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Madison Taylor
Lang 120.07-Part 2
Prof. Graves
11 November 2015

The process of writing a scientific paper

Throughout your schooling you learn the simple and most common formatting for
writing, a five-paragraph paper that is usually MLA formatted. You learned not to use
exclamation points, contractions, or even first person in some cases. Growing up you never
veered off from this common writing format, but then you entered college and picked a major.
My very first week of college, as biology major, I was asked to write a paper in APA format
from a scientific discipline prospective. I had no idea what APA format was since I basically
grew up writing in MLA, and when I found out that a scientific research paper did not contain
the same rules as an average English paper I was ready to drop out immediately.
My biology professor, Dr. Hale, assigned my class three papers over the semester. In the
first paper we researched pollinators and their affect on certain flowers. In this paper I was only
required to write the research section and display the figures. Even though it was not a whole
paper, it was still difficult since I had never written one before. The second paper I had to write
described the soil nutrients of three distinct areas around campus. I was required to write a result
and methods section and display figures. The third paper described mosquito ecology and I had
to write the entire paper this time. I questioned Dr. Hales method but I liked her process in the
end. When interviewing her about why she chose to assign the papers this way she said The

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professors in the biology department and I created this progression so that students would build
on their knowledge. We found that when they were able to piece the paper together one by one it
was easier to focus on each section and they would refine their work more often, resulting in
higher grades. Dr. Hale was right, piecing each paper one by one helped increase my grade and
allowed me to refine my work in a much simpler way. Good writers think before, during, and
after writing states Duncan Carter (86). Each paper increased in difficulty and I had struggled
all semester on how to write them. I never thought they would get easier, but they did.
Luckily, I have cracked the code on learning how to write a research paper effectively in
a scientific discipline. I have discovered that writing papers will become much easier if you
break them up into two main parts, a research portion and the writing portion. The research half
will contain how you start the paper and how you identify your topic while the writing half will
focus on what goes into the paper and how to break your research up. Scientific writing may not
be fun and easy but it is a responsibility of the researcher to increase ones knowledge (Deitel 3).
When starting your paper you will want to make sure you have a vast amount of
background information; this will require an extensive amount of research on your topic. Make
sure to find a topic that not only interest you, but also interest other professionals in this field.
Always give credit to the person who first discovered the research but make sure they are a
reliable source. It is important you get their title correct because they worked very hard to be
addressed as it (address them as Dr. for a PhD and or MD, Professor if they teach college, or
Mrs. If they are a married woman) (Albert 130). The next step is to determine if your research
will be quantitative or qualitative.

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A quantitative research paper will contain original information that you have conducted
or researched and include an abstract, introduction, hypothesis, predictions, methods, results, and
a discussion followed by references. This approach is used in the natural sciences along with the
medical field. A qualitative research paper will be used for the social sciences but can be argued
that it can be used in the natural sciences as well; it is not as common in the natural sciences so
we will not use it.
Your final step in the research stage is to find credible sources. Credible sources will add
value to your research and can be traced back to make sure your information is not flawed or
copied. You must be very cautious of where you get your information because many websites
will allow anyone to edit them. Your best options are websites ending in .edu, .org, or sites
that contain academic articles. These websites will typically have background information on the
author, making it easy to cite and give credit where it is due. When referring to your research,
make sure to keep the information with its correct citation so it may be searched for background
knowledge. This will also keep your paper organized in thought and connect ideas throughout
the paper.
In the second portion of your research paper you will focus on what goes into the writing.
Before you can start writing you need to create an outline. An outline will help keep your paper
organized and clear to the reader. It will also help you find information that will fit under each
heading; this simplifies your writing process and will minimize stress. You must also know that
it is okay to rearrange the order of your paper. You may have perfect idea for where you want
everything to go in your paper but ideas change as you write. An idea may work better under
one heading than another and that okay, just reread the information and recreate flow throughout
the paragraph.

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When you format your writing make sure to keep the font and font size consistent. Most

papers require Times New Roman written in size 12 fonts but this requirement may be
negotiable so check before you start. As you continue to check for requirements, make sure you
check the spacing. The majority of papers are double-spaced with one-inch margins but when
uploading a paper to a database they may require you to keep it single-spaced; some databases
double-space papers on their own to keep things consistent. Your paragraphs should be
developed logically, in short simple sentences that contain active voice and positive statements
(Albert 124). This will help your readers easily understand the information presented to them.
On your very first page you should create a cover page. Your cover page should be
centered and include your name followed by two lines. After that you should include what
subject or department youre writing the research for, where you attend school (or place of
business), and the address, all separated by one line. Here is an example of what it should look
like:
Madison Taylor

Department of Biology
University of North Carolina at Asheville
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804

