Academic Writing Guide

First Step
• Putting the information you want to give in order and
organising it is the first thing you should do before
writing. Some people can effectively follow an outline,
while others cannot. Some people sketch their ideas
after they write to help them organise their points.
• Whatever method you choose, remember that
scientific writing calls for extra organisation and
organisation.
 • Who will read your essay? You will typically
write to your peers. Simple advice: Assume the
reader of your work has at least the same level
of knowledge and competence as you and
Audience address it to another interested physics student
or lab group.
• Do NOT write your paper specifically for
your teacher.
Prose
Complete sentences that are simple to understand should be used in your
writing. It should follow the rules of proper written English, including sentence
structure, grammar, and spelling.

It's crucial to write plainly and clearly. Ensure that each paragraph contains a
topic sentence that is both obvious and that the main idea of the paragraphs
supports the theme.

The objective is to present your facts and conclusions in as few words as possible.
Style Considerations

• Be succinct and clear: Write succinctly and

directly. Express yourself clearly and
without using unnecessary words or
phrases. Brevity is crucial.
• The precise use of words is essential;
scientific jargon has a specific meaning;
learn to use it correctly and consistently.
Technical language's ability to convey a lot
in a limited number of words, or economy,
is crucial. This holds true for appropriate
abbreviations and acronyms.
Some things to
avoid:
• You do not have to try to impress people by
using words most people have never heard of.
• Do not use colloquial speech, slang, or
"childish" words or phrases.
• Do not use contractions: for example, "don't"
must be "do not“, and "isn't" must be "is not“,
etc.
Abbreviations
Do not use abbreviations in the text except for units of measure.
Always abbreviate these when using them with data (2 mm; 10
min.).
Except for temperature units (F, C, K) never
abbreviate units of measure when using them in a non-data context

E.g., “We measured length in millimeters"; "time was recorded in

minutes"; "temperature was measured in F (or C)"; "100 years have
passed since Mendel did..."
Use Past Tense
• Use the past tense throughout your
paper (including the introduction)
whenever you refer to your actual
work, including statements about
your expectations or hypotheses.
Research papers reflect work that
has been completed. When referring
to the work of others you may cite,
use the past tense as well.
Use Active Verbs

Use active verbs whenever possible; writing that overly uses

passive verbs (is, was, has, have, had) is boring to read and
almost always results in more words than necessary to say the
same thing.

ACTIVE: "the mouse consumed oxygen at a higher

rate..."
PASSIVE: "oxygen was consumed by the mouse at a
higher rate.."
References
• Incorporating the research discoveries of other
academics is a fundamental aspect of any research
paper. Typically, you will need to condense the
findings or relevant details into your own words
and provide a citation to acknowledge the source.
• As a rule, in research papers, direct quotation and
footnoting
are not practised - restate the author's ideas or
findings in your own words and provide a
citation.
 Abstract

Introduction

General
Materials and Methods

Results

Structure Discussion

Acknowledgements (Optional)

Literature Cited
 • To ensure consistency and clarity, most
scientific papers are structured specifically.
This structure typically includes several key
sections: title, authors and affiliation,
abstract, introduction, methods, results,
discussion, acknowledgments, and literature
Sections of cited. By following this format, researchers
the Paper can effectively communicate their findings
and the process they used to arrive at those
results. Each section serves a specific
purpose and helps guide the reader through
the paper logically and organised. Overall,
this system provides a useful framework for
scientific research and writing.
 The sections
appear in a journal
style paper in the
following
prescribed order:
 • Main Section Headings:
Each main section of the paper begins with
a heading which should be capitalised,
centered at the beginning of the section,
and double-spaced from the lines above
and below. Do not underline the section
Section heading OR put a colon at the end.
Headings • Subheadings:
When your paper reports on more than one
experiment, use subheadings to help
organise the presentation.
Subheadings should be capitalised (first
letter in each word), left justified,
and either bold italics OR underlined.
Title, Authors' Names, and Institutional
Affiliations
• Your paper should begin with a Title that succinctly describes
the contents of the paper.
• The title should be centred at the top of page 1 (DO NOT use a
title page) the title is NOT underlined or italicised.
• The authors' names and institutional affiliations are double-
spaced and centred below the title. When more than two
authors, the names are separated by commas except for the
last, which is separated from the previous name by the word
"and".
Succinct Title
Comma
between names

Example
“and” for the
last
contributor
listed
 Abstract
• An abstract summarises, in one paragraph (usually), the major aspects of the entire
paper in the following prescribed sequence:
• The question(s) you investigated (or purpose) (from Introduction)
- state the purpose very clearly in the first or second sentence.
• The experimental design and methods used (from Methods)
- Clearly express the basic design of the study.
- Name or briefly describe the basic methodology used without going into excessive detail-be, Be sure to indicate
the key techniques used.
• The major findings, including key quantitative results or trends (from Results)
- Report those results which answer the questions you were asking
- Identify trends, relative changes or differences, etc.
• A brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions. (from Discussion)
- Clearly state the implications of the answers your results gave you.
 • Keep your Abstract concise, using active
voice and past tense. Use complete
sentences and aim for 200-300 words in a
single paragraph.
• The Abstract SHOULD NOT contain:
• lengthy background information,
Abstract • references to other literature,
• elliptical (i.e., ending with ...) or
incomplete sentences,
• abbreviations or terms that may be
confusing to readers,
• any sort of illustration, figure, table, or
reference to them.
INTRODUCTION
• Function:
• Establish the context of the work
being reported. This is accomplished
by discussing the relevant primary
research literature (with citations) and
summarising our current
understanding of the problem you are
investigating;
• State the purpose of the work in the
form of the hypothesis, question, or
problem you investigated; and,
• Briefly explain your rationale and
approach and, whenever possible,
the possible outcomes your study
can reveal.
INTRODUCTION
• Begin your Introduction by clearly identifying the subject area of interest.
• Establish the context by providing a brief and balanced review of the
pertinent published literature.
• What literature should you look for in your review of what we know about
the problem?
• Be sure to state the purpose and /or hypothesis you investigated clearly.
• Provide a clear statement of the rationale for your approach to the
problem studied.
The Introduction must answer the questions,
"What was I studying? Why was it an important question? What did we know
about it before I did this study? How will this study advance
our knowledge?"
MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this section, you explain clearly how you carried out your study in
the following general structure and organisation.

