1. How to Write a Scientific Paper

2. Paper Format Standard: Review paper: Abstract Introduction
Materials & Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Review paper:
Abstract (mostly)
Introduction
Subheadings
Conclusion
References

3. Journal Article Summary
THESE ARE PRIMARY SOURCES
What were their aims?
Pay attention to abstract
It will guide you through the paper
Pick out main points and methods used
What were their main conclusions?
Did they miss anything?

4. Abstract Overview of entire paper Summarize: Concise what you did
how you did it
results
conclusions
Concise

5. Introduction Background information Summarize previous studies
Cite all appropriate references
Outline question/problem to be addressed

6. Materials & Methods What you did How you did it
Enough information for someone else to repeat your experiments
Falsifiability

7. Results What you found Often use tables and figures
graphs
graphical representations of results
Should be easily understandable
Should address every point from the methods, if not more

8. Discussion The real meat of the paper
Put your results in light of other studies
How does your study conflict or support other studies?
Big picture
Problems encountered
Future directions

9. General Writing Style Don’t be too personal Use evidence (or lack)
I think that ...
They say this, but I don’t believe it ...
Use evidence (or lack)
Our data show that ...
They say this, but their evidence is, at best, sketchy ...

10. General Writing Style Be clear and concise! Who is your audience?
Say what you need to say, then quit
Who is your audience?
No word contractions
e.g., don’t, won’t, can’t
Avoid colloquialisms
Shows bad English, and we have enough of that already

11. References Journal-style referencing is best Refer to handout
Posted online
Reference EVERY article that you cite and use (and cite every reference in the text)