Notes on the
Structure of a
Scientific Paper

A scientific paper is a written report describing original research results. The format of a scientific paper has been defined by centuries of developing tradition, editorial practice, scientific ethics and the interplay with printing and publishing services. A scientific paper should have, in proper order, a Title, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion.

Title

A title should be the fewest possible words that accurately describe the content of the paper. Omit all waste words such as "A study of ...", "Investigations of ...", "Observations on ...", etc. Indexing and abstracting services depend on the accuracy of the title, extracting from it keywords useful in cross-referencing and computer searching. An improperly titled paper may never reach the audience for which it was intended, so be specific. If the study is of a particular species, name it in the title. If the inferences made in the paper are limited to a particular region, then name the region in the title.

Keyword List

The keyword list provides the opportunity to add keywords, used by the indexing and abstracting services, in addition to those already present in the title. Judicious use of keywords may increase the ease with which interested parties can locate your article.

Abstract

A well prepared abstract should enable the reader to identify the basic content of a document quickly and accurately, to determine its relevance to their interests, and thus to decide whether to read the document in its entirety. The abstract should concisely state the principal objectives and scope of the investigation where these are not obvious from the title. More importantly, it should concisely summarize the results and principal conclusions. Do not include details of the methods employed unless the study is methodological, i.e. primarily concerned with methods.

The abstract must be concise, not exceeding 250 words. If you can convey the essential details of the paper in 100 words, do not use 200. Do not repeat information contained in the title. The abstract, together with the title, must be self-contained as it is published separately from the paper in abstracting services such as Biological Abstracts or Current Contents. Omit all references to the literature and to tables or figures, and omit obscure abbreviations and acronyms even though they may be defined in main body of the paper.

Introduction

The Introduction should begin by introducing the reader to the pertinent literature. A common mistake is to introduce authors and their areas of study in general terms without mention of their major findings. For example:

"Parmenter (1976) and Chessman (1978) studied the diet of Chelodina longicollis at various latitudes and Legler (1978) and Chessman (1983) conducted a similar study on Chelodina expansa"

compares poorly with:

"Within the confines of carnivory, Chelodina expansa is a selective and specialized predator feeding upon highly motile prey such as decapod crustaceans, aquatic bugs and small fish (Legler, 1978; Chessman, 1984), whereas C. longicollis is reported to have a diverse and opportunistic diet (Parmenter, 1976; Chessman, 1984)".

The latter is a far more informative lead-in to the literature, but more importantly it will enable the reader to clearly place the current work in the context of what is already known. An important function of the introduction is to establish the significance of the current work: Why was there a need to conduct the study?

Having introduced the pertinent literature and demonstrated the need for the current study, you should state clearly the scope and objectives. Avoid a series of point-wise statements -- use prose. A brief description of the region in which the study was conducted, and of the taxa in question, can be included at this point. The introduction can finish with the statement of objectives or, as some people prefer, with a brief statement of the principal findings. Either way, the reader must have an idea of where the paper is heading in order to follow the development of the evidence.

Materials and Methods

The main purpose of the Materials and Methods section is to provide enough detail for a competent worker to repeat your study and reproduce the results. The scientific method requires that your results be reproducible, and you must provide a basis for repetition of the study by others.

Often in field-based studies, there is a need to describe the study area in greater detail than is possible in the Introduction. Usually authors will describe the study region in general terms in the Introduction and then describe the study site and climate in detail in the Materials and Methods section. The sub-headings "Study Site", "General Methods" and "Analysis" may be useful, in that order.

Equipment and materials available off the shelf should be described exactly (Licor underwater quantum sensor, Model LI 192SB) and sources of materials should be given if there is variation in quality among supplies. Modifications to equipment or equipment constructed specifically for the study should be carefully described in detail. The method used to prepare reagents, fixatives, and stains should be stated exactly, though often reference to standard recipes in other works will suffice.

The usual order of presentation of methods is chronological, however related methods may need to be described together and strict chronological order cannot always be followed. If your methods are new (unpublished), you must provide all of the detail required to repeat the methods. However, if a method has been previously published in a standard journal, only the name of the method and a literature reference need be given.

Be precise in describing measurements and include errors of measurement. Ordinary statistical methods should be used without comment; advanced or unusual methods may require a literature citation.

Show your materials and methods section to a colleague. Ask if they would have difficulty in repeating your study.

Results

In the results section you present your findings. Present the data, digested and condensed, with important trends extracted and described. Because the results comprise the new knowledge that you are contributing to the world, it is important that your findings be clearly and simply stated.

The results should be short and sweet, without verbiage. Do not say

"It is clearly evident from Fig. 1 that bird species richness increased with habitat complexity".

Say instead

"Bird species richness increased with habitat complexity (Fig. 1)".

However, do not be too concise. The readers cannot be expected to extract important trends from the data unaided. Few will bother. Combine the use of text, tables and figures to condense data and highlight trends. In doing so be sure to refer to the guidelines for preparing tables and figures below.

