Qualities of Good and Bad Scientific Writing

Scientific Writing

Scientific writing is an important tool for communicating science based research to a knowledgeable audience in the science community. Science writing covers a specific topic in a field and for that reason must be written in a structured and detailed manor. Because the information is so detailed and the audience is assumed to have at least a general knowledge in the topic, the language used in science writing often contains technical jargon specific to the field at hand. To convey the research data as effectively as possible scientific research often begins with a strong abstract to summarize the findings of the research and follows an IMRad format which stands for Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion.

 

Infographic by Amy Foltz

A good scientific paper should provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the hypothesis of the study, how it fits into a larger body of knowledge, and should contextualize the specific results of the study. To do this it is important that the methods of data collection are clearly described, and that the data is replicable. It is to the scientific writers discretion to decide if it is necessary to include the entire data set or include the parts that provide the best insight to the conclusion of the data.

Tips:

  • Strong Abstract that summarizes the research
  • Understand how your research fits into the existing field
  • Understand your audience
  • IMRaD format
  • Clearly described methodology and replicable data
  • A decisive conclusion that contextualizes results

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