Scientific Writing & the Scientific Method: Parallel "Hourglass" Structure in Form & Content

Abstract

The writing of a scientific article offers a sharp divergence from the standard essay paper familiar to most students from English class. In marked contrast to Faulkner, punctuation and brevity are sought and clarity is a primary virtue. Supporting documentation is embedded in the scientific prose, not footnoted along the bottom of each page. Yet not all rules of construction are abandoned. Paragraphs begin with a topic sentence, ensuing lines build the case, and the end of the paragraph summarizes and provides transition. Nevertheless, instructing students in the art of scientific writing can be truly challenging. After years of stockpiling adjectives and adverbs, the writer learns that reduction is the norm and levels of modification are minimized. The thesaurus is largely forsaken and repetition of key terms preferred. Along with the alteration in style and content, scientific writing supplies its own approach, a parallel process known as the scientific method. The similarity in structure of these two processes, scientific writing and the scientific method, BRUCE A. SCHULTE, Ph.D., is in the Department of Biology at Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA 30460-8042; e-mail: bschulte@gasou.edu.

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