Writing and Presentation

Books are crafted. Every word, every symbol in italics, every line on a diagram, every photograph, every caption, was put there by someone for a purpose. Be mindful, when you write, of purpose, and of meaning. Write so that your work is easy to read and to understand.

 

Scientific writing is different from many other types of writing.  A poem, a persuasive essay, a short story, and a scientific report all have very different purposes which require very different styles.  The purpose of the scientific reports which you will write at ISB is to clearly communicate the results of your scientific investigations.  To achieve this purpose, scientific writing must be concise, clear, familiar and precise.

A lack of conciseness is probably one of the most common mistakes made by students.  Say it once, say it well, and stop.  Saying the same thing twice does not increase understanding, it just wastes the reader’s time.  Concise writers eliminate redundancy in their sentences. 

“An iron metal ball was rolled down the track.”

Iron is a metal.  The word metal adds nothing more to the meaning of the sentence.

“The pecking behavior became increasingly more common as the reward was given.”

The words “increasingly” and “more” are redundant.

“Wasted words” are words or phrases which offer no new information to your readers.  Concise writers eliminate wasted words.  Eliminating the wasted words changes nothing.

“It should be pointed out that the presence of an increasingly large force of friction in the experimental set-up during the course of the experiment caused a significant reduction in the acceleration of the cart.”

A bit complex?  Can you identify the redundancies and wasted words?  How about:

“The force of friction in the apparatus increased during the experiment.  This caused a reduction in the acceleration of the cart.”

The same information is communicated more quickly and clearly. Here is a list of common redundant and wasted words and phrases which can usually be eliminated from your writing without changing the meaning.

Avoid needlessly complex words and phrases.  Look at the following sentence.

“The lighter was disassembled with the removal of the roller and the flint in order to maximize the size of the opening in the lighter, which allowed for a faster release of lighter fluid.”

The next sentence says the same thing with fewer, simpler words and sentence structure.  It is more effective scientific writing.

“The roller and flint assembly was removed from the lighter.  This allowed the lighter fluid to be released more quickly.”

The next important characteristic of good scientific writing is clarity.  A lack of clarity is usually caused by ambiguity in your sentences.  Scientific writing should be simple in both word choice and sentence structure.  The ideas being communicated are complex enough, don’t make it worse by making the writing unclear. 

Clear scientific writing avoids ambiguity in word choice and sentence structure.

“The temperature of the solution increased as the acid was added.” 

The word “as” in this sentence can mean “while” or “because”.  The meaning of this sentence is ambiguous.

“We measured the temperature in the hot water bath.”

Were you in the hot water bath while measuring the temperature?  This sentence is ambiguous. 

Here are a few phrases to avoid and general rules to follow:

1. do not use ... should. Never write this or that should have happened. The world is as it is. What happens has a reason. Find the reason.
2. do not use the phrase... human error. People make mistakes but 'human error' is just silly. Errors are uncertainties in measurements that have nothing to do with humans.
3. do not use ... I ...or ... we. Write: The barometer was used to measure ... Not ... I used the barometer to measure ....
4. do not use vague expressions or slang ... a few ... a little bit ... a lot ... sort of ... fairly ... pretty good ... fairly successful ... frequency response thingy ... If there were three write three. If you made five write five.
5. avoid ... However. Start the sentence without it, or find some other way to say what you mean.
6. avoid ... couldn't ... can't ... don't ...won't ...wouldn't ... shouldn't ... etc.
7. avoid the anthropomorphic fallacy (pretending things are people). A computer does not calculate; we use a program to calculate. A ball cannot want to be on the floor.

Even good scientific writers will have some ambiguity in their first drafts.  Eliminating ambiguity in your writing requires that you edit your work.  Proofreading your work aloud will help you spot ambiguities in your word use and sentence structure.

Two other characteristics of good scientific writing are familiarity and preciseness.  Whenever possible, use words that your audience understands.  If it is necessary to use a word with which your audience might not be familiar, then you must clearly define it.  Words have specific meanings; use them to say precisely what you mean.  Mass and weight have different meanings.  Do not use the word weight when you mean mass.  A strong acid and a concentrated acid are different.  Do not say “strong acid” when you mean “concentrated acid”.  Comprise and compose have different meanings.  Water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, it is not comprised of hydrogen and oxygen.  Know the meaning of the words you use and use them to say precisely what you mean. 

