Scientific Writing Made Easy: A Step‐by‐Step Guide to Undergraduate Writing in the Biological Sciences

Abstract

Abstract. Scientific writing, while an indispensable step of the scientific process, is often overlooked in undergraduate courses in favor of maximizing class time devoted to scientific concepts. However, the ability to effectively communicate research findings is crucial for success in the biological sciences. Graduate students are encouraged to publish early and often, and professional scientists are generally evaluated by the quantity of articles published and the number of citations those articles receive. It is therefore important that undergraduate students receive a solid foundation in scientific writing early in their academic careers. In order to increase the emphasis on effective writing in the classroom, we assembled a succinct step-bystep guide to scientific writing that can be directly disseminated to undergraduates enrolled in biological science courses. The guide breaks down the scientific writing process into easily digestible pieces, providing concrete examples that students can refer to when preparing a scientific manuscript or laboratory report. By increasing undergraduate exposure to the scientific writing process, we hope to better prepare undergraduates for graduate school and productive careers in the biological sciences. An introduction to the guideWhile writing is a critical part of the scientific process, it is often taught secondarily to scientific concepts and becomes an afterthought to students. How many students can you recall who worked on a laboratory assignment or class project for weeks, only to throw together the written report the day before it was due? For many, this pattern occurs because we focus almost exclusively on the scientific process, all but neglecting the scientific writing process. Scientific writing is often a difficult and arduous task for many students. It follows a different format and deviates in structure from how we were initially taught to write, or even how we currently write for English, history, or social science classes. This can make the scientific writing process appear overwhelming, especially when presented with new, complex content. However, effective writing can deepen understanding of the topic at hand by compelling the writer to present a coherent and logical story that is supported by previous research and new results. ECO 101Clear scientific writing generally follows a specific format with key sections: an introduction to a particular topic, hypotheses to be tested, a description of methods, key results, and finally, a discussion that ties these results to our broader knowledge of the topic (Day and Gastel 2012). This general format is inherent in most scientific writing and facilitates the transfer of information from author to reader if a few guidelines are followed.Here, we present a succinct step-by-step guide that lays out strategies for effective scientific writing with the intention that the guide be disseminated to undergraduate students to increase the focus on the writing process in the college classroom. While we recognize that the...

How to write a research article for MRC

“…[16] It may be prudent to make notes on your experimental method while undertaking your experiment; such a strategy may avoid the omission of any details and inform your final experimental writeup. [17] The information contained in this section should allow a reader (or reviewer) to judge whether the article's conclusions are justified by the experimental or theoretical investigations or to enable a reproducibility study in the event that some complication or error may have led the authors to draw the wrong conclusions. [6] In addition, particularly in the case of novel methods, reproducibility is fundamental to the reuse and development of the technique by other groups.…”

“…Avoid evaluating methods in this section; such assessments should be reserved for the discussion section of the paper . It may be prudent to make notes on your experimental method while undertaking your experiment; such a strategy may avoid the omission of any details and inform your final experimental write‐up . The information contained in this section should allow a reader (or reviewer) to judge whether the article's conclusions are justified by the experimental or theoretical investigations or to enable a reproducibility study in the event that some complication or error may have led the authors to draw the wrong conclusions .…”

“…Be careful not to summarize the entire article here, that is what the abstract is for. Try to anticipate your readers' questions and explain why your results are of interest …”

Writing Science: What Makes Scientific Writing Hard and How to Make It Easier

“…We rarely talk about the equally important topic of writing about science (Reynolds andThompson 2011, Turbek et al 2016). When we do discuss writing with students, trainees, and peers, we emphasize the mechanics: how to structure a manuscript, the style conventions of scientific writing, and the submission process (Guilford 2001, Turbek et al 2016. As a scientific community, we rarely discuss the actual act of scientific writing itself.…”

Establishing a Common Framework for Strategic Communications in Ecosystem-Based Management and the Natural Sciences

“…There is wide consensus that natural sciences would benefit from putting more effort into strategic communication efforts (Barker 2006;Hobbs 2006;, but most natural scientists, decision makers, and stakeholders have not been trained in strategic communication, and traditional science communication training has typically focused on information transfer clarity after the research has been completed (e.g., Turbek et al 2016). In order to present a framework based on analysis of the available literature and tailored guidance for facilitating a strategic communications approach for natural scientists, decision makers, and stakeholders, this chapter is organized in the following manner.…”