Writing a Scientific Research Article
WRITING A SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ARTICLE
FORMAT FOR THE PAPER
Scientific research articles provide a method for scientists to communicate with other scientists about the results of their research. A standard format is used for these articles, in which the author presents the research in an orderly, logical manner. This doesn 't necessarily reflect the order in which you did or thought about the work. This format is:
TITLE
1. Make your title specific enough to describe the contents of the paper, but not so technical that only specialists will understand. The title should be appropriate for the intended audience. 2. The title usually describes the subject matter of the article: Effect of Smoking on Academic Performance" 3. Sometimes a title that summarizes the results is more effective: Students Who Smoke Get Lower Grades"
AUTHORS
1. The person who did the work and wrote the paper is generally listed as the first author of a research paper.
2. For published articles, other people who made substantial contributions to the work are also listed as authors. Ask your mentor 's permission before including his/her name as co-author.
ABSTRACT
1. An abstract, or summary, is published together with a research article, giving the reader a "preview" of what 's to come. Such abstracts may also be published separately in bibliographical sources, such as Biologic al Abstracts. They allow other scientists to quickly scan the large scientific literature, and decide which articles they want to read in depth. The abstract should be a little less technical than the article itself; you don 't want to dissuade your potent ial audience from reading your paper.
2. Your abstract should be one paragraph, of 100-250 words, which summarizes the purpose, methods, results and conclusions of the paper.
3. It is not easy to include all this information in just a few words. Start by writing a summary that includes whatever you think is important, and then gradually prune it
FORMAT FOR THE PAPER
Scientific research articles provide a method for scientists to communicate with other scientists about the results of their research. A standard format is used for these articles, in which the author presents the research in an orderly, logical manner. This doesn 't necessarily reflect the order in which you did or thought about the work. This format is:
TITLE
1. Make your title specific enough to describe the contents of the paper, but not so technical that only specialists will understand. The title should be appropriate for the intended audience. 2. The title usually describes the subject matter of the article: Effect of Smoking on Academic Performance" 3. Sometimes a title that summarizes the results is more effective: Students Who Smoke Get Lower Grades"
AUTHORS
1. The person who did the work and wrote the paper is generally listed as the first author of a research paper.
2. For published articles, other people who made substantial contributions to the work are also listed as authors. Ask your mentor 's permission before including his/her name as co-author.
ABSTRACT
1. An abstract, or summary, is published together with a research article, giving the reader a "preview" of what 's to come. Such abstracts may also be published separately in bibliographical sources, such as Biologic al Abstracts. They allow other scientists to quickly scan the large scientific literature, and decide which articles they want to read in depth. The abstract should be a little less technical than the article itself; you don 't want to dissuade your potent ial audience from reading your paper.
2. Your abstract should be one paragraph, of 100-250 words, which summarizes the purpose, methods, results and conclusions of the paper.
3. It is not easy to include all this information in just a few words. Start by writing a summary that includes whatever you think is important, and then gradually prune it
References: Indigo, A. C., and Mauve, B. E. 1994. Queer place for qwerty: gene isolation from the platypus. Science 275, 1213-1214. Magenta, S. T., Sepia, X., and Turquoise, U. 1995. Wombat genetics. In: Widiculous Wombats, Violet, Q., ed. New York: Columbia University Press. p 123-145. Scarlet, S.L. 1990. Isolation of qwerty gene from S. cerevisae. Journal of Unusual Results 36, 26-31. "The conjunction 'and ' commonly serves to indicate that the writer 's mind still functions even when no signs of the phenomenon are noticeable." Rudolf Virchow, 1928 Harrison W. Ambrose, III & Katharine Peckham Ambrose, A Handbook of Biological Investigation, 4th edition, Hunter Textbooks Inc, Winston-Salem, 1987 Particularly useful if you need to use statistics to analyze your data Robert S. Day, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 4th edition, Oryx Press, Phoenix, 1994. William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 3rd ed. Macmillan, New York, 1987. Several copies available in Columbia libraries. Strunk 's first edition is available on-line.