Technical Writing Workshop

Chemistry 162

Fall 2010

Workshop Objectives

Become familiar with the structure and style of scientific writing

Get specific instructions for completing the formal lab report

Learn to avoid common errors in formal laboratory reports

Sections of a primary research article

Title Abstract Introduction Methods Results Discussion References

Titles - style

Informative is better than indicative

“Migrating Birds Respond to Radar Electromagnetic Fields” (informative)

“Effect of Radar Electromagnetic Fields on Bird Migration” (indicative)

Titles - guidelines

Should be specific and concise Avoid superfluous phrases

– “Studies on…”– “Contributions to…”

No abbreviations Consistent capitalization

Exercise 1

Write both an informative and an indicative title for Lab 3 (Amino Acid Analysis).

Abstract - guidelines

One paragraph

<250 words

Avoid abbreviations

Limited or no citations

Abstract - content

Background (one clause) Methods (very limited detail) Results (key findings) Conclusions (summarize)

Exercise 2

In small groups, identify each of the content components in the assigned abstract. Grade the abstract A-F.

Select one member of the small group to present your findings to the rest of the class

Introduction - guidelines

3-5 paragraphs

Requires strong logical flow

Requires good paragraph organization

Introduction – content

Provide background by introducing the scientific problem

Briefly review relevant prior research Indicate what the present study will add to the

existing knowledge (state hypothesis to be tested)

May end with statement of major result(s)

Exercise 3

Working in small groups:– Outline the Introduction of the assigned paper– Identify the scientific problem or hypothesis– Identify how the present study will address the scientific

problem– Grade the Introduction A-F.

Select a different person to present your outline and grade to the rest of the class.

Results - guidelines

Length depends on amount of data presented

Avoid repetitive presentations of data

Avoid drawing conclusions

Results – style

Build a results narrative that “tells the story” of your research

Organize the results to logically support the problem/hypothesis being tested

Decide on appropriate presentation format for each piece of data

Use the appropriate balance of methods information

Discussion - content

Main message– Answers the problem posed in the introduction

How the data support the main message

Comparison of results to the literature

Overall conclusions and future work

Exercise 4

Outline the Discussion of the assigned paper. Grade the abstract A-F.

Select a different member of the small group to present your findings to the rest of the class.

References

Avoid paraphrasing – this is a form of plagiarism

Follow ACS format in journal Biochemistry

Workshop Objectives

Become familiar with the structure and style of scientific writing

Get specific instructions for completing the formal lab report

Learn to avoid common errors in formal laboratory reports

The Formal Lab Report

Include all sections except methods– Title– Abstract– Introduction– Results– Discussion– References

The Formal Lab Report

Should reference at least 2 primary research articles– Should be cited in both Introduction and Discussion

The Formal Lab Report:Protein Purification Results Data

A plot of protein concentration and enzyme activity versus fraction number

A table showing activity, specific activity and fold purification for the column fractions containing LDH and the original mixture

The percent recovery of LDH A picture of the SDS-PAGE gel and its associated

standard curve and the predicted sizes of the proteins of interest

A copy of your HPLC chromatogram

Workshop Objectives

Become familiar with the structure and style of scientific writing

Get specific instructions for completing the formal lab report

Learn to avoid common errors in formal laboratory reports

Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Structure

Too much detail in the Abstract

Too long of Introduction – 3-5 paragraphs sufficient

Repetitive presentation of data in Results– Text or Table or Figure – Do not present intermediate data (e.g. present only final

calculated protein concentration, not A280 and A260 and final calculated protein concentration).

Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Capitalization and Punctuation

Capitalization– Enzyme names are not proper nouns and don’t need to be

capitalized.– Capitalize all words except prepositions and articles in the title.

Punctuation– Follow a period with 2 spaces before starting the next

sentence.– Rf, not Rf .

Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Tables and Figures

Generally, there are two types of non-text data: tables and figures. Graphs, photographs, gels etc. should all be presented as figures.

Table and figure legends should be titles and not necessarily be complete sentences.

Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Units

The units should be separated from the value by a space. For example, one may write “The specific activity of the protein in fraction 8 was 14,239 nmol min-1 mg-1” or “The molecular mass of the protein was 17,500 kDa.”

There are two common formats for units. The most common is to use superscripts (nmol min-1 mg-1), and occasionally the dividing symbol is used (nmol/min/mg).

Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Abbreviations

Abbreviation should be minimized, but if used, define the abbreviation at its first use. For example, one may write “Purity of the lactate dehydrogenase was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC).”

Abbreviation particularly should be avoided in the Abstract.

Common Formal Lab Report Errors:Miscellaneous Style Issues

“Fold purification”, not “fold of purification”.

Usually “In order to…” can be condensed to “To…”.

Enzyme names – Writing “the protein lactate dehydrogenase” or “the enzyme

lactate dehydrogenase” instead of the more simple “lactate dehydrogenase” is akin to writing “the monument the Washington Monument” instead of “the Washington Monument”.

General issues

Remember elements of good writing– Sentence construction– Paragraph construction– Overall organization

Use of passive voice

Spelling Counts