Suggested Format

These pages have been prepared as a general guide to writing a research paper for submission to the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. The JSHS research paper is a written report describing original research results in the sciences, engineering, or mathematics. The papers should rely on previously published literature primarily for background and comparative purposes.

This set of guidelines reflects rules for State and Regional Competition and occasionally does not conform to the information on the JSHS website.

Suggested Format

The typical research paper should include:

• Title page or cover page
• Abstract
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Materials and methods
• Results
• Discussion and conclusions
• Literature cited, or references
• Appendices (optional)

Title page or cover page

The title should describe the content of your paper in as few words as possible. Make the title concise but also descriptive. A two or three word title may be too vague, but a 14 or 15 word title is probably too long.

• Avoid "excess" words such as a, an, or the, or phrases such as a study of or investigations of.
• Scientific writing is not creative writing. Titles should not include a "play" on words, nor should they be written as a question.
• Be careful of syntax; avoid faulty word order.
• Avoid using abbreviations, formulas, or jargon in your title.

Examples:

Poor: The effects of increased ultraviolet radiation, as caused by stratospheric ozone reduction, on the Drosophilia melanogaster
Better: Effects of ultraviolet radiation on Drosophilia melanogaster
Good: Mutations caused by ultraviolet radiation in Drosophilia melanogaster

The first example has secondary information included, which adds nothing to the title but length. While the second example is concise, it is lacking a descriptive characteristic.

Poor: Effects of antibiotics on bacteria
Better: Effects of penicillin on Gram negative bacteria
Good: Lysis of Gram negative bacteria by penicillin

The first example is concise but too general. The second example is more specific, both in describing the antibiotic and the bacteria, but still lacks description.

Poor: Characterization of bacteria causing whooping cough by gel electrophoresis
Good: Use of gel electrophoresis to characterize bacteria that cause whooping cough

The first example has poor syntax. Whooping cough is not caused by gel electrophoresis. Rather, the gel electrophoresis is used to characterize the bacteria that cause whooping cough.

The Abstract

The abstract should provide a brief overview of the entire study in no more than 250 words in one paragraph. A good abstract briefly states the research problem or purpose, how the problem was studied, what was found, and what the findings mean. The abstract should accurately reflect the paper's contents. Be advised, if you are chosen for the MAS Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, you will have to cut your abstract to 175 words.

The abstract is the chief means that scientists use to determine which research reports to read and which to bypass. First impressions of your research are formed by reading the abstract.

While it is difficult to be both concise and descriptive at the same time, that is exactly what you should strive for when writing an abstract. Say only what is essential, using no more words than necessary to convey the meaning. Examine every word carefully.

Write the abstract after the paper is completed to make sure it accurately reflects the paper's contents. The abstract is not part of the paper. It is a summary of the salient points in the paper. Do not discuss something in the abstract unless it is included in the body of the paper itself. The abstract should not substitute for information that should be included in the paper itself.

Acknowledgments

This section is optional. If included, you might, for example, identify where and when the research was done acknowledging those who provided major assistance with the study. In this section, credit is given to individuals who provided assistance in selecting the topic for study, in planning or guiding the course of research, in construction of apparatus, or other direct assistance.

Introduction

The introduction should clearly state the nature and scope of the problem investigated and "Introduce" the study by providing background information and reviewing relevant literature. Presume that the reader is scientifically literate but not familiar with the specifics. The introduction should also provide the rationale for the study. Explain your purpose in investigating the problem and its significance.

The introduction is not:

• a single sentence
• a list of definitions or terms
• simply a literature and concept review

Materials and Methods

In paragraph format, discuss the materials, methods, or procedures used to conduct the research. A numbered list of steps or items used is not acceptable. Describe how you conducted your study, what equipment you used, and what procedures you followed. Provide enough details so that the research could be replicated by someone else.

This section should enable the reader to evaluate the appropriateness of your methods and the reliability and validity of your results. Do not discuss any results in this section.

