Writing Scientific Research

Dr. Zainab Saigl

❖ Associate Professor in Analytical Chemistry, KAU
❖ Member of Academic Accreditation
❖ Certified Trainer from the British Masters Academy

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Outline

- What is the Scientific Writing?

- Types of Scientific Writing

- Characteristics of Scientific Writing

- Essential Parts of a Scientific Research

- Writing a Scientific Research

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What is the Scientific Writing?

- Scientific writing is a formal style of writing used in universities

and scholarly publications. You’ll encounter it in journal articles
and books on Scientific topics, and you’ll be expected to write
your essays, research papers, and dissertation in Scientific style.

- It follows the same writing process as other types of texts, but it

has specific standards in terms of content, structure and style.

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Types of Scientific Writing

Essay Research paper Thesis/Dissertation

Research proposal Literature Review Lab Report

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Characteristics of Scientific Writing?

• Formal and unbiased

• Clear and precise

Scientific
• Focused and well structured
writing is:
• Well sourced

• Correct and consistent

• Personal
Scientific
• Long-winded
writing is
• Emotive
not:
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Characteristics of Scientific Writing?

Scientific writing is..

Formal and unbiased

Avoid informal language, including slang, contractions, and conversational

phrases:

• Also, a lot of the findings are a little unreliable.

• Moreover, many of the findings are somewhat unreliable.

• Example of contractions: ( Can’t – Cannot) and (Won’t – W ill not)

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Characteristics of Scientific Writing?

Scientific writing is..

Clear and precise

It ’s important to use clear and precise language to ensure that your reader
knows exactly what you mean. This means being as specific as possible and
avoiding vague language:

• People have been interested in this thing for a long time.

• Researchers have been interested in this phenomenon for at least

10 years.

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Characteristics of Scientific Writing?

Scientific writing is..

Formal and unbiased

Avoid enclose your claims with words like “perhaps,” as this can give the
impression that you lack confidence in your arguments. Reflect on your
word choice to ensure it accurately and directly conveys your meaning:

• This could perhaps suggest that…

• This suggests that…

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Characteristics of Scientific Writing?

Scientific writing is..

Focused and well structured.

- A scientific text is not just a collection of ideas about a topic —it needs to
have a clear purpose.

- A coherent structure is crucial to organize your ideas. Pay attention to

structure at three levels: the structure of the whole text, paragraph
structure, and sentence structure.

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 Characteristics of Scientific Writing?

-Always include an introduction

and a conclusion.
-Divide longer texts into chapters
or sections with clear headings. Overall
-Make sure information is
presented in a logical order.
Paragraph
-Use transition words to express the
connections between different ideas Sentence
within and between sentences.
-Use appropriate punctuation to avoid
sentence fragments or run-on sentences.
-Start a new paragraph when you move
onto a new idea.
-Use topic sentences at the beginning of
each paragraph and make clear transitions
between paragraphs.
-Make sure every paragraph is relevant to
your argument or question.
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Characteristics of Scientific Writing?

Scientific writing is..

Well Sourced

- Sources are texts that the author analyzes or uses as evidence.

- Scientific writing is collaborative and builds on previous research.

- It ’s important to consider which sources are credible and appropriate to use

in Scientific writing.

- You must always cite your sources in Scientific writing.

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Characteristics of Scientific Writing?

Scientific writing is..

Correct and consistent

- How to write numbers

- Introducing abbreviations
- Using verb tenses in different sections
- Capitalization of terms and headings

- Spelling and punctuation differences between UK and US English

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 Essential Parts of a Scientific paper
◼ Title: Describe concisely the core contents of the paper
◼ Abstract: Summarize the major elements of the paper
◼ Introduction: provide context and rationale for the study
◼ Materials: Describe the experimental design so it is
reproducible
◼ Methods: Describe the experimental procedures
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◼ Results: Summarize the findings without interpretation
◼ Discussion: Interpret the findings of the study
◼ Conclusion: Summarize the findings
◼ Acknowledgement: Give credit to those who helped you
◼ References: List all scientific papers, books and websites
that you cited
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Writing a Scientific paper

Title
✓ Titles should neither be too short nor too long as to be meaningless .

✓ It should contain the keywords that reflect the contents of the paper.

✓ It should be concise, specific and informative

✓ It should capture the fundamental nature of the experiments and
findings.

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Writing a Scientific paper

Title
Examples:

1. Action of Antibiotics on Bacteria

- Action: should be defined

- Antibiotics: should be listed
- Bacteria: should be listed

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Writing a Scientific paper

Title
Examples:

3. Retention behavior of chromium (VI) from water using tetrazolium

chloride-Ag nanoparticles chemically treated polyurethane foam sorbent.

