Lecture IV The Perfect Scientific Article is Yet To Be Written ACADEMIC WRITING Lecture IV The Perfect Scientific Article is Yet To Be Written

The Primary Goal of Good Scientific Writing is to Communicate Good Science %99 of scientists agree that writing is a integral part of their job as scientists. Fewer than %5 have ever had any formal instruction in scientific writing as part of their scientific training. For most, the only learning experience they have is the example they get from the scientific literature that they read. About %10 enjoy writing; the other %90 consider it a necessary core.

The Primary Goal of Good Scientific Writing is to Communicate Good Science In science, regardless of the field, there is a common saying, “If you haven’t written it, you haven’t done it.” It can be developed by such an addition: “If you write it, but no one reads it, you still haven’t done it.” + If you write it up and it is read but not understood you still haven’t done it.

Written, read, understood. First Style Second Style “I have just been part of an adventure of discovery in science and i have found something that i want to share with you, the reader. In this article, i am going to take you on the same adventure and tell you what made me excited about it. In doing so i hope you will recognise and appreciate my scientific contribution.” “Research is the seeking and discovery of information that was not known previously. I am writing this for you, who have been trained a scientist to seek out information and make something of it. I am putting the data before you, together with some interpretation and i expect you to use your skills to work out much of what it means”.

Written, read, understood. There are just three immutable characteristics of good scientific writing that distinguish it from all other literature. It must always be Precise Clear Brief. If it is vague, it is not scientific writing; if it is unclear or ambiguous, it is not scientific writing and if it is long winded and unnecessarily discursive, it is poor scientific writing.

Thinking Process / Writing Process Step 1: You predict the results of the research you are planning to do. Step 2: You sort out why you think that you will get these results. Step 3: You imagine how you would present them. Step 4: You imagine how you would explain them.

Thinking Process / Writing Process It may seem as if the prediction in Step 1 is simply a piece of guesswork but Step 2 quickly dispenses with that idea because it requires that you support your prediction with a logically reasoned case based on defensible evidence from published and acceptable information.

Thinking Process / Writing Process This part, obviously, involves you in a lot of thinking, reading, interpretation and rethinking- and it takes time. The reward for this is that, once you have substantiated your prediction in this way, it becomes your hypothesis and you now have it as the central focus for the experiment you will do and write about. Additional note: Scientific writing principle: One idea per article.

Thinking Process / Writing Process The Hypothesis; it can be decribed as “a reasonable scientific proposal”. It is not a statement of fact but a statement that takes us just beyond known information and anticipates the next logical step in a sequance of supportable precepts.

Thinking Process / Writing Process The Hypothesis has to have two attributes to be useful in scientific investigation: it must fit the known information and it must be testable. To comply with the first attribute, you, the scientist have to read and understand the literature. To comply with the second, you have to do an experiment.

The Formation of a scientific article Expressing your hypothesis in the Introduction is the most effective way of establishing that focus because it gives your readers a clear idea of what to expect in the rest of the scientific article.

The Formation of a scientific article The introduction concists of just two parts: The hypothesis or what you expected to find The logical reasoning that made this hypothesis the most plausible expectation about the phenomenon you were studying –and practically nothing else. Occasionally, these two essential elements may be backed by one or two sentences that put the work in context or emphasise its importance. (Why is the main problem of the article considerable, serious and urgent?)

The Formation of a scientific article The results can be given priorities rather than appear as a homogeneous array of information. Results with high priorities are those that relate to the testing of the hypothesis and those of low priority are those that do not.

The Formation of a scientific article The discussion can be organised similarly into components of different priorities based on whether or not they are about results that support or reject the hypothesis.

The Formation of a scientific article The Introduction: It explained why this hypothesis was the most pleusible expectation about the subject being explored. The Results It backed this up. The Discussion It explored the consequences in relation to the work of other researchers and, possibly, for broader application, either practical or theoretical.

The Formation of a scientific article What about the structure of an article in which the proposed hypothesis turned out to be wrong when it was tested? The Introduction: It explained why this hypothesis was the most pleusible expectation about the subject being explored… before you come up with these new reasults. The Results It blews a hole in that plausibility. The Discussion It explored why the logic that made the original hypothesis seem plausible was wrong, how we have to rethink our concepts about the work of others and, possibly, what we should do differently in applying this information practically or in theory.

The Formation of a scientific article What about the structure of an article in which the proposed hypothesis turned out to be wrong when it was tested? A disproved hypothesis results in an equally good or even better paper than one supporting an hypothesis. Because, Experiments designed around the development and testing of an hypothesis yield scientifically rewarding information regardless of whether the actual results match the expected ones.

The Formation of a scientific article WRITING THE ARTICLE FOLLOWS THE SAME PATH – YOU TELL THE READER WHAT YOU EXPECTED TO FIND (an hypothesis) AND WHY. THEN, YOU PRESENT YOUR FINDINGS AND DISCUSS HOW YOUR FINDINGS MATCHED YOUR EXPECTATION. LET’S REMEMBER THE ‘FIRST DIMENSION’ The Logic of Scientific Discovery

The Formation of a scientific article -First Step- The first step in getting started is to realise that your problem is not so much how you are going to start, but how you are going to finish. THE PRINCIPLE; You would never knowingly set out on a major voyage without knowing your destination.

The Formation of a scientific article -First Step- 1st way So often, when we set out on a voyage of writing, we jot down a few words and hope to be inspired somehow about the right direction to follow with all the words that ensue. 2nd way On the other hand, to know with some certainty, at the outset, how to finish an assignment as complex and demanding as a complete scientific paper is asking a lot more than most of us manage. The secret is to reduce the scale of the task by breaking it into menagable sections (subtitles of the article).

The Formation of a scientific article -First Step- A scientific paper is organized to meet the needs of valid publication. It is, or should be, highly stylized, with distinctive and clearly evident component parts. IMRAD  Introduction / Methods / Results / Discussion

The Formation of a scientific article -First Step- This format makes available four major elements, each with a different purpose and content that can be planned and written independently from the others – at least in the first instance. These can be broken temporarily into components to let you, the writer, develop a mental image of what you want to say from beginning to end. Once a few of these components have been completed, they prompt the writing of further components until you can complete a draft of the whole artcle.

The Formation of a scientific article -First Step- Once you have that draft, you have an entirely new perspective of the article. No longer is the challenge to fill a blank screen or a clear sheet of paper but to correct or elaborate on material that is already there and to make it consistent and cohorent with the material around it. This is editing. Editing is much simpler than creating new material. At the editing stage, the material is in some sort of context.

The Formation of a scientific article -First Step- The context comes from the hypothesis. So, the hypothesis is a framework of an article.