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FINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER
What is the
structure of a scientific paper?
All scientific
papers have the same general format. They are divided into distinct sections
and each section contains a specific type of information. The number and the
headings of sections may vary among journals, but for the most part a basic
structure is maintained. Typically, scientific papers are comprised of the
following parts:
· Title
· Abstract
· Introduction
· Methods
· Results
· Discussion
· Acknowledgments
· Literature cited
Because scientific papers are organized in this
way, a reader knows what to expect from each part of the paper, and they can
quickly locate a specific type of information.
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TITLE.
The title will help you to determine if an article is interesting
or relevant for your project.
Well-written titles give a reasonably complete
description of the study that was conducted, and sometimes even foreshadow
the findings. Included in a title are the species studied (type of fruit), the kinds of
experiments performed (what did we build and do), and perhaps a brief indication of the results
obtained (did we grow a lot or a little).
ABSTRACT
Abstracts provide you with a complete, but very succinct summary
of the paper.
An abstract
contains brief statements of the purpose, methods, results, and conclusions
of a study. Abstracts are often included in article databases, and are
usually free to a large audience. Thus, they may be the most widely read
portions of scientific papers. This must be 5-7 sentences.
INTRODUCTION
You will find background information and a statement of the
author's hypothesis (how you planned on solving the problem of maximizing fruit yield) in the introduction.
An introduction usually describes the theoretical
background, indicates why the work is important, states a specific research
question, and poses a specific hypothesis to be tested. Why should we care about increasing fruit yield?
METHODS
The methods section will help you determine exactly how the
authors performed the experiment.
The methods describes both specific techniques
and the overall experimental strategy used by the scientists. What were the
main parts of your planter design (in detail)? What other plant needs did you
try to meet and how?
RESULTS
The results section contains the data collected during
experimentation.
The results
section is the heart of a scientific paper. In this section, much of the
important information may be in the form of tables or graphs. What was your yield? Put your
collected data into tables and graphs so whoever is reading this can quickly
SEE what was going on with your data and how it can apply to what they are
trying to do with their planters.
DISCUSSION
The discussion section will explain the authors interpret
their data and how they connect it to other work.
Authors often
use the discussion to describe what their work suggests and how it relates to
other studies (How can this be applied in real life? How can this address
issues of food needs?)
In this section, authors can
anticipate and address any possible objections to their work. (What do you
think people might criticize in your planter?)
The discussion
section is also a place where authors can suggest areas of improvement for
future research. (How would you improve your design next time? What other
plant needs might you try to meet? What would you do next time if you had an
unlimited budget? How could you make something similar with nothing but
objects you can find around your home or around town for free?)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The acknowledgments tell you what people or institutions (in addition
to the authors) who contributed
to the work. In reading the acknowledgments, you can see what sources
provided financial support for the study. You might want to know an industry
group or the federal government funded the study as this can sometimes affect
the outcomes or how the data was interpreted. You may want to include anyone
outside your group who helped give you ideas, helped volunteer help with
tools and building, or supplied you with the funds to purchase your supplies.
LITERATURE CITED
This section provides the sources cited throughout the paper. It does NOT need to be on its own sheet of paper. Just put it as the last section of your paper.
All of the works sited from your research
portions should be included here. Just cut and paste them from the Plant
Proposal Research Sheet and the Planter Design Research Organizer.
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Your Final
Scientific paper must have all of the parts listed above. Each part should have the heading
in BOLD with the information below
in paragraph form (kind of like how it is formatted here). One-and-a-half line spacing. 12 font. Arial Narrow. Please Include a cover sheet with the project
title, each group members name, Mrs. Spineto, Science 7, and the date each on their own line. SEE EXAMPLE OF COVER PAGE
Print out FOUR copies AND email me (schoolloop) the document in word format. One copy will be
used for grading and the other papers for Peer Review.
