9.1: Introduction to Writing Across Disciplines

9.1.1: Writing in Different Academic Disciplines

Academic writing conventions vary substantially according to discipline—that is, whether one is working in the humanities, the social or natural sciences, or business.

Learning Objective

Identify the key characteristics of writing in different academic disciplines

Key Points

Writing in the humanities usually seeks to analyze, interpret, argue, and/or explain thoughts, reactions, ideas, and emotions.
Writing in the sciences focuses on informing the reader of new discoveries and assisting readers in discovering truth through facts and solid data provided in detail.
Writing in business often means explaining a situation, event, or change to compel the reader toward a very specific action.

Key Terms

creative writing: The art of crafting texts, such as novels, biographies, short stories, and poems, that fall outside the bounds of professional, journalistic, academic, and technical discourse. Creative writing can be used to tell stories, evoke emotions, build empathy, and inspire new ways of thinking about the world.
genres: Categories or types of writing, including analytical, creative, explanatory, interpretive, and persuasive (among many others).

Academic writing in a college setting can generally be divided into three main categories or genres: writing in the humanities, writing in the sciences, and writing in business. Each genre has its own specific requirements in terms of style, content, and format.

Writing in the Humanities

Academic writing in the humanities explores questions that deal with human values. The ultimate goal in writing in the humanities is to explain or understand the human experience—to use writing as a tool to reflect upon life. The “humanities,” as a discipline, includes not only literature, but also philosophy, ethics, performing arts, fine arts, history, and aspects of anthropology, cultural studies, foreign languages, and linguistics. In a humanities class, you might be asked to analyze a poem, a performance or play, a painting, a film, or even a musical work.

Writing in the Sciences

Science writing includes writing in two main categories—natural sciences and social sciences. In each genre, the writing focuses on informing readers of new discoveries and assisting them in discovering truth through facts and firm, detailed data.

Research-based writing in the sciences typically uses a formal tone, employs a third-person voice, and avoids personal references and needless adjectives. Depending on the assignment, you might also write an analytical, explanatory, or persuasive paper in any of these fields for a popular or professional audience.

Natural Sciences

Natural sciences include physical sciences such as biology, chemistry, engineering, geology, and physics. This type of writing is generally concise and includes genres such as lab reports and reviews of scientific literature.

Social Sciences

The social sciences, on the other hand, focus on human behavior and societies. They involve documenting actual events as they happen. Categories of social science include psychology, anthropology, political science, sociology, education, and economics.

Writing in Business

Business writing often means explaining a situation, event, or change in order to compel the reader toward a very specific action. Format is key to a well-written business document because its structure needs to allow the reader to quickly find particular sections and a contact person who can answer further questions. Writing in business can include memos, cover letters, resumes, project reports, proposals, thank-you letters, emails, and business plans. While adherence to conventional grammar, spelling, and punctuation is important in every discipline, business writing places the greatest emphasis on mechanics.

9.2: Writing in the Humanities

9.2.1: Introduction to Writing in the Humanities

Academic writing in the humanities allows for some flexibility in style and voice, while still following specific conventions of format and documentation.

Learning Objective

Define the subtypes of writing that exist within the humanities

Key Points

Generally, writing in the humanities falls into one of three categories: research writing, interpretive/analytical writing, and creative writing.
When writing a research paper in the humanities, you will collect (and cite!) information from a variety of different sources to support an argument.
In interpretive/analytical writing, you will make a claim about what a particular text (or film, or painting, etc.) means or how it goes about presenting meaning; you will make an argument backed up with specific examples from the text.
In some analytical writing, you may be asked to interpret a text through the lens of a particular theory—for example, modernist theory, psychoanalytic theory, etc.
Creative writing mostly comprises fiction writing, such as poems, short stories, novels, and song lyrics; however, there is also a type of writing called creative nonfiction, in which creative writing centers around real events.

Key Terms

thesis: A claim or theory that must be supported with evidence to argue for or against a specific idea or position.
literary analysis: A piece of academic writing that explores and interprets the meaning behind the story, characters, themes, and purposes of a text.
humanities: The collection of academic disciplines that study human expression, ideas, and thought.
expository: Of a type of writing that explains, informs, or describes a process or concept.

