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Writing guidelines (based on common mistakes):

• Revise, revise, revise! No writing is ever perfect the first time through; write, read, and revise!

• Make your report thorough yet concise.

• Be specific.

  • Bad: Samples were heated in an oven overnight.
  • Good: Samples were placed in an 80°C oven for 8 hours.

• Avoid unnecessary words and phrases.

  • Bad: It has been reported that air pollution 7 million deaths per year.
  • Good: Air pollution causes 7 million deaths per year [Ref 1].

• Avoid too many/uncommon abbreviations, and define abbreviations the first time used (with a few exceptions, below); abbreviations should be appropriate for your audience.

  • Abbreviations that do not need to be defined: Element names (Cu) and well-known units (m, ml, °C, K, etc.)
  • Good abbreviations, when defined: Instrumental techniques, certain chemicals that are more commonly/easily known by their abbreviation (e.g. 4-MP).
  • Bad abbreviations: Tylenol (T-ol), acetaminophen (AM)

• Use first-person active voice.

  • Bad: A GC-MS was used to perform a scent analysis on garlic. Samples were prepared for analysis thusly: To a sample vial, 1 g of garlic was chopped and added.
  • Good: We analyzed the scent of garlic using GC-MS. We chopped 1 g of garlic and placed it in a sample vial for analysis.

• Use past tense for observations and methods.

  • Bad: Tylenol-brand tablets contain 5% less acetaminophen than advertised.
  • Good: Tylenol-brand tablets contained 5% less acetaminophen than advertised.

• Use present tense for accepted facts.

  • Bad: Tylenol helped relieve headaches.
  • Good: Tylenol helps relieve headaches.

• Avoid faulty or incomplete comparisons.

  • Bad: These results are similar to previous studies.
  • Good: These results are similar to the results of previous studies
  • Bad: Fractional distillation worked better.
  • Good: Fractional distillation worked better than simple distillation.

• Use correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. See Elements of Styles (Strunk and White) for more detail.

• Species names and Latin words are written in italic (e.g. Allium sativum, in-vivo).

• Writing resources at Western:

  • Writing and Learning Commons
  • WCU Writing Support
  • Peer review: Have a friend or roommate provide feedback on your report before you turn it in.

Examples adapted from: Writing Papers in the Biological Sciences by Angelika H. Hofmann. Oxford University Press 2016 (2nd ed.)