Formatting, grammar and spelling

Base the format of your paper on the format of articles in your field. Remember, however, that the target group for your papers is your classmates, i.e. students with a similar level of education but without the specialised knowledge your work has given you. You need to write in a way that they understand and include more background on your subject than a scientific article would contain.

Explain any technical terms and abbreviations that are not familiar from your common undergraduate training. Use as few abbreviations as possible, but when you do, explain them the first time they are mentioned (except for the summary). After that, use the abbreviation.

No abbreviation is needed if the word is mentioned less than three times in the text. However, if you have many abbreviations, you should make an abbreviation list and place it between the summary and the introduction. Use proper written language and avoid spoken language, slang expressions and language that is difficult for an outsider to understand. If you write in Swedish, write in Swedish and not in Swenglish!

Write complete sentences and make sure that all references are correct. Write short sentences. Long sentences can often be misunderstood due to unclear references. Remember that in regular text, generic names of medicinal substances are written in lowercase.

Do not start sentences with numbers – even in Swedish (it is a strict rule in English). Write numbers lower than 12 with letters in regular text (e.g. “three classes of medicines”). Note that there should be a space between a number and its unit (45 mM).

Decimals in English text are indicated by a full stop (11.3) but in Swedish text by a comma (11.3). Large numbers in English text are indicated with a comma (10,500 = ten thousand five hundred) but in Swedish text without (10500 or 10 500). The number of significant digits in the results should not exceed 3. This means, for example, that 0.030142 should be written as 0.0301, but that 0.030191 is written as 0.0302.

The choice of language (Swedish or English) reflects the paper’s purpose and the intended readership. Your teacher will give you more information.

Be consistent when using the present and past tense. Describe your work in the past tense when describing the purpose of your research, the materials and methods, and your results. Use the present tense for your own work only when you draw general conclusions from your results in the discussion. Use the past tense also when describing the experiments of others, but describe their conclusions in the present tense.

A common misunderstanding is that you are not allowed to write in the first person. Excessive use of the first person is distracting, but an occasional “I” (or “we”) is perfectly acceptable, especially in a discussion. It is your work, and you have every reason to be proud of it. However, do not write “we” in a paper you are the sole author of.

Another common misunderstanding is that you should write scientific reports in passive form. The paper will be easier to read, and you will avoid some language traps if you switch between passive and active forms and avoid nominalisations (turning verbs into nouns). Write “I/we measured...” instead of “measurements were made...”.

A handy tip: use the search function in your word processing software to find all “made, done, carried out, performed”. Then read the sentence in which the word appears and try to rewrite it without this word. It will make the text shorter, clearer and with fewer errors. Also, use spelling and grammar checkers (critical: they are designed for general language and may give incorrect suggestions for scientific texts) and ask someone to proofread your paper for language.

You should be consistent in the organisation of your work. Give all sub-headings the same style and size, and choose either a blank line or an indent for new paragraphs.