Writing in the Humanities

The ultimate goal in writing in the humanities is to explain or understand the human experience and human values. The humanities—also called the liberal arts—include philosophy, religion, art, music, literature, history, and language. These fields are a broad way of studying and understanding how people express ideas, information, and feelings—the experience of what makes us human. Sometimes mislabeled as the “opposite” of the applied sciences or professional programs such as business, the humanities are in fact at the core of every human endeavor to pursue, discover, and pass on knowledge.

There is no single, all-encompassing type of writing in the humanities. You might write a literary analysis of a novel, story, play, or poem; an analysis that explains how a written or visual text works to persuade a specific audience; an expository essay that shares personal experiences or explores ideas; a research paper investigating the history of a particular theoretical approach; or a persuasive article that works to convince a specific audience of your thesis. Generally, however, writing in the humanities falls into one of three categories: research writing, interpretive/analytical writing, and creative writing.

Research Writing

When writing a research paper in the humanities, you will likely be relying on a number of different sources to support a broader claim that you’re trying to make. It is crucial that you correctly cite and attribute all ideas and information that are not common knowledge and not your own. For example, you would need to provide a citation for a statement like, “60% of guns recovered in crimes are sold by unlicensed dealers,” which is likely written about in a specific study, but not for a statement like, “William Shakespeare was born in 1564,” which is common knowledge and referenced in many different sources.

Interpretive/Analytical Writing

An interpretation, or analysis, involves the discovery of meaning in a text (or film, or painting, etc.) or the production of meaning in the process of reading a text. As such, analytical writing focuses on the questions of “how?” and “why?” It tries to assist the reader in understanding specific events (literary, cultural, or otherwise) rather than just engaging in summary. Writing about literature (poems, short stories, plays, etc.) often involves making an argument that can be backed up with specific examples from the text. For example, a student writing an interpretive paper about a specific book may try to explain the author’s attitudes or views on a specific subject matter. The writer of the paper must then use evidence found in that book—specific lines, words, or phrases—to back up their claims.

Theoretical Writing

Theoretical writing involves writing on a topic from a particular theoretical perspective or combination of perspectives (e.g., modernism, deconstructionism, psychoanalytic theory, etc.). Often, students will be asked to combine the analytical and theoretical genres: to write a paper interpreting a specific text or film through the lens of a particular theory or theoretical text. For example, a student might write an essay on Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier, investigating how its use of language fits into Nietzsche’s theory of human communication. Another example might be a paper interpreting a film using certain tenets of psychoanalytic theory.

Creative Writing

Creative writing attempts to achieve, or create, an effect in the minds of readers. Creative writing can also be used as an outlet for people to get their thoughts and feelings out and onto paper. Poems, short stories, novels, and even song lyrics are all examples of creative writing.

To some, nonfiction can also be considered creative writing because it is done from the author’s point of view and may be written in an individual style that engages the reader. In fact, many universities offer courses in “creative nonfiction.” Others like to separate nonfiction from creative writing because it deals with real events that actually took place, even if they are written about subjectively.

9.3: Writing in the Natural and Social Sciences: The Research Paper and the IMRAD Model

9.3.1: Principles of Writing in the Sciences

Scientific writing has two goals: to inform the reader of new developments in a specific field, and to address existing questions with new evidence.

Learning Objective

List the stylistic elements of a successful scientific paper

Key Points

Academic writing in the sciences addresses new scientific developments and clarifications of scientific questions, most frequently in the form of a lab report, journal article, or literature review. The natural sciences include fields such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics; the social sciences include anthropology, economics, linguistics, political science, sociology, and psychology.
Scientific papers commonly follow the IMRAD model, which stands for introduction, method, results, and discussion.
The introduction should describe elements such as the paper’s motivation, aim, problem, tested hypothesis, novel contributions, background materials, and an overview of the subsequent material.
The methods section should cover the writer’s assumptions, system model, simulation model, and performance measures. For an original study, when, where, and how the study was conducted, what materials were used, and who was included in the study groups should all be included.
In describing the results, the writer should include any empirical data, charts, and plots that convey the answer to the research question, and state whether the research hypothesis was proven or not proven.
The discussion section should analyze the results, state why they matter, contextualize them in relation to existing research, and suggest the implications for future research.

