Things to consider when writing a scientific report Including a short outline Compiled by Lena Palmquist 1. Introduction •
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Background, i.e. the context in which the work is done and information that helps the reader to understand the next point, namely Goals and purpose, specifying the goal will answer the question: What should I have accomplished when I'm finished? And specifying the purpose will answer the question: why is this work important? These two may, to some degree, overlap. You present the research question or hypothesis/problem. Limitations and constraints associated with the company or the context where the work is done. Constraints associated with methods or carrying through the project are described where methods are described. Available equipment and other resources such as subjects, time and economy are included here. Key concepts, it is often important to clarify what is meant by the various concepts that are used in the report. Such a clarification should be justified by the contents of the report, otherwise such a list is not necessary to include. If this is domain‐specific terminology the concepts may well be explained where they first appear in the text, or in a glossary in the appendix. 2. Theoretical background, related work, deeper studies Reviewing the theoretical background should be clearly justified based on the work done. Thus "everything" that is needed to support the project, but nothing else should be mentioned. You can mention things you have rejected if you explain why they are rejected. In that case it will only be a small part of the report. Other people's results from similar work fit here, similarities as well as differences are brought up. Consider what is particular about your project, what specific knowledge is needed for your project to succeed. Make sure that this section is not just a summary of the various sources that you have read, informing the reader what you have learnt instead of relating the theory to the project. The idea is not to give a short course in a research area, the idea is to give information needed to justify, explain, and to some extent inform to provide a basis for understanding how you deal with the project. 3. Methods used Reference is made to methods used and you should also justify why they are chosen (or not chosen). The methods should relate to the research question or problems addressed. 4. Carrying through the project This section includes more practical aspects such as the number of subjects, how the questionnaires were distributed, how observations were carried out, etc. Anyone who reads should get a clear picture of how it all happened. It can also include things that were problematic, equipment that failed to function, or the like, to explain why things were the way they were. It is also important to justify limitations and selections related to the chosen methods. This can include the extent of testing, amount of test data, selected test examples. 5. Results This section accounts for ‐ as objectively as possible ‐ the results found. Avoid interpretation and conclusions related to the results at this point. 6. Analysis and Interpretation Account for the results based on theory and logical reasoning. What can be concluded based on the results? What is particularly interesting in the results? Does the result support or contradict the hypothesis or research question? Are the results and interpretations of the result supported by similar work? The analytical part is about the organization and structure of the results. Are there patterns in the results that lead to interesting and probable interpretations? 7. Discussion and conclusions Are there particular contributions worth mentioning? Are the results possible to generalize? Is there an interesting continuation of the project? Could or should parts of the project have been done differently? Was there anything that would have been worth doing, but for some reason or another could not be accomplished in this particular project? Future work could be in a separate section. A section of conclusions should not be very extensive, and if it is, choose the headline "discussion". More advice Structure To assist the reader, it is important that the various parts (chapters) of the report are held together in a relevant way. The contents of the sections in a chapter are briefly introduced and justified first in each chapter. Be clear about the motives behind bringing up a certain theory in relation to the project. To determine whether there is a need for an introductory text to a particular section one can ask if it is obvious to the intended reader why the section appears in the text. If it is unclear then write an introduction explaining how the section relates to the objectives and/or purpose. Headlines Normally you should not have two headlines directly following one another without an intermediate body of text. This text gives you an opportunity to add what ties the parts together. The purpose of such a text is to facilitate understanding why the sections following are included in the text. Do not hang up the text of a headline. By that I mean that you should be able to remove all the headlines and the text should still be understandable. Running text should not refer to a headline, headlines are there to orient the reader and give the reader a hint about what will come and provide the opportunity for a small break from reading. Conversely, should headings to be chosen so that the table of contents provides a clear view of contents of the report. Language Below you find guidelines for language‐related issues. Things to consider when writing in English If the report is in English, you should avoid the word "you" as it may give an impression of patronizing. Rephrase if possible (and it often is). Otherwise use, the word "one". In text books and information texts "You" works much better. The English word "own" cannot be used in the same way as the Swedish word "egen". You should not write "I had an own idea", instead you could write "I had an idea of my own" or possibly "I had my own idea". Swedes often make a noun of English verbs, e.g. "I was working with the planning of my report ". This can be simplified (and hence sounds better) to "I was planning my report" or possibly "I planned my report". Swedes are generally bad at writing articles before English nouns, i.e. "a" or "the". It is more common than we may think. Many Swedes make a mistake in the present tense verb form. Normally the verb ends with an ‐s in third person singular (he/she/it looks, I / we / you / they look, also he/she/it was). It is particularly difficult in sentences where the subject (such as he, she, we) are not in the absolute vicinity of the predicate (approximately the verb). One way of checking this dilemma is to remove everything except the subject and predicate (the verb). The Swedish word "det" is not used in the same way as the English word "it" and is not used nearly as often as in Swedish. Do not write for example "It was wanted ...". To avoid a sense of everyday language do not use such words as thing, way, do, make, good, get. They should be replaced by more specific words. Generally, regardless of language Always write complete sentences. You should therefore always have a subject and a predicate in all sentences. Write as simple and understandable as possible. Scientific writing does not mean complicated writing or using complicated words. If you suspect that words you have to use are not common knowledge, they should be explained. A complete sentence ends with a full stop ("."). The style of the text should be factual and straightforward. Do not write very long sentences that attempt to include everything in every sentence. Important content is written in short sentences. Quotes Citations can be written in a number of ways. The length of the quote determines how it is written. A short quote can be inserted in the running text surrounded by quotation marks and with a reference to the source immediately after. A Long quote is written in a separate paragraph with wider margins, often in italics. An example of a quote in a separate paragraph might look like