Results

Present the results of your research findings in logical order. You should not interpret the results in this section; just present the facts. Use visuals (graphs, tables, and other illustrations) as appropriate. Refer to all tables as "tables" and to all graphs, pictures, or other illustrations as "figures."

Even if your results are presented in a tabular or graphic form, the important highlights of each table or figure should be discussed in text. Tables and figures should supplement or complement text and eliminate lengthy discussions.

The results of the statistical analyses, if performed, should also be reported and discussed in this section. Remember to explain the statistical tests used.

Discussion and Conclusions

You discuss and interpret your results in this section. Relate your results to your original purpose in undertaking the project. Compare your findings with existing research. Show how your results and interpretations agree (or disagree). Draw conclusions based upon your data (as reported in the results).

Make sure to acknowledge any limitations, which affect the results and discuss any other factors over which you had no control. Explain how these might have affected the study outcomes.

Keep in mind that not all research has world–shaking consequences to the human race. All you can do is show the findings revealed by your data.

The Discussion should end with a short "conclusions" section summarizing the most important points of your findings. You may suggest further experiments to continue this project.

Literature Cited

Virtually, all scientific papers rely to some degree on previously published work. When a fact or an idea is borrowed (whether directly or paraphrased) from another source, it must be acknowledged in the text and the origin of the information must be revealed.

The formal acknowledgment within the text is called a citation. The citation serves as a link between the text in which it appears and the formal list called Literature Cited. All citations in the text must appear in this list; likewise, all references in the list must be cited in the text.

There are several systems for citations, with variations on each. These guidelines follow the author–date system.

Appendices

Citing in Text

The reference (author and date) should be placed naturally into the flow of the sentence.

Pascal and co–workers (1981) first isolated a mutant of E. coli K–12 that could no longer ferment glucose.

Examination of codon usage predicts ADH to be a highly expressed protein in E. coli (Ikemura, 1985).

If the name of the author appears as part of the text, as in the first example, cite only the year of publication in parentheses. Otherwise, place both the name and year, separated by a comma, in parentheses as in the second example.

When there are two authors, cite them both (Smith and Kaplan, 1980), but in the case of three or more authors, cite only the name of the first author and indicate the rest by using "et al." (Lurz et al., 1979), which is Latin for and others.

Literature Cited

• This list at the end of the paper is arranged alphabetically by first author's last name.
• A single–author entry comes before a multi–author entry beginning with the same name.
• Works by the same person are arranged chronologically by date of publication.
• When a work has more than one author, their names are listed in the order in which they appear on the title page. The first author's name is written last name first for alphabetizing purposes.
• Capitalize article and book titles in sentence style. Only the first word of the main title (and proper nouns and proper adjectives) are capitalized.
• For journal titles, capitalize the initial letter of the first and last words except prepositions and a, an, the, and, but, or, and nor.
• Titles of books and journals are italicized. Titles of articles are not italicized.
• Quotation marks are not used to enclose titles of articles or chapters.
• Names of publishers and of journals are usually abbreviated.
• Locations that are well known for publishing can be listed without a state abbreviation, e.g., New York, Boston, Chicago.
• Give the date shown on the publication for magazine articles, month for monthlies or month and day for weeklies, as well as volume number.
• Use Arabic numerals for volume numbers, even when Roman numerals are used in the publication itself.
• Include issue number for journals only if every issue begins with page 1.
• When a book or pamphlet has no author's name and is published by an agency, association, or named group; the name of the group may serve as the author's name in citations and the literature cited list. The name of the group is spelled out in the first citation and may be abbreviated thereafter.
• For major reference works, such as encyclopedias, with a large editorial board, list the name of the lead editor or directing editor if no author is cited.
• If the name of the author or editor is unknown, the work is listed alphabetized by the first important word in the title.
• All references are justified on the left margin. If the reference requires more than one line, the additional lines are indented five spaces (1/2").
• Double space between references.
• Periods separate major components.
• Colons separate titles from subtitles, cities from publishers, and volumes from pages.
• In page spans, use all digits. For example, 345–359, not 345–59.
• In publishers' names, delete words such as Co., Inc., and Ltd.

