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Write Better Science:
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HYPOTHESIS
The hypothesis is simply an educated guess, that can be tested, that will direct what parameters you will be using for your experimental investigation. The general form is this; if... then... That is;
"If I increase or change my independent variable, then the dependent variable will increase/decrease."
If you haven't already written about your predictions in your introduction, then it would be a good idea to include a third component to your hypothesis: because. If... then... because... This is optional, some teachers may wish you to include it, and others may not, so make sure to check.
Variables
Hypotheses aren't usually a problem for junior science students where the investigations are scaffolded (structured) for you, but in senior sciences this can make or break your report. In senior science, you may be given more freedom to choose the variables that you will be testing and how you will test them. The biggest mistake students make is not selecting quantifiable variables. For example;
"If the colour of the light exposure to the orange peel is changed, then the orange peel will decay at different rates."
In that example, there is no way to quantify what each colour of light is being applied, at least not with readily available high-school instruments, nor is the rate quantifiable since the data collected would require qualitative data. Still okay, starting to rot, and very rotten. This is going to give you limited data that is not meaningful to work with for your results and discussion.
The other mistake senior students make is testing too many (independent) variables at a time. This increases your work exponentially, as you will have to add additional tests for each parameter, if you don't; it tends to obscure trends in your data, or even worse, you will only have time to collect very few data points. Unless your teacher has specified that you are to pick 2 or more variables to test, stick with one and do it well.
METHOD
The most obvious, and common mistake students make when writing methods is writing it as if they were writing a recipe for a cookbook. This makes no sense when you are writing a report. A report is written in past tense about an experiment that has already taken place. Imagine writing a report about a bank robbery;
"The robber entered the bank and proceeded to hold the cashiers and bystanders at gunpoint. He then made his demands for cash and valuables before making a quick exit."
Now listen to how ridiculous it sounds when you report about it like a recipe;
"Add a bank robber to a bank. Make the robber hold cashier and bystanders at gunpoint. Have the robber demand for cash and valuables and exit the building as quickly as possible."
This kind of language sticks out like a sore thumb for science teachers, as it will read very differently from the rest of the paper - it shouldn't be different at all!
Guidelines
There are three guidelines for writing your method;
Diagrams
The next point with methods is that students often forget to include a diagram. An apparatus diagram is your biggest tool that you can use to be concise.
Conciseness
Another trick is to combine many simple steps into a single sentence. These simple steps would be things like:
1. A beaker of mixed salt solutions was prepared.
2. The salt solution was then boiled for 5 minutes
3. The precipitate formed was filtered through filter paper.
Steps 1 and 2 are simple and so could be combined into;
That's all for now. Let me know if you found this helpful using the comments below.
The hypothesis is simply an educated guess, that can be tested, that will direct what parameters you will be using for your experimental investigation. The general form is this; if... then... That is;
"If I increase or change my independent variable, then the dependent variable will increase/decrease."
If you haven't already written about your predictions in your introduction, then it would be a good idea to include a third component to your hypothesis: because. If... then... because... This is optional, some teachers may wish you to include it, and others may not, so make sure to check.
Variables
Hypotheses aren't usually a problem for junior science students where the investigations are scaffolded (structured) for you, but in senior sciences this can make or break your report. In senior science, you may be given more freedom to choose the variables that you will be testing and how you will test them. The biggest mistake students make is not selecting quantifiable variables. For example;
"If the colour of the light exposure to the orange peel is changed, then the orange peel will decay at different rates."
In that example, there is no way to quantify what each colour of light is being applied, at least not with readily available high-school instruments, nor is the rate quantifiable since the data collected would require qualitative data. Still okay, starting to rot, and very rotten. This is going to give you limited data that is not meaningful to work with for your results and discussion.
The other mistake senior students make is testing too many (independent) variables at a time. This increases your work exponentially, as you will have to add additional tests for each parameter, if you don't; it tends to obscure trends in your data, or even worse, you will only have time to collect very few data points. Unless your teacher has specified that you are to pick 2 or more variables to test, stick with one and do it well.
METHOD
The most obvious, and common mistake students make when writing methods is writing it as if they were writing a recipe for a cookbook. This makes no sense when you are writing a report. A report is written in past tense about an experiment that has already taken place. Imagine writing a report about a bank robbery;
"The robber entered the bank and proceeded to hold the cashiers and bystanders at gunpoint. He then made his demands for cash and valuables before making a quick exit."
Now listen to how ridiculous it sounds when you report about it like a recipe;
"Add a bank robber to a bank. Make the robber hold cashier and bystanders at gunpoint. Have the robber demand for cash and valuables and exit the building as quickly as possible."
This kind of language sticks out like a sore thumb for science teachers, as it will read very differently from the rest of the paper - it shouldn't be different at all!
Guidelines
There are three guidelines for writing your method;
- Avoid the use of any personal pronouns (nouns that refer to a person); he, she, I, our, we, you.
- Write in past tense; remember these steps have already taken place; Add a teaspoon of sugar to coffee --> a teaspoon of sugar was added to the coffee solution.
- Use passive voice; 'was added', 'was transferred', 'were measured', 'was filled'.
Diagrams
The next point with methods is that students often forget to include a diagram. An apparatus diagram is your biggest tool that you can use to be concise.
Conciseness
Another trick is to combine many simple steps into a single sentence. These simple steps would be things like:
1. A beaker of mixed salt solutions was prepared.
2. The salt solution was then boiled for 5 minutes
3. The precipitate formed was filtered through filter paper.
Steps 1 and 2 are simple and so could be combined into;
- A beaker of mixed salt solutions was prepared and then boiled for 5 minutes.
- The resulting precipitate was then filtered through filter paper.
That's all for now. Let me know if you found this helpful using the comments below.