Key Terms

objectivity

The ability to perceive a subject without being influenced by personal biases or emotions.

bias

A definite opinion or position on a subject.

lab report

A step-by-step explanation of the materials, methods, data, results, analysis,
conclusions, and references of an experiment.

Scientific research papers report new discoveries, applying evidence to answer questions and identify patterns. Writing in these disciplines often takes the form of peer-reviewed journal articles, literature reviews, grant proposals, case studies, and lab reports.

For example, in an environmental-science lab report, a student might analyze research results to address or clarify a particular scientific development or question:

“This study aims to identify levels of chlorine and phosphorus compounds in a three-mile stretch of the Columbia River, which is an area notable for salmon runs. An analysis of samples taken over a two-year period from various locations within the three-mile stretch revealed the persistence of high levels of phosphorous and chlorine compounds. In the study, we examine the relationship between salmon population and the persistence of these compounds.”

Scientific papers require a great deal of preliminary work, including research, field work, and experimentation. Translating that work into writing can be difficult, but academic conventions provide a common template for communicating findings clearly and effectively.

General Style

Writing in the sciences seeks to explain complex phenomena in clear, straightforward prose that minimizes authorial bias. It also includes elements of classical argument, since scientific papers are expected to contextualize, analyze, and interpret the information at hand.

Precision of Language

Lab reports, case studies, and other types of scientific writing must be precise in order to provide results that can be tested and reproduced.

Strive to use simple words and sentences. Some students try to make their work sound more intellectual by using obscure words and long, elaborate sentences. In reality, the academy values precise words and detailed descriptions that are still understandable to a lay audience. Don’t try to mimic the stereotype of dense, convoluted academic writing. Instead, write as simply and clearly as possible. Precision is a key component of clarity.

In the sciences, precision has two main applications: using concrete examples, and using clear language to describe them. Defining your parameters accurately is essential. Don’t generalize—provide exact times, measurements, quantities, and other relevant data whenever possible. Using precise, straightforward language to describe your work is also vital. This is not the time or place for flashy vocabulary words or rhetorical flourishes. Style, however, is still important: writing about the sciences doesn’t give you a pass to write sloppily.

Objectivity

The sciences aim for objectivity at every stage, from the experimental procedures to the language used in the write-up. Science writing must convince its audience that its offering an important, innovative contribution; as a result, it has an argumentative character. Combining objectivity and argumentative writing can be challenging. Scientific objectivity has two requirements: your hypothesis must be testable, and your results must be reproducible.

The importance of objectivity in the sciences limits writers’ ability to use persuasive rhetoric. However, it is still necessary to make a strong case for the importance, relevance, and applicability of your research. Argumentative writing does have a place in scientific papers, but its role is limited. You may use persuasive language in the abstract, introduction, literature review, discussion of results, and conclusion, but avoid using it when you describe your methods and present your results.

Transitions

Many students struggle to transition from one topic to the next. Transitions are well worth mastering—they are the glue that holds your ideas together. Never assume that the reader will correctly guess the relationships between different subtopics; it is your responsibility to explain these connections.

Scientific Reasoning

Keeping your chosen model in mind while you write can help ensure that your decisions and conclusions are logically consistent. Also, watch out for logic traps such as bias and faulty causality. Researchers must account for their own biases, or personal preferences, prejudices, and preconceived notions. These may include cognitive bias (irrational thinking), cultural bias (the imposition of one’s own cultural standards upon research subjects), and sampling bias (the tendency during sample collection to include some members of the intended sample more readily than others).

9.3.2: Overview of the IMRAD Model

The body of a scientific paper generally consists of the following sections: introduction (which may include a literature review), methods, results, and discussion.

