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Writing for OCEAN220
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explains thoroughly what you did (so someone can repeat it) presents results cleanly without ... Of a unique genre. Convey new, original information ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation
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Title: Writing for OCEAN220
1
Writing for OCEAN220
- Goal write a clean, concise manuscript that is
- easy for your reader to understand
- introduces your topic
- explains thoroughly what you did (so someone
can repeat it) - presents results cleanly without
interpretation, then - interprets the data and places it within the
frame of other things that are known about your
subject, both locally and globally.
Dont let writin misteaks lead you two a lo grade.
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Scientific Papers are
- Of a unique genre
- Convey new, original information
- Unlike other writing, you can never have much
experience with your topic because it is all new
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Try to
- Avoid cliches like the plague theyre old hat.
- Be more or less specific about it.
- Never ever use repetitive redundancies, ever.
- Remember that exaggeration is a million-trillion
times worse than understatement. - Remember you are writing for non-native readers
(kiss)
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Remember
- Verbs has to agree with subjects.
- Parenthetical remarks (however revelent) are
(usually) unnecessary. - Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
- One word sentences? Eliminate.
- Use words correctly irregardless of how others
use them. - Puns are for kids, not groan readers.
- Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be
derailed. - Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
- And dont start a sentence with a conjunctive.
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Limnology and Oceanography
- One of the premiere journals in our field
- Has a fairly normal style with a few little quirks
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Paper organization
- Title page
- Acknowledgements
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Materials and methods
- Results
- Discussion
- References
- Tables
- Figure legends
- Figures
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Title page
- Choose a short, informative title
- Name and scientific address of author
- Richard Keil
- University of Washington School of
Oceanography, Box 357940 Seattle WA 98195-7940 - rickkeil_at_u.washington.edu
- Running header
- Page numbers start here
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Acknowledgements
- This is your chance to say thanks to those who
helped you. Many funding agencies mandate that
you acknowledge their financial support here. - Separate page from other sections
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Abstract
- Describes the results rather than announcing
them. - Growth rates ranged between 3.4 and 6.2 mg C L-1
d-1 - -vs-
- Growth rates were measured.
- Contains brief methods
- Contains interpretations
- This is your hook to get people to read your
paper - Separate page from other sections
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Introduction
- LO quirk this journal does not write out
Introduction - Identify and limit the problem.
- Motivate the reader and review the pertinent
literature. - State the principle result and interpretation at
the end of this section (optional). - Materials and methods can start on the same page
as this section no need for a page break.
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Materials and methods
- Describe your methods for reproducibility.
- Be precise and accurate.
- If using a standard method, reference it. If
not, spell it out in paragraph form. - Lists are not acceptable.
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Results
- What are your principle findings?
- Hint if this section isnt relatively short, you
might be mixing results and discussion together. - Most tables and figures are referred to in this
section. - Use the number of significant figures that
matches the precision of your findings. - No Table 1 shows
- No 1-sentence paragraphs
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Discussion
- Describe what your findings mean.
- How do your findings relate to what is known
about the region or the topic? - Do your findings imply anything for other
studies? Perhaps for future studies? - Reference to the appropriate literature.
- Compare your data to what others have seen
before. - Extrapolate to other seasons or places.
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References
- On a separate page from discussion
- Listed alphabetically
- Comply with LO format
(Baker et al. 1983 Brandes and Devol
1997) Baker E.T., G.A. Cannon and H.C.J. Curl.
1983. Particle transport processes in a small
marine bay. J. Geophy. Res. 88
9661-9669. Brandes J.A. and A.H. Devol. 1997.
Isotopic fractionation of oxygen and nitrogen in
coastal marine sediments. Geochim. Cosmochimm.
Acta 61 1793-1801.
- (NOTE the reference is formatted as a hanging
indent, all authors other than the first one are
listed initials first (this is an LO quirk, most
journals are not like this), the use of capitol
letters in the title is limited to the first
letter of the title and proper nouns only, the
journal title is abbreviated but not italicized,
and the issue is in bold).
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Tables
- The legend is with the table.
- Tables have only three lines
Table 1. Some results based on the stuff I did
on the boat.
No.
Yes
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Figure legends
- Complete sentences or at least clear clauses.
- Go on a separate piece of paper from the actual
figure. - All the Fig. legends can be on the same page.
- Symbols used in the figure (e.g., circles,
squares, ...) are explained in a key on the
figure itself rather than in the legend.
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Figures
- A common cause of trouble
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Figures
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Figures
- Black white
- 1 figure per page, 1 page per figure.
- Note a figure can have more than 1 panel in it.
- Limit of 7 figures (or less) per manuscript
- Author's name and figure number written on the
FRONT of each figure, in pencil - Figures are submitted at twice the size that
they will appear when printed and lines are of
proper thickness to be successfully reduced.
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Things to ponder
- Avoid making yourself pluralwe or our
- Resist the temptation to string boxcars
- Try to write in the Hemingway style
- Get informal review before submission
- We are here for you
- When in doubt, leave it in
- Avoid pronouns this, that
- If there are weak points, dont try to hide them
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Good Luck!
