Scientific Paper Writing Check List

Title

1. Does the title characterize the major finding of the paper?
2. If appropriate, does it include name of experimental organism or the location of the field study?
3. Does the title page include your name and the date submitted?

Abstract

1. Does your abstract explain why the experiment was performed?
2. Does it outline what problem was addressed?
3. Does it summarize the experimental approach?
4. Does it summarize the major results?
5. Is the abstract informative?
6. Does the abstract summarize major conclusions?
7. Is the abstract a single paragraph and less than 250 words?

Introduction

1. Do you have a clear statement about the question addressed?
2. Did you provide a rational argument for why the question should be addressed?
3. Is every sentence relevant to the questions addressed?
4. Have you avoided explicit advocacy for a particular result?
5. Is every statement of fact provided with a citation? Are the citations in the proper format?

Methods

1. Are the methods written in paragraph form and not as a list of steps?
2. Is the rational for each step self-evident or clearly explained?
3. Does it explain how the data was analyzed (statistical test if appropriate)?
4. Does it describe all the factors in the experiment that might reasonable effect the outcome of the experiment? Does it include sufficient detail that the experiment could be repeated?
5. Is it written in the past tense?

Results

1. Does the narrative summarize the results without restating every detail in the tables and graphs?
2. Does the narrative reference all the tables, graphs and figures sequentially?
3. Does the narrative draw the reader’s attention to the key information in the tables and graphs?
4. Have you drawn attention to “unanticipated results”?
5. Have you avoided unnecessary explanations of the results?
6. Is it written in the past tense and in active terms, where possible?

Tables and Figures

1. Are your tables, graphs and figures self-sufficient?
2. Have you followed professional standards in preparing your tables, graphs and figures?
3. Have you included the number of individuals and/or the number of replicates in the figure, table, caption or legend?

Discussion

1. What did you expect to find and why?
2. How did your actual results compare with your expected results? Is your data consistent or inconsistent with your hypothesis?
3. What is your explanation for unanticipated results?
4. Can you design experiments to test your “explanations”?
5. Based on your results, what is the next question that should be addressed? What are the implications of your results?
6. For every conclusion you have drawn from your data, did you describe exactly what pattern in your data supports the conclusion?
7. Did you relate your findings to what was found in the literature you cited in the introduction?

Literature Cited

1. Have all references been cited in the text and all citations in the text been included in the literature cited section?

2. Does each citation include the names of all authors, title of paper, year of publication, volume number, and page numbers?

3. Are the citations mostly primary literature; journal articles from well-known publishers (i.e., Genetics, Evolution, Cell, Trends in Genetics, Trends in Evolution and Ecology, Heredity, etc.)?

4. Does your paper include at least 5 or more references?

General

1. Have you reviewed spelling and grammar?

2. Have you revised the paper for clarity?

3. Have you reviewed the paper conciseness?

4. Are all Latin names italicized?

5. Have you made use of the passive voice? Be sure to use the active voice!

6. Did you number your pages?

7. Did you review your paper for plagiarism? All ideas garnered from the literature need to be cited correctly!! And all statements are paraphrased – direct quotes are unnecessary and distracting.

8. Taxonomic names above the level of genus are capitalized but not the names of the taxonomic categories themselves – phylum Chordata, class Mammalia.

9. Text can be single spaced… I hate wasted paper.