Structure of scientific documents

• Structure/organization of Harry Potter? Mystery novel? Simpson’s episode?

• Beginning, middle, end• Expectations. Effective for a particular purpose• Structure more rigid for science – Easy to read– Effective at informing and persuading

“The Literature”

• Clay tablets, letters, books, journals• Started with scientific societies in 1600’s– Advanced to many cities– Tough to keep up

• 1900’s: importance of seeing, adding to, and consulting the literature (abstracts)– A publication is a node in network of citations– Literature is continuously extended– Publications are regarded as primary repository of

knowledge in field Name some journals…

What they have in common: Structure

• Title: identify field and distinguish paper from others in field. Concisely and accurately describe research

• Authorship: workload, not writing. First/last author

• Abstract: describe basic questions, approach, implications. The “take home” message

• Introduction: central research question and background literature

• Introduction: central research question and background literature

• Methods: describe research methods• Results: present data• Discussion: present interpretation • Conclusions: interpretation, broad

implications, future• Works cited• Back matter

Structure: The Hourglass

But having the different sections aren’t enough to make strong structure

Transitions, depth and emphasis

Transitions• Map sections (often done with lists)• Smooth entrances to sections (not empty, not too

specific, not too general) • Parallel subsectionsDepth, emphasis and repetition• Not redundancy!• Strategies in book & later in class (science of scientific

writing)Good examples in book

Titles

• Identify field• Distinguish from other papers in field• What’s wrong with the following titles?

2) Effects of humidity on the growth of avalanches

1) Reducing the error of analyses

3) Studies on normal faulting in the Himalaya

4) Using the distribution and timing of normal faulting to map the southern boundary of the Tibetan plateau as a function of upper-crustal strain in the Bhutan Himalaya

Summaries/Abstracts

“Please be good enough to put your conclusions and recommendations on one sheet of paper at the very beginning of your report, so that I can even consider reading it”- Winston Churchill

“Every proposal starts off as a ’10’ in my mind. I dock one point for every line of the Proposal Summary I have to read before finding out what the investigators are going to do.”- Fellow National Science Foundation Panelist

Summaries/Abstracts

• Emphasize essential info in doc / presentation• Not an introduction – rather they concentrate

the most pertinent info to facilitate understanding of the main points (repetition)

• Road/trail map: make it easier to read• Two main types of summary/abstract: descriptive

and informative (many abstracts are a combo of the two)

• Facilitate information searches for journals and conference presentations

Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean volumes of 896 million barrels of oil (MMBO) and about 53 trillion cubic feet (TCFG) of nonassociated natural gas in conventional, undiscovered accumulations within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and adjacent State waters. The estimated volume of undiscovered oil is significantly lower than estimates released in 2002, owing primarily to recent exploration drilling that revealed an abrupt transition from oil to gas and reduced reservoir quality in the Alpine sandstone 15-20 miles west of the giant Alpine oil field.

Descriptive or informative?

USGS twitter

• USGS twitter feed (http://twitter.com/usgs or /USGSNews)

• E.g.,: This site partially addresses the difference between National Parks vs Monuments: http://1.usa.gov/Aah08J

Summary of summaries/Abstracts

Purposes:- Keep reading- Remember key findings- Help understand- Index articles for cross-referencing/finding- Allow supervisor to review technical work without

being bogged down in details (e.g., letter of ref from supervisor: “I don’t grade reports by the pound”)

Handout: From the journal Nature

Came et al., 2007, Nature.

Coupling of surface temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations during the Paleozoic era

Identify specific sections in this intro paragraph that correspond to structure in the author instructions.

Background/context

However… the issue or problem (interesting, unexpected, unexplained observation or fact). Big CO2 change, but previous proxies say little T change

Here we present [method, results] to address the issue or problem

Main Result/Interpretationand specific + more general significance

Broader perspective or implications

When should you write the abstract?

Ivory billed woodpecker paper

1) Read abstract2) Skim paper and ID sections (though they are

not labeled)3) Notice each sentence in abstract summarizes

a section of the paper

Abstract assignment

• Vine & Matthews, 1963• Write a 150 word abstract (due 1/17)• (Could write a summary sentence for each

section, and between that and the Nature instructions come up with a great abstract)

• We are going to design rubric in class, and I’ll post final version later today

Two Mars abstracts/design rubric

• What is the main strength of each?• What should go on our general abstract rubric?

(divide in groups to write each category)– Structure – Language/Tone– Format (150 words +/- 15 words)– Mechanics– Other categories?

• Could combine the two Mars abstracts to make a great abstract…

Also mechanics & format (150 words, Times 12 point font)

Shorter Mars Abstract The debate on whether life exists or has ever existed on the Earth-like planet Mars is an ongoing argument. Mars is a cold, dry planet with a thin atmosphere but there still could be places where life could thrive. Such places would be in the subsurface close to some geothermal activity or in rock types where endoliths could grow or even in frost found at the surface. Further tests and information are needed to concretely confirm whether or not Mars is a hospitable planet.

Longer Mars Abstract

Mars was originally thought to be a completely dead and inactive planet. Recent discoveries have disproved these mistaken beliefs and have replaced them with the hope of life outside of earth. The use of planetary Fourier Spectrometer has provided scientists and researchers with vital information pertaining to the release of methane on the surface of Mars. On Earth methane can be produced by either volcanic activity or by the digestion of nutrients by complex organisms. Also at one point Mars was able to maintain liquid water on its surface which is key to the creation and stability of life. Finally one of the most exciting discoveries are magnetite, which are produced by terrestrial bacteria and potential ovoids that resemble nanofossils of bacteria and the evidence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which on Earth are created from the breakdown of dead organisms.