For most students pursuing courses in biology, it is imperative that they will have to write a scientific research paper following the correct formatting and organization. However, writing a scientific research paper is not that easy as there are important rules and technical writing that has to be followed to the letter. In order to enable you write a good biology research paper, this guide provides you with important guidelines to be followed if you want to be at the top of your class. The following format should be adopted in writing a biology research paper:
All biological research paper must be writing in Times New Roman font, Size 11 or 12, and line spacing ranges from single to double-space. The details are however likely to change according to instructor. If the paper is in APA, the title of the paper should appear at the right corner of every page in capital letters and the first page should feature the running head. If the paper is in MLA, you last name should appear on every upper right hand corner of each pager followed by page number. However, these details vary with the edition of writing style you are using. The tile of the paper should be bold in Size 12. The title page should feature you name, department, school, instructor, course, and date depending on the writing style you are using.
An abstract is a short summary of the paper. It comes immediately after the tile page and has few sentences that give general information about the paper. The abstract captures the main point of the paper. It describes the objective of the subject, the experiment done, general methods used, results, and the conclusions. An abstract is therefore a summary of your paper and should be conscious to the point. It is important to note that the abstract is a description of the work done and therefore it should be written in the past tense. An abstract should be between 150 and 500 words
An abstract gives an overview of the subject that you are going to research. Normally, the introduction should not go beyond two pages. The introduction should include all important information that are need to understand the results of the paper and why the research is important. In the introduction, you should convince the reader the importance of the whole experiment to building of knowledge in science. It is important that you should discuss previous research that has been done on the subject and all the related experiments. It is important to include the experimental design at the end of the introduction. Most important, the last sentence of the introduction should state your original hypothesis.
Under this section, you should discuss the experiment in a stepwise manner. Since this is a technical writing, do not use works like “I” or “me” or “we” in order to keep a professional tone. Although the experiment must be discussed in details, make sure that you don’t overlay details.
After carefully observing the results of the experiment, document the results. To maintain the professionalism, present the results in a clear manner using a chart or a graph. It is important that you include captions for figures and tables in order to give a general overview of what is measured by each figure. Describe the results in the text pointing the reader to observations that are relevant to the experiment.
Under the discussions, summarize the results and interpret what they mean. The results of the experiments should be discussed in light of the hypothesis and therefore, the discussion should show whether the hypothesis was rejected or accepted. The explanation of the results should be clearly explained in light of background information gleaned from research papers, past research studies, and other articles. Lastly, it is important that you point out some of the limitations of your study and give recommendations for future research on the same subject.
In the conclusion, tie up everything that has been discussed in the study. Summarize all important facts that have been discussed in the study and give recommendations based on the findings.
Provide all references that have been used in the study according to the recommended writing style
- Formatting
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Materials and methods
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion
- Reference