Writing for the Sciences
The purpose of writing in the sciences is to communicate your understanding of the concepts being covered in class. As one professor advises: “Don’t write to be understood. Write to not be misunderstood.” This professor suggests you set aside attempts to impress and simply express your ideas. “We want to know what students are thinking, how they understand the concepts, and if they didn’t understand the concepts, we want to know that too,” she adds.
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Some writing in the sciences will involve lab reports, when you introduce the experiment, record exactly what you did in it and how, what happened, and how you interpret the results.
Science courses also often require the writing of argument- and thesis-driven papers in response to articles and other science writing.
In all science writing, faculty agree that good writing will be clear and concise, allowing the reader not to have to work to understand. Concision requires choosing your words carefully and making sure they’re doing the work you want them to do. In other words, focus your writing by using simple, declarative sentences, and always avoid complex words you don’t fully understand. One professor says, “there is a sense that science writing should be awkward and stilted, but nothing could be less true.”
Tip: Some of the science writing you read for class may not follow these guidelines. Several professors point out that if you don’t understand an article you read, it’s probably poorly written. Don’t follow this example!
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Jargon—or terms used only in the specific field or area you're discussing—is necessary and quite common in science writing. When you use it, make sure to explain it. Don’t assume your reader will look up a term they don’t know, and even though you’re writing for your professor and your peers, don't assume they know what you know.
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Never assume your reader is an expert—even when you’re writing directly to your professor—nor that they’re already interested in the topic. [See above section for more on this.]
Tip: If you think you’re writing to your professor, who understands the material, you will think your reader will just “get” what you mean. But the point of writing a paper for class is to communicate to your professor exactly what you mean. As one faculty member puts it: “You can’t go wrong if you imagine you’re writing to your grandmother.”
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Think of a science paper as an hourglass. You start broad and big, with information that situates your work in a broader context (which will include facts or details your readers likely already know), and then you narrow your focus to your specific idea, spending time in the weeds of what you’re talking about. At the end, you widen back out and explain the broad implications of what you’ve said. Remember to ask yourself “So What? Why does this matter?” and to address that question—in both the introduction and the conclusion.
Tip: Many published science articles start out (in the abstract and/or the introduction) with a broad statement that immediately alerts the reader to the value of the work you have done. This sets the stage to allow readers new to the field into the conversation, offers you a chance to define any jargon you'll be using, and allows you to start big and broad, at the top of the hourglass. You can consider this the “hook”, that attracts the audience’s attention and signals that it will be worth their while to continue reading what you have written.
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There is agreement among faculty that the writing culture in science is changing; the presumed requirement for passive voice is on the wane, and more people are writing in the first person. One professor puts it this way: “I love the personal pronoun because you know who does science? People do.”
That said, another faculty member advises his students that instead of writing, for instance, I transferred the cells to a 37 degree incubator, it is best to write The cells were transferred to a 37 degree incubator. This professor’s argument is that “the cells are the main subject, not me.”
Therefore, always ask your professor if they have expectations about the use of passive voice, and how they feel about the personal pronoun.
Tip: A key point to remember is that both the active and the passive voice exist for a reason. Active voice and use of the personal pronoun can help make writing more concise and clearer for the reader. But there are places where indirect statements and passive constructions will be more effective.
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The best rule is to adopt the style of citations in the readings for any specific course or assignment. When in doubt, ask your professor.
When citing sources or pointing readers to figures and charts, cite these at the end of the sentence, rather than making them the subject. Examples:
- Instead of writing “Figure 1 shows that administration of caffeine increased wakefulness in mice,” write “Administration of caffeine increased wakefulness in mice (Figure 1)."
- Instead of writing “Carter et al. (2024) demonstrated that administration of caffeine increases wakefulness in mice,” write “Administration of caffeine increases wakefulness in mice (Carter et al., 2024)."