Scientific Writing Task
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A Scientific Writing Task is a Technical Writing Task that is performed by scientists to systematically document and share research findings and scientific information through structured formats that emphasize empirical evidence, methodological rigor, and peer validation.
- AKA: Academic Writing, Research Documentation, Technical Scientific Writing.
- Context:
- It can be used to report original research in formats such as journal articles, lab reports, theses, and grant proposals.
- It serves five core purposes: disseminating research findings, validating scientific claims, advancing scientific knowledge, informing policy decisions, and promoting critical thinking.
- It (often) follows standardized structures like the IMRaD Format (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) to ensure reproducibility and logical flow.
- It can employ precise language and terminology to ensure clarity and reproducibility.
- It can adhere to specific [[style guides and formatting requirements set by scientific journals or institutions.
- It prioritizes precision (e.g., using quantitative descriptions over qualitative terms) and objectivity (avoiding subjective language).
- It requires peer review to validate claims, with journals like Nature and Science enforcing strict evaluation processes by peer-review.
- It floows ethical standards mandate avoiding plagiarism, proper authorship attribution, and transparency in data reporting.
- It employs formal language with controlled use of passive voice (e.g., "The experiment was conducted") or active voice ("We analyzed") depending on disciplinary norms.
- It can include reference management software (e.g., Zotero) and NLP-based editing tools to enhance clarity.
- It can be an AI-assisted writing task that employs LLM models specilized in scientific writing text generation and with logic reasoning capabilities.
- Example(s):
- A Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, which details the methodology and results of a scientific experiment.
- Literature Reviews, which consist of syntheses of existing research, like a meta-analysis] on climate change impacts in Annual Review of Environment and Resources.
- Grant Proposals, which funding requests outlining a planned research project, including objectives, methods, and expected outcomes.
- Technical Reports, which are policy-informing documents, e.g., IPCC assessments on global warming
- Lab Reports, which consist of structured accounts of experiments, common in undergraduate STEM courses.
- Doctoral Dissertations, which present original research conducted over several years.
- ...
- Counter-Example(s):
- Popular Science Articles, which are intended for a general audience, simplifying scientific concepts and avoiding technical jargon, e.g., a National Geographic article explaining quantum physics to lay audiences.
- Opinion Editorials, which discuss scientific topics without presenting original research or data such as subjective essays in media outlets advocating policy without data-driven arguments.
- Creative Writing pieces that, while they may touch on scientific themes, do not adhere to the formal structure and style of scientific writing, e.g., novels or poetry using metaphorical language, which lacks empirical focus.
- Marketing Copy, which are promotional material for products, which prioritizes persuasion over objectivity.
- Social Media Posts:, which usually are informal updates lacking peer review or structured methodology.
- ...
- See: Scholarly Communication, Scientific Writing Guidelines, Automated Scientific Writing System, Automated Domain-Specific Writing Task,Peer Review Process, Academic Publishing, Research Ethics, Technical Writing, Literature Synthesis, Data Visualization, Citation Style.
References
2025a
- (Middlebury College, 2025) ⇒ "Write Like a Scientist: A Guide to Scientific Communication". Retrieved:2025-04-18.
- QUOTE: Scientific writing is a technical form of writing that is designed to communicate scientific information to other scientists.
2025b
- (UNC Writing Center, 2025) ⇒ "Science Writing". In: The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill. Retrieved: 2025-04-18.
- QUOTE: This webpage provides resources and advice on various aspects of scientific writing, including lab reports, research proposals, and scientific posters.
It offers tips on clarity, organization, and effective communication in science writing.
- QUOTE: This webpage provides resources and advice on various aspects of scientific writing, including lab reports, research proposals, and scientific posters.
2025c
- (Wikipedia, 2025) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_writing Retrieved:2025-4-18.
- Scientific writing is about science, with the implication that the writing is done by scientists and for an audience that primarily includes peersthose with sufficient expertise to follow in detail. (The similar term "science writing" instead refers to writing about a scientific topic for a general audience; this could be by scientists and/or journalists, for example.) Scientific writing is a specialized form of technical writing, and a prominent genre of it involves reporting about scientific studies such as in articles for a scientific journal. Other scientific writing genres include writing literature-review articles (also typically for scientific journals), which summarize the existing state of a given aspect of a scientific field, and writing grant proposals, which are a common means of obtaining funding to support scientific research. Scientific writing is more likely to focus on the pure sciences compared to other aspects of technical communication that are more applied, although there is overlap. There is not one specific style for citations and references in scientific writing. Whether one is submitting a grant proposal, literature review articles, or submitting an article into a paper, the citation system that must be used will depend on the publication they plan to submit to.
English-language scientific writing originated in the 14th century, with the language later becoming the dominant medium for the field. Style conventions for scientific writing vary, with different focuses by different style guides on the use of passive versus active voice, personal pronoun use, and article sectioning. Much scientific writing is focused on scientific reports, traditionally structured as an abstract, introduction, methods, results, conclusions, and acknowledgments.
- Scientific writing is about science, with the implication that the writing is done by scientists and for an audience that primarily includes peersthose with sufficient expertise to follow in detail. (The similar term "science writing" instead refers to writing about a scientific topic for a general audience; this could be by scientists and/or journalists, for example.) Scientific writing is a specialized form of technical writing, and a prominent genre of it involves reporting about scientific studies such as in articles for a scientific journal. Other scientific writing genres include writing literature-review articles (also typically for scientific journals), which summarize the existing state of a given aspect of a scientific field, and writing grant proposals, which are a common means of obtaining funding to support scientific research. Scientific writing is more likely to focus on the pure sciences compared to other aspects of technical communication that are more applied, although there is overlap. There is not one specific style for citations and references in scientific writing. Whether one is submitting a grant proposal, literature review articles, or submitting an article into a paper, the citation system that must be used will depend on the publication they plan to submit to.
2022
- (Männistö et al., 2022) ⇒ Tomi Männistö, Juha Tiihonen, & Fabian Fagerholm. (2022). "Scientific Writing: A Guide to the Process". In: University of Helsinki, Department of Computer Science.
- QUOTE: These guidelines aim to assist students in writing scientific text. The guidelines are applicable to seminar reports, B.Sc. and M.Sc. theses and also when aiming to write your first scientific publication. These guidelines are intended for software engineering and related areas of research. They are not necessarily directly applicable to other fields, e.g., theoretical computer science(...)
Some aspects of scientific writing differentiate it from many other forms or styles of writing.
- Audience. In all writing, one needs to know the audience. You can assume basic knowledge about the field or area of research. Therefore, you can be very brief with the basics – it is more important to get to the point.
- Clear and to the point. Scientific writing can be considered even dull in the sense that you are not expected to be stylistically creative]]. It is more important to clearly communicate your point with explicit arguments and justification. Writing is primarily about thinking and the clarity of your thinking is reflected in your writing (...)
A scientific article needs a clear storyline and all the parts must form a consistent whole. Here, storyline does not mean a narrative in the sense of a fairy tale or novel, but a specific writing pattern that takes the reader from an understandable starting point, usually a research problem or question with a basis in previous literature, through the design and execution of the research study, to the results, and finally to the answers to the questions and implications of the answers. The reader should have no trouble following your line of thought. A clear structure helps both you and the reader.
- QUOTE: These guidelines aim to assist students in writing scientific text. The guidelines are applicable to seminar reports, B.Sc. and M.Sc. theses and also when aiming to write your first scientific publication. These guidelines are intended for software engineering and related areas of research. They are not necessarily directly applicable to other fields, e.g., theoretical computer science(...)