Radhika.moh16

Article: Scientific writing

Feedback for Reviewer: I added a section on the specifics of a scientific report. I feel like I don't quite have a "wiki tone" and would like to change my wording in order to make my contributions sound more professional without changing the meaning of the information.

Writing style guides

Publication of research results is the global measure used by all disciplines to gauge a scientist's level of success.

Different fields have different conventions for writing style, and individual journals within a field usually have their own style guides. Some issues of scientific writing style include:

• Some style guides for scientific writing recommend against use of the passive voice, while some encourage it. In the mathematical sciences, it is customary to report in the present tense.
• Some journals prefer using "we" rather than "I" as personal pronoun. Note that "we" sometimes includes the reader, for example in mathematical deductions.

These two simplistic "rules" are not sufficient for effective scientific writing. In practice, scientific writing is much more complex and shifts of tense and person reflect subtle changes in the section of the scientific journal article. Additionally, the use of passive voice allows the writer to focus on the subject being studied (the focus of the communication in science) rather than the author. Similarly, some use of first-person pronouns is acceptable (such as "we" or "I," which depends on the number of authors). The best thing to do is to look at recent examples of published articles in the field.

In the chemical sciences, drawing chemistry is as fundamental as writing chemistry. The point is clearly made by 1981 Nobel Prize-winning chemist Roald Hoffmann.

Scientific report

The stages of the scientific method are often incorporated into sections of scientific reports. The first section is typically the abstract, followed by the introduction, methods, results, conclusions, and acknowledgments. The introduction discusses the issue studied and discloses the hypothesis tested in the experiment. The step-by-step procedure, notable observations, and relevant data collected are all included in methods and results. The discussion section consists of the author's analysis and interpretations of the data. Additionally, the author may choose to discuss any discrepancies with the experiment that could have altered the results. The conclusion summarizes the experiment and will make inferences about the outcomes. The paper will typically end with an acknowledgments section, giving proper attribution to any other contributors besides the main author(s). In order to get published, papers must go through peer review by experts with significant knowledge in the field. During this process, papers may get rejected or edited with adequate justification.

Response From Jackie F. and Hung N.

First sentence can be shortened to be more precise. Other than that, everything seems very good.

<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1177/0115426507022006636>

• Stages of the scientific method incorporated into sections of the scientific paper.
  • "Identify a problem to be studied and state hypothesis" (introduction)
  • "Carry out experiments" (materials and methods, results)
  • "Interpret the results" (discussion, conclusion)
• Four types of titles for the report:
  • "The description"
  • "The topic/description"
  • "The statement"
  • "The question"
• Language/Diction
  • Use of third person with an active voice ("we")

<https://www-sciencedirect-com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/science/article/pii/S1080603217302673>

• Key sections of scientific writing
  • Abstract
    • "The most condensed summary of a research project"
  • Introduction
    • Background information to help the reader understand the purpose and direction of the experiment
  • Methods
    • Specifics of how the experiment was done and data gathered
  • Results
    • "summarize key observations resulting from the study"
  • Conclusions
    • "summarize the key findings and/or interpretations of the study"
  • Acknowledgements
    • Sources and acknowledge outside support

<http://www.ijrconline.org/article.asp?issn=2277-9019;year=2018;volume=7;issue=1;spage=1;epage=3;aulast=Nileshwar>

• Section for author after title
  • the main contributor of the paper, everyone else recognized in the acknowledgments section at the end of the paper

• Peer review
  • "experts in the field review the article and give valuable feedback"
  • Edits or rejection of the article must be given proper reasoning

Sections

The stages of the scientific method are often incorporated into sections of the scientific paper. The first section is typically the abstract, followed by the introduction, methods, results, conclusions, and acknowledgments.