Introduction to Scientific Writing

Good research is meaningless unless you can communicate your findings in a clear and interesting fashion. The days in which scientific papers were works of great literature is past but we can still strive to make our writing informative and worth reading. 

Woods (1989) writes ‘The purpose of any writing other than lecture notes or pieces that start with “Dear Diary” is to influence your reader. If you are writing great fiction you may move your reader to tears. This can also happen with scientific writing, but generally you do not want to make your reader weep.’ The importance of good writing cannot be over-emphasised. In many cases the written word is the only means by which scientists communicate and it is the main way in which students communicate with and are assessed by their teachers. 

Whether you are writing an essay, literature review or the discussion in a practical report, you will have the task of presenting a logical series of facts and reasoned argument to your reader. Your sentences and paragraphs should be in a logical order so that the reader can easily follow your argument and reach the same conclusion you have. Each paragraph should be able to stand on its own and be internally cohesive. A long piece of writing can be made more readable if you use subheadings to organize the prose into sections. Be cautious about writing the first phrase that comes into your head and get into the habit of writing several drafts of any report or essay.

You want your reader to understand what you are writing, to maintain respect for you and not to become annoyed with you. This can be done if you write simply, succinctly and without grammatical errors. Correct spelling is also a great help!


Reference: http://sydney.edu.au/science/biology/learning/generic_skills/Scientific_Writing.pdf