Passive vs. Active voice Taller de inglés científico para publicaciones académicas Mexico City, México August-September 2014 MATERIALS AND METHODS Academic Writing Principles

MATERIALS AND METHODS Academic Writing Principles Taller de inglés científico para publicaciones académicas Mexico City, México August-September 2014

The greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the invention of the method of invention. A. N. Whitehead

Sections in journal-style paper The sections appear in a journal style paper in the following general order: What did I do in a nutshell? ABSTRACT What is the problem? INTRODUCTION How did I solve the problem?METHODS What did I find out? RESULTS What does it mean? DISCUSSION Who helped me out? ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Whose work did I refer to? LITERATURE CITED

When it’s not called methods Some scientific disciplines do not have a ‘methods’ section but there is always a part of the paper where you either explain what you did or you show it (i.e. mathematical proof)

Purpose of methods Establishes credibility for the results Provides enough information to evaluate the results – based on the methods do the results really mean what you say they mean? Should allow readers to, if necessary, reproduce your experiment, design or method Should help readers anticipate your results

What should be in this section? Precise details on how to accomplish tasks in the study or readily available citations Often a chronological account of what you did but not always (sometimes some details are kept together but are not chronological) Showing what you did (e.g. a proof) or an analysis of previous work Division into appropriate stages, if applicable

What should be in this section? Headings that reflect the nature of the stages (e.g. sample preparation) An overview of all stages at the beginning Sometimes, explanations or justifications are necessary (e.g. limitations you had to accept in applying a methodology because of time or money constraints or explaining a new method)

Short or long? Methods can vary in their length and detail Condensed – more common in scientific papers - assumes background knowledge - uses references for previously cited methods - few definitions and examples - few linking phrases

Short or longer? Extended methods - several subsections - uses descriptions - several “how” statements - used to describe novel methods - more definitions and examples In-between – yes, there are methods that follow a bit of both of the above!

Relating your methods to results section – how? 1)Use identical or similar subheadings 2)Use introductory phrases or sentences in Methods that relate to the aims e.g.

Your turn…. Look at the methods section in your model paper and consider the following: 1.In what section or in what style do the authors present what they did? 2.Do their methods/approach/analysis follow what they said they would do in the introduction? 3.If there are sub-sections in the methods sections, do they relate to the introduction? 4.Are introductory sentences or phrases used to relate to the aim of the study? E.g. In order to analyze the effects of stalactites on groundwater calcium concentrations, we first took samples….

Improve this top-heavy methods sentence Actual evapotranspiration (T) for each crop, defined as the amount of precipitation for the period between sowing and harvesting the particular crop plus or minus the change in soil water storage in the 2 m soil profile, was computed by the soil water balance equation (Xin, 1986; Zhu and Niu, 1987).

Avoiding repetition Could any of these be abbreviated to avoid excessive repetition? The data were collected and they were analysed using… The data were collected and correlations were calculated… The data which were collected were analysed using… The collected data were analysed….

Your turn Look at a sample methods/neighbour’s manuscript and determine if the methods, approach section follows from what was said in the introduction. Does it follow from what you stated as your aim? If it does not already, could it have subsections? If it does have subsections, are the same/similar to results subsections? Is there enough detail to be able to repeat the research? Are there adequate references for methods or approaches? Is the use of passive/active tense balanced? Are the sentences top-heavy?