Learning Objective

Define each element of the IMRAD structure

Key Points

The IMRAD model is the conventional structural approach to academic writing in the sciences. The IMRAD model has four parts: introduction, methods, results, and discussion.
The literature review provides an overview of relevant research in your discipline. This may be included as part of the introduction, or it may stand as its own section.
The methods section should explain how you collected and evaluated your data.
If your project conducts an experiment or an original data analysis, you should include a separate section that reports your results.
The discussion section should analyze your results without reporting any new findings.

Key Terms

quantitative: Of research methods that rely on objective measurements and data analysis.
literature review: A synthesis of the critical points of current knowledge in a given field, which includes significant findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic.
IMRAD: An acronym for Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion—the conventional structure of a scientific paper.
result: The discovery (or absence of discovery) that arises from the scientific method of investigation.
qualitative: Of research methods that create a more subjective understanding by studying a subject’s defining qualities and character.

In the natural and social sciences, the format for the body of the paper varies depending on the discipline, audience, and research methods. Generally, the body of the paper contains an introduction, a methods section, results, and discussion. This method is called IMRAD for short.

These sections are usually separate, although sometimes the results are combined with the methods. However, many instructors prefer that students maintain these divisions, since they are still learning the conventions of writing in their discipline. Most scientific journals prefer the IMRAD format, or variations of it, and even recommend that writers designate the four elements with uniform title headings.

Try to stay true to each section’s stated purpose. You can cite relevant sources in the methods, discussion, and conclusion sections, but again, save the lengthy discussion of those sources for the introduction or literature review. The results section should describe your results without discussing their significance, while the discussion section should analyze your results without reporting any new findings. Think of each section as a course served at a fancy dinner—don’t pour the soup into the salad or add leftover scraps from the entree to the dessert!

Introduction

In the first section of your paper, make a case for your new research. Explain to your reader why you chose to research this topic, problem, or issue, and why such research is needed. Explain any “gaps” in the current research on this topic, and explain how your research contributes to closing that gap.

Literature Review

While not always required, the literature review can be an important part of your introduction. It provides an overview of relevant research in your discipline. Its goal is to provide a scholarly context for your research question, and explain how your own research fits into that context. A literature review is not merely a summary of the sources you’ve found for your paper—it should synthesize the information gathered from those sources in order to demonstrate that work still needs to be done.

Explain your selection criteria early on—why did you choose each of your sources? The literature review should only refer to work that affects your particular question. Seek out a diverse range of sources. Look at primary-research reports and data sets in addition to secondary or analytical sources.

Methods

This section should explain how you collected and evaluated your data. Use the past tense, and use precise language. Explain why you chose your methods and how they compare to the standard practices in your discipline. Address potential problems with your methodology, and discuss how you dealt with these problems. Classify your methods. Are they empirical or interpretive? Quantitative or qualitative?

After you support your methods of data collection or creation, defend the framework you use to analyze or interpret the data. What theoretical assumptions do you rely on?

After you provide a rationale for your methodology, explain your process in detail. If you are vague or unclear in describing your methods, your reader will have reason to doubt your results. Furthermore, scientific research should present reproducible (i.e., repeatable) results. It will be impossible for other researchers to recreate your results if they can’t determine exactly what you did. Include information about your population, sample frame, sample method, sample size, data-collection method, and data processing and analysis.

Results

When you describe your findings, do so in the past tense, using impartial language, with no attempt to analyze the significance of the findings. You will analyze your results in the next section. However, it is perfectly acceptable to make observations about your findings. For instance, if there was an unexpectedly large gap between two data points, you should mention that the gap is unusual, but save your speculations about the reasons for the gap for the discussion section. If you find some results that don’t support your hypothesis, don’t omit them. Report incongruous results, and then address them in the discussion section. If you find that you need more background information to provide context for your results, don’t include it in the results section—go back and add it to your introduction.

Discussion

This is the place to analyze your results and explain their significance—namely, how they support (or do not support) your hypothesis. Identify patterns in the data, and explain how they correlate with what is known in the field, as well as whether they are what you expected to find. (Often, the most interesting research results are those that were not expected!) You should also make a case for further research if you feel the results warrant it.

It can be very helpful to include visual aids such as figures, charts, tables, and photos with your results. Make sure you label each of these elements, and provide supporting text that explains them thoroughly.

