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22 - Writing a Scientific Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2019

Joanna M. Setchell
Joanna M. Setchell
Affiliation:
Durham University
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Summary

A research project is not finished until we have written it up. Scientific reports have a standard format, with some variation. This should be familiar from your reading. This chapter builds on the general advice for writing in Chapter 14 and focusses on how to write a scientific report. I provide general guidance for writing your report, then cover each section of the manuscript in turn. I focus on primary research articles, because these are the main way in which we disseminate new research. Much of the advice applies more generally to theses and dissertations. Most reports have multiple authors and we must negotiate authorship fairly.

Keywords

scientific reportwritingintroductionmethodsresultsdiscussionabstracttitle
Type
Chapter
Information
Studying Primates
How to Design, Conduct and Report Primatological Research
 , pp. 271 - 298
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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References

Further Reading

Pautasso, M. 2013. Ten simple rules for writing a literature review. PLOS Computational Biology 9: e1003149. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149. On why we need reviews, and useful tips on how to write them.Google Scholar
Sayer, EJ. 2018. The anatomy of an excellent review paper. Functional Ecology 32: 2278–2281. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13207x. A very useful editorial on how to write a review.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Further Reading

In addition to the reading in Chapter 3:

Australian National Data Service. 2017. Guide to Publishing and Sharing Sensitive Data. www.ands.org.au/guides/sensitivedata [Accessed 9 January 2019]. Best practice guidelines for sharing sensitive data.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, MD, Dumontier, M, Aalbersberg, IJ, Appleton, G, Axton, M, Baak, A, Blomberg, N, Boiten, JW, da Silva Santos, LB, Bourne, PE, Bouwman, J, Brookes, AJ, Clark, T, Crosas, M, Dillo, I, Dumon, O, Edmunds, S, Evelo, CT, Finkers, R, Gonzalez-Beltran, A, Gray, AJ, Groth, P, Goble, C, Grethe, JS, Heringa, J, 't Hoen, PA, Hooft, R, Kuhn, T, Kok, R, Kok, J, Lusher, SJ, Martone, ME, Mons, A, Mons, B, Packer, AL, Persson, B, Rocca-Serra, P, Roos, M, Sansone, SA, Schultes, E, Sengstag, T, Slater, T, Strawn, G, Swertz, MA, Thompson, M, van der Lei, J, van Mulligen, E, van Schaik, R, Velterop, J, Waagmeester, A, Wittenburg, P, Wolstencroft, K, Zhao, J. 2016. The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific Data 3: 160018. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18. Presents the rationale behind the FAIR guidelines, that data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

22.16 Further Reading

Clymo, RS. 2014. Notes on Reporting Research: A Biologist’s Guide to Articles, Talks, and Posters. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Includes a lot of useful advice on communicating clearly with your audience, with a rather old-fashioned, historical approach.Google Scholar
Field, A, Miles, J, Field, Z. 2012. Discovering Statistics Using R. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Chapter 4 gives good guidance on plotting data in R.Google Scholar
Hailman, JP, Strier, KB. 2006. Planning, Proposing, and Presenting Science Effectively. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 3 covers writing a report.Google Scholar
Karban, R, Huntzonger, M, Pearse, IS. 2014. How to Do Ecology: A Concise Handbook. 2nd edn. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University. Chapter 8 includes writing journal articles.Google Scholar
Kilkenny, C, Browne, WJ, Cuthill, IC, Emerson, M, Altman, DG. 2010. Improving bioscience research reporting: the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting animal research. PLOS Biology 8: e1000412. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1000412. Describes the need to report comprehensive methods for research using laboratory animals.Google Scholar
Loftus, GR, Masson, MEJ. 1994. Using confidence-intervals in within- subject designs. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 1: 476–490. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03210951. Describes how to plot data to appropriately illustrate study design, including an explanation of the logic behind confidence intervals for within-subject designs.Google Scholar
Lovejoy, CO. 1981. The origin of man. Science 211: 341–350. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.211.4480.341. An example of the use of personal communication rather than published empirical findings that got past the editor of Science: in note 79, the author cites DC Johanson, personal communication to support the assertion that human females are continually sexually receptive.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matthews, JR, Matthews, RW. 2014. Successful Scientific Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences. 4th edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. A detailed guide to writing, with exercises to improve your practice. Enlivened with quotations and cartoons.Google Scholar
Mensh, B, Kording, K. 2017. Ten simple rules for structuring papers. PLOS Computational Biology 13: e1005619. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005619. Advice on how to structure a manuscript, including sentences, paragraphs, sections, and the entire document.Google Scholar
Parker, TH, Bowman, SD, Nakagawa, S, Gurevitch, J, Mellor, DT, Rosenblatt, RP, DeHaven, A C. 2018. Tools for Transparency in Ecology and Evolution. http://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/G65CB. Includes a checklist of questions to help authors maximise transparency.Google Scholar
Weissgerber, TL, Milic, NM, Winham, SJ, Garovic, VD. 2015. Beyond bar and line graphs: Time for a new data presentation paradigm. PLOS Biology 13: e1002128. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002128. Reviews problems with data presentation and calls for more complete presentation of data.Google Scholar

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