Formatting Science Reports
Technical Writing 1
Overview
▪ Title
▪ Abstract
▪ Introduction
▪ Methods
▪ Results
▪ Discussion
Technical Writing 2
Developing a Title
Titles should
▪ Describe contents clearly and precisely, so that
readers can decide whether to read the report
▪ Provide key words for indexing
Technical Writing 3
Developing a Title
Titles should NOT
▪ Include wasted words such as "studies on,"
"an investigation of"
▪ Use abbreviations and jargon
▪ Use "cute" language
Technical Writing 4
Developing a Title
Good Titles
The Relationship of Luteinizing Hormone to Obesity in
the Zucker Rat
Poor Titles
▪ An Investigation of Hormone Secretion and Weight in
Rats
▪ Fat Rats: Are Their Hormones Different?
Technical Writing 5
The Abstract
What is the report about?
▪ State main objectives. (What did you investigate?
Why?)
▪ Describe methods. (What did you do?)
▪ Summarize the most important results. (What did you
find out?)
▪ State major conclusions and significance. (What do
your results mean? So what?)
Technical Writing 6
The Abstract
What to avoid:
▪ Do not include references to figures, tables, or
sources.
▪ Do not include information not in report.
Technical Writing 7
The Abstract
Additional tips:
▪ Find out maximum length (may vary from 50 to 300+
words).
▪ Process: Extract key points from each section.
Condense in successive revisions.
Technical Writing 8
The Introduction
What is the problem?
▪ Describe the problem investigated.
▪ Summarize relevant research to provide context, key
terms, and concepts so your reader can understand
the experiment.
Technical Writing 9
The Introduction
Why is it important?
▪ Review relevant research to provide rationale. (What
conflict or unanswered question, untested population,
untried method in existing research does your
experiment address? What findings of others are you
challenging or extending?)
Technical Writing 10
The Introduction
What solution (or step toward a solution) do you
propose?
▪ Briefly describe your experiment: hypothesis(es),
research question(s); general experimental design or
method; justification of method if alternatives exist.
Technical Writing 11
The Introduction
Additional tips:
▪ Move from general to specific: problem in real
world/research literature --> your experiment.
▪ Engage your reader: answer the questions, "What did
you do?" "Why should I care?"
▪ Make clear the links between problem and solution,
question asked and research design, prior research
and your experiment.
Technical Writing 12
The Introduction
Additional tips:
▪ Be selective, not exhaustive, in choosing studies to
cite and amount of detail to include. (In general, the
more relevant an article is to your study, the more
space it deserves and the later in the Introduction it
appears.)
▪ Ask your instructor whether to summarize results
and/or conclusions in the Introduction.
Technical Writing 13
Methods
How did you study the problem?
▪ Briefly explain the general type of scientific
procedure you used.
Technical Writing 14
Methods
What did you use?
(May be subheaded as Materials)
▪ Describe what materials, subjects, and equipment
(chemicals, experimental animals, apparatus, etc.) you
used. (These may be subheaded Animals, Reagents,
etc.)
Technical Writing 15
Methods
How did you proceed?
(May be subheaded as Methods or Procedures)
▪ Explain the steps you took in your experiment. (These
may be subheaded by experiment, types of assay,
etc.)
Technical Writing 16
Methods
Additional tips:
▪ Provide enough detail for replication. For a journal
article, include, for example, genus, species, strain of
organisms; their source, living conditions, and care;
and sources (manufacturer, location) of chemicals and
apparatus.
▪ Order procedures chronologically or by type of
procedure (subheaded) and chronologically within
type.
Technical Writing 17
Methods
Additional tips:
▪ Use past tense to describe what you did.
▪ Quantify when possible: concentrations,
measurements, amounts (all metric); times (24-hour
clock); temperatures (centigrade)
Technical Writing 18
Methods
What to avoid:
▪ Don't include details of common statistical
procedures.
▪ Don't mix results with procedures.
Technical Writing 19
Results
What did you observe?
For each experiment or procedure:
▪ Briefly describe experiment without detail of
Methods section (a sentence or two).
▪ Report main result(s), supported by selected data:
Representative: most common
Best Case: best example of ideal or exception
Technical Writing 20
Results
Additional tips:
▪ Order multiple results logically:
from most to least important
from simple to complex
organ by organ; chemical class by chemical class
▪ Use past tense to describe what happened.
Technical Writing 21
Results
What to avoid:
▪ Don't simply repeat table data.
▪ Don't interpret results.
▪ Avoid extra words: "It is shown in Table 1 that X
induced Y" --> "X induced Y (Table 1)."
Technical Writing 22
Discussion
What do your observations mean?
▪ Summarize the most important findings at the
beginning.
Technical Writing 23
Discussion
What conclusions can you draw?
For each major result:
▪ Describe the patterns, principles, relationships your
results show.
▪ Explain how your results relate to expectations and
to literature cited in your Introduction. Do they
agree, contradict, or are they exceptions to the rule?
Technical Writing 24
Discussion
What conclusions can you draw?
For each major result:
▪ Explain plausibly any agreements, contradictions, or
exceptions.
▪ Describe what additional research might resolve
contradictions or explain exceptions.
Technical Writing 25
Discussion
How do your results fit into a broader context?
▪ Suggest the theoretical implications of your results.
▪ Suggest practical applications of your results.
▪ Extend your findings to other situations or other
species.
▪ Give the big picture: do your findings help us
understand a broader topic?
Technical Writing 26
Discussion
Additional tips:
▪ Move from specific to general: your finding(s) -->
literature, theory, practice.
▪ Don't ignore or bury the major issue. Did the study
achieve the goal (resolve the problem, answer the
question, support the hypothesis) presented in the
Introduction?
Technical Writing 27
Discussion
Additional tips:
▪ Make explanations complete.
Give evidence for each conclusion.
Discuss possible reasons for expected and
unexpected findings.
Technical Writing 28
Discussion
What to avoid:
▪ Don't overgeneralize.
▪ Don't ignore deviations in your data.
▪ Avoid speculation that cannot be tested in the
foreseeable future.
Technical Writing 29
