A short guide to writing about biology

Preface

Acknowledgements

Part I. General advice about writing and reading biology: 1. Introduction and general rules

2. Locating useful sources

3. General advice on reading, note taking, and avoiding plagiarism

4. Reading and writing about statistical analyses

5. Citing sources and listing references

6. Revising

Part II. Guidelines for specific tasks: Prelude: Why are you writing papers and proposals and giving talks?

7. Writing summaries, critiques, essays, and review papers

8. Answering essay questions

9. Writing laboratory and other research reports

10. Writing research proposals

11. Presenting research findings : preparing talks and poster presentations

12. Writing letters of application

Literature Cited

Index.

General advice about writing and reading biology. Introduction and general rules

Locating useful sources

General advice on reading, note taking, and avoiding plagiarism

Reading and writing about statistical analyses

Citing sources and listing references

Revising

Guidelines for specific tasks. Prelude: Why are you writing papers and proposals and giving talks? Writing summaries, critiques, essays, and review papers

Answering essay questions

Writing laboratory and other research reports

Writing research proposals

Presenting research findings: preparing talks and poster presentations

Writing letters of application.

Introduction and general rules

Locating useful sources

General advice on reading and note talking

Reading and writing about statistical analyses

Citing sources and listing references

Revising

Writing summaries, critiques, essays, and review papers

Answering essay questions

Writing laboratory and other research reports

Writing research proposals

Presenting research findings: preparing talks and poster presentations

Writing letters of application.

Preface

Part I. General Advice about Writing and Reading Biology

1. Introduction and General Rules

What Do Biologists Write about, and why?

The Keys to Success

Ten major rules for preparing a first draft

Six major rules for developing your final draft

Eight finer points: the easy stuff

The annoying but essential final pass

On Using Computers in Writing

On Using Computers for Data Storage, Analysis, and Presentation

Summary

Technology Tip 1. Getting the Most from Your Word-Processing Program

2. Locating Useful Sources

Using Indexes

Using Science Citation Index

Using Current Contents

Using Medline and Other Databases

Prowling the Internet

Conducting Web Searches: Developing Productive Search Strategies

Final Thoughts about Efficient Searching: Technology Isn't Everything

Closing Thoughts

Summary

Technology Tip 2. Using Search Engines Effectively

3. General Advice on Reading and Note-Taking

Why Read and What to Read

Effective Reading

Reading Data: Plumbing the Depths of Figures and Tables

Reading Text: Summarize as You Go

Plagiarism and Note-Taking

Plagiarism

Take notes in your own words

Split-page note-taking: A can't-fail system

Final thoughts on note-taking: Document your sources

Summary

4. Reading and Writing About Statistical Analyses

Statistical Essentials

Variability and its representation

When is a difference a meaningful difference? What you need to know about tomatoes, coins, and random events

