How to write a scientific paperGuidelines for the extra cred
- 1. How to write a scientific paper Guidelines for the extr a credit assignment This extra credit assignment is worth 25 points and is completely voluntary . All work must be your own. Any paper containing plagiarism will receive a zero. No late assignments will be accepted. Outline The topic for this paper is specific to each student and should be acquired from your instructor. It should be in the format of a literature review article and as such should contain the basic format of a scholarly paper, which i
- 2. ncludes a Title, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion Section. I am not requiring all of these specific sections for this paper. I am simply providing a basic outline option . However it is required to have at least two cited articles and one table/figure . Biological Literature Reference papers must be from a scientific, peer reviewed journal and must be primary sources (i.e. original findings and ideas). No websites may be used. References must be full length; this means that they c ontain an abstract, introduction, methods, and results/discussion section. Papers may not be cited unless the whole article has been read directly by you. Reference papers can be accessed through the CBC Library system. Do
- 3. not plagiarize the papers you cite ( It is very easy to check for this, so please save yourself a lot of heartache and don’t do it ). Also use the papers you cite as examples of how scientific papers are written, both in terms of format and style. Title The title should be short, conc ise, and informative. The title should be no more than 45 characters. Below the title the authors name should appear followed by his/her department, institution, city and country. Abstract The abstract should be 250 words or less and is simply a summar y of the major parts in the paper. Usually there is one sentence per paper section: introduction, methods, results, (including a summary of numerical data), and
- 4. discussion. The purpose of the abstract is to give a reader a brief idea of what the paper is about so that the reader can determine the relevance to his/her own work. Introduction The introduction is the place to present the relevant background context and the hypothesis. The context should make clear why the hypothesis is interesting and imp ortant, and should cite other literature relevant to the research providin g this rationale. At the end of your introduction, restate the hypothesis in general terms along with the purpose of this paper, followed by a series of predictions for each variab le. For example: “The purpose of this review was to compare and contrast the prognosis, indications and contraindications of partial versus total knee arthroplasty in patients who underwent a pre
- 5. and/or post operative course of Physical Therapy. I predi cted that patients who had a partial knee replacement, and a course of pre surgical Physical Therapy, would demonstrate greater outcomes using the Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS).” Methods Summarize the materials and methods used and include devi ations between cited articles. Results Present the data in tables and figures to illustrate the findings. You must include at least one figure/table. Tables and figures: All tables and figures must be correctly
- 6. labeled with a good descriptor sentence. For example: Figure 1: The effect of vagal stimulation and vagal escape on turtle heart rate Do not interpret data or present conclusions in this sec tion! Discussion Interpret results and present conclusions with the supporting evidence . Give reasonable explanations for results, even negative results are meaningful. Literature should again be cited in this section to illustrate how the results fit or do not fit with various studies. References Cited
- 7. You must have at least two scientific papers cited using a commonly accepted citation style (MLA or APA) . List only references cited in your paper. In the text, make reference using the author’s last name and y ear of publication (i.e., Smith, 2003). If ther e are more than two authors, the name of the first author should be used followed by “et. al” (i.e., Smith et. al, 2003). References should be listed in alphabetical order, based on authors last name, in the references cited section. If there are multiple publications by the same author(s) in the same year they should be listed as 2000a, 2000b, etc. You may use your book and lab materials but they must be cited and do not count as one of your two primary so
- 8. urces. In addition to the paper itself, y ou must submit a complete cop y of at least two of the most reference d docum ent s with your paper for review . If any tables/charts/graphs are used in your paper, be certain to
- 9. include those documents with your submittal . Format Length and Spacing: It should be 4 pages in length. All sections of the paper, except an abstract if included, should be double - spaced with 1 - inch margins on all sides, flush left in 12 - pt. font that is easily readable (e.g., Times Roman) . On every page, in the upper right margin, 1/2 - inch from the top and flush with the right margin put your last
- 10. name followed by the page number. Reference section is not co unted in the page count. Italics: Words normally italicized, such as Genus and Species names, should be typed in italics in the paper