Research Writing: Getting Started

Posted by Katie Alexander

So, you’re finally ready to publish. Well, ready is a strong word. You’ve completed all the necessary experiments to tell an interesting scientific story, and now it’s time to share it with the scientific community. But, where do you start? You’ve spent months or years collecting data, so every piece of this paper is precious in your mind. You know the data forwards and backwards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is easy to put together in a readable format. This is where thinking about writing for the general public may come in handy. Sure, scientific papers have a very specific format: abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion, but they still tell a story. Think about how you would explain your research to a family member that is not in science. Think about the order of events. Chances are, that’s the most logical and readable order for a paper. The results section may not be an exact chronological representation of when the experiments were carried out, but the paper is organized in a way that leads the reader to the final conclusions in a step-wise, predictable manner.

Additionally, I’ve found helpful research writing advice from non-science writers. I recently read Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott. In this hilariously entertaining book, Ms. Lamott muses about life, recalling events that have shaped her as an author and human-being, all the while delivering writing (and life) advice by the truckload. And while the writing process is a little different for strictly scientific papers, there is still plenty of applicable advice. For example, it’s okay to have bad first drafts. First drafts are for getting things on paper, not for others to read. Ms. Lamott also talks about the importance of short assignments, little vignettes in the grand scheme of things that can help keep you on track. She recalls a story about her brother from their childhood, who was on the brink of a meltdown because he had procrastinated for months on a major research paper on birds that was due the next day. Her father came to his rescue, simply saying, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” That’s how papers and stories get written, piece-by-piece. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a step back and tackle it experiment by experiment.

Image used from Flickr user Incessant Flux under Creative Commons License