Technical Writing Workshop
Chemistry 162
Fall 2010
Workshop Objectives
Become familiar with the structure and style of scientific writing
Get specific instructions for completing the formal lab report
Learn to avoid common errors in formal laboratory reports
Sections of a primary research article
Title Abstract Introduction Methods Results Discussion References
Titles - style
Informative is better than indicative
“Migrating Birds Respond to Radar Electromagnetic Fields” (informative)
“Effect of Radar Electromagnetic Fields on Bird Migration” (indicative)
Titles - guidelines
Should be specific and concise Avoid superfluous phrases
– “Studies on…”– “Contributions to…”
No abbreviations Consistent capitalization
Exercise 1
Write both an informative and an indicative title for Lab 3 (Amino Acid Analysis).
Abstract - guidelines
One paragraph
<250 words
Avoid abbreviations
Limited or no citations
Abstract - content
Background (one clause) Methods (very limited detail) Results (key findings) Conclusions (summarize)
Exercise 2
In small groups, identify each of the content components in the assigned abstract. Grade the abstract A-F.
Select one member of the small group to present your findings to the rest of the class
Introduction - guidelines
3-5 paragraphs
Requires strong logical flow
Requires good paragraph organization
Introduction – content
Provide background by introducing the scientific problem
Briefly review relevant prior research Indicate what the present study will add to the
existing knowledge (state hypothesis to be tested)
May end with statement of major result(s)
Exercise 3
Working in small groups:– Outline the Introduction of the assigned paper– Identify the scientific problem or hypothesis– Identify how the present study will address the scientific
problem– Grade the Introduction A-F.
Select a different person to present your outline and grade to the rest of the class.
Results - guidelines
Length depends on amount of data presented
Avoid repetitive presentations of data
Avoid drawing conclusions
Results – style
Build a results narrative that “tells the story” of your research
Organize the results to logically support the problem/hypothesis being tested
Decide on appropriate presentation format for each piece of data
Use the appropriate balance of methods information
Discussion - content
Main message– Answers the problem posed in the introduction
How the data support the main message
Comparison of results to the literature
Overall conclusions and future work
Exercise 4
Outline the Discussion of the assigned paper. Grade the abstract A-F.
Select a different member of the small group to present your findings to the rest of the class.
References
Avoid paraphrasing – this is a form of plagiarism
Follow ACS format in journal Biochemistry
Workshop Objectives
Become familiar with the structure and style of scientific writing
Get specific instructions for completing the formal lab report
Learn to avoid common errors in formal laboratory reports
The Formal Lab Report
Include all sections except methods– Title– Abstract– Introduction– Results– Discussion– References
The Formal Lab Report
Should reference at least 2 primary research articles– Should be cited in both Introduction and Discussion
The Formal Lab Report:Protein Purification Results Data
A plot of protein concentration and enzyme activity versus fraction number
A table showing activity, specific activity and fold purification for the column fractions containing LDH and the original mixture
The percent recovery of LDH A picture of the SDS-PAGE gel and its associated
standard curve and the predicted sizes of the proteins of interest
A copy of your HPLC chromatogram
Workshop Objectives
Become familiar with the structure and style of scientific writing
Get specific instructions for completing the formal lab report
Learn to avoid common errors in formal laboratory reports
Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Structure
Too much detail in the Abstract
Too long of Introduction – 3-5 paragraphs sufficient
Repetitive presentation of data in Results– Text or Table or Figure – Do not present intermediate data (e.g. present only final
calculated protein concentration, not A280 and A260 and final calculated protein concentration).
Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Capitalization and Punctuation
Capitalization– Enzyme names are not proper nouns and don’t need to be
capitalized.– Capitalize all words except prepositions and articles in the title.
Punctuation– Follow a period with 2 spaces before starting the next
sentence.– Rf, not Rf .
Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Tables and Figures
Generally, there are two types of non-text data: tables and figures. Graphs, photographs, gels etc. should all be presented as figures.
Table and figure legends should be titles and not necessarily be complete sentences.
Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Units
The units should be separated from the value by a space. For example, one may write “The specific activity of the protein in fraction 8 was 14,239 nmol min-1 mg-1” or “The molecular mass of the protein was 17,500 kDa.”
There are two common formats for units. The most common is to use superscripts (nmol min-1 mg-1), and occasionally the dividing symbol is used (nmol/min/mg).
Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Abbreviations
Abbreviation should be minimized, but if used, define the abbreviation at its first use. For example, one may write “Purity of the lactate dehydrogenase was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC).”
Abbreviation particularly should be avoided in the Abstract.
Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Miscellaneous Style Issues
“Fold purification”, not “fold of purification”.
Usually “In order to…” can be condensed to “To…”.
Enzyme names – Writing “the protein lactate dehydrogenase” or “the enzyme
lactate dehydrogenase” instead of the more simple “lactate dehydrogenase” is akin to writing “the monument the Washington Monument” instead of “the Washington Monument”.
General issues
Remember elements of good writing– Sentence construction– Paragraph construction– Overall organization
Use of passive voice
Spelling Counts
Top Related