Royal Academy School

One of the goals of the literature review is to demonstrate familiarity with a body of knowledge.

9.3.3: Abstract

The abstract is the first (and, sometimes, only) part of a scientific paper people will read, so it’s essential to summarize all necessary information about your methods, results, and conclusions.

Learning Objective

Describe the purpose of the abstract

Key Points

Many online databases will only display the abstract of a scientific paper, so the abstract must engage the reader enough to prompt them to read the longer article.
The abstract is the first (and, sometimes, only) part of your paper people will see, so it’s important to include all the fundamental information about your introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections.
While a scientific paper itself is usually written for a specialized professional audience, the abstract should be understandable to a broader public readership (also known as a “lay audience”).

Key Term

abstract: The overall summary of a scientific paper, usually fewer than 250 words.

The Importance of the Abstract

The abstract of a scientific paper is often the only part that the reader sees.
A well-written abstract encapsulates the content and tone of the entire paper. Since abstracts are brief (generally 300–500 words), they do not always allow for the full IMRAD structure. A specialized audience may read further if they are interested, and the abstract is your opportunity to convince them to read the rest. Additionally, the abstract of an article may be the only part that is available through electronic databases, published in conference proceedings, or read by a professional journal referee. Hence abstracts should be written with a non-specialized audience (or a very busy specialized audience) in mind.

What to Address in the Abstract

While each medium of publication may require different word counts or formats for abstracts, a good general rule is to spend one to two sentences addressing each of the following (do not use headers or use multiple paragraphs; just make sure to address each component):

Summarize Your Introduction

This is where you will introduce and summarize previous work about the topic. State the question or problem you are addressing, and describe any gaps in the existing research.

Summarize Your Methods

Next, you should explain how you set about answering the questions stated in the background. Describe your research process and the approach(es) you used to collect and analyze your data.

Summarize Your Results

Present your findings objectively, without interpreting them (yet). Results are often relayed in formal prose and visual form (charts, graphs, etc.). This helps specialized and non-specialized audiences alike grasp the content and implications of your research more thoroughly.

Summarize Your Conclusions

Here is where you finally connect your research to the topic, applying your findings to address the hypothesis you started out with. Describe the impact your research will have on the question, problem, or topic, and include a call for specific areas of further research in the field.

9.3.4: Introduction and Thesis

In academic writing, the introduction and thesis statement form the foundation of your paper.

Learning Objective

Identify elements of a successful introduction

Key Points

Writing in the social sciences should adopt an objective style without figurative and emotional language. Be detailed; remain focused on your topic; be precise; and use jargon only when writing for a specialist audience.
In the social sciences, an introduction should succinctly present these five points: the topic, the question, the importance of the question, your approach to the question, and your answer to the question.
A thesis statement is a brief summary of your paper’s purpose and your central claim. The thesis statement should be one to three sentences in length, depending on the complexity of your paper, and it should appear in your introduction.

Key Terms

thesis statement: A claim, usually found at the end of the first paragraph of an essay or similar document, that summarizes the main points and arguments of the paper.
introduction: An initial section that summarizes the subject material of a book or article.

Social sciences

The social sciences include academic disciplines like anthropology, sociology, psychology, and economics

The introduction can be the most challenging part of a paper, since many writers struggle with where to start. It helps to have already settled on a thesis. If you’re feeling daunted, you can sometimes write the other sections of the paper first. Then, when you’ve organized the main ideas in the body, you can work “backward” to explain your topic and thesis clearly in the first paragraph.

Present Main Ideas

The introduction to a social-science paper should succinctly present the main ideas. The goal of the introduction is to convince the reader that you have a valid answer to an important question. In order to do that, make sure your introduction covers these five points: the topic, the question, the importance of the question, your approach to the question, and your answer to the question.

Structuring Your Ideas

A popular introduction structure is the concept-funnel—begin with general information about your topic, narrow the focus and provide context, and end by distilling your paper’s specific approach. As you move from general background information to the specifics of your project, try to create a road map for your paper. Mirror the structure of the paper itself, explaining how each piece fits into the bigger picture. It is usually best to write the introduction after you have made significant progress with your research, experiment, or data analysis to ensure you have enough information to write an accurate overview.

