SCIENCE not social issues
The first thing I notice when reading student papers is they often tend to write more about society problems than actual science. For example,
Global warming is killing the fish because fish populations have decreased since last year. This presents a problem for people living near the oceans and rivers whose jobs rely on selling fish, and communities where fish is a staple of their diet.
The problem with that example is that there is no explanation of the mechanisms at work - how exactly is global warming related to the dropping fish populations? It's not mentioned at all, instead the student writes about how bad the effects are for people.
This may be acceptable for subjects that focus on social issues, like English, but not in Science. Stick to the science, not so much society issues.
Global warming is killing the fish because fish populations have decreased since last year. This presents a problem for people living near the oceans and rivers whose jobs rely on selling fish, and communities where fish is a staple of their diet.
The problem with that example is that there is no explanation of the mechanisms at work - how exactly is global warming related to the dropping fish populations? It's not mentioned at all, instead the student writes about how bad the effects are for people.
This may be acceptable for subjects that focus on social issues, like English, but not in Science. Stick to the science, not so much society issues.
Target Audience
The next thing you need to think about is who is your target audience. This will be specified for you on your task sheet, if not then you are expected to be writing for an audience of your science peers, or teacher. For example, if you are in year 8 science then you are expected to write your paper for someone else in year 8 science, similarly with specialised subjects such as senior chemistry.
This is an important point to think about because it tells you what language you are expected to apply. If you are writing for your Science peers then you are expected to write with the level of terminology that is expected at their level. The language in your textbook that you are using in class will be a good indicator of this. Use as much relevant scientific terminology as you can; this can make your writing concise and demonstrate your understanding.
This is an important point to think about because it tells you what language you are expected to apply. If you are writing for your Science peers then you are expected to write with the level of terminology that is expected at their level. The language in your textbook that you are using in class will be a good indicator of this. Use as much relevant scientific terminology as you can; this can make your writing concise and demonstrate your understanding.
Important Science Concepts
The first bulk of your introduction is about writing in great detail about what are the important and relevant science concepts to your topic. A common mistake students make is to write at length about irrelevant concepts which is wasted effort.
The way to work out what are the relevant concepts, is think about what relates to your topic and draw a mind map around your topic. For example, if my topic is water quality, then some of the concepts would be acidity - what are acids? how can they be measured? Salinity, Turbidity, Heavy Metals and so on. The next step is to be specific to your experiment - cross off concepts that relate to tests you did not use.
Students often find it difficult to figure out what concepts are important, and which are not. The way you work this out is to examine what your audience already knows, and compare that with the concepts listed on your mind map. If your audience already knows about a concept then cross it off your list. What you will have left are the specialised concepts that are relevant to your topic.
The way to work out what are the relevant concepts, is think about what relates to your topic and draw a mind map around your topic. For example, if my topic is water quality, then some of the concepts would be acidity - what are acids? how can they be measured? Salinity, Turbidity, Heavy Metals and so on. The next step is to be specific to your experiment - cross off concepts that relate to tests you did not use.
Students often find it difficult to figure out what concepts are important, and which are not. The way you work this out is to examine what your audience already knows, and compare that with the concepts listed on your mind map. If your audience already knows about a concept then cross it off your list. What you will have left are the specialised concepts that are relevant to your topic.
Quantification Techniques
The next large bulk of your introduction is about what techniques are you going to apply, why, and how they work. If I return to the water quality example from earlier, I may choose to use conductivity as a method for testing the concentration of salt in the water. Since salt solutions conduct electricity which can be measured, we could make comparisons between how much current a tsp of salt in a cup of water produces, and how much current a cup of tap water produces to make an estimation of its salt content.
So at this point your introduction should be looking like a 50/50 split between relevant concepts and the quantification techniques used.
So at this point your introduction should be looking like a 50/50 split between relevant concepts and the quantification techniques used.
Variables
The following two sections are not considered as essential, but they do help inform the rest of your paper as well as demonstrate your understanding to your teacher.
I like to see students write a paragraph about the variables involved in the experiment. There are three categories; Independent, Dependent, and Controlled variables.
The independent variable is the variable that you are going to manipulate during the course of the experiment that will cause the changes in the other variables. In the example of water quality, the variable could be the location where each water sample comes from - the ocean, the river, or the tap.
The dependent variable, is the variable that will respond to your manipulation. There can be more than one, and they will be the variable that you will measure for any changes that occur. For water quality, acidity, salinity, turbidity, and concentration of heavy metals would be dependent variables since these will all change depending where the water comes from.
The controlled variable is the variable that you will keep the same for each test that you do. You should control as much as you can to keep the tests fair. This allows you to make fair comparisons in your results, but just list a few of the important ones in your paragraph. Leave the rest in a variables table later in the paper.
I like to see students write a paragraph about the variables involved in the experiment. There are three categories; Independent, Dependent, and Controlled variables.
The independent variable is the variable that you are going to manipulate during the course of the experiment that will cause the changes in the other variables. In the example of water quality, the variable could be the location where each water sample comes from - the ocean, the river, or the tap.
The dependent variable, is the variable that will respond to your manipulation. There can be more than one, and they will be the variable that you will measure for any changes that occur. For water quality, acidity, salinity, turbidity, and concentration of heavy metals would be dependent variables since these will all change depending where the water comes from.
The controlled variable is the variable that you will keep the same for each test that you do. You should control as much as you can to keep the tests fair. This allows you to make fair comparisons in your results, but just list a few of the important ones in your paragraph. Leave the rest in a variables table later in the paper.
Predictions
The last section you could add to your introduction is a paragraph about what are your predictions and why. This demonstrates that you have taken the time to sit and think about how the concepts fit together. The generic form is as follows;
If the independent variable is increased then the dependent variable will increase/decrease because...
For example; if the boiling duration of the water sample is increased then it is predicted that the number of microorganisms present in the water will decrease because the proteins required for functioning and reproduction within the microorganisms begin to denature due to the higher kinetic activity at high temperatures.
End
I hope these tips help guide you to writing better science papers, and remember that your teachers advice should always come first so make sure to listen to their directions for your assignments. I'll see you again in the next video when I talk about the Hypothesis, Method, and Results sections.
If the independent variable is increased then the dependent variable will increase/decrease because...
For example; if the boiling duration of the water sample is increased then it is predicted that the number of microorganisms present in the water will decrease because the proteins required for functioning and reproduction within the microorganisms begin to denature due to the higher kinetic activity at high temperatures.
End
I hope these tips help guide you to writing better science papers, and remember that your teachers advice should always come first so make sure to listen to their directions for your assignments. I'll see you again in the next video when I talk about the Hypothesis, Method, and Results sections.