As with any form of writing, to be successful with scientific
writing you must understand its purpose. For example, is
the purpose to:
present and discuss your interpretation of results from experiments
demonstrate your understanding of a specific topic
present a solution to a particular problem, or
justify a research project?
Whatever the purpose, in
all your writing your aim should be to communicate something
to the reader. If you are
unclear about what you want to say, your writing is likely
to be
vague,
disorganised
and leave the reader wondering 'so what?'
In
other words, your writing is driven by the task and
by what you want to say. In turn, what you want to say
imposes
a logical
structure on the writing.
Perhaps the most common form
of scientific writing is the laboratory or experimental report,
but science students also do literature
reviews, case studies and problem solving exercises.
The table below
outlines some of the tasks that may be set and the purpose
behind the writing. You can follow the links to further
discussion and/or examples of these tasks.
TASK
PURPOSE
Report writing
Also known as Experimental or laboratory reports
Here the main aim is to present
results from an experiment and to analyse, interpret and
discuss these. It is also necessary to provide a reason
for doing the experiment and to describe and maybe justify
the methods.
The main goal with these is
to demonstrate your ability to analyse a real life situation
and apply your theoretical knowledge to developing appropriate
and effective solutions.
This requires a critical assessment
of a body of literature on a particular topic with the
aim of presenting the current understanding or justifying
research.
Research proposal
Using the literature you are
expected to justify both the research and method you propose.
With this type of essay you
are required to present a coherent overview of a particular
topic which demonstrates a thorough understanding.
Lay writing
Here you are required to demonstrate
that you can explain technical ideas to an audience with
a non-technical background.
Once you understand the purpose behind the task
it is easier to have an understanding of the expectations
of
the task.
This makes it easier to work out what you want
to
say and the framework
in which to say it.
The next concern is how best
to say it. Since communication is the main purpose,
your use of language, diagrams
and overall structure should aim to help the
readers' understanding.
Follow
the links for more information.