Papers in the sciences generally aim for an objective voice and stay close to the facts. However, you have a bit more freedom at the beginning of the introduction, and you can take advantage of that freedom by finding a surprising, high-impact way to highlight your issue’s importance. Here are some effective strategies for opening a paper:

Make a provocative or controversial statement
State a surprising or little-known fact
Make a case for your topic’s relevance to the reader
Open with a relevant quote or brief anecdote
Take a stand against something
Stake a position for yourself within an ongoing debate
Talk about a challenging problem or paradox

Establishing Relevance

After you engage your reader’s attention with the opening, make a case for the importance of your topic and question. Here are some questions that may help at this stage: Why did you choose this topic? Should the general public or your academic discipline be more aware of this issue, and why? Are you calling attention to an underappreciated issue, or evaluating a widely acknowledged issue in a new light? How does the issue affect you, if at all?

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is a brief summary of your paper’s purpose and central claim. The thesis statement should be one to three sentences, depending on the complexity of your paper, and should appear in your introduction. A thesis statement in the social sciences should include your principal findings and conclusions. If writing about an experiment, it should also include your initial hypothesis. While there is no hard-and-fast rule about where to state your thesis, it usually fits naturally at or near the end of the introductory paragraph (not later than the very beginning of the second paragraph). The introduction should provide a rationale for your approach to your research question, and it will be easier to follow your reasoning if you reveal what you did before you explain why you did it.

Testability

Your thesis is only valid if it is testable. Testability is an extension of falsifiability, a principle indicating that a claim can be proven either true or false. The statement, “all Swedish people have blonde hair” is falsifiable—it could be proven false by identifying a Swede with a different hair color. For a hypothesis to be testable, it must be possible to conduct experiments that could reveal observable counterexamples. This is the equivalent of the principle in the humanities that a claim is only valid if someone could also reasonably argue against it.

Thesis Statements to Avoid

The statement without a thesis: A statement of a fact, opinion, or topic is not a thesis. Push the thesis statement beyond the level of a topic statement, and make an argument.
The vague thesis: If your thesis statement is too general, it will not provide a “road map” for readers.
The “value judgment” thesis: Your argument should not assume a universal, self-evident set of values. Value-judgment-based arguments tend to have the structure “
is bad;
is good,” or “
is better than
.” “Good,” “bad,” “better,” and “worse” are vague terms that do not convey enough information for academic arguments. In academic writing, it is inappropriate to assume that your reader will know exactly what you mean when you make an overly general claim. The burden of proof, and thorough explanation, is on you.
The oversized thesis claim. There is only so much material you can cover within a page limit, so make sure your topic is focused enough that you can do it justice. Also, avoid arguments that require evidence you do not have. There are some arguments that require a great deal of research to prove—only tackle these topics if you have the time, space, and resources.

9.3.5: Methods

A methods section is a detailed description of how a study was researched and conducted.

Learning Objective

Identify the elements of a successful methods section

Key Points

Scientific objectivity requires that your paper have a testable hypothesis and reproducible results.
Your methods section should include all information necessary for your readers to exactly recreate your experiment; this gives others a chance to test your findings and demonstrates that your project meets the criteria of scientific objectivity.
To prove that your paper meets those criteria, you need to include a detailed description of how you conducted your experiment and reached your conclusions.
Specifically, your methods section should include details about your assumptions, your variables and participants, and what materials and metrics you used—essentially, any important information about when, where, and how the study was conducted.

Key Terms

IMRAD: Currently the most prominent norm for the structure of a scientific paper; an acronym for “introduction, methods, results, and discussion.”
testable: Also known as falsifiable; able to be disproven.
reproducible: Capable of being reproduced at a different time or place and by different people.

IMRAD: The Methods Section

Your methods section should include a full, technical explanation of how you conducted your research and found your results. It should describe your assumptions, questions, simulations, materials, participants, and metrics.

Because the methods section is generally read by a specialized audience with an interest in the topic, it uses language that may not be easily understood by non-specialists. Technical jargon, extensive details, and a formal tone are expected.

