Writing Tips from Biology Professors
Here are a few comments about scientific writing according to Lisa Emerson, a Fulbright Scholar who studies the role of scientists as writers.
- While scientific writing is most often referred to as written in the passive voice, a lot of the literature in most scientific disciplines is written in the active voice. The only part of a lab or research report where it is absolutely necessary to write in the passive voice is in the materials and methods section, because what matters is not who did the procedure but rather how it is done. Students should check whether to use active or passive voice in the rest of their report with their professor.
- One of the most important aspects of scientific writing is conciseness. Although it might be tempting to construct beautiful, flowing paragraphs, brevity is of the utmost importance while writing a lab or research report. In addition, the structure relies on a compressed frame of diagrams, graphs, and tables, indicating the need for providing a myriad of information in a concise manner.
- A scientific lab or research report is written in deductive paragraphs within an inductive structure. Contrary to numerous scholarly works that state a clear thesis in the beginning, lab or research reports usually start with a situation and end with the significance after the details are accurately presented.
- Writing a lab or research report is more like writing a detective story than one would think. In a sense, the introduction outlines a dilemma and poses a question, the body observes the clues, and the conclusion presents the answer, much like solving the mystery. A lab or research report holds a sense of persuasion, starting from the hook in the introduction. The details within must present enough evidence to support those details in the results and inference in the discussion.
- All scientific writing must tell a story from the introduction to the discussion. This story is not about the scientists themselves. Instead, a lab or research report tells a story about science, outlining the relationship between the scientists’ story and a bigger scientific phenomenon. When beginning to write a lab or research report, it is often helpful to ask, “What is the story and what is the evidence that will construct that story?”
Interviewer: Shannon Lozito
Tips from Teacher’s Assistants
from BCOR 102 TA, Judith Keller
- Biological writing does not have to be lengthy to get a point across. Often a straight-forward, concise statement is more well-received than an entire paragraph elaborating on the same thing with superfluous sentences.
- When writing numbers in a lab report, always include zeros before the decimal point (for example, 0.05 instead of .05). As a general rule, when you start a sentence with a number, the number should be written out, whereas if it is used within a sentence, it is okay to use the numerical format (for example: “Seven galls were dissected and analyzed.”’ “There were 12 different kinds of insects found.”)
- Read a journal article in your specific subject area to learn more about writing in that field. For example, if you are writing a report about moose populations in Vermont, look up an article in the journal Ecology. All journals have a “to the authors” section on their websites which give specific instructions on what to include in sections and in what order things are usually presented. This can be helpful in organizing your thoughts and getting you used to a particular writing style. This section can also provide helpful hints on how to make tables and figures visually pleasing.
- If you want to become a good writer in your field, read, read, read! The more subject appropriate literature you read, the more apt you become at adopting scientific writing styles.
Interviewer: Sydney Lister