Effective Scientific
Communication
How to write research report
Main focus
 Clarity
is essential
 Material should be geared to the major
theme of the report
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Use subheadings
Effective use of paragraph structure
Key to Effective Scientific
Communication
 Define
your question
 Provide a rationale
 Tell a story
 Sell your ideas
 Know your audience
 Be professional
 Keep it simple
Normal length of the writings
 An
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undergraduate lab report
2000 words
 A journal

article
5000 words
 A masters

20,000-40,000 words
 A doctoral

dissertation
dissertation
80,000 words
Writing style
 Avoid
using pronouns such as “I” and “we”.
 Past tense, but …
 Use figures effectively
 Numbers
 Avoid direct quotes
 Keep sentence short
 Title
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Attract the attention of the readers
Inform the reader of the major features of the
research paper
• Avoid phrases such as “a study of …”
• Avoid clever or tricky titles which merely attract
attention
• Conservative title: concentrate on the major
hypothesis

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Effect of
Relationships between …
Abstract
 Get
your point across quickly (<250 words)
 Organize the ideas as a mini manuscript
(intro, methods, results, discussion)
 Stimulate interest and enthusiasm
Introduction
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Work from general (bigger issue) to specific
Introduce and define key concepts
Summarize current relevant literature and background
information
Describe the motivation and rationale leading to the
current experiment
Does it address shortcomings of previous research
e.g. design problems?
Purpose of the current experiment
Variables measured
General predictions or hypotheses
Implications
Methods

Include essential information on how you conducted your
study (not too much or too little)
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Subjects
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Who participated? Age, sex, number of groups, how groups were
assigned, did the study meet ethical requirements for this population
(animals or humans)
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Apparatus/Stimulus Materials
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Describe the equipment or stimuli used in the experiment
Use diagrams if necessary for visualization
Procedure
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A step-by-step procedure of how the experiment was conducted
Would another researcher have enough information to be able to
replicate your study?
How will you (or did you) analyze your data?
 Procedure

the keyword here is sequence and this
implies a chronological order
Results
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Briefly re-state hypothesis
Clearly define measurements of interest – what
do the values refer to
Provide a clear, unbiased description of your
data (Make appropriate use of figures to
illustrate your point)
Make appropriate use of statistics and report
properly (and provide rationale for particular
tests used if necessary)
Do not try to interpret your findings (wait until the
Discussion) and do not be repetitive or
redundant
Figures
 Select
the most appropriate figures to
illustrate your point (i.e. pie for proportions, line for
continuous data)
 Label
clearly (x-axis, y-axis, title, fig.#)
 Provide informative figure captions
Discussion
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Work from specific to general
Clearly re-state findings
Re-state hypothesis and how the finding relate
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If they were not confirmed what could be some
possible reasons why
Describe and interpret main findings
Clearly link your findings to the literature
previously mentioned
 Mention strengths and potential weaknesses of
your current paradigm
 Generate ideas for further research
 Reflect on the broader implications
References
 Only
include the references you cite in
your paper
 Use appropriate formatting (APA here)