The methods section should be as thorough as possible since the goal is to give readers all the information necessary for them to recreate your experiments. Scientific papers need a thorough description of methodology in order to prove that a project meets the criteria of scientific objectivity: a testable hypothesis and reproducible results.

Purpose of the Methods Section: Testability

Hypotheses become accepted theories only when their experimental results are reproducible. That means that if the experiment is conducted the same way every time, it should always generate the same, or similar, results. To ensure that later researchers can replicate your research, and thereby demonstrate that your results are reproducible, it is important that you explain your process very clearly and provide all of the details that would be necessary to repeat your experiment. This information must be accurate—even one mistaken measurement or typo could change the procedure and results drastically.

Example Methods Section

The following is an example of a methods section of a scientific paper:

“The study focused on a three-hundred-mile stretch of the Columbia River, which has been the stretch of the river most studied historically. Five locations were selected, each sixty miles apart. Each location had three different water samples selected for three levels of the water: surface water (3-inch depth), mid-level water (12-inch depth), and water from the bottom of the river (36-inch depth). Samples were taken three times a day, seven days a week, during a period stretching from the fourth month before until the fourth month after the year’s salmon run.”

9.3.6: Results

The results section of a scientific paper objectively presents the empirical data collected in a study.

Learning Objective

Identify the information that belongs in the results section

Key Points

After discussing the methodology of your study, describe the outcomes that you measured or observed.
When presenting the findings, avoid drawing conclusions. Instead provide and explain the data you collected. This is your opportunity to tell the reader what you found without drawing any explicit conclusions from it.
Use charts, tables, or graphs to present your findings in a way that is clear and easily understood.

Key Terms

summary: A condensed version of the background or main ideas of a text.
results: The section of a scientific paper that objectively presents the data collected or observed in a research study.
methodology: A detailed explanation of specific components of a research project, such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques, and tools.

Writing the Results Section

The results section is where you state the outcome of your experiments. It should include empirical data, any relevant graphics, and language about whether the thesis or hypothesis was supported. Think of the results section as the cold, hard facts.

Style

Since the goal of the scientific paper is to present facts, use a formal, objective tone when writing. Avoid adjectives and adverbs; instead use nouns and verbs. Passive voice is acceptable here: you can say “The stream was found to contain 0.27 PPM mercury,” rather than “I found that the stream contained 0.27 PPM mercury.”

Presenting Information

Using charts, graphs, and tables is an excellent way to let your results speak for themselves. Many word-processing and spreadsheet programs have tools for creating these visual aids. However, make sure you remember to title each figure, provide an accompanying description, and label all axes so that your readers can understand exactly what they’re looking at.

Was Your Hypothesis Supported?

This is the part where it is the most difficult to be objective. If you followed the scientific method, you began your research with a hypothesis. Now that you have completed your research, you have found that either your hypothesis was supported or it was not. In the results section, do not attempt to explain why or why not your hypothesis was supported. Simply say, “The results were not found to be statistically significant,” or “The results supported the hypothesis, with
significance,” or the like. Be objective—there will be time for interpretation later.

Getting Ready for the Conclusion

It will be tempting to start drawing conclusions as you write the results section. You may also want to compare your results to the outcomes of other researchers’ experiments. Resist the urge! You’ll get your chance to draw conclusions in the conclusion section. The most you should do in the results section is present the data your experiments produced. Think of it as laying the foundation for what you will conclude later on in your paper.

9.3.7: Discussion and Conclusion

The discussion section of a scientific paper analyzes and interprets the results of a study, while the conclusion explains implications for further research.

Learning Objective

Differentiate between the discussion section and the conclusion

Key Points

The discussion section should briefly remind the reader of your research question and principal findings, and then interpret your results.
Be sure to acknowledge other possible interpretations of your results in the discussions section, and admit your project’s limitations.
In your conclusion, restate the research question, the main results, and the meaning of those results. However, avoid simply repeating your discussion section.
In your conclusion you may also discuss the significance of your research for future research, public policy, personal decision-making, or other spheres of influence.

Key Terms

conclusion: The end, finish, close, or last part of something.
discussion: Text giving further detail on a subject.