Establishing a null hypothesis

Conducting the analysis, and interpreting the results

Degrees of freedom

Summary: Using Statistics to Test Hypotheses

Moving Beyond p-Values

Statistical power

Effect magnitudes

Reading about Statistics

Writing about Statistics

5. Citing Sources and Listing References

Citing Sources

Summary of Citation Format Rules

Preparing the Literature Cited Section

Listing the references-General rules

Listing the references-Using the correct format

A Sample Literature Cited Section

Technology Tip 3. Bibliographic Management Software

Technology Tip 4. Producing Hanging Indents

6. Revising

Preparing the Draft for Surgery: Plotting Idea Maps

Revising for Content

Revising for Clarity

Taming disobedient sentences-Sentences that don't say what the author means

The dangers of It

Problems with and

Headache by acronym

Revising for Completeness

Revising for Conciseness

First commandment: Eliminate unnecessary prepositions

Second commandment: Avoid weak verbs

Third commandment: Do not overuse the passive voice

Fourth commandment: Make the organism the agent of the action

Fifth commandment: Incorporate definitions into your sentences

Revising for Flow

A short exercise in establishing coherence

Improving flow using punctuation

Revising for Teleology and Anthropomorphism

Revising for Spelling Errors

Revising for Grammar and Proper Word Usage

A grammatical aside: Rules-that-are-not-rules

A strategy for revising: Pass by pass by pass

Becoming a Good Reviewer

Receiving criticism

Fine-tuning

Sentences in need of revision

Checklist

Technology Tip 5. Tracking Changes Made to Documents

Part II. Guidelines for Specific Tasks

7. Writing Summaries and Critiques

Writing the First Draft

Writing the Summary

Sample Student Summary

Analysis of student summary

Writing the Critique

The critique

Analysis of student critique

Concluding Thoughts

8. Writing Essays and Review Papers

Why Bother?

Getting Started

Researching Your Topic

Developing a Thesis Statement

Writing the Paper

Getting underway: Taking and organizing your notes

The crucial first paragraph

Supporting your argument

The closing paragraph

Citing Sources

Creating a Title

Revising

Checklist

9. Writing Laboratory and Other Research Reports

Why Are You Doing This?

The Purpose of Laboratory and Field Notebooks

Taking notes

Making drawings

Components of the Research Report

Where to Start

When to Start

Writing the Materials and Methods Section

Determining the correct level of detail

Giving rationales

Describing data analysis

Use of subheadings

A model materials and methods section

Writing the Results Section

Summarizing data using tables and graphs

Constructing a summary table

To graph or not to graph

Preparing graphs

(Not) falsifying data

The question: To connect or not to connect the dots?

Making bar graphs and histograms

Learning to love logarithms

Preparing tables

Making your graphs and tables self-sufficient

Putting your graphs and tables in order

Incorporating figures and tables into your report (or not)

Verbalizing results: General principles

Verbalizing results: Turning principles into action

What is a "figure"?

Writing about negative results

Writing about numbers

In anticipation-Preparing in advance for data collection

Citing Sources

Writing the Discussion Section

Expectations

Explaining unexpected results

Analysis of specific examples

Writing the Introduction Section

Stating the question

An aside: Studies versus experiments

Providing the background

A sample introduction

Talking about Your Study Organism or Field Site

Deciding on a Title

Writing an Abstract

Preparing an Acknowledgments Section

Preparing the Literature Cited Section

Preparing a Paper for Formal Publication

Checklist for the Final Draft

Technology Tip 6. Using Computer Spreadsheets for Data Collection

Technology Tip 7. Graphing with Excel

10. Writing Research Proposals

What Are Reviewers Looking For?

Researching Your Topic

What Makes a Good Research Question?

Writing the Proposal

Introduction

Background

Proposed research

Citing references and preparing the literature cited section

Tightening the Logic

The Life of a Real Research Proposal

Checklist

11. Answering Essay Questions

Basic Principles

Applying the Principles

12. Writing a Poster Presentation

Layout of the Poster

Making the Poster

Checklist for Making Posters

13. Writing for a General Audience: Science Journalism

Science Journalism Based on Published Research

The simple statement and bullet leads

The narrative lead

The surprise or paradox lead

Science journalism in action: An example

Journalism Based on an Interview

14. Preparing Oral Presentations

Talking about Published Research Papers

Preparing the talk

Giving the talk

Talking about Original Research

Talking about Proposed Research

The Listener's Responsibility

Preparing Effective Slides and Overheads

The Pros and Cons of PowerPoint Presentations

Checklist for Being Judged

15. Writing Letters of Application

Before You Start

Preparing the Resume

Preparing the Cover Letter

Recruiting Effective Letters of Recommendation

Appendix A. The Disassembled Paragraph Reconstituted (From Chapter 6)

Appendix B. Revised Sample Sentences

Appendix C. Revised Sample Sentences in Final Form

Appendix D. Commonly Used Abbreviations

Appendix E. Suggested References for Further Reading

Appendix F. Sample Form for Peer Review

Appendix G. Some Useful Web Sites

Appendix H. Using the Paper Versions of Leading Indexing Services

Index