Before you sit down to write a scientific paper, it is very important for you to know about it. A scientific paper is a written report representing original research results whose format has been defined by centuries of developing tradition, editorial practice, scientific ethics with printing and publishing services.
Writing a scientific paper
The writing standards of a scientific paper are decided on various grounds such as precision, use of tenses, connection between the paragraphs, and sometimes, it becomes challenging to reach up to that level of perfection. In this blog, I will tell you about various writing standards you must achieve to have a flawless scientific paper.
Follow the given tips to bring exactness and clarity in your scientific paper:
- Write with precision: A scientific paper must be easy to understand. It doesn’t require creative writing, but it is judged by how well it defines the details of your observations in the study. The ideas in this paper are presented in a very simple, plain, and a direct manner. Look into the table below to see the difference in the writing style of a normal paper and a scientific paper:
| In a normal paper | In a scientific research paper |
| “It may therefore not be unexpected that…” | These results suggest…” |
| “An effort was made to…” | “We tried to…” |
You can also use numbers to make your scientific paper more precise, unambiguous, and objective. Numbers can do real-world calculations, and can also represent shapes and sizes. For example:
Square numbers
1.1. Use objective words: While you use numbers for the exact information in your scientific paper, try to use a precise and a very specific vocabulary. Explain each and every word in your sentence. For example, “The table was moving continuously” is appropriate in a scientific paper only when the reader is told which table, and what kind of movement. The rule of thumb for a scientific paper is, define all your words.
- Scientific use of tenses: Scientific paper also uses verb tenses in a standardized form. In a scientific paper, the present tense is used to present general knowledge and principles, whereas, the past tense indicates the results of the experiments.
2.1. Present tense is for generalities
Present tense in a scientific paper is used for widely accepted statements and statements for which you could cite textbook references; for example:
- “Black-eyed Susan, a member of the Aster family, is a plant native to North America.”
- “On a protein-rich diet, the amount of methylhistidine in the urine increases”
2.2. Past tense is for specific observations
The results, observations that you make in your scientific paper are the extract of history, so you must use past tense when you write any of your observation in your paper. For example:
- “The diodes were compared at regular time points during the next 75h”
- “The change was noticed in people after the war”
- The paragraph is the unit of exposition
In a scientific paper, each paragraph exposes one idea of the paper. The ideal size of a paragraph is 3-4 sentences. If your sentence limit exceeds from 5 sentences then you should definitely go back and read the paragraph, break your writing into smaller chunks.
3.1. Inside a scientific paragraph
- The lead sentence: As the name suggests, it is the foremost sentence of the paragraph, so it should tell the readers the focus of the paragraph.
- The subsequent sentences: The remaining sentences in the paragraph should continue the idea identified by the lead sentence.
- Internal flow: A reader should be able to connect the sentences, and be able to read your writing in an unbreakable flow.
- Connect succeeding paragraphs
In the same fashion, you should smooth the flow between the paragraphs by making the lead sentence of each paragraph related to each other.
In the end, when they are strung together, these paragraphs should present a one- dimensional, step-by-step explanation of your experimental research. And, incorporate the points mentioned above in your scientific paper. If you find any problem in using correct tenses or grammar, you can take some help from the grammar books.