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Scientific reports

A guide to writing scientific reports

Learning objectives

This resource will help you:

  • Understand the purpose of the methods section in scientific report writing. 
  • Identify the structure and components of a methods section. 
  • Differentiate between essential and excessive information.  

Overview of the methods section

The methods section should provide a detailed, logical, and systematic description of how you conducted the study, so that a fellow scientist would be able to understand and repeat the experiment if required (Nair & Nair, 2014; Todorović, 2003). This information can sometimes be very complex, so the methods section is often organised under relevant subheadings with tables, figures, or flow charts used to present the information as clearly and concisely as possible. 

Checklist for your methods section

Whether you are about to start your methods section or are reviewing your draft, consider asking yourself the following questions to make sure you meet the key requirements of the methods section (Nair & Nair, 2014): 

  • Have you used subheadings to organise your information? 
  • Are your methods formatted in a logical or chronological way to enhance cohesion? 
  • Have you written in complete sentences in paragraph form, rather than numbered steps or dot points? 
  • Have you incorporated key materials throughout your writing, rather than listing them like a recipe? 
  • Have you written in past tense rather than future or present tense? 
  • Can you point out all the key methods you performed?  
  • Have you provided enough detail for a fellow scientist to successfully repeat your experiment, but not too much that it is excessive?
  • Have you used scientific language?

These key aspects of the methods section can be grouped into five categories Language, Organisation, Formatting, Tense, and Style (LOFTS). A good and poor example for each component of LOFTS is given in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Good and poor examples of the language, organisation, formatting, tense, and style recommended for the methods section.
  Good example Poor example
Language To prevent ..., caution was taken during...  There was worry that..., so x was done instead.
Organisation Methods organised into sub-headings, such as sample collection, sample preparation, analysis of samples, and data processing. 

Methods formatted as one block of text with no headings.

Statistical analyses mentioned before sampling site is described. 

Formatting Approximately 0.5 g of sodium chloride was dissolved in 10 mL of deionised water in a 40 mL beaker. 

Materials: sodium chloride, deionised water, 40mL beaker

  1. Measure approximately 0.5 g of sodium chloride into a beaker
  2. Add 10 mL of deionised water
  3. Stir until the sodium chloride dissolved. 
Tense The solution was filtered with a vacuum filtration system.  Filter the solution using a vacuum filtration system. 
Style The solution was heated on a hot plate until the precipitate dissolved.  The hot plate was plugged in, the switch turned on, and the dial turned to high before the beaker was placed on top of it. 

 

Your course coordinator might require you to format your methods sections in a different way to what is recommended here, so please refer to your task guidelines for course specific instructions. 

Additional resources

This video (15:30 min) from the Saginaw Valley State University (2020) provides an overview of the IMRaD methods & materials, including some writing tips and examples. 

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References

Nair, P. K. R., & Nair, V. D. (2014). Scientific writing and communication in agriculture and natural resources. Springer Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03101-9  

SVSU Science Writing. (2020, September 27). The IMRaD format: methods & materials [Video]. YouTube.

Todorović, L. (2003). Original (scientific) paper: the IMRAD layout. Archives of Oncology, 11(3), 203-205. https://doi.org/10.2298/AOO0303203T  

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