Scientific Writing

Component of Scientific Writing

• Scientific style and grammar

  Like riding a bike, developing your own scientific writing style takes practice. Our recommendation to find your personal style is to keep reading scientific articles, noting which articles you enjoy and which you don't, and to keep writing! While scientific writing can vary dramatically from author to author, here are some common do's and don'ts. 

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  Recommended resources:

  • Strunk, William Jr: Elements of Style
  • Zinsser, William: On Writing Well

• Scientific storytelling

  There are many ways to approach writing a cohesive and easy-to-follow manuscript. The Context-Content-Conclusion (C-C-C) scheme is one way to help increase coherence within your paper. 

  • At the paragraph scale, the C-C-C scheme starts with 1-2 sentences of context, followed by the content in the body of the paragraph, and finally ending in a concluding sentence.
  • At the paper level, the introduction provides the context, the results are the content, and the discussion brings the conclusion. 

  The advantage of using this scheme is that it allows readers to follow the flow of your paper (e.g. with the sandwiching of the context and conclusion), even when they struggle to understand every detail (portions of the content). This helps broaden the reach of your work by making it understandable to those outside your field. 

  Recommended resources:

  • Mensh and Kodring: Ten Simple Rules for Structuring Papers

• Article Structure

  Many scientific articles have similar components. Each section serves a role in sharing your research with the community. Here are some of the common components and their purpose:

  Section	Purpose
  Title	Concise, specific and engaging phrase
  Key points/Highlights	Conveys the main contribution
  Abstract	Standalone summary
  Plain language summary/Layman summary	Explains your reserach to a broader audience
  Introduction	Set up the context and importance of your objectives
  Methods	Highly detailed procedure
  Results	Findings without interpretations
  Figures & tables	Communicate complex information
  Discussion	Interpretation and evaluation of your results
  Conclusion	Wrap up

  Recommend resources:

  • Check out our Scientific Writing Info Sheet for a more detailed breakdown of what goes into each section.
  • Sign up for our Scientific Publishing: From writing to sharing training.

• Verb tense

  In scientific writing, the verb tense changes throughout the manuscript. Here are the typical recommendations for verb tense in each section, but we recommend looking at literature in your field as a reference. 

  Section	Verb tense
  Title	Present
  Key points/Highlights	Present
  Abstract	Present
  Plain language summary/Layman summary	Present
  Introduction	Present (sometimes past tense is used when describing previous work)
  Methods	Past (present tense can be used when describing a new methodology)
  Results	Past
  Figures & tables	Present
  Discussion	Present and past (and future when discussing next steps/future work)
  Conclusion	Present

  Recommended resources:

  • Adrian Wallwork: English for Writing Research Papers

• Writer's block

  Stuck on a section? Writing paralysis? We've all been there. Here are a few things to try if you are experiencing writer's block:

  • Try the Pomodoro Method (a typical study technique to break down tasks into more manageable pieces).
  • Change your physical environment.
  • Try writing on paper.
  • Try a brain dump.
  • Start with an outline.
  • Use an AI assistant as a 'sparing partner' to spark ideas.

  Stuck on a specific sentence or word? Can't figure out how to say something? 

  Recommended resources:

  • The University of Manchester: Academic Phrasebank

• Formatting

  Formatting your manuscript is a necessary hurdle. Here are our recommendations:

  • Check the "Author's Guide" on the journal you are planning to submit to for their guidelines.
  • Zotero or EndNote make reference formatting a breeze.
  • Format your manuscript for ease of review and implementing changes (e.g. add line numbers or double space).
  • Try a program like LaTeX that makes implementing and changing formatting easy. We also offer a beginner's course with our training series.

• Finished manuscript, what's next?

  Finished up writing and wondering how you tackle getting it published? Or just wondering what comes after writing? Either way, check out our Scientific publication page to set yourself up for pushing your manuscript through the publication process.