SCIENTIFIC WRITING FOR MICROBIOLOGY MAJORS

The main purpose of most scientific writing is to inform and educate other people about
research that has been performed. A scientific report should explain clearly how the research
was performed and what results were observed. Good science must be repeatable other
scientists should be able to repeat the experiment in order to see if they come up with the same
results or not. And lastly, an argument or opinion might be proposed based on the results
obtained.
Typically students are introduced to scientific experimenting by way of the hypothesis
model. Researchers formulate a hypothesis that they would like to test and design an
experiment that will either prove or disprove the hypothesis. Scientific writing is a means
of presenting the results of a particular experiment what hypothesis was tested, how it
was tested, what the results of the testing were, and what the results prove or disprove.
Scientific writing should be:
Clear
Objective
Accurate
Concise
As a researcher, it is essential to keep in mind that you are trying to persuade your audience of
the importance and validity of your experiment. After all, it is only after a hypothesis has been
proven or disproved numerous times by many different researchers that the information
gained will become part of the scientific dogma. This is only possible if experimental results
are written up in such a way that the information is comprehensible and convincing.