Scientific writing is a skill which takes time to develop.  Be careful as you write and edit your scientific reports.   Remember that the purpose of the report is to clearly communicate the results of your scientific research.  To achieve this purpose, good scientific writing must be:

• Concise:  communicate your meaning clearly in the fewest words possible.  Eliminate redundancies and unnecessary words.
• Clear:  avoid needless complexity and ambiguity in your sentences
• Familiar:  use words which the reader understands, define any unfamiliar words.
• Precise:  choose the words that mean what you want to say.

Report Presentation

Single column layout

You may choose to work in single column layout. Type the main heading in large size and center it. Type the sub headings at the left hand side and make them bold. Type paragraphs under the headings. Paste illustrations in the center with figure numbers and captions, close to the text that refers to them.

Your layout could look like this for a two page report.

The box on page 1 can be a digital image or a diagram. The table and graph are on page 2. The figure and graph both have captions.

 

Floating text boxes

You may choose to work with all the text and illustrations in floating text boxes. Type the main heading in large size and center it. Type the sub headings in text boxes. Type paragraphs in text boxes. Type figure numbers and captions in text boxes. Paste illustrations in floating boxes. Move the text and illustrations so that the page reads well and each paragraph of text is next to the figure it describes.

Your layout could look like this for a two page report.

The boxes on page 1 can be digital images and/or diagrams. The table and graph are on page 2. The figures and graphs all have labels and captions.

 

Headings

• Title: less than ten words; describes what you did.
• Introduction: provides background information relevant to your research question/purpose.
• Design: includes materials used and explains in detail what you did.
• Data Collection & Processing: shows your quantitative and qualitative measurements, the processing of your data, and the results of your investigation.
  • All figures, tables and graphs have a title, and caption.
    • Label tables ... Table 1 ...Table 2 ... Table 3 ...
    • Label figures and graphs... Fig 1 ... Fig 2 ... Fig 3 ...
• Conclusion and Evaluation: summarizes your findings, explains what they mean and their significance, discusses any weaknesses and things that went wrong, suggests ways in which the experiment could be made more accurate next time.

 

Appearance

 Try to follow these general rules to make the report easier for the reader to follow:

• Never split a table onto two different pages.  Plan your page breaks so that tables stay on one page.
• Never have a label/caption on one page and the table, graph, or figure on another.  Again, plan your page breaks.
• A section heading should never be split from the body of the section.
• Graphs should be big enough to be easily read.

 

Math

Put any equations centered (in the middle of the page) on a line by themselves with a line missed above and below. Number each equation along the right margin. If there are several lines of math, skip a line between each. Put the equal signs in a line one below the other.

• Type all symbols in equations in italics. Type subscripts and superscripts in Roman (not italics), at a smaller font size.
• Be careful to define all symbols.

For example:

The friction force (F) is proportional to (N) the normal force. The friction force is given by
F = mN,	(Equation 1)
where m is the coefficient of friction.

Color

Color can add meaning, and make your report easier to read. The line on a graph can be in color. A photograph can be in color if you have a color printer. Colored paper can be used as a background behind graphs, but ... there are no extra marks for printing in color.

 

Font

It is generally recommended to use Helvetica, Times, Palatino or Comic Sans in size 11 font. You may choose, if you wish, to type captions at size 10 font.

 

Check your writing

• Read what you have written ALOUD.
• Read what is there; not what you wanted to be there.
• Ask yourself whether what you read is what you really meant.
• Make sure you have used sentences in the passive voice, past tense (was or were plus the past participle of a verb) and not active voice sentences as appropriate. Look for and reword any sentences with I and we.
  e.g. Then I released the pendulum and measured the time for three complete swings. (active voice)
  change to …
  The pendulum was then released and the time for three complete swings was measured. (passive voice, past tense)
• Finally, it is a good idea to have a classmate edit your writing and evaluate the report using the appropriate rubric.