S C IEN TIFIC W R ITIN G

A n overview of scientif c
i w riting
Writing is a part of our day to day activity
We write to
Remember
Writing helps us to think
Writing helps us to communicate
Writing helps us to observe

W riting helps to rem em ber

When students write notes in the lecture
they can
Remain attentive
Distinguish what is most important from
supportive details
Remember essentials of a subject

W riting helps us to think

We think in words then we use words to

capture our thoughts otherwise our thoughts

may be lost
Writing helps us to organize our thoughts by
writing a topic outline for an essay research
paper
Writing helps us to discover gaps in our
thoughts
Writing helps us to make deeper
understanding of our work
Writing helps us to stimulate to further study

W riting helps us to com m unicate

By writing we can
Confirm agreements
Record conversations
Correct misunderstanding
Have more time to think and decide
Present materials in more effective order

than in oral

W hy do scientists and students of science fi

n d w riting
w hat they have done a dif c
i
fult and hard job?

They trained for many years to scientific skills but few

have had any training in writing scientific information

Writing Few universities and institutions provide formal

training in scientific writing

Fear of feedback
Scientists and students of science must give

consideration to learn train and practice scientific

writing because to
They have to publish the scientific information they

have created
Know what they know and what they do not know
To develop their thinking
Learn

from feedback on their writing record their

W hat problem s do student of science

face w ith w riting
They do not find words in their heads
Words do not come
Fear of starting the paper and getting into the

subject
Fear of deadline
They do not know the proper way of writing
It is difficult to follow guidelines or formats
when writing

W riting dem ands

Logic ,clarity and precision

Scientifi
c w riting is
A process of gathering, organizing, analyzing
and refining information using specific
methodology to achieve specific purposes

The essential features ofscientifi

c w riting
1. Scientific writing is to write a scientific paper
2. The content of the scientific paper is
3.
4.
5.
6.

scientific; Research, report, essay

Scientific writing is not
writing literature
Any scientific paper should be precise,
logical, clear and in concise language
Scientific writing needs a series of drafts ,
every draft has to improve the one before
Scientific writing is based upon specific
writing conventions

Chapter tw o

Basic conventions of scientific writing

Scientific writing requires students of science

and scientists to read books, articles, lecture

notes and other reading s materials
Students should know how to
Take information from reading sources
Use it in a composition addressed to specific

audience

Basic techniques/ conventions to present

information

Basic techniques to present

inform ation
summarizing
paraphrasing
direct quoting
avoid plagiarism

Sum m arizing
Is compressing information that

extended over many pages of text

books
you summarize , when you;
answer essay questions
take notes
prepare research paper

H ow to sum m arize
create a graphic overview
compress information
create a sentence outline

create a graphic overview

graphic overview is a diagram that

presents central ideas in the original

sources, shows how they are related
and indicate the authors overall
purpose
how to construct a graphic overview;
under line key words and concepts
write down key words and concepts
draw circles and boxes
connect them with by lines, arrows

advantages ofgraphic
overview
it gives the whole picture
remember;
fit the diagram with a single page
do not put many details
convert graphic overview to a writing

summary
write each main idea in the graphic
overview in or more sentences in your
own words, show connection among the
main ideas

com press inform ation

underline important ideas compress words into fewer words

and provide general term

in a paragraph; combine ideas in one
sentence. Delete unnecessary
materials, rearrange key ideas
emphasize the focal point\the topic
sentence\the main idea of
paragraph

Create a sentence outline

write a sentence summary of each

paragraph
combine the sentences to form a
passage

paraphrasing
paraphrasing is an active process

because you write the total meaning

by your own words for a new
audience
strategies for paraphrasing;
determine major ideas
keep logical connections among them

substitute synonym for words in the

original

strategies for paraphrasing

1-determine major ideas
keep logical connections among them
3-substitute synonym for words in the orjginal
4-think about the audience and select the language he under stand
5- replace original text with synonym
6-to come with the synonym
a-review your vocabulary and select words or phrases that come
close to the original meaning
b-reread the sentence if it makes sense good; if not try another
synonym
7-compare the paraphrasing to the original and ask yourself;
a-did I leave important ideas
b-did I change the meaningc- did I substitute inappropriate synonym

direct quoting
to write word by word from the

original
its better to summarize or
paraphrasing than to quote directly
but sometimes you have to quote to
-retain the meaning of the original
-indentify specific passage that
support your ideas

docum entation quotation

-enclose short quotation [4 lines] in

double quotation marks

-set the quotation apart of the text
by indenting 10 spaces
-acknowledge the author in the text
itself ;write the name before
quotation; within qu0tation; or after
-capitalization; begin quotation with
a capital letter

avoid plagiarism
-cite the sources
-be sure the vocabulary and

sentence structure are different fr0m

original

chapter three
developing a logical scientific paper
writing a scientific research
divisions of a scientific paper
1. Title
2. Introduction
3. material and methods
4. the results
5. discssion of the results
6. Summary
7. References
8. acknowlodgement

the title
the title is the first the reader will read
it's an invitation for the reader to read
it should be;
brief, specific, informative,
how to present a good title;
1. pull out the key words from the material
2. corporate them to make the title
3. use the stereotyped form of a title.
the effect of or the influence of A on B
how A effects B
A effect on b outcome

the introduction
in the introduction write;
1. state the problem
2. orient reader to relevant literature; guide the
reader precisely toward the problem
3. write-the hypotheses
the hypotheses is ;
an expectation of what might find. it is not a
statement of fact .it is statement that moves
from known information to expected
information
attributes of a hypotheses;
comes from reading
needs experiment;test

ways to set up a good hypotheses;

-use if a------------then-----------------develop the hypotheses in it's final
form by either;
induction; present facts----to
----conclusion. to reach
generalization
deduction; apply accepted law
-----to-----specific situation

3-m aterialand m ethods

in material and method division write;
1-techniques used;
1-sampling technique, and source of information
2-stastical technique
3-analytical technique
2-factors that the paper is about
use headings and subheadings to make clear
layout
3-procedures and methods to test hypotheses
1-experiment
2-questionaire

4-the results
in this division;
1. discuss how the results met hypotheses
2. present results without personal comments
3. present careful information
4. don't present too much figures;rows;colums
5. present only the results that enable the reader to
understand
6. don't make the results take a large space
7. use the hypotheses to help you to select the materials
tobe presented in the results
8. highlight important p0ints
9. present the results logically; concisely
10.use tables,figures,statistics to present results

5-discussion ofthe results;