Organise your presentation so your reader will understand the logical

flow of the experiment(s); subheadings work well for this purpose.
MATERIALS AND
METHODS
• The style in this section should read
as if you were verbally describing the
conduct of the experiment. You may
use the active voice to a certain
extent, although this section requires
more use of third-person, passive
constructions than others. Avoid the
use of the first person in this section.
• The Methods section is not a step-by-
step, directive protocol, as you might
see in your lab manual.
 • Describe your experimental design
clearly. Be sure to include the
hypotheses you tested, controls,
treatments, variables measured, how
MATERIALS many replicates you had, what you
measured, what form the data took, etc.
AND • Avoid repeatedly using a single sentence
METHODS to relate a single action, resulting in
lengthy, wordy passages. A related
sequence of actions can be combined
into one sentence to
improve clarity and readability.
RESULTS
• The function of the Results section
is to objectively present your key
results, without interpretation, in an
orderly and logical sequence using
both text and illustrative materials
(Tables
and Figures).
• The results section always begins
with text, reporting the key results
and referring to your figures and
tables as you proceed.
RESULTS
• Write the text of the Results section
concisely and objectively. The passive
voice will likely dominate here but use
the active voice as much as possible.
• Use the past tense.
• Avoid repetitive paragraph structures.
• Do not interpret the data here. The
transition into interpretive language
can be a slippery slope.
 RESULTS

• Organise the results section based on the sequence of Tables and Figures you'll include.
• Simple rules to follow related to Tables and Figures:
• Tables and Figures are assigned numbers separately and in the sequence that you will refer to
them from the text.
- The first Table you refer to is Table 1, the next Table 2 and so forth.
- Similarly, the first Figure is Figure 1, the next Figure 2, etc.
• Each Table or Figure must include a brief description of the results being presented and other
necessary information in a legend.
- Table legends go above the Table; tables are read from top to bottom.
- Figure legends go below the figure; figures are usually viewed from bottom to top.
• When referring to a Figure from the text, "Figure" is abbreviated as Fig., for example,
Fig. 1. Table is never abbreviated, e.g., Table 1.
SOME THINGS TO AVOID

• Do not reiterate each value from a Figure or Table

- only the key result or trends that each conveys.
• Do not present the same data in a Table and Figure -
this is considered redundant and a waste of space and
energy.
• Decide which format best shows the result and go with
it.
• Do not report raw data values when they can be
summarised as means, percentages, etc.
RESULTS
• Present the results of your experiment(s) in a
sequence that will logically support (or provide
evidence against) the hypothesis, or answer the
question, stated in the Introduction.
• Report negative results - they are important! It may
mean your hypothesis was incorrect and needs to
be reformulated, or perhaps you have stumbled
onto something unexpected that warrants further
study.
Units
• Always enter the appropriate units when reporting data or
summary statistics.
• For an individual value, you would write, “The mean length was
10 m", or, “The maximum time was 140 min.“
• When including a measure of variability, place the unit after the
error value, e.g., "...was 10 ± 2.3 m".
• Likewise place the unit after the last in a series of numbers all
having the same unit. For example: "lengths of 5, 10, 15, and
20 m"
 DISCUSSION
The Discussion explains the new understanding gained from your results and connects to the
Introduction via the questions/hypotheses and cited literature. It does not simply repeat the
Introduction but shows progress made in the study.

Use the active voice whenever possible in this section. Watch out for wordy phrases; be concise and
make your points clearly. Use of the first person is okay, but too much use of the first
person may distract the reader from the main points.

Do not introduce new results in the Discussion.

DISCUSSION
• Fundamental questions to answer here include:
• Do your results provide answers to your testable hypotheses? If so, how do
you interpret your findings?
• Do your findings agree with what others have shown? If not, do they suggest
an alternative explanation or perhaps an unforeseen design flaw in your
experiment (or theirs?)
• Given your conclusions, what is our new understanding of the problem you
investigated and outlined in the Introduction?
• If warranted, what would be the next step in your study, e.g., what
experiments would you do next?
 • The Literature Cited section gives an
alphabetical listing (by first author's last
name) of the references that you actually
cited in the body of your paper.
• There are many different convention styles
LITERATURE for this section, use APA 7
CITED • In-text and reference list rules can be found
here
• https://www.griffith.edu.au/library/study/refer
encing/apa-7
• Many websites will help you construct your
reference list. Ensure you are citing in a text
when referencing works.