Writing in Biology

When writing in biology, an abstract is a paramount part as most individuals might find themselves unfamiliar with the concept on how to tackle an abstract. Most abstract are not needed in the introductory science, and it might be hard for everyone in higher level classes might be required to write an abstract in a report. An abstract comes first logically, but it should be written last when writing in biology or any other research for that matter. The reason why it is written last is that it carries the essence of the report which draws all the information from the sections of the report.

It gives an explanation on why the experiment or the research was conducted the way it appeared and the conclusion that was deducted from all the research. While writing a biology research or a report, one needs to divide the abstract into different sections, and one indicates each section is briefly completing on the abstract. One addresses the problem, what was done in answering the question proposed, the outstanding results that were obtained and the conclusion that was obtained from all the activities and research. It should be remembered that an abstract is always brief and to the point. Sometimes one paragraph is enough to state all the sections and write a quality abstract.

Introduction

The significant of an introduction is to set the framework for the entire writing and make the reader see that the writer understands the purpose of carrying out the research.When writing in biology, the writer needs to fully explain the entire purpose and aim of the research or the report which is used to conclude the entire study. While introducing a biological writing, one needs to insert collections, simple observations that have been made and the work was done which require no manipulation.

For a writer to come up with an explicit introduction, he or she needs to set some parts as sections that he should consider for his presentation to be fully complete and presentable in the academic realm. One needs to state the question that is supposed to be answered in the experiment or in the research being conducted so as to explain how the interpretation of the result will be carried out. The next thing that should never be forgotten is the background information, and it is given to indicate the reason why the question was asked. The background information describes the specialized terminologies and introduces the study being prepared to be taken.

Methods and Materials

This is the section that is very straightforward compared to the other sections. It is mostly advisable for the researcher and most especially biologist to begin writing this section since it allows one to establish the flow of the report and the establishment of the proper process and understanding of the task. The method and materials section is very crucial in biology writing since it gives a detailed account of the procedure that was followed for the study to be completed. Such activities are the core of the research since it is the tool that will enable the biologist to have results and make recommendations together with conclusions. Materials and methods also serve as a set of instructions for anyone who desire to replicate the study. This can only happen if the method and the materials were written correctly. When writing the materials and methods, it is important for the biologist to include the fundamental ideas. Enough details should be given to the materials to enable the materials to be reproduced. The materials and method are also written in the past tense to allow a good demonstration of the study.

Results

The result section is where the findings are presented to the reader in a more consistency, clear, succinct and orderly way. The sections follow after the material and method are written. One is allowed to write them in a simultaneously way while describing each experiment with its corresponding data. The result should be done well since if they are not credible or understood, then it means that the entire paper will have to disintegrate before the eyes of the reader. Common sense should be applied and what is needed should only be included omitting the extraneous information. Since the result entails the objective of what happened, it should not include the researchers interpretation.

One should know how they want to present the information it could be in figures, or it could be in tables. After presenting the data, one need to write a text which guides the reader through the most important points allowing him or her to notice the representation of the result in the figures and also in the tables. The result should be brief and to the point, while the main point should be made in past tense. If there were any statistical tests carried out, then their result are supposed to be indicated in the figures and tables. The result is the primary ingredient in which the entire paper is based.

Discussion and Conclusions

After the result section is complete, the next section to be considered is debate and conclusion section. The discussion section identifies the statement of the expected findings, and afterward, the hypothesis is included with a statement on why the expected result was made. It is in this section that the biologist should indicate if the result obtained supported the hypothesis or not. It should be stated if the result were supportive or whether there were some variances.

In the discussion, some issues should be addressed like whether the equipment used was adequate for the task if the design was valid and whether the assumption made was correct. An indication of if something different could have been done to obtain better result should be identified, and ways of how to test the reasons for the unexpected results should be highlighted. A summary of all the steps carried out in the experiment should be included in the conclusion with the emphasis on why it was relevant. It should be noted that for biology writing, new information should not be introduced in the conclusion as this section only gives a summary of what has been done.

References

This is the section that includes all the published work that have been mentioned throughout the study. Different scientific journals are used according to the format that is given. Some ways can be used to organize the section, and they include;

Putting in the text. This is to mean that literature citation should be done in the appropriate places

The references should be listed in the alphabetical order

Listing a laboratory manual or handbook

Listing the journal references

The section is important since it enables the researcher or any other reader to go back and obtain the sources used and find out in detail what it addressed. It also allows anyone who is unsure of the data to verify that everything reported is correct and therefore eliminating any doubt.