Writing a scientific paper pdf

Writing an effective scientific paper is not easy. A good rule of thumb is to write as if your paper will be read by a person who knows about the field in general but does not already know what you did. Before you write a scientific paper read some scientific papers that have been written in the format of the paper you plan to use.

As graduate students, they learned to imitate the style and approach of their professors and previous authors. Some scientists became good writers anyway. Many, however, learned only to imitate the writing of the authors before them—with all its defects—thus establishing a system of error in perpetuity.

As Charles Darwin said, “A naturalist’s life would be a happy one if he had only to observe and never to write” (quoted by Trelease, 1958). Most of today’s scientists did not have a chance to take a formal course in scientific writing. As graduate students, they learned to imitate the style and approach of their professors and previous authors.

In general, abbreviations should not be written in the plural form (e.g. 1 ml or 5 ml, not mls). S. Maloy 10/01. Past, present, and future tense. Results described in your paper should be described in past tense (you’ve done these experiments, but your results are not yet accepted “facts”).