Passive vs. Active voice

Taller de inglés científico para publicaciones académicas

Mexico City, MéxicoAugust/September 2014

RESULTSAcademic Writing Principles

Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that

won't work.

Thomas A. Edison

Results

•The story of the data

•Results drive the content and structure of the whole article

•Some editors say that a paper will ‘stand’ or ‘fall’ based on the results – this means they have to be clear.

Results – general overview•Results present summaries of key

statistical analyses in some papers

•Proceeds logically (flow from methods), starts with text and then refers to tables and figures (if applicable)

•Results present key results (as well as important unexpected or ‘negative’ results) without or with interpretation

Results – general overview

•The data you present should not be repetitive but representative

"The compulsion to include everything, leaving nothing out, does not prove that one has unlimited information; it proves that one lacks discrimination."

• Aaronson, 1977 in Robert A. Day;Barbara Gastel. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (Kindle Location 907). Kindle Edition.

To interpret or not to interpret?Interpretive language can creep into results.Compare the two paragraphs below:

The duration of exposure to running water had a pronounced effect on cumulative seed germination percentages (Fig. 2). Seeds exposed to the 2-day treatment had the highest cumulative germination (84%), 1.25 times that of the 12-h or 5-day groups and 4 times that of controls.

The results of the germination experiment (Fig. 2) suggest that the optimal time for running-water treatment is 2 days. This group showed the highest cumulative germination (84%), with longer (5 d) or shorter (12 h) exposures producing smaller gains in germination when compared to the control group.

How to start on results?

•Be clear on the main points of your results

•Identify results that connect to your take home messages (what readers will remember about the paper)

•One way to focus your key points is to start with tables and figures; then write some messages about the data presented

Results for some disciplines•Results often have appropriately-headed

subsections, which can help with clarity

•E.g.3. Results3.1 Disease specificity3.2 Factor analysis3.3 Validity

Text or table/figure?If you only have a few data to present, then

you should present them as descriptive text.

Multiple trials are often better in a table or graph.

Do not be repetitive in text and tables/figures.e.g. "It is clearly shown in Table 1 that nocillin

inhibited the growth of N. gonorrhoeae." Say, "Nocillin inhibited the growth of N. gonorrhoeae (Table 1)."

(i.e. highlight the finding not the table)

Figures and Tables•Use graphs and tables to present your

results, and then summarize the important trends

•Do not put everything in a table or figure, only what is important to your hypothesis

•Not all results should go in a table; simple result are best stated in a single sentence.

When to use what…cont’dTables

- do not use tables when you want to show a trend or a pattern of a relationship between two variables (best in a figure)

Referring to tables & figuresUse sentences that draw the reader’s attention to the

relationship, trend or significant differences that you want to highlight.

e.g. The energy spin levels show high similarity (Figure 1).

But avoid sentences that give no important information other than directing the reader to the table or figure.

E.g. Table 1 shows the statistical analyses for pollutant concentration in the Mexico City basin.

The perfect table/figureHow do you know?

1.The data points should be clear in a figure; tables should not be cluttered with data.

2.Figures should be well-labelled.3.The legend/caption should be descriptive

enough that it should stand alone (i.e. the reader should understand without reading the results section)

4.Strive for simplicity! You don’t want to lose the reader.

Use meaningful statistics

"33 1/3% of the mice used in this experiment were cured by the test drug; 33 1/3% of the test population were unaffected by the drug and remained in a moribund condition; the third mouse got away."

An editor cited in: Robert A. Day;Barbara Gastel. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (Kindle Locations 915-916). Kindle Edition.

Have a credible story (i.e. your results) that is backed up by your methods and relate to your aim.

Verb tenses for the results sectionPast tense – often

Until what you report is established as a fact, it will remain what you found in your study.

The trials were repeated twice for statistical significance.

Present tense

•In modeling papers, calculations, proofs, etc.

e.g.Substituting for (x) gives the following

result:

Figure 1 shows the distribution of galaxies.

Your turn….Look at your results section and consider these

questions:What do my results say? (two sentences maximum, a very brief

summary of the main points, no background!)

What do these results mean in their context? (i.e. whatconclusions can be drawn from these results?)

Is it logically ordered?

Does it report key findings that all try to answer the question/s posed in the introduction?

Are you reporting only results (i.e. no methods/no discussion) if the journal requires a separate results section?