How to Write a Science Paper

How-To,College Writing

A lot of people think of the Writing Center as a place to take papers from your English class. But, as we’ve discussed in previous blogs, we can help with al kinds of assignments! Not only can we help you with your English essay, we have expertise in History papers, presentations, visual texts such as fliers, making videos, and much more.

We can even help you with writing a report for your biology, chemistry, or other science course. Check out Bryn’s Tips for Writing a Science Report and make an appointment with us today!

  1. Use separate section headers!

    1. Introduction or background

      1. State the need for your project
      2. Explain the past research and findings
      3. State the objectives of the project
      4. State and explain hypothesis (if one exists)
    2. Methods

      1. Explain, in detail, the experiment so that another may recreate it the same way
      2. Explain which materials and apparatus were used
      3. Explain what you measured and how, etc.
    3. Results

      1. Explicitly state the results of the experiment
    4. Discussion

      1. Explain why results are important and what they mean
      2. Explain whether or not the results support any hypothesis presented in the introduction
      3. Explain error with error analysis and how it affected results
    5. Future Research

      1. Where to go from here
      2. Next steps in experiment or next experiments to follow the previous one
  2. Check your tone!

    1. Be sure to use a professional and factual voice
    2. Be as concise as possible
    3. Refrain from “First… second…” listings and “story-like” or directional language
    4. Use past tense about findings and methods
    5. Use present tense for generalizations and future research/conclusion
  3. Share your equations!

    1. Separate line from text
    2. Numbered for reference
  4. Show graphs!

    1. Only post the relevant, final graphs
    2. Be sure to title the graph and label its axes