The Discussion section is where interpretation gets done, limitations are pointed out, and speculation occurs. This is usually the section everyone has been waiting to write! However, before you get too far ahead, there is a manner for writing Discussions which is pretty specific. Imagine the Discussion as a dialogue or dance between your research and […]
The Results section is where outcomes are communicated to the reader — and this is a critical concept: the Results section reports data generated by a method, in other words, outcomes. Do not include interpretation or speculation in this section. This does not mean there is no creative communication in the Results section! Humans are a visually-oriented […]
The Materials and Methods section is very different from the Introduction. It’s like a recipe for how the research was conducted. The litmus test of a successful Methods section is “reproducibility“; that is, the reader could replicate the study based on the information provided. (In reality, this standard may be impossible due to factors such […]
The introduction to a research report accomplishes two goals: informs the reader by providing information from the research literature necessary to understanding the project; persuades the reader that the research question is credible/valuable by providing the gap in the literature. How are these goals accomplished? In the literature review! The writer provides a brief review […]
Writing is/should be an integral part of research, not a separate activity…focus research on getting the information needed for the paper, rather than on wandering randomly in intellectual phase space. Writing a Scientific Paper, George M Whitesides Research begins with a question and ends with communication. Communication can happen in the lab, in informal conversation, […]