science essay format

science essay format

The Importance of Following the Standard Essay Format in Science Writing

1. Introduction to the Standard Essay Format

In the introduction, you will usually introduce the topic that is going to be discussed in the essay. You will fail to receive a high score in science writing if you try to respond to a call for a science research question, then proceed to carry out some sort of a scientific research project, and finally write a research article. The procedure followed in writing the stellar essays that you have proficiency in writing skillfully should not be confused with the procedure involved in writing a paper in the natural sciences. The process of writing research does not begin when in formulating a research question at the end of an introduction.

The likelihood is high that one’s research will end with the writing of an academic essay. The standard essay format that you have been writing in high school, and will be expected to write in college, has a basic structure of five paragraphs. A standard essay format generally follows the basic pattern of introduction, three body paragraphs, and conclusion.

2. Key Components of a Science Essay

Introduction: The introduction presents the question that your essay addresses and explains how you will set up and answer it. Your introduction should do such things as: introduce your reader to the nature of the research you are proposing/doing; prepare the audience for the distinction by indicating the critical scientific hypothesis or question you are discussing; provide a clear and easily understood explanation of why this question is important; and define what specific areas of the topic will be covered by the experiment. When writing an introduction, do not immediately begin discussing your answer to the report’s scientific question. Your text should present only the concepts and empirical facts behind your question. Address what you already know and what you need to find out.

Abstract: The purpose of the abstract is to provide a quick glance into why this question is interesting and important, what is the exact nature of the contribution you are making, and what is your central finding. One word you do not want to use in any form in the abstract is the word ‘we’ or ‘I’. The abstract should be 100 words or less. It should be kept factually wooden and rely on a passive construction. The abstract should not include direct verbatim phrases from other parts of your report.

Title: Your essay should include a title that clearly indicates the scientific question you are trying to answer. The title can be described as informative, does not have to be long, and should appear summary of the scientific work you are presenting. From the title, your reader should understand the nature of your project. Make sure your title is specific and is a direct reflection of the question you are asking.

3. Structuring Your Scientific Arguments

In your entire essay, this is the main thought. Of course, you will expand your thesis with persuasive arguments in the main body. These will be your second, third, fourth, and so on paragraphs. Every essay should not only be well persuasive and thought through but should answer all of the pending questions. In this case, the question is why the standard science essay format is so essential to be followed? One significant point in favor of the standard science essay format is this: the sounder the structure of the essay, the more convenient it is for examining the hypothesis. In conclusion, the standard science essay format is what makes the essays we get at college ready to be recognized as a piece of writing. Always bear in mind that any scientific essay must be persuasive. Write about something you believe, and your essay stands a better chance of earning top marks!

So, how do you go about structuring this explosive essay so that it can essentially persuade a reader at a first glance? Just follow the universal essay structure, and you will be done faster than you know what hit you! The ultimate goal here is to summarize, in a couple of sentences, your prospective essay. In essence, the reader should hear the negative and positive sides of your impending exciting essay, without a shadow of a doubt, persuaded in advance. Consequently, a blank opening page is actually another opportunity to engage your reader by arousing curiosity. However, please do not leave the opening informative page completely blank. Open the essay with a sentence or two that will draw in your reader, and then end with your thesis statement. It must be at the end of the opening page. Use that impressive brain of yours to make it as brief yet as exciting as possible.

4. Citing Sources and Referencing in Science Writing

But within academic and scientific contexts, the proper references for a work go hand-in-glove with its internal citation structure. Consider: a text that has too few references, or references that are, in particular, too few per page, is most often a plagiarized work of some kind. And a work that has too few such references will almost always be difficult to read and to understand, often, in fact, at the same time. With this in mind, Sagan’s problems may finally start to make sense. What a student does, who has trouble perceiving enough potentially-useful scholarly sources about a scientific topic to list on her or his reference page, is to rely on references that are highly reputed in some non-academic domain, such as the popular press.

Some texts with a somewhat “scientific” bent may not exactly follow the reference structure of an ordinary scientific paper. Consider, for instance, a discussion of information literacy which goes somewhat off-topic at times. The references of that text do not exactly provide evidence for particular claims made inside the text. And the references of the piece go so far beyond the merely biological and medical as to be semantically far removed from the context in which they appear. This, I think, may be why we have seldom encountered mid-level or lower-level students who were able to navigate themselves through the maze of academic, trade, and popular sources that surround any “scientific” topic, and find scholarly, academically-credible sources.

5. Conclusion and Summary of Best Practices

Science essays should always end with a conclusion where a summary of key points is used to solidify the writer’s understanding to the audience. The summary should make a specific connection and be used to simulate and generate a clear meaning. Finally, authors should include question expansion in science writing. These components unique to the standard essay structure should be incorporated to openly encourage the practice of science writing for scientists and the global audience. By understanding these fundamental contributing factors and how complementary components come together around a common goal, science writing will allow clear communication among and between experts and non-experts in various fields. In addition, writing allows an understanding of one’s own thinking process and then facilitates the same for others, ultimately solidifying that understanding. By inspecting internal thought processes and making those thought processes tangible, others can inspect and critique those thought processes. By engaging in written conversation with others, and occasionally facing objections to our thinking process, our conceptions can be reconstructed and fortified.

In general, essays should follow a standardized writing format. However, there are several important considerations that are uniquely aligned with the writing standards in science. Essays in the field of science should adhere to a structure such as the “hourglass model,” which begins with a background, broad context, or opening statement that describes the larger point of the essay. Following this, a mini-introduction should be found within the opening statement that will briefly describe upcoming examples, reasons for the point of view, and an invitation to the audience. This can be related to a logical foundation or an example/fact. The body is the essence of the essay. You should have three examples, about a three-paragraph body. However, this should be unique to the writer and the essay. The narrative should flow concisely from the opening sentences to the examples where citations should be used. Uncommon language should be modified from traditional essays to enhance clarity. Engaging readers should be accomplished through using readability aids such as short, tight prose, and bullet points. To further engage readers, writers should use a consistent flow from sentence to sentence. Another important approach to consider would be to avoid indefinite descriptors and jargon.