1. Scientific Writing
Feel free to ask questions during the presentation.

2. Types of scientific literature
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
These three types of scientific literature are explained in the subsequent slides.
Activity: Ask students to brainstorm the different types of scientific literature. You could provide them with several examples, including primary, tertiary, and secondary literature and have them work in groups to determine which category each article fits into. You could ask them to make a list for each example of who the apparent audience is, what kind of information the paper provides, literature citations, etc.

3. Characteristics of Primary Literature
Content: Original research, first publication, replicable
Audience: Other scientists
Review: Peer-reviewed
Publication format: Journal or book
Literature Citations: Provided
Characteristics of primary literature include:
1) First publication of results from original research;
2) Replicable methods for peers to test the results; and
3) Publication in a journal easily available to the scientific community.
Publication venues are “peer-reviewed” journals, where the articles undergo extensive review by other scientists prior to publication.
Examples relevant to biodiversity conservation:
Conservation Biology
Biological Conservation
Ecological Applications
Journal of Wildlife Management
Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Nature
Science (in sections such as “Research Articles” and “Reports”)
Prior to showing this slide, you could first ask students to list characteristics of a scientific paper, steering them towards the main characteristics above.

4. Characteristics of Secondary Literature
Content: Overview, analysis, and/or interpretation of existing information
Audience: Varied
Review: Sometimes peer-reviewed
Publication format: Books, journals, reports
Literature Citations: Provided
Characteristics of secondary literature include:
Content: Summary and synthesis of existing information
Audience: varied (though generally catered to a specific audience or purpose)
Review: Sometimes peer-reviewed
Publication format: books, journals, reports
Literature citations: Provided
Relevant examples:
Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
Conservation Biology
Trends in Ecology and Evolution
Science (in sections such as “Reviews,” “Articles,” and “Perspectives”)

5. Characteristics of Tertiary Literature
Content: Simplified and condensed information
Audience: Varied
Review: Generally not peer-reviewed
Publication format: Magazines, books, encyclopedias, directories, bibliographies
Literature Citations: Often limited to “Suggested” or “Further readings”
Characteristics of tertiary literature include:
Content: Simplified and condensed information, such as is found in directories or literature guides
Audience: varied (scientists in different fields, non-scientists)
Review: Generally not peer-reviewed
Publication format: magazines, books, encyclopedias, directories, certain kinds of bibliographies
Literature citations: May have bibliography or suggested/ further reading
Relevant examples:
Discover Magazine
Conservation Magazine
Natural History Magazine
Weekly news periodicals such as Time, Newsweek, etc.
Newspapers

6. Structure of a scientific paper
Title Authorship/By-Line Abstract Introduction Materials and Methods Results Discussion Literature cited Acknowledgements

7. Title Should be a short declaration of the main point of the paper
Should make the reader want to read more
Should be brief (<15 words)
Examples
Cutting vines to restore degraded forest fragments increases tree growth but not seedling regeneration
Monarch-parasite interactions in managed and roadside prairies
Wanted! Dead or alive: the tale of the Brown’s Grayling (Pseudochazara amymone)
More general title is better but need to balance, rule that for every 100 people who read the title, 10 read the abstract and 1 the paper,

8. Throughout the paper
Be succinct – minimize repetition between sections
Clear topic sentences
Direct wording and active voice
Avoid long paragraphs and sentences
Put the right material in the right section
Discuss that I know some people have been taught to write in passive but journals ask for active

9. Introduction Write this last and outline before writing
Summarize the existing literature and specific questions that you research will help resolve
4ish paragraphs
1 paragraph each for primary 3-4 conclusions – clear topic sentences
1 paragraph describing goal of study and specific hypotheses or questions
Don’t need a paragraph about the extent of the biodiversity crisis
1st paragraph
2nd paragraph
3rd para.
4th

10. Methods
Succinctly describe the system, methods, and analyses so that the reader can understand what was done
In a way can be replicated
A supplementary experimental design figure can be helpful
Maps
Pictures

11. Results
Use well-designed tables and figure to show your results. Do not repeat data in the text, figures, and tables.
Highlight the most important results – do not have to report everything– help your reader to see what you want them to see
A few descriptive sentences about common species or number of species observed can be helpful
Do not discuss your results in the “results” section
Statistic-ese is when you focus more on the test used than the results

12. Figures and Tables
Should be well-designed to illustrate results in as few figures/tables as possible
Stand alone
Figure captions
Minimize clutter
Make lines thick and all fonts a standard & sufficient size
Make sure cited in text (Figure 1)
Don’t use extra colors remove extra axes and ticks
- I recommend putting figures in the photocopier and reduce them by 50% to see if they are still legible.

13. ALL FIGURES SLIDES WERE AP SLIDES – HAD THEM CRITIQUE THE FIGURES
Main comparison is across treatments so should set it up that way (so different colors for different treatments), lines are too thin, some fonts are too small, x-axis goes to below zero. Importance of including error bars.
Figure 7: The effect of planting style and mulch on the percent cover of native grasses. Error bars represent one SE.

14. Discussion
Most paragraphs should start with a principal message of paper
Discuss the answers to your stated questions/hypothesis using your results and the literature
Note major limitations to data or unanswered questions
Do not speculate extensively or wax knowingly about topics that you don’t present data on – stick to your results
Avoid repetitive conclusions
End with Recommendations!
One good way to conclude is with management recommendations

15. Literature Cited Use literature to: Introduce the problem (in intro)
Support your points (in discussion)
Support methods, if needed
Format
Make sure has authors, title, journal (or book), volume or issue, and page numbers
Just make sure consistent!
Need at least five primary sources
**Make sure cited in text (Cornelisse 2014)

16. Writing Backwards
Write the conclusions to your paper – no more than 5 (usually less), 1 sentence each
Write only the results needed to support your conclusions.
Write only the methods needed to understand the results.
Write the discussion that expands on the literature and results that support your conclusions and notes caveats.
Write the introduction last and present the minimum information necessary to introduce your questions.
0.5 page – changed the way I write
THE PAPER THAT CHANGED HOW I WRITE:
Magnusson, W. E Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 77 (2): 88.