Guidelines for Scientific Writing

Scientific writing must allow the reader to understand the concepts put forward without ambiguity. In primary literature, detailing what was done in a specific investigation, the reader should be able to replicate the protocols of the experiment or study. Likewise, reviews should precisely convey methods and conclusions reached by different groups. Scientific writing has very precise wording, avoids flowery modifiers and avoids subjective statements. The writer’s opinion may be expressed in developing conclusions and making conjectures about where the investigation may go in the future, but the descriptions of the experiments and analysis of data should be objective. Sentences should be carefully constructed to ensure that the ideas are expressed precisely and with an economy of words.

Students often think that this means that scientific writing will invariably be repetitive and uninteresting. Often students will write with a staccato cadence, one simple sentence following another. This should not be the case; scientific writers should strive for fluidity in their writing. Writers should also avoid excessively long, complex sentences containing multiple prepositional phrases. Just as in other forms of writing, scientific writing needs to capture the interest of the reader.

Consider the following examples:

Weak

Elements may be identified using atomic spectra. This is due to the fact that atomic spectra are produced through the behavior of electrons in the atom. Electrons at times absorb energy. When this happens they may jump to higher orbitals around the nucleus. When this happens, the electron is said to be in the excited state. They will, however, eventually fall back to the lower energy orbital due to their attraction to the nucleus. When this happens, they release energy in the form of light. The frequencies of light emitted allow for the identification of the element.

Stronger

Atomic spectra are produced when electrons absorb energy and become excited, jumping to a higher orbital around the nucleus. The attraction between the nucleus and the electron causes the latter to fall back down to its original orbital, releasing energy as a frequency of light as it does so. The analysis of these frequencies of light allows scientists to precisely identify the elements that produced them.

For a more detailed treatment of the elements of effective scientific writing, visit The Writing Center web page on The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill website.

(2010-2012, http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/sciences/. )

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