Scientific Report Writing

.to learn the art of a scientific writing style

Scientific Report
Writing
How scientific styles have evolved
What characterises good scientific style
The transition from conversational writing
to objective, focussed, logical writing
The Extended Report format and style
Some common problems

Newtons letter to the Royal Society 19 February 1671

To perform my late promise to you..

A letter of rich, descriptive language and of digressions.

..when I understood this (chromatic aberration)
I saw that the perfection of telescopes was
hitherto limited..
The reflecting telescope.

Amidst these
thoughts I was
forced from
Cambridge by the
Intervening
Plague..
The Plague

A letter comprising Sections (but not explicitly identified or numbered)

His Introduction musings, descriptions, digressions, observations

His Doctrine the hypotheses, theories based on the previous observations
His Experimental invitation instructions to those wishing to emulate/test his Doctrine

All written in the First Person (I) and in the style of a letter written to colleagues

The style of 1671

And now a modern scientific style

Artists impression of a supernova

as seen from the coast of Turkey

Clearly labelled and numbered sections

and numbered figures with figure captions

Note
Error bars!

Numbered, labelled tables

and references

Modern paper style is terse

factual

The data are strongly inconsistent with a = 0 cosmology,

the simplest inflationary universe model. An open, = 0
cosmology also does not fit the data well : the data indicate
that the cosmological constant is nonzero and positive, with a
confidence of P( > 0) = 99%, including the identified
systematic uncertainties.

objective not subjective (Newton had to be in 1671) and self critical

Given the potentially revolutionary nature of this third
conclusion, it is important to reexamine the evidence carefully
to find possible loopholes.

strictly sectioned in logical order

The Extended Report -

style

Compare your current style

I did all the measurements and found that g was similar to the
value in Young and Freedman. The equipment did not behave itself properly and so
errors crept in. My best value was 9.7 ms-2. I think I could have improved
this value if I had more time.
with the target style
The acceleration due to gravity, g, was measured and compared with
the accepted value1. Systematic uncertainties were accounted for, yielding
a value of 9.7 0.1 ms-2. Further studies yielding a larger data set would
clearly reduce the standard error on this result but accuracy would not
improve.

The Extended Report - Format

Title

Abstract

Introduction

Experimental (methods)

Results (and discussion)

Conclusions

Bibliography (numbered references)

Title
Study on the Art of Scientific Report Writing:
Emulation of Style

descriptive enough to describe content

Bad example: Report Writing too little info

Abstract
This paper presents a study on the art of scientific report writing and covers not
only the format for reports but also some common grammatical mistakes that can
be found in students written reports. We find that a good style of writing can be
achieved by a simple method of emulation. Specifically, we report that regular
reading of scientific papers from the peer reviewed literature can increase the
average student report mark by 10 2 %. Our study reveals that this figure can be
even exceeded provided the subject matter is of interest to the student. For the
first time, to the authors knowledge, we report that papers on report writing itself
are among the most effective in bringing about these advances.

topics,

findings,

Bad example: I have carried out a study on report writing and show that
various techniques can improve the marks of student reports. too short

Introduction
From the perspective of the assessor, the marking of student scientific
reports often comprises one of the most frustrating aspects of the work
experience. As an expert researcher, the assessor has undertaken the task of
scientific report and paper writing many times1, has acted also as referee to
others paper submissions and as a result has become accustomed to
excellence in these endeavours. Despite..

provides background, context, any relevant theory and what is to come.

and provides full proof of earlier relevant work - references

1 For examples see: G.H. Cross, Nature (1995) 374, 307-308; M. Key, I.G. Hughes, W. Rooijakkers,
B.E. Sauer, E.A. Hinds, D.J. Richardson and P.G. Kazansky, Phys. Rev. Lett. (2000), 84 (7), 1371-1373;
T.P.A. Hase, E.M. Ho, J.J. Freijo, S.M. Thompson, A.K. Petford-Long and B.K. Tanner, J. Phys. D:
Appl. Phys. (2003), 36 (10A): A231-A235

Good Example

Experimental

A class of students studying physics were required to sit within a

large lecture theatre (the Calman Centre 013 theatre) having a
capacity of no more than 200 students and exposed to a lecture on
report writing for a period of between 45 and 55 minutes. Following
this.
past tense factual and concise equipment described with its
capabilities and limitations, scope of the study - what was done and for
how long (in this particular case)
Bad example:

Sit a group of students in a lecture hall.

Hand out an example paper.
Empty the lecture theatre and leave to cool.
Refill with students
- a list of instructions no lists allowed

Newton: In a darkened room make a hole in the shut of a window and there place aprism to refract the
entering light which as I said confined to history

Results (discussion)
The average mark obtained by students in extended reports over previous years
is shown in Table 1. Marks exhibit a general decline for the period shown and the
exceptionally high mark (102 %) recorded for 1998 was traced to an
administrative error in Student Planning and Assessment6.
Year

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Mark (%)

75 2

70 2

65 2

102 2

62 2

59 2

57 2

Table 1: Average marks for Extended Reports achieved for students in the assessment
period. The error shown relates to inherent uncertainties in the marking of experimental
reports.

describes first impressions of results, presents tables, graphical figures

and numerical data

Continued..

Results (discussion)
This data is shown plotted (see Figure 2) with the theoretical expectation
described by Hase5. Contrary to the theory, the observed marks do not decrease
to a plateau but deviate significantly in later years where the theoretical curve lies
outside of the error bar limits of the data.

Figure 2: Annual average report mark for Level 1 students (solid

diamonds). The solid line follows the predictions of Hase (reference
5). Error bars are set at 2 % and represent systematic error.

provides figures (not graphs) captioned and labelled

Discussion
The general trend towards reduced marks and disagreement with the Hase
theoretical model gives strong evidence that teaching and learning (T&L) standards
in report writing were in decline in the later years of the last century..
.Our main finding, that the average report mark shows an exceptional
improvement over those of previous years, therefore would not be expected to
follow the Hase model which clearly underestimates what we have achieved.

critical evaluation of results, comparisons, projections

agreement/disagreement with past work

Conclusions
We have shown that with some relatively minor changes to instructional style
and the development of interest in the skills of scientific writing in the student,
significant improvements in average mark can be achieved. We attribute this

provides brief summary of work, significance for future work

your one chance to become a little subjective with what ifs but not too much!

Future work aims to make further improvements and to test the validity of our
model on data sets over the next ten years. We can hope that these methods will
be applied more widely for the general benefit of student and assessor alike.

Simple Guidance to Improve Style

(and marks!)
Read scientific work (published
scientific papers, not text books)

Copy the style (the only time we ask

you to copy anything!)
Criticise (and develop) your style