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types of writing

Writing in the Sciences

Mike B., former Writing Center tutor

Please keep in mind that these are only general guidelines; always defer to your professor's specifications for a given assignment. If you have any questions about the content represented here, please contact the Writing Centers so that we can address them for you.

Scientific writing is unique in that its goal is almost always to relay information, rather than to persuade, explain, or narrate—the goals of most other kinds of academic writing. This transfer of information is essential for scientists because they rely on one another’s reports to verify the results of particular experiments, and to conduct their own follow-up research based on these results. Therefore, scientific writing must be clear and concise. It generally sacrifices the writer’s presence in order to place a greater emphasis on the results of an experiment and the methods by which that experiment was performed.

In order to achieve this, the third person is usually preferred in most scientific writing. Writing in the third person helps to remove the specific scientist from the experiment and forces a greater emphasis on the scientific content. Scientific writing can be formatted in many discipline-specific ways, but most formats typically feature an abstract-style introduction, labeled sectioning, and a results/data section with figures and/or graphs. In addition, scientific writing should always be formal in sentence construction and diction, as it is intended for an academic audience. Colloquial language should be avoided. Finally, the use of passive verb forms is much more widely accepted in scientific writing than in most other disciplines. Passive verbs allow the author to be even further removed from his or her writing, again placing an emphasis on methods, results, and data rather than on the people who performed the experiment.

Direct quotations are generally not used in scientific writing, as it is preferred for the author to paraphrase the content of the quote and then provide an in-text citation.  However, a student in the sciences may find it necessary to specifically reference methods from their lab manual in a report. In either case, the style manual followed by the natural and physical sciences is CSE (Council for Science Editors). The References page and in-text citations in a research paper or lab report should follow the default CSE format, unless otherwise indicated.In order to achieve this, the third person is usually preferred in most scientific writing. Writing in the third person helps to remove the specific scientist from the experiment and forces a greater emphasis on the scientific content. Scientific writing can be formatted in many discipline-specific ways, but most formats typically feature an abstract-style introduction, labeled sectioning, and a results/data section with figures and/or graphs. In addition, scientific writing should always be formal in sentence construction and diction, as it is intended for an academic audience. Colloquial language should be avoided. Finally, the use of passive verb forms is much more widely accepted in scientific writing than in most other disciplines. Passive verbs allow the author to be even further removed from his or her writing, again placing an emphasis on methods, results, and data rather than on the people who performed the experiment.


Information Specific to The Sciences Majors

Biology Mathematical Sciences
Chemistry Physics
Environmental Science  
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