4. Sorption behavior of selected chlorophenols onto polyurethane foam

treated with iron (III): kinetics and thermodynamic study.

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Writing a Scientific paper

Title

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Writing a Scientific paper

Abstract

Objective Method Results Discussion

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Writing a Scientific paper

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Writing a Scientific paper

Abstract
• The last section to be written.

• It should not exceed 250 words

• It should be written in one paragraph.

• It should be written in the past tense as it refers to work done.

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Writing a Scientific paper

Abstract
• Long words should be followed by its abbreviation.

• It should not cite any references.

• It should never give any information or conclusion that is not stated in the
paper

• Must be accurate with respect to figures quoted in the main text.

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Writing a Scientific paper

Introduction
-Why is this study of scientific interest and what is your objective?

-This section discusses the results and conclusions of previously

published studies.

-The Introduction is organized to move from general information to

specific information.

- Limit the introduction to studies that relate directly to the

present study.

- Emphasize your specific contribution to the topic.

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Writing a Scientific paper

Introduction
-The last sentences of the introduction should be a statement of
objectives and a statement of hypotheses.

-This will be a good transition to the next section, Methods, in

which you will explain how you proceeded to meet your objectives
and test your hypotheses.

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Writing a Scientific paper

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Writing a Scientific paper

Introduction
-It is important to cite sources in the introduction section of your paper as
evidence of the claims you are making.

-Note that articles by one or two authors are always cited in the text using
their last names.

It is acceptable, and encouraged, to cite more than one source for a particular
statement.

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Writing a Scientific paper

Methodology
- This section provides all the methodological details necessary for another
scientist to duplicate your work.

- It should be a narrative of the steps you took in your experiment or study,

not a list of instructions

- Should include subheadings

- Write clearly enough to be understood by nontechnical reader and be

replicated.

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Methodology

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 Writing a Scientific paper

Methodology
• Do not mix some of the Results in this section.

• This part of the manuscript must be clear, precise and concise so that it can
be reproducible.
• Questions such as “how ” or “how much” must be answered and not left to
be puzzled over.

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 Writing a Scientific paper

Methodology

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 Writing a Scientific paper

Methodology
Novel Methods • All details must be provided

Previously
• Only the reference should be given
published
with some identification
method

Example

“Cells were broken by ultrasonic treatment as previously described by …”.

“Cells were broken as previously described by …. “ 30

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Writing a Scientific paper

Results and Discussion

❖ Evidence does not explain itself.

❖ The Discussion section inverts the format of the introduction.

❖ Any problems or shortcomings encountered during the course of the work should
also be discussed.

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Writing a Scientific paper

Results and Discussion

Some of common pitfalls are:
❖ Lack of organization.

❖ Presenting results that are never discussed.

❖ Presenting discussion that does not relate to any of the results.

❖ Presenting results and discussion in chronological order rather than logical order.

❖ Ignoring results that support the conclusions.

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Writing a Scientific paper

Conclusion
❖ Should be more than a summary.

❖ Should be reader-focused.

❖ Allow for opportunistic reading.

❖ Not repeat the arguments made in the results and discussion.

❖ Provide a future perspective on the work.

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Writing a Scientific paper

Conclusion

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 Writing a Scientific paper

Conclusion
Some of common pitfalls are:

❖ Repeating the abstract .

❖ Repeating background information from the introduction.

❖ Introducing new evidence or new arguments not found in the results and
discussion.

❖ Repeating the arguments made in the results and discussion

❖ Failing to address all of the research questions set out in the introduction.
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 Writing a Scientific paper

Referencing
❖ Referencing is a standardize
way of acknowledging the
sources of information and
ideas that you have used in
your document.

❖ A list of all the references

used in the text must be
written.

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 Writing a Scientific paper

Editing and Proofreading

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References

1. How to write a scientific paper, Dr. Srinivasaragavan, DLIS, BDU.

2. Writing good scientific papers, MPIP, Mainz (2016).
3. Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Harvey A. Andrus Library.
4. What is Academic Writing — Everything You Need To Know, Kanu Priya (2021).
5. How to Write a Scientific Paper, David T. Felson, Clinical Epidemiology Research
and Training Unit, Boston University Medical Center.
6. Robert Day: How to write and publish a scientific paper. 4th Edition, Cambridge
University Press (1995).
7. University of Queensland (2009).

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Thank You
zsaigl@kau.edu.sa

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