By Hannah Butler

So, you have a paper due. And not just any paper, but a scientific essay. Just thinking about it is enough to be at least a little bit intimidated. But, if you know your material and you’re good at writing, it doesn’t have to be a stressful assignment. By the way, you can ask someone to help with writing a paper. In any case, all you need are a few tips and guidelines and you’ll be well on your way to a paper that is not just informative, but interesting and relatively easy too.

What Is a Good Scientific Essay?

Essay writing can be a daunting task for even those that enjoy it. It obviously takes some writing skills, and many of the elements that make a quality essay work are exactly the same in this case. But the scientific essay must also detail an actual study, so you will not have the same sort of leeway as within a standard essay or a piece of creative writing. Remember, the goal here is to inform the reader about your subject matter, not to persuade them to see things your way. There are no sides to argue, only facts to organize and detail. You have to understand this key difference, and approach the entire process with that in mind or you will miss the mark. Here are a few things you should consider to help you write a strong scientific essay.

Definite Purpose

First off, make sure you are clear about the purpose of your essay. If you received a specific assignment from your professor, make sure you understand it top to bottom, and ask questions if you do not. If you came up with the subject matter on your own, the purpose must be made doubly clear. In a proper scientific essay, that purpose is to explain findings drawn from a lab experiment, to detail research that others have conducted, or to answer a scientific question that has been posed. Clarity behind this purpose will make or break your essay.

Proper Citation

A good scientific essay is well researched and properly cited. While you can attempt to write a position paper off the cuff with your own opinions leading the way, this essay will not work going that route. Whatever the purpose, you must spend a proper amount of time in research. Make sure you understand the science behind the facts you are presenting, which will then allow you to effectively communicate them to others. And every scientific essay should include a properly cited list of all its sources. Make sure you follow the formal rules so that you cite the points within the essay correctly and include all of the details as well. There is a chance your professor or a reader will check these sources, so do not cut corners.

Appropriate Structure

You must also follow the appropriate structure for a good scientific essay. There is a simple formula to follow that will adjust in length for the complexity of the essay, but will also remain structurally the same. You must start with an abstract, or summary of the paper’s contents, continue with a description of the study or research, state the findings from that research in a completely objective manner, interpret those findings through a discussion or your own thoughts and opinions, and then finish with a proper conclusion. Do not mix these sections, and make sure they are each covered and you’ll be in good shape.

Correct Tone

Finally, your scientific essay must be written with the correct tone. Again, you aren’t writing a short story or even a series of arguments. The goal of this essay is only to inform, so keep the language straightforward. That means short, concise sentences without too many flowery descriptions. Do not use slang or contractions, and be diligent in the proper use of grammar and spelling. The writing style is in place to support science, not to sell yourself as a journalist or an author. As long as the essay flows, effectively presents the purpose and follows the proper style, you will have done your job.

Writing a Scientific Essay: Tips to Follow

Do your research

OK, this is not referring to the data as it relates to your scientific project (we’ll get to that in a minute). No, this is in reference to looking at previously published science papers and essays from other students, so that you can get a feel for the format and style that is required when it comes to writing your own paper.

Check (and double check) your data

Customarily, science essays are papers written about an experiment that was performed and the data that has been collected in order to support it. That said, it would be really hard to pen this kind of paper if you’re not even sure if the experiment works or not. Do the experiment and then collect the statistical information that’s relevant to it. You want to be sure that your paper is not filled with a lot of guesswork, but as many factual details as possible.

Present your paper in a formal order

Scientific papers are unique from other essays because not only do they need to be well-written, but in a certain order as well. In a scientific paper, there needs to be the following: abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and literature cited. An abstract is basically a condensed version of the entire paper. The methods section should explain how you conducted your experiment and the results section should include the data that you collected for the experiment. The literature cited is the publications and books that you used as a form of research for your paper.

Be thorough

There are several things that fall under this particular tip. You should proofread your work. You should double-check your resources as it relates to your research. You should use Copyscape (or a similar kind of website) to make sure you are not plagiarizing someone else’s paper. You should make sure that your paper includes examples, diagrams, flow charts and any other kinds of visuals that will further illustrate the data that you are presenting as it relates to the experiment and your findings. In other words, if you’re not someone who usually writes a draft (or two), when it comes to turning in a good science essay, this would be the time to start.

Lighten up

Sometimes, when we think of subjects like science, we associate it with being sober and boring. Plus, if you’re someone who is, for instance, trying to get your master GIS, that adds all the more pressure to presenting your paper in a way where it’s taken seriously. Science doesn’t have to be something that isn’t fun, nor does it have to be something that was presented in a way that isn’t entertaining and enjoyable. In other words, let the facts be your foundation, but use a bit of your personality in your writing style. Just like you want to make the most out of writing the paper, your teacher wants to make the most out of reading it as well. S/he won’t oppose a “light approach” so long as it’s an accurate one too.

About the author: Hannah Butler works as an English teacher. Besides, she likes sharing her experience in the form of articles. In this case, she has her own section on WriteMyPaper4Me.co website. In the future she is going to start writing a blog in order to describe her working methods to others.