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This is an exercise to help you both in understanding how to read a scientific paper, and then how to write one. First,
click this link to read a short paper on feeding patterns in a small songbird, the yellow-breasted chat. Read over the paper carefully. However, don’t read it to learn about yellow-breasted chats; rather, read it to learn how a scientific paper is written. (Ignore
the statistical details, you needn’t worry about at this time)
Pay attention to the writing style, and how it differs from, say, poetry, magazine articles, or novels. Pay attention to what kinds of things go into each section, and what kinds of things do not go into each section.
After you read this (or as you read it), see if you can answer the following questions. If you can, and you fully understand them, try to keep these things in mind when you write your papers.
The abstract: we’ll come back to this, since it is usually written last.
The Introduction:
Q: What is the purpose of this introduction? What kinds of information do the authors provide (and what do they save for later)? Do they make clear why the topic is of interest to them? Do they clearly state the objectives (goals/purpose) of the study?
A: The purpose is to give background information on the subject: how the behavior differs between males and females, and different species, and also to mention areas where we know little about the behavior. In this case, the authors also give some information on the study species, although this could have just as appropriately been placed in the "Methods" section. They also use the introduction as a place to state their objectives clearly and concisely.
Notice the style. They don’t use frilly language, or state personal opinions. They also don’t explain how the study was conducted. That comes later.
The Methods:
Q: What is the purpose of this section? Do they describe what they did in enough detail? Do they provide any unnecessary details? What is the style? What tense and person do they use when writing?
A: The authors use this section to describe how they did what they did( not why they did it or what they found). Notice that they give very detailed descriptions of things like when (time of day and time of year) they observed nests, what they used to do it (camcorders), and for how long. However, note that they do not provide details that should be obvious to the reader, such as how they got to their study site, or how they operated the camcorders. Note the style of writing: the authors write in the active voice, and use the past tense ("We determined the sex of the parent..."), rather than writing in a style that sounds like they are giving directions ("First, you determine the sex of the parent...").
The Results:
Q: What is the purpose of the results section? Do the authors talk about the reasons for the results, or what they mean in terms of the biology of the birds? How have they organized this section? Are there any graphs or figures?
A: The purpose is to tell the reader what they found, period. Notice that the authors do not discuss the results. They don’t discuss why both parents feed the babies the same amounts, or why the feeding behavior doesn’t change as the babies get older. Notice that in this paper, the "results" section is fairly long. In many papers,this is not often the case, but notice that they have divided this section into sub-topics, which makes it easier to follow. Finally, notice that there are no figures. Should there have been? Probably so, because figures almost always make results easier to understand.
The Discussion:
Q: What is the purpose of this section? Do they discuss what their results might mean? Do they discuss how their methods might have influenced (in good or bad ways) their results?
A: This is the section where the authors tell you what they think their results mean. They discuss possible reasons for why they found what they did, and why it’s different from what somebody else found in different, but similar, studies. They also discuss how their results might have differed if they had changed some of their methods. But, they did not go on and on about what was wrong with their study (afterall, you want people to read it!).
Notice the kinds of sentences and wording they used: "Reasons for...", "It is possible that...", "Two factors may contribute..." "If male parental care is important, then a male should..." These sentences all indicate that the authors are thinking about their results and what they mean. But they aren’t describing the methods, they aren’t giving very many numbers, and they aren’t discussing why they did the study. These things have already been covered.
The Abstract:
Q: What does the abstract provide? How much detail is included?
A: The abstract is a concise summary. Notice that it gives the reader a good, but not entirely complete, idea of what was done, what they found, and what the results mean.
Written by A.M. Stoehr | |
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