Discussion

The discussion section of a scientific paper should interpret the results of your research. First, briefly remind your reader of your research question and principal findings by briefly restating these points. Then explain the results themselves. Discuss how they fit (or do not fit) your hypothesis, and whether they are consistent with the results of similar research projects. Did you encounter anything surprising or idiosyncratic? If so, why is it significant? What might have caused it? Build on the research question you posed in the introduction, and the context you established in the literature review. Make a case for the meaning and significance of your findings, and support your case by connecting it to related research.

Acknowledge other possible interpretations of your results, and admit your project’s limitations. Your argument will be more convincing if you can anticipate your reader’s potential objections to your claims and address them directly in the discussion section. For example, generalizability (or how applicable a study’s results are to a more general population) is more limited with a smaller or less homogeneous sample. If your research sample is small or limited, be sure to acknowledge those limitations and address how they might have affected the results.

If your interpretation has broader implications, you can either suggest them in the discussion section or introduce them in a separate conclusion. You don’t have to write a conclusion if your points fit neatly into the discussion section, but a conclusion is helpful if you want to make suggestions that stretch beyond the scope of your project.

Conclusion

The conclusion section is not strictly necessary in the social sciences, but it can be helpful to provide a succinct summary of your work. It is also a good place to make bold speculations about the implications of your project. You should discuss, somewhere in your paper, the significance of your research for future research, public policy, personal decision-making, or other spheres of influence. But think carefully about whether you could benefit from the distancing effect of putting these implications in a separate conclusion.

The conclusion should not repeat your discussion section. It should take one to three paragraphs to restate the research question, the main results, and the meaning of those results. The conclusion then reaches beyond the suggestions you made in the body of the paper to emphasize the importance of the results and their potential consequences.

Conclusion

Conclusions have been an important part of writing for centuries.

9.4: Writing in Business

9.4.1: Introduction to Writing in Business

Business writing consists of many different types, all of which require a specific tone and organizational structure.

Learning Objective

List the stylistic elements of successful business writing

Key Points

Business writing includes reports, memos, PR communications, email, social media, and much more.
Each type of business writing has a different audience, purpose, organization, and style.
Business writing is always formal and uses a third-person voice (“he,” “she,” “they”).
Concision is extremely important in business writing. Eliminate any language that is not essential to your purpose.

Key Terms

primary audience: The reader or readers for whom a piece of writing is intended.
secondary audience: The reader or readers who may also read a piece of writing, even if the piece was not originally intended for them.
genre: A category or type of writing.

Business writing has changed a great deal since the days of typed memos and reports. While reports and memos are of course still relevant, the world of business writing has expanded to include email, PR communications, social media, and much more. Each genre of business writing carries its own conventions of organization, voice, and audience.

Genre

Some of the writing genres you will encounter in the business world include the following: resumes and cover letters, proposals, instructions, business and sales letters, emails, business plans, case analyses, memoranda, performance reviews, and professional biographies. The audiences and purposes will vary with each type of writing (and even within genres themselves).

Organization

Different types of business writing require different patterns of organization. Depending on whether you want to simply inform, convey good news, make a direct request, convey bad news, or persuade your audience of something, you might choose from any of the following organizational structures:

Direct and to the point; starts right away with a problem or request
Detailed explanation: state the problem and offer ideas for solutions
Present ideas and evidence first, then conclusions or recommendations

Style, Voice, and Tone

Writing in the business world is always formal and uses a third-person voice (“he,” “she,” “they”), although you may use contractions to sound more natural. In some cases, such as emails and sales letters, a slightly less formal tone (“I” and “you”) is permissible, but the subject and voice should always remain businesslike. Above all, less is more—be as concise as possible, eliminating needless words that are not essential to your purpose.

Audience

You probably already know how to properly address the primary audience (the person or persons who are the intended recipients). It’s also crucial to remember that any and all forms of business writing should be appropriate for secondary audiences as well (i.e., people or groups for whom the writing may not have been originally intended, but who might read it anyway). For example, you might submit a proposal to your direct supervisor (your primary audience), who in turn may pass it on to his or her supervisor, a task force or committee, or some other secondary audience.