powerpoint templates page 1 powerpoint templates capstone design: scientific papers and presentation

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Capstone Design:Scientific Papers and

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To the Fledgling Scientists:

“ If it dies, it’s biology, if it blows up, it’s chemistry, if it does not work, it’s physics” by John Wilkes


Definition of COMMUNICATION1: an act or instance of transmitting2a : information transmitted or conveyedb : a verbal or written message3a : a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior <the function of pheromones in insectcommunication>; also : exchange of informationb : personal rapport <a lack of communication between old and young persons>4plurala : a system (as of telephones) for transmitting or exchanging informationb : a system of routes for moving troops, supplies, and vehiclesc : personnel engaged in transmitting or exchanging information5plural but sing or plural in constra : a technique for expressing ideas effectively (as in speech)b : the technology of the transmission of information (as by print or telecommunication)— com·mu·ni·ca·tion·al adjective

From « Merry Webster »


No special talent is required nor is magic involved in clear communication.

It’s simply a skill developed for exchainging meanings with words and other symbols.

Meanings associated with those symbols must be the same for both the senders and the receivers.

But eihter the author or the audience can manipulate meanings, and being human, both probably will.

Communication is the vehicle that carries progress, but it also carries disputes and disruption of progress.

Generation gaps, wars,and prejudices result, at least in part, from something communicated.

On the other hand, bridges across generation gaps, peace, and understandings are also result of commnucation.

In scientific communication, be every wary of the human elements, and communicate as concisely, conventionally, and clearly as you


Writing or speaking about scientific research is no more difficult than other things you do.

It is rather like building a house.If you have the materials you need and the know-how

to put them together, it’s just a matter of hard work.The materials come from your own study and reseach.Any attempt to communcate in science is fruitless

without valuable content.Once quality ideas and data are available, you put

them together with the basic skills of scientific writing or speaking.

The hard work is up to you.


Developing communication skills requires a combination of mental and physical activity.

Like any such activity, it requires regular exercise or practice to move toward perfection.

You have been in school for many years of your life; you know how to talk and write.

You may or may not have had much of the needed practice in scientific writing, but you probably have had all the grammar and rhetoric courses you want.

Don’t disparage those courses.Bacis instruction in language use is a good foundation

for writing and speaking so long as you don’t let that instruction inhibit your communcation.

Sloppy gammar, punctuation, and spelling can be very distracting to a scientific message.

In this class, you will lear how to approach scientific communication and how to produce, review, evaluate, and revise papers or presentations.

Those tasks can be easier as you define your purpose in communicating and develop guidelines that will work for you.


First of all, you need to come to terms with your purpose.

Why are you writing or speaking about a certain subject?

Obviously, several motivations stimulate your communication.

Maybe your reason for writing a thesis is to get a degree, or you are writing a journal article to get a promotion.

Those are certainly good reasons to write.But surely purpose goes beyond those goals.A general purpose is the exchange of scientific

knowledge; your specific purpose willd depend on your subject and your audience.

Once you define that purpose, you just need to develop ideas to answer questions that might be asked about that conclusion.

The more specifically you define your purpose, the easier your task will be.

When you have defined why you are communicating, your next job is how.


Any communication, and especially information exchange between scientists, is a matter of asking and answering questions.Answering the question before it is asked often averts many problems.In scietific communication, asking the questions is the the foundation for discovery; providing answers to your colleagues and to future generations adds knowledge and keeps scientific progress alive and well.From « How are you ? » or « What’s happening ? » to « Have we discovered the final quark? » or « How important is preservation of the tailed toad? » the questions form the foundation for communication whether or not they are asked.If someone didn’t wonder about answers, science would be in real trouble.As you consider a paper or speech for your fellow scientists, decide what questions are in their minds and yours and which ones you can and should answer.


All forms of scientific communications have a great deal in common.

Variations in content and organization are imposed by the questions from different audiences and the answers you give.

An audience of sixth graders will not ask the same questions that scientisits in your discipline will ask, but you can cover the same subject for both groups.

In communicating about your work as a scientists, content and orgarnization are clearly infuenced by scientific methods of inquiry and reflect recongnition of a problem, observation, formulation of a hypothesis, experimentation, collecting and analyzing date, and drawing conclusions.

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Notice that each of these steps pose a question that your research and then your communication seek to answer .

What is the problem?What do you observe?What do you hypothesize?How do you experiment or explore for a solution?The content of your scientific paper will involve some or all

of these questions no matter who the audience is.Another major influence on organization and content is the

use of conventional techniques in scientific communication.An audience can understand you if you use communication

devices that they expect.For example, most organization, whether it is for journal

articles, laboratory reports, or seminar presentations, uses the IMRAD format

The acronym IMRAD stands for Introduction, Methods, Results, And Discussion.

