Reading Notes for Writing in the Sciences (Ch 05)

The Review Article

Research reviews typically present a synthesis of findings rather than a synthesis of view.

Direct quotations are rarely found in research reviews.

Review in this context means to synthesize or characterize a body of information, not simply to point out flows.

Locating the Literature

Research reviews focus on primary sources -- original reports of individual studies published in professional research journals -- as opposed to secondary sources such as textbooks or magazine articles written for non-expert audiences.

``forward'' from an article, by identifying other sources in which it was later cited.

Summaries and headlines from PLoS (http://www.plos.org/connect.html)

Reading Previous Research

• What does the field already know about this topic?
• What kinds of studies have been done?
• What methods have been used, and how useful have they turned out to be?
• What has been found?
• What kind of information is till needed?

Identifying Trends and Patterns

The grid: research question, methods, and principal results

Organizing the Review

• Introduce your discussion by establishing the significance of the topic
• Organize the body of review to reflect the clusters or subtopics you have identified, using headings if the review is length.
• Use topic sentences at the start of paragraphs and sections to highlight similarities and differences and points of agreement and disagreement.
• Conclude with an overview of what is known and what is left to explore.

Citing Sources in the Text

The Council of Science Editors identifies three primary citation systems used in scientific journals: name-year, citation-sequence, and citation-name.

For works with more than two authors, use ``et al.'' or ``and others''


Reference 

• Ann M. Penrose, Steven B. Katz. Writing in the Sciences (3rd edition). Longman. 2009

Reading Notes for Writing in the Sciences (Ch 04)

IMRAD:

• introduction
• methods and materials: past tense, active or passive voice
• results: past tense
• discussion
• references

Common Moves in Research Article Introductions

• establish topic and significance
• establish need for present research
• introduce the present research

Reporting Results

• the major generalization(s) you are making about your data -- such generalizations are often stated in topic sentences at the beginning of paragraphs.
• in pact form, the data supporting the generalization(s)
• refer readers to the visual explicitly
• tell them what patterns to notice

Discussion Trends and Implications

• briefly summarize the major findings
• acknowledge the advantages and limitations of the methods
• explain the implications of the findings
• outline the research questions that remain

Most Common Words

• verbs: 
• suggest, indicate, show, demonstrate
• adverbs and adverbial phrases:
• possibly, probably, very likely, necessarily, certainly, without doubt, presumably, in all probably, hypothetically, maybe, so far as the evidence suggests, as far as we can determine
• modal auxiliary verb:
• may, might, would, could, should, must, can, shall

Abstract:

1. the topic will be introduced in present tense, usually in a sentence or two; 
2. the background and/or need for the study will be outlined in another few sentences; 
3. methods and results will be briefly described in past tense; and 
4. the major conclusions and implications of the study will be stated in present tense.

How Scientists Read Reports

• Readers typically began by scanning the title and abstract of an article and then looking for the data, focusing on the tables and graphs in which the data are summarized. Only after examining the data themselves did these scientists read the results sectin provided by the authors.

Checklist for Writers of Research Reports:

• importance of the research
• originality of the work
• analysis of previous literature
• appropriateness of the approach and experimental design
• adequacy of experimental techniques
• soundness of conclusions and interpretations
• relevance of discussion
• clarity of presentation and organization of the article
• demonstration of reproducibility

Reference

1. Ann M. Penrose, Steven B. Katz. Writing in the Sciences (3rd edition). Longman. 2009