scope and

relevance – rejected?10. Peer reveiw process – rejected?11. Revision12. Editing by the journal13. Preparing proofs14. Publication15. CELEBRATION!!!Sigrid Agenäs Aug 16th 2013

IMRADTitleAuthorsAbstract =the short version

Introduction Why is the field important and what was your research question?

Methods How did you investigate it?Results What did you find?AndDiscussion What does it mean?

AcknowledgementsList of references Sigrid Agenäs Aug 16th 2013

IMRADTitleAuthorsAbstract =the short version

Introduction Why is the field important and what was your research question?

Methods How did you investigate it?Results What did you find?AndDiscussion What does it mean?

AcknowledgementsList of references Sigrid Agenäs Aug 16th 2013

Instructions to authors

• Specific for each scientific journal

relevance – rejected?10. Peer reveiw process – rejected?11. Revision – rejected?12. Editing by the journal13. Preparing proofs14. Publication15. CELEBRATION!!!Sigrid Agenäs Aug 16th 2013

Different kinds of literature

• Textbooks

Meta-analysis!

• Textbooks

Using the work of others in your text

• Find the most appropriate literature

• Always refer to the right author.

• Do Not Plagiarize!

• Search literature in scientific databases

- PubMed- Web of Science

• Evaulate what you find- is it useful to you?- is it good science?- is it the original work?

• Summarize in your own words

• General statements can be referred to reviews (and maybe textbooks)

• Details like a specific value should be referred to the original work

• References in the text and in the list of references

References in the text• Author’s last name and the year of

publicatíon. If > 2 authors, only name the first author et al.

• Chronological order• After the information

Example from Collier et al., 2012:“The MECs in ruminants do not regress to the same extent as occurs in rodent mammary glands, and apparently some synthetic and secretory activity of these cells are maintained throughout the dry period (Holst et al., 1987; Sordillo, 1987; Sordillo and Nickerson, 1988).” iarize!

List of references• Alphabetical order• Follow instructions!

• General statements can be referred to reviews (and maybe textbooks)

• Details like a specific value should be referred to the original work

• References in the text and in the list of references

• Do Not Plagiarise!

• Plagiarism does not forward your academic career and can lead to diciplinary consequences such as suspension from studies

Examples of plagiarism

• Copying of text – quotations should be clearly marked• Using someone else’s ideas or theories without referring to

the original author• Using someone else’s layout/organisation of text• Using facts or conclusions from someone without referring to

The worst and most obvious form of plagiarism is to copy text without referring to the original author, but copying one or two sentences can also be plagiarism, even if you do give the reference, if you copy the exact text.

How to avoid accidental plagiarism:• Write your text with your own words and support all facts with

references.• Do not copy text, not even as a note to yourself while gathering

information because if you do that it is a high risk that the copied text remains in your work. Always re-write with your own words!

• If you want to use the exact words of someone else (for example a definition of a term) you show that by use of quotation marks with this kind of construction:

There is no clear definition of what a species is. Darwin (1859) said: “No one definition has satisfied all naturalists; yet every naturalist knows vaguely what he means when he speaks of a species.”

It is never correct to cite a long text section but one or two sentences, like in the example above can be OK.• Do not copy the layout of a text.

• Plagiarism can lead to diciplinary consequences such as suspension from studies

• Universities use software to check for plagiarism and will find plagiarised text.

• Plagiarism can lead to diciplinary consequences such as suspension from studies

• Universities use software to check for plagiarism and will find plagiarised text.

The scientific writing process

• Getting in the mood

• Writing the first draft

• Getting feedback and revise, revise, revise

• Finish!

Scientific writing differs from other kinds of writing

A scientific paper first and foremost has to be:

- Correct- Clear- Consice

- Novel and up to date

This is much more important than varied, exciting, unexpected,

imaginative, poetic and other things we value in imaginative literature.

This is much more important than varied, exciting, unexpected,

imaginative, poetic and other things we value in imaginative literature.

Therefore, use short words, short sentences, avoid long convoluted expressions and metaphors.

Also, use ”increased” or ”decreased” instead of ”changed”, ”larger” or ”smaller” instead of ”different” and so on.

Ways to improve your writing

• Read a lot of scientific literature.• Choose good models!• Do not work alone!• Outline before you write the text.• Improve your language skills.

scientific writing sigrid agenäs aug 16th 2013. scientific writing - how to communicate science to...

Documents

reviewedsigrid agens

persuadesigrid agens

scientific paperpropose

peer revier light

peer review processsummarises

reviewedsubmitted abstracts

prior knowledge

journals instructions