Explanations of Key Sections in Scientific Reports

General Overview:

We want Bio 101/102 students to be proficient at defining, collecting, analyzing and presenting data/observations in a meaningful and rigorous fashion. To this end, we have students practice writing the following key sections of scientific reports.  In addition to the following sections the report should be well organized, grammatically correct and use scientifcally appropriate tone and style.  (See an example of primary literature for appropriate of tone and style.)

Audience:

When writing scientific reports, assume your audience is a roommate or other intelligent college student that is not in Bio 101/102. In other words, your writing must not assume readers will know what you did or have knowledge of specialized vocabulary. If you use specialized terminology, be sure to define it or make its meaning clear in context. In Bio101/102 we do not include a methods section. Please do not write out your methods or procedure. Only include explanations of your methods where it bares on the statements you want to make and be sure to keep it brief.

Introduction:    A scientific report starts with an introduction to the topic/experiment.  Include a breif and general background to the topic and it may or may not include a defining question.  In any event, it should alway include the Hypothesis and Predictions  of your experiment as a way to help focus your audience on the important ideas of the report.

Hypothesis: The hypothesis is an interpretation or explanation of set of observations and it stands in contrast to the “Predictions”, which are the expected observations. This should make explicit all the assumptions and concepts used in the formulation of your predictions of the experiment. Another way to think of the hypothesis is as the “if” part of a logical “if/then” statement – if this “hypothesis” is true, then I expect to observe these “predictions”. It must cover all relevant and salient elements without overloading it with superfluous information that does not add any new understanding of the issues at hand.

Predictions: This section should state the specific outcome of the measured, dependent variable of the current investigation/experiment. It is a statement of the observations you expect to make given your experiment and the hypothesis that you set up.

Results: This is a written account of the data values you collected in order to “show” the audience whether the data support or refute your predictions and hence your hypothesis. This includes specific reference to supporting graphs/tables/illustrations by citing “Figure” or “Table” numbers. It is not the statement “Graph 1 shows my results” or “the data support/refute my hypothesis” with no reporting of data values. (See example of how primary literature reports and formats graphs/illustrations). The results section is a written account of the key trends or data points that are relevant to your hypothesis and prediction. It does not include any interpretation of results – that’s for the discussion.

Discussion: This is a discussion of the biological significance of your results. What does it all mean in terms of biological mechanisms, concepts and theory? It is the section you explain the data you collected in terms of the hypothesis you set-up. If need be, this is where you alter or modify your hypothesis if your data do not match your predictions.