Examples

Book, single author Day, R.A. 1994. Magnet. How to write and publish a scientific paper. 4th ed. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

Book, more than one author Woolston, D.C., P.A. Robinson, and G. Kutzbach. 1988. Effective writing strategies for engineers and scientists. Chelsea, MI: Lewis Publ.

Dictionary, editor Urdag, L., ed. 1972. Magnet. In The Random House college dictionary. New York: Random House.

Dissertation Cunningham, P.R. 1987. The genetics and regulation of ethanol fermentation in Escherichia coli. Dissertation. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University.

Encyclopedia, article with author Hart, L.W. 1988. Magnet and magnetism. In World Book. Vol. 13. Chicago: World Book.

Encyclopedia, editor and no author Lorimer, L.T., ed. 1993. Magnet and magnetism. In Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 15. New York: Americana Corp.

Interview Barber, J.D. 8 May 1995. Interview by author. Carbondale, IL.

Journal Article, one author Clark, D.P. 1989. The fermentation pathways of Escherichia coli. FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 63: 223–234.

Journal Article, title and subtitle Kohara, Y., K. Akiyama, and K. Isono. 1987. The physical map of the whole E. coli chromosome: application of a new strategy for rapid analysis and sorting of a large genomic library. Cell 507: 555–1212.

Magazine (weekly), paginated by issue Cowley, G. 23 Jan 1995. HIV's raw aggression. Newsweek. 75(4): 58.

Newspaper Article, no author Study finds free care used more. May 1989. APA Monitor. 14.

Newspaper Article, discontinuous pages McDonald, K.A. 15 Dec 1995. Researchers ponder a stormy forecast. The Chronicle of Higher Education. A12, A16.

Pamphlet, organization as author American Society for Microbiology. 1994. Slide and poster requirements. Pamphlet. Washington, DC: American Society for Microbiology.

Telephone Conversation Barber, J.D. 8 May 1995. Personal Communication.

Appendices (if applicable)

Supplemental information such as lists of terms, definitions, and questionnaires that are useful but not essential to the body of the research paper may be included as appendices. Appendices should be included only if they help readers to understand, evaluate, or replicate the study. Most readers will not bother to check appendices.

For example, you have a large table of raw data, but most of it is not essential to the discussion in the paper. You could include the complete table as an appendix and a smaller table with a subset of data in the text.

Writing and Revising

Have a clear purpose in mind when you begin writing, but don't try to think of everything at once. Papers are rarely written correctly on the first draft. Be sure to allow yourself enough time for writing and revising.

After the first draft is written, read it to yourself. Also, give the draft to your science and English teachers, as well as someone who is not familiar with your research project, for comments. They may recognize ambiguities or the use of jargon.

When you revise, you should aim for improving clarity.

• Use third person in grammar, when possible.
• Use the active, rather than the passive voice, when possible. For example, instead of The experiment was designed by Smith... say,Smith designed the experiment...

Verb Tenses

• Most of the abstract should be written in past tense.
• Present and past tenses are correct in the introduction.
• Past tense or present perfect tense (researchers have shown) are appropriate for the literature review and the description of the materials, methods, and procedures.
• Use past tense to describe results (the measurements showed).
• Use the present tense (the results indicate) for the discussion and conclusions. The present tense allows your readers to join you in your consideration of the matter at hand.

Proofreading

Proofread for correct spelling and sentence structure! Although word processing software has greatly facilitated scholarly writing, proofreading is still essential. Computer spell–checkers do not recognize misspelled words if they are valid words, nor do they check the grammar. Computer grammar–checkers are of little utility for scientific writing. Any errors in spelling, grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, or misuse of a word is distracting and affects the reader's confidence in you.

A paper with writing and typing errors may score poorly even if the research itself is excellent.