How to write a scientific paper
Guidelines for the extr
a credit assignment
This
extra credit
assignment is worth 25 points
and is completely voluntary
.  All work
must be your own.  Any paper containing plagiarism will receive a zero.  No late
assignments
will be accepted.
Outline
The topic for this paper is specific to each student and should be acquired from
your instructor.
It should be
in the format of a literature review article and as such should
contain the basic format of a scholarly paper, which i
ncludes a Title, Abstract,
Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion Section.
I am not requiring all of
these specific sections for this paper.  I am simply providing a basic
outline option
.  However it is required to have at least two cited articles
and one table/figure
.
Biological Literature
Reference papers must be from a scientific, peer reviewed journal and must be
primary sources (i.e. original findings and ideas). No websites may be used.  References
must be full length; this means that they c
ontain an abstract, introduction, methods, and
results/discussion section.  Papers may not be cited unless the whole article has been read
directly by you.  Reference papers can be accessed through the CBC Library system.  Do
not plagiarize the papers you
cite (
It is very easy to check for this, so please
save yourself a lot of heartache and don’t do it
).  Also use the papers you cite as
examples of how scientific papers are written, both in terms of format and style.
Title
The title should be short, conc
ise, and informative.  The title should be no more
than 45 characters.  Below the title
the authors name should appear followed by his/her
department, institution, city and country.
Abstract
The abstract should be 250 words or less and is simply a summar
y of the major
parts in the paper.  Usually there is one sentence per paper section: introduction, methods,
results, (including a summary of numerical data), and discussion.  The purpose of the
abstract is to give a reader a brief idea of what the paper is
about so that the reader can
determine the relevance to his/her own work.
Introduction
The introduction is the place to present the relevant background context and the
hypothesis.  The context should make clear why the hypothesis is interesting and
imp
ortant, and should cite other literature relevant to the research providin
g this rationale.   
At the end of your introduction, restate the hypothesis in general terms along with the
purpose of this paper, followed by a series of predictions for each variab
le.   For example:
“The purpose of this review was to compare and contrast the prognosis, indications and
contraindications of partial versus total knee arthroplasty in patients who underwent a pre

and/or post operative course of Physical Therapy.  I predi
cted that
patients who had a
partial knee replacement, and a course of pre surgical Physical Therapy, would
demonstrate greater outcomes using the Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS).”
Methods
Summarize the materials and methods used and include devi
ations between cited
articles.
Results
Present the data in tables and figures to illustrate the findings.
You must
include at least one figure/table.
Tables and figures:  All tables and figures must be correctly
labeled
with a good
descriptor sentence.  For example:
Figure 1:
The effect of vagal stimulation and vagal escape on turtle heart rate
Do not interpret data or present conclusions in this sec
tion!
Discussion
Interpret results and present conclusions
with the supporting evidence
.  Give
reasonable explanations for results, even
negative results are meaningful.  Literature
should again be cited in this section to illustrate how the results fit
or do not fit with
various studies.  
References Cited
You must have at least
two scientific papers cited using a commonly accepted
citation style
(MLA or APA)
.  List only references cited in your paper.  In the text, make
reference using the author’s last name and y
ear of publication (i.e., Smith, 2003).  If ther
e
are more than two authors, the name of the first author should be used followed by “et.
al” (i.e., Smith et. al, 2003).  References should be listed in alphabetical order, based on
authors last name, in the
references cited section.  If there are multiple publications by the
same author(s) in the same year they should be listed as 2000a, 2000b, etc.  You may use
your book and lab materials but they must be cited and do not count as one of your two
primary so
urces.
In addition to the paper itself, y
ou must submit
a
complete
cop
y of
at least two
of the most
reference
d
docum
ent
s
with your paper
for
review
. If any tables/charts/graphs are used in your paper, be certain to
include those documents with your submittal
.
Format
Length and
Spacing:  
It should be 4 pages in length.  All sections of the paper,
except an abstract if included, should be double
–
spaced with 1
–
inch margins on all sides,
flush left in 12
–
pt. font that is easily readable (e.g., Times Roman)
. On every page, in the
upper right margin, 1/2
–
inch from the top and flush with the right margin put your last
name followed by the page number.
Reference section is not co
unted in the page count.  
Italics:  Words normally italicized, such as Genus and
Species names, should be
typed in italics in the paper