These sections are the conventional, or the expected, order for scientific papers.


A few journals alter this formula and present results and discussion before methods.

They are simply answering the question “What did you find out?” before “How did you find a

solution?”.


In addition to the questions from a given audience and the conventions that have evolved in language, your success in communications depends on knowing who that audience is, knowing your subject and purpose, and recognizing your own abilities and convictions.

As you develop your career as a scientist, periodically remind yourself about the fundamentals of that science and about the fundamentals of successful communication.

Visualize your audience and consider your subject and your purpose for communicating.

What questions will that audience ask and how can you bet answer them?

What media will best convey your message?Finally, every individual communicates differently; you

need to think about yourself and your capabilities.


Think first about your audience.They are most important to the interpretation and

understanding of your scientific message.However hard you try to send a clear message, the

completed communication rests with them.You cannot control an audience entirely, but because

you are initiating the communication effort, you are responsible for presenting information that is easily interpreted and understood.

For most scientific papers and presentations, your audience will be scientists and often those especially interested in your subject.

However, you will need to communicate also with other scientists and with lay audiences.

Your grand proposal may be going to an agency that has no scientists on the staff or to a group of politicians or government officials.

You may trying to communicate with a publisher or an editor.

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Think in terms of how much experience and education the members of the audience have and what their motivation is for listening to you.

Their attitude and expertise can determine how you will present your subject.

Regardless of their prestige and education, members of the audience are human, and so are you.

Human beings are rarely logical, fair, and unemotional.

No matter how much you try to keep scientific communication strictly factual and objective, the human elements is present.

For example, if you are making a speech, the audience will notice your appearance and your voice before they ever hear a word you are saying.

When readers look at a page, they notice appearance; the size of type, whether paragraphs are short or long, and whether there are head notes or illustrations.

People have certain expectations about how a speaker should dress and sound and how words on a page should look.


Once words are introduced, the reading audience or listeners have further expectations about meanings and patters for those words.

Most educated people expect standard English diction and constructions.

If either is substandard or foreign to them, a break in communication results.

Whether you are talking or writing, if you first give the receivers what they expect, or what they find familiar, they can feel comfortable.

You can then lead them to your point even if it is unexpected or unfamiliar.

It’s not always the meaning of words that matters as much as it is the way we hang them together.

No word can be fully defined except with the content in which it is sent and how the audience receives it.

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The extent to which a word and idea reaches the audience with the same meaning it had when it left the sender constitutes clarity in communication.

Other things to consider before you begin to write and speak are your subject and purpose in relationship to the audience.

You have to be convinced that your subject is worthwhile, that the audience cares about it, and that what you are telling is accurate.

For your own confidence you need a clear purpose.Conviction is a key word that joins with concise and

conventional in producing clear communication.


With your audience, subject, and purpose in mind, remember that communication is essentially a question and answer format, but often the question is neither written nor voiced.

Your communication will likely succeed if you are answering the same question that is being asked about your subject.

That job may sound simple, but be judicious in deciding what questions to answer.


The IMRAD organization for most scientific papers gives you the basic questions.

You’ll tell what you did in the INTRODUCTION, how you did it in the METHODS section, and what you found out the RESULT.

It’s all the little questions in between that can be frustrating.

Who are you? Why did you do that way? Is that like the result that Jones got? Can you give me an example? .

These questions are not always obvious ones that would be asked, but they require answers if minds in the audience are asking.


In addition to thinking about the audience and the subject and which questions they would ask about that subject, you also need to think about yourself.

Attitude is important in scientific communication as it is in all our activities and accomplishments.

If you hate to write or speak, you won’t do either will. If you love to communicate and find everything you

write or talk about a true delight, you also won’t communicate well.

A scientific attitude of confidence but of careful self-scrutiny and a dash of humility can form the foundation you need for successful papers and presentations.

Allow yourself to be creative, but keep an element of scientific control on your compositions.


You have to believe in what you are doing and what you are saying.

Intelligence and personality go a long way, but when you get down to the nitty gritty of doing science and reporting it, you have to have conviction.

This dedication can carry you far in science and always shows in your communication.

Don’t misjudge your audience.They can tell when you are bluffing, when you don’t

care, and when you don’t believe in what you are doing or saying.

You can learn rules for communication; you may even be good at play acting. But without some ability, integrity, and sincerity, your efforts in communication will fall far short of excellent.


Notice how all the elements in communication are interwoven.

I can’t talk about subject without discussing purpose and author and audience.

Conviction and convention also depend on all those things.

There are no rules.There are questions to ask and answers to provide.An interpretation of author and audience with subject

and purpose through technique will produce communication.

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