Week 4: Anatomy of a Science Paper (Part 1)

Most science papers share a core structure, and include certain components that are necessary to communicate a scientific story. This week, we’re going to look at those components, and break down how to effectively craft each part into a cohesive whole. Good writing habits will be a focus of this topic.

Lecture Topics

  • Establishing good writing habits
  • The core sections of nearly every science paper
    • Title
    • Abstract
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Acknowledgments and References
    • Figures and Tables

In-class Activities

  • Peer review of proposals
  • Power 1/4 Hour
  • Activating a writing team
  • Identifying verb tense and active vs. passive voice

Readings

Required: Pauly, Daniel and Dirk Zeller (2016). “Catch reconstructions reveal that global marine fisheries catches are higher than reported and declining”. In: Nature Communications 10244. DOI:10.1038/ncomms10244. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10244.

Recommended: Chapters 4-5, and 8-15 of Heard, Stephen B. (2016). The Scientist’s Guide to Writing: How to Write More Easily and Effectively throughout Your Scientific Career. Princeton University Press. 255 pp.

Details - Week 4

Goal setting introduced

Will introduce the Goal Setting teams, which will start in week 5.

Each week, time will be allocated for students to assemble with their writing group, and take a few minute to discuss:

  • What were your goals for last week?
  • Did you accomplish them? What worked and what didn’t work?
  • What did you write last week?
  • What are my goals for this coming week?

Students will write down these points every week, in a paper or electronic journal. At the end of semester, they will receive a completion mark. 100% = did this every week.

Time = 15 min first week, 6-10 min each week thereafter, depending on group size

A writing group template is available here

Identifying verb tense and active vs. passive voice

I carved out the methods section from today’s paper and put it on Google Docs.

Highlight verb tenses:

  • Past tense: Green
  • Present tense: Blue
  • Future tense: Orange

Underline active voice. italicize passive voice.

Discuss with a partner. How much of each tense was used? To what extent were the authors consistent in active vs. passive voice?

Time = 15 minutes + 5 minutes for discussion

Lecture slides

Slides available via speakerdeck