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Such a quote is also followed by the source of the quote. Tense Eternal truths and information about the report are written in present tense. For example, you should write "The report describes ... " and not "The report will describe..." What is done in the past is written in past tense. Future tense ("will") is used only in a section on future work. . Abbreviations Abbreviations should be avoided if possible. Established abbreviations in the topic may of course be used but must be explained where it first appears. Common abbreviations such as i.e. can be used without explanations or rather write "that is". Typography Be consistent in typography. Follow established typographic advice. In particular consider new paragraph, line length, straight right margins, hyphenation, selection of headlines and levels of sections. Only use one font in the running text. In headlines you can use a different font, but be consistent throughout levels of headlines (sections) and use the same font in all headlines. Title When you choose a title for your work you can include key concepts so that a database search finds the report. The title should be descriptive and should give a hint as to what kind of results are presented. Simply put, the title should contain theme or area of research and objectives, for example: "Towards automatic image analysis for computerized mammography". Abstract Abstract or summary normally contains purpose or objectives, methods used, results, and potential conclusions. Use about 200 words. Chapter For each chapter reflect on what the purpose is and how the parts of the chapter fit together. Do not "pile" facts without explaining why they are there. Paragraphs There are no established guidelines on the length of a paragraph. We often say not too short, and not too long. With that said I give a quite specific guideline anyway, saying that three paragraphs a page might be adequate. Another advice regarding paragraphs is that each one should contain one unique idea. Figures The purpose of the figures is to clarify the content of the text. All images or figures (including tables) contained in the report should be referenced in the text. The caption should help explain what the figures illustrate. The figure and the caption together should be enough for understanding the figures, although the main message should be found in the running text. The caption begins with an upper‐case letter as in "Figure 8. The salmons' migration in the X‐river". Outline The whole report could be summarized in the introductory chapter or section. Only facts that are relevant to the work itself should be included, acknowledge‐
ments, reference list, or appendices are left out. The description should be somewhat more than only chapter headings. It is not necessary (perhaps not desirable) to include the headlines, however describe briefly the content. The outline is usually written in a section at the end of the introductory chapter. Scientific style A report must be characterized by a scientific style. That means removing all personal opinions and speculations and only keep objective facts and findings as well as logical reasoning. A scientific style does not mean an unclear style difficult to follow, with difficult words. Rather scientific writing is characterized by simplicity and clarity so that studies and reasoning can be followed and understood, even possible to question. Everything that is claimed in the report must be supported and verified. References In a scientific report references are important. They show that the author is well informed, and that assertions are supported by other researchers' findings and theories. They also give the reader an opportunity to find out more by reading the texts referred to. It is therefore important that the reference list is correct. All references are collected at the end of the report. They are listed alphabetically (if the so‐called Harvard system is used, there are also other conventions). All references used must be mentioned in the text following established conventions. There is a number of different conventions. One convention is to mark all references with numbers and then simply refer to the current number inserted in brackets in the text. The downside of this convention is that the reader always has to check the reference list to see what is referenced. If instead you write the name of the author and the year the text was published, a person who is familiar with the research area might recognize the text referred to without having to check the reference list. There are also variations of these two approaches. Some conventions are based on using footnotes, but that is unusual in the technical disciplines. The important thing is, as usual, to be consistent. Remember that you cannot trust references in texts you read. There are quite often errors relating to dates, spelling names and even the title. Always go to the source and check. Reference examples Below are some examples of how to weave references in his text. ‐‐ As mentioned by Andersson (1988 p. 45) and Persson (1971 p. 124)... ‐‐ This has been mentioned by several previous authors (Andersson, 1988 Page 45, Persson, 1971 Page 124)... ‐‐ It is evident from previously published descriptions and photographs (e.g. Phersson, 1971 Page 72, Figure 2) that ... ‐‐ Previous authors (Brown 1989, Smith 1992, Jones 1986)... Audience When you write a report you should always consider what type of reader you are addressing. A general guideline is to address fellow students at a similar level, who have not read exactly the same courses as you have. Another possible category of readers is a potential employer, then concepts will need to be explained in more detail than if you address your classmates. Personal view Your personal view of the work should not be mentioned in the report, those interested in this (i.e. you, your supervisor and your loved ones) know about it without you mentioning it. The report should instead focus on the project, or the like, not your personal purpose for writing the report or carrying through the project. Sometimes personal views are written in a preface or a section of acknowledgements. Sources ‐ Http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Språkvård ‐ Http://www.tt.se/ttsprak/, TT's (Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå) recommendations on the Swedish language, provides many eye‐opening advice for how to express oneself. ‐ Answers.com, English words and their meanings (and pronunciations) ‐ Http://varspool.blogspot.com/2005/11/how‐to‐pass‐your‐final‐year‐
thesis.html including the following suggestions for a report outline: An introduction. What's your hypothesis? Why is your work interesting? What are your trying to achieve? A literature survey. What have other people done? What new knowledge will your work add? What is the current state of the art missing and how are you going to address that? Your methodology. How did you go about validating / disproving your hypothesis? Why is your method sound? Why should anyone trust your results? Your results. What did you do? How? Your analysis of your results. What do your results mean? Why are they interesting? Did you validate your hypothesis or disprove it? Conclusions. What did your work contribute and how could it be continued by others?