Discussion

In the discussion you should discuss the results. What biological principles have been established or reinforced? What generalizations can be drawn? How do your findings compare to the findings of others or to expectations based on previous work? Are there any theoretical/practical implications of your work? When you address these questions, it is crucial that your discussion rests firmly on the evidence presented in the results section. Continually refer to your results (but do not repeat them). Most importantly, do not extend your conclusions beyond those which are directly supported by your results. Speculation has its place, but should not form the bulk of the discussion. Be sure to address the objectives of the study in the discussion and to discuss the significance of the results. Don't leave the reader thinking "So what?". End the discussion with a short summary or conclusion regarding the significance of the work.

References

Whenever you draw upon information contained in another paper, you must acknowledge the source. All references to the literature must be followed immediately by an indication of the source of the information that is referenced. For assignments in the Faculty of Applied Science, we expect you to use the Harvard system, for example:

"A drop in dissolved oxygen under similar conditions has been demonstrated before (Norris, l986)."

"Williams (1921) was the first to report this phenomenon."

". . . . . as discussed in detail by Ramsay (1983)."

If two authors are involved, include both surnames,

"The dune lakes of Jervis Bay are not perched in the generally accepted sense (Smith and Jones l964).",

however if more than two authors are involved, you are encouraged to make use of the et al. convention. It is an abbreviation of Latin meaning "and others".

"The significance of changes in egg contents during development is poorly understood (Webb et al., 1986)."

"Williams et al. (1921) were the first to report this phenomenon."

Do not use the et al. abbreviation in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If two or more articles written by the same author in the same year are cited, then distinguish between them using the suffixes a, b, c etc in both the text and the reference list (e.g. Smith and Jones, 1982b).

If you include in your report, phrases, sentences or paragraphs lifted verbatim from the literature, it is not sufficient to simply cite the source. You must include the material in quotes and you must give the number of the page from which the quote was lifted. For example:

"Day (l979:3l) reports a result where "33.3% of the mice used in this experiment were cured by the test drug; 33.3% of the test population were unaffected by the drug and remained in a moribund condition; the third mouse got away".

A list of references ordered alphabetically on author's surname, must be provided at the end of your paper. The reference list should contain all references cited in the text but no more. Include with each reference details of the author, year of publication, title of article, name of journal or book, volume and page numbers. Formats vary from journal to journal, so when you are preparing a scientific paper for an assignment, choose a journal in your field of interest and follow its format for the reference list. Be consistent in the use of journal abbreviations.

Appendices

Appendices contain information in greater detail than can be presented in the main body of the paper, but which may be of interest to a few people working specifically in your field. Detailed ANOVA tables for example may be relegated to an appendix. Only appendices referred to in the text should be included.

Miscellaneous Formatting Conventions

The manuscript should be typed with double spacing throughout and a 3 cm left margin and 2 cm margins to the right top and bottom, to enable detailed comments by the examiner (or reviewers and editors). To assist the typesetter, indent paragraphs and do not hyphenate words at the right margin. A ragged right margin with no superfluous spaces between words may also be preferred by typesetters.

When Constructing Tables

DO include a caption and column headings that contain enough information for the reader to understand the table without reference to the text. The caption should be at the head of the table.

DO organize the table so that like elements read down, not across.

DO present the data in a table or in the text, but never present the same data in both forms.

DO choose units of measurement so as to avoid the use of an excessive number of digits.

DON'T include tables that are not referred to in the text.

DON'T be tempted to "dress up" your report by presenting data in the form of tables or figures that could easily be replaced by a sentence or two of text. Whenever a table or columns within a table can be readily put into words, do it.

DON'T include columns of data that contain the same value throughout. If the value is important to the table include it in the caption or as a footnote to the table.

DON'T use vertical lines to separate columns unless absolutely necessary.

When Constructing Figures

DO include a legend describing the figure. It should be succinct yet provide sufficient information for the reader to interpret the figure without reference to the text. The legend should be below the figure.

DO provide each axis with a brief but informative title (including units of measurement).

DON'T include figures that are not referred to in the text, usually in the text of the results section.

DON'T be tempted to "dress up" your report by presenting data in the form of figures that could easily be replaced by a sentence or two of text.

DON'T fill the entire A4 page with the graph leaving little room for axis numeration, axis titles and the caption. The entire figure should lie within reasonable margins (say 3 cm margin on the left side, 2 cm margins on the top, bottom and right side of the page).

DON'T extend the axes very far beyond the range of the data. For example, if the data range between 0 and 78, the axis should extend no further than a value of 80.

DON'T use colour, unless absolutely necessary. It is very expensive, and the costs are usually passed on to the author. Colour in figures may look good in an assignment or thesis, but it means redrawing in preparation for publication.

Source

These guidelines were prepared with the aid of Robert Day's entertaining book "How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper" (ISI Press, Philadelphia, l979). It would be a valuable addition to your library.