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This will tell the reader who you are and where you studied, establishing your own credibility
and allowing them to get in contact with you if needed.
Abstract
The first paragraph of your paper should be labeled as the abstract. In the abstract you
will write a 200 to 300-word summary of what you researched, highlighting the most important
information. You should include the purpose of the research and the main conclusions. After you
have figured out your conclusion, you need to tell why it is important and what significance it
has to the research. The abstract may not make sense to the reader at first because they have not
read any background information on your topic but in the end they will understand.
Introduction
The next paragraph will contain the introduction. Here you will provide the reader with
background knowledge that will make the abstract clear. Background knowledge will simplify
your research for the reader and tell them what they should expect. From there you will elaborate
on the main problem, or what caused you to research that topic. You should state what you
already know about the problem and your objective. The objective (or thesis) is made up of your
hypothesis and predictions, which tell what you think will happen and why. This may be long
and boring but it is very important to your work (Albert 128). You are not limited to a certain
number of predictions but you should keep the number reasonable because you may only be able
to support a certain number of these. It is okay to not be able to support all of your predictions
but the more you cannot support, the less reliable your work looks.
Methods

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In the methods paragraphs you will start by telling when and where you conducted the

research. For example, if you conducted research at school on the days of November 2 through
the 4 you would say: On the days of November 2 through November 4 of 2015, I conducted my
research at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. You would then restate the hypothesis
and predictions. Next, explain the layout and design. In the design, you want to clarify every
detail and include all measurements if applicable. If you used a bin to hold supplies then you
must tell the dimensions; this may seem silly but it will make your research very precise. This is
also where you explain every step of the research. It is very important that you explain every step
in detail, no matter how small, so that nothing gets skipped over. While outlining your research
and explaining your steps, it may be easier to bullet point the information and then go back to
form them into sentences. Your methods section will be the longest out of the whole paper so do
not worry if you have a large amount of bullet points.
Results
The results paragraph should restate what you researched and why you did it. Any and all
data should be placed here along with an explanation of any statistical operation you ran in the
research. All research should contain at least one experiment so that you can test your hypothesis
and predictions. Graphs, figures, and tables will be placed at the very end of the paper but you
should refer to them here since this is where your data is being explained. If you ran a regression
analysis in your experiment then you should state if there was a significant relationship between
the things you tested. You can figure out if the relationship is significant or not by the p value,
degrees of freedom, and the r2 values. Theses are also referred to in the writing but will be
displayed in the figures. (r2=, df=, p=) is an example of how you will layout the significance in

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the writing along with the referred figure, table, or graph (Figure 1). The length of your results is
not specified due to how many experiments you ran in your research.
Discussion
This paragraph will contain two parts, a discussion and your conclusions. In the
discussion part you will explain to the reader about what you have found and the relevance of
your findings. This will put your results into words incase they do not understand the numbers or
mathematical concepts. In the discussion you should also relate your findings to other studies,
comparing the relevance of your study to another. The discussion will consider the results
compared to other studies that have been reported (Deitel 4). Tell if other studies support your
findings and if they do not, explain why or what the possible differences could have been. It is
vital that you cite your sources here to avoid plagiarism.
Next you will summarize the main point of your research; this will contain your
conclusion. Your conclusion should reinstate the reason you conducted the research. You need to
explain if your hypothesis and predictions were correct and if they were not, explain what you
might do differently next time. This will sound very similar to the first part of the discussion but
there are slight differences that will be important to your research and expand the readers
knowledge of your findings. The discussion paragraph should be at least two paragraphs if not
more. Together, it will tell why your research contributes to the field and conclude the paper.

References

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Albert, T. (2000). A-Z of Medical Writing. London, GBR: BMJ Books. Retrieved from http://0www.ebrary.com.wncln.wncln.org.
In the A-Z of Medical Writing book, the author, T. Albert, outlines how to properly write
in scientific journals. This book offers guidelines to writing and exact steps on how to form data
into sentences. It also includes chapters on coaching, legal problems, and more in writing
scientific journals, it is perfect for, and directed toward, any science related major that is hopeful
to be doing medical research.
Carter, Duncan. (1993). Critical thinking for writers: Transferable skills or discipline-specific
strategies? Composition Studies/Freshman English News, 21 (1), 86-93.

In his article, author Duncan Carter, questions how context writing flows in critical
thinking, and if it can be used in one's own writing. Carter is addressing his article towards
teachers by pointing out the different learning styles and suggesting how they should (teach or)
mold them (what it takes to be a critical thinker, how they react, etc.) into their own style. He
also expresses how one should obtain this information and use it for their own knowledge.

Dr. Hale, R. (2015, November 6). [Personal interview]

Dr. Hale, a Biology teacher at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, explained
the process of why she starts her students out writing only certain sections of research report. She
starts her students off with only the results section and figures in the first paper, the results,
figures, and methods section in the second, and then a full paper in the third and final paper.

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Deitel, M. (2004). Requirements for medical writing. Obesity Surgery, 14(1), 3-7. doi:http://0dx.doi.org.wncln.wncln.org/10.1381/096089204772787194.
Author M. Deitel MD, a bariatric surgeon, writes about how surgeons are responsible for
communication in the field of scientific medicine. He explains how they are required to keep
readers up to date in the fast paced developing field. Surgeons often use journal entries to reach
their readers. In these journals, doctors must meet certain requirements to ensure the information
is clear and easy to read for medical students or health related science majors.