BIO198 Labs - Biology 198 Laboratory Courses

A Guide to Scientific Writing

• Some general guidelines to follow in scientific writing: APA Stylistics: Basics   
• Scientific writing is concise. Avoid making your writing too wordy or “flowery.”
  • Academic Writing: Concision
  • Academic Writing: Eliminating Words
  • Academic Writing: Changing Phrases
  • Academic Writing: Avoiding Common Pitfalls
• You should use 3rd person, active voice, and don’t forget to use the proper form of affect/effect.
  • Academic Writing: Active and Passive Voice 
  • Academic Writing: Active Versus Passive Voice
  • Academic Writing: Changing Passive to Active Voice
• Be careful to paraphrase information so that you are not plagiarizing information; just changing a few words in a sentence is not paraphrasing.
  • Quoting and Paraphrasing