1. Guide to Writing Effectively in Science
What we write comes from
what we read or from what
we experience, such as in a
lab experiment.
Start with some type of thinking map to
organize thoughts, such as the “Circle Map”
and ”brainstorm” ideas, or collect facts.
Write the main topic in the center circle, such as “Energy”, then in the outer circle add ideas or facts (single words or short phrases) such as power, batteries, fuel, wind,
electric, solar, oil, natural gas, biofuels, need to conserve, on-going research.
Don’t like to
write? Did
you know
teens text
well over
3000 texts
per month!
Outside the outer circle, in each corner, write some “context”
idea, or other main category the ideas or facts fall into,
such as “alternative”, “transportation”, “in the home”, “cost”
Once the thinking map is done, it’s time to decide if you’re ready to write or if an additional thinking map is required to further organize ideas, such as a flow or tree map.
Now it’s time to write an original piece (well worth reading!). Start with a well
constructed paragraph, 5 sentences will do! REMEMBER: 1) capitalize the 1st
word, 2) have a subject (usually a noun, a person, place, or thing), 3) a verb
(an action word), and 4) the predicate (the rest of the sentence).
Write a draft first and ask a peer to read it and give you feedback, then revise your writing as necessary - do the same for your peer. Peer review is how writing gets published in the real world. Who will be first published scientist from your schoo!?