Writing in the Sciences: Injecting Your Voice into Research

I, like several other tutors in the Writing Center, am a science major, biology to be specific. Hardly a week goes by when I am not expected to produce some kind of report based on lab work. A lab report is something that is both very different and very similar to traditional “English class writing.” Lately, we’ve had many freshman science majors come into the WC and ask for help, because the concept of lab report writing is difficult to grasp at first, especially for those accustomed to the open-to-interpretation style of typical English 101 and 102 assignments. With students, one of the major struggles I have noticed is limiting the flowery wording and becoming more concise, analytical, and unbiased. This is not to say, however, that one cannot infuse the report with his or her own writing style. There are several methods one can use to ensure lab reports still have that personal touch that is so satisfying to see in one’s writing.

First, a brief overview of the typical structure of a lab report might be beneficial. Lab reports are split into four sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. The Introduction section introduces pertinent background information from other research and data. At the end of this section, the hypothesis succinctly describes the prediction that was tested during the experiment. The Methods section briefly describes the steps that the experimenter(s) took to test the hypothesis. This part of the report needs to be detailed, short, and written in the past tense. Next, the Results section illustrates the data obtained from the experiment, often utilizing graphs and tables. Finally, the Discussion section is the portion of the report in which the results are analyzed, the findings are compared to past research, and the hypothesis is judged by whether or not it was supported by the experimental data.

Succinct, brief, detailed, and short are just some of the words I used to describe an ordinary lab report. None of these words exactly lend themselves to personal interpretation and expression. It is true that a large portion of lab reports are very matter-of-fact and cut and dry. The key to personalizing a lab report lies in the only section in which it is appropriate to interpret data: the Discussion section. The Discussion section could also be called the Interpretation section. After the many trials you performed to complete the experiment, this section allows you to have free reign over your ideas, within reason of course. Logical, well thought out conclusions from your data are placed here, along with the implications for future research and study. Here you can state your goals for furthering your findings and advancing scientific knowledge as a whole. It is the place in a lab report where you can broaden your horizons and help other researchers become interested in your findings and motivated to learn even more, often through their own subsequent research.

No matter how trivial you may find the experiment to be, the findings in the lab report are your property. The data you find are the fruits of your labor, and your interpretation is entirely up to you. People who do research for a living submit their reports to the scientific community proud of their accomplishments. They spend much of their time polishing their reports, because they want them to be both professional and unique. This is what I find exciting about science. Researchers independently experiment with their hypotheses and then report their findings to their peers. It is a collaborative effort to further scientific knowledge, but it would not be possible without individual scientists publishing exciting and deeply personal research. The next time you write a lab report, remember this quote from psychologist John Dewey, “Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.”

Eddie Hamrick

Take a Break...Creatively!

We all know it. We met it in middle school or high school. It was drilled into our psyche and we dreamed of it in our sleep. Here at the Writing Center, we live and breathe it. We know it by heart and we can rattle it off at any moment’s notice. It’s The Five-Paragraph Essay. Introduction. First, second, and third body paragraphs. Conclusion. We’ve scratched our heads as they explain it: “Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them.” We find ourselves speaking in mini-five paragraph essays. “Well, I have three things to say about that, but before I start, let me tell you my main point…” STOP!

Sure, the five-paragraph essay format can be a helpful way to organize information, and many professors require that assignments follow such a format. And that’s okay. Do you ever feel stifled, though? Ever need a break from the same old structure? Or maybe you just want to breathe some life into your dusty old essay – the one you’ve been working on since three weeks ago, that you used to be jazzed about but that now is about as exciting as a wool sweater in July.

Don’t worry; there is hope in the world of creative writing. You don’t have to think of yourself as a creative writer to follow this advice. Here are some quick, easy exercises to stimulate your creative side, from Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Creative Writer.

Spend five minutes listing:
• Fifty phrases that would make good titles for a short story.
• Fifty interesting settings for stories.
• A strange experience in a car.
• An unmerited award.
• A good deed that backfires.
• Verbs that have to do with the ocean.
• Nouns and verbs that have to do with your home landscape.

If you have a little more time on your hands, try some of Johnston’s longer exercises:

Spend ten minutes describing:
• Your boss’s shoes.
• Your boss’s hairstyle.
• The interior of your boss’s car.
• Why you should move someplace else.
• Why you’re living exactly where you should be living.

Spend twenty minutes writing a scene that involves:
• An airport baggage claim.
• A character who steals a pair of fingernail clippers.
• An e-mail sent to the wrong person.
• An adult child trying to convince his or her fifty-something mother not to adopt a baby.

In conclusion (relax, folks – that’s a joke), creative writing is good for you. The next time you are burned out on writing and need a break, do exactly what you don’t want to do: write some more. But write creatively! You’ll be much more prepared to tackle the last paragraph of your five-paragraph essay, and hopefully some of those creative juices will carry over into your everyday writing.

Happy writing!

Johnston, Bret Anthony. Naming the World: and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer. New York: Random House, 2007. Print.