Papers and reports
The most important way to spread your scientific results is by writing reports and papers. In this respect, there is no difference between scientific articles and, for example, lab reports – they all intend to convey a message to the readers in an interesting way. The papers also make up your portfolio, which you can present when applying for jobs or grants for new research projects.
It is critical to express yourself clearly and interestingly. The purpose of the study should be unambiguous, and the paper should be organised logically so that the readers do not have to scroll back and forth to follow what you have done. The text should be so comprehensive that you can read it from beginning to end and understand what you did, how you did it, what the results were and what the results mean. Last but not least, it should be possible to repeat your investigations based on your description.
There are some general rules for how an essay should be designed to meet the readability requirements summarised above. These rules are described here and are the ones you will follow when writing papers and laboratory reports at the Master of Science and Bachelor of Science Programmes in Pharmacy. Your teacher will provide you with more detailed instructions on what applies to each writing assignment.
Title
The title should be brief, informative and engaging. There can be no abbreviations, other than very commonly known ones, in a title. DNA works but not, for example, PABA (para-aminobenzoic acid).
In addition to the title, the title page should contain information about you and the context. For example:
- The name of the author
- The name of any supervisor
- Where the work was done (department, unit, university)
- Course subject, course level
- Number of credits
- The term during which the work was carried out
Table of contents
Include a table of contents in longer papers, such as advanced study projects. It should contain main headings and sub-headings with page references. Often, there are automatic functions for this in text editing software.
Abstract
The abstract is a summary of the entire essay, i.e. introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion. It should be clear why you chose the problem, what you have done, what the results were, and what it means.
Normally, the summary should not have references or just state designations or numbers of the studied substances. Instead, write the descriptions/names together with the designations/numbers of the substances. Neither should you use abbreviations other than the very widely known ones. There are often guidelines for how long an abstract may be (half to one full A4 page is common).
Introduction and Purpose (“Why?”)
Introduction (“Why?”)
In the introductory section, you present the problem area/background and briefly explain the hypotheses behind the study and what has previously been done in the area (your own and others’ investigations), with sources of the information. Divide the material into subdivisions (paragraphs), possibly with sub-headings. In this section, you can also define terms.
It is very important that you constantly evaluate and assess if what you include in the introduction is essential to the content of the report. The most common mistake is writing too much general background information that is not relevant.
You should also write something about why you think your research is of value.
Purpose
The purpose of the study can either be stated as the last paragraph under “Introduction”, with or without a sub-heading or as a separate part under the heading “Purpose”. The purpose, or goal, must be defined as clearly as possible, preferably in the form of the hypotheses you have tested (“to study …” is not enough).
If you have multiple goals with the study, try to order them as logically as possible – this will make it easier for both your own writing and the reader. Sometimes it is a good idea to specify a general purpose followed by specific research goals. However, the purpose should not include more than a few sentences.
Materials and Methods (“How?”)
There are different traditions in different branches of the natural sciences for the allocation of content between Materials and Methods (also called Experimental part in many chemistry journals) and Results. There are also different traditions on where the Materials and Methods section should be placed – after the introduction or after the discussion. Ask your supervisor what applies to your paper.
For experimental work in, for example, clinical toxicology and physiology, the experiments are described in the Materials and Methods section. On the other hand, in the more laboratory-based branches of biology and chemistry, Materials and Methods should only contain specific materials and methods, while the experiments in which you have used the materials and methods are described in the Results section. Also, divide that section into subdivisions with sub-headings. This part should be detailed.
In Materials and Methods, you should also describe how you processed your data and what statistical analyses you have used. You do not need to describe methods described in all statistical books (for example, t-tests), but you have to describe more unusual ones. Always specify the computer programs or databases you have used in the calculations. Ethical approvals should be mentioned for experiments on humans and animals. Interviews alone usually do not require ethical approval.
Laboratory work or experimental work
Start by describing experimental populations, biological materials, chemical substances or drugs used. This can be patients, healthy volunteers, bacteria, laboratory animals, viruses, tissue cultures, etc. Then describe how they were treated or cultivated, or chemical reagents and solvents and their chemical quality (% purity). Use tables for this.
The method descriptions should include recipes for all solutions and media, volumes, times, temperatures etc. in an easily accessible form. If you refer to other works for detailed descriptions of methods, previous experimental results or the like, you must provide a brief summary in your text, so that the reader does not need to go to the library to understand your text. Do not write: “Cation concentrations were determined according to NN”. Instead, write: “The amount of substitutable cation was determined after extraction with ammonium acetate, in accordance with NN”.
Literature reviews
It is not enough to write that you have studied the literature. You should specify which databases you used, what search terms you used, and what the search results looked like. Use tables for this.
Results (“What?”)
In the results section, you describe what you did and what the results were. All the results are described here; you cannot present more results in the discussion. Usually, results are presented without judgements and references to sources (except for literature reviews).
In some cases, results and discussion are merged. Then the results can be processed while being presented.
Laboratory work
For laboratory work, describe the experiments you have carried out. Organise this logically so it becomes a story with a beginning and an end. That means you need to (briefly) explain what you did and sometimes why before describing the results. Often, you also need to include a short conclusion before moving on to the next experiment.
As a rule, do not report the experiments in the order you performed them. Often you will come across an important control experiment somewhere in the middle of the study, and then it is most logical to report it at the beginning or end of the work. Sometimes it can be helpful to make a figure showing the experimental methodology.
All work
Normally, you will have figures (graphs) and tables to present (see the section “Tables and figures” below on how to construct them). All tables and figures that relate to the results must be in the results section, and you must refer to them from the main text. In the text, explain what you see in the figure or table. It is not enough to write, for example, “The results are shown in Table 1”. You must select the most important and clearest results, and express them in words.
Examples of how to refer to tables and figures:
- "Substance Y had the strongest enzyme-inhibited ability with an IC 50 = 9.1 nM (Table 1)."
- "We found a negative relationship between patient age and total clearance (Figure 1)."
When conducting a statistical test, indicate the test, the number of observations or degrees of freedom and the p-value (e.g. R2 = 0.89; n = 24; p < 0.01).
Discussion and conclusions (“What does it mean?”)
Discussion
In the discussion section, comment on your results and make relevant comparisons with previous findings. It is essential to support what you say with references (sources). You can also speculate on the possible significance of your findings. Often, you will occasionally need to briefly summarise important results in the discussion (so the reader does not have to flick back and forth). Such summaries should be as brief as possible; the discussion should not be an embellished summary.
The discussion should show whether you should reject your hypotheses or whether you can keep them, at least for the time being. Try to refine your hypotheses, or generate new ones, based on your results.
If, for some reason, the results did not turn out as you expected, you can indicate sources of error. Do not list general or “insignificant” sources of error, but concentrate on those you think may have affected your results. This is part of the critical evaluation of your work and methods that you should do at the end of the discussion. What are the limitations of the work? How far-reaching conclusions can be drawn from the given results? In this context, do not forget to focus the discussion on the good points of the study, i.e. the strengths of the work.
Conclusion
At the end of the discussion or under the title “Conclusion”, you can summarise your conclusions or write what you think should be further investigated to shed more light on what you have just written about: “In summary, the study shows that...” No new information or references should be provided here. This part should be short (1/3 page at most).
Acknowledgements
If anyone has provided constructive criticism or support that has helped you in your writing, this is the place to thank them. It is also customary to give thanks for any financial support.