Overall Structure
Whether putting together a college thesis or submitting a manuscript to Nature, the idea is the same: Tell Your Story.
From childhood, we all know the essential elements to a story - a beginning, middle, and end. Consider them in the context of a scientific report:
The Beginning (Once upon a time) - Introduce the elements that will be talked about in this story. Establish the stakes, ie. why do we care about our characters, or, in Science, why do we care about this research? What background information must be revealed to make events comprehensible, and give the reader context? What mystery is the reader going to be confronted with? A good writer, academic or not, entices the audience to read on to find out more.
The Middle (Action, adventure, fun, and games) - The meat of the tale! Your results, your new findings, mysteries solved and new ones appear, discoveries along the way. Remember, the order of your results will not usually reflect the order you actually performed the research in. A good science writer serves the story being told so that the results and logic flow seamlessly through the page and into the reader's brain.
The End (And the moral of the story is...) - End strong by taking a step back from the story told so far, and reflect upon what has been learned. Put it in the larger context of the field, give the reader something valuable to come away with. Hint at further adventures (ie. future directions) to come.
The Beginning (Once upon a time) - Introduce the elements that will be talked about in this story. Establish the stakes, ie. why do we care about our characters, or, in Science, why do we care about this research? What background information must be revealed to make events comprehensible, and give the reader context? What mystery is the reader going to be confronted with? A good writer, academic or not, entices the audience to read on to find out more.
The Middle (Action, adventure, fun, and games) - The meat of the tale! Your results, your new findings, mysteries solved and new ones appear, discoveries along the way. Remember, the order of your results will not usually reflect the order you actually performed the research in. A good science writer serves the story being told so that the results and logic flow seamlessly through the page and into the reader's brain.
The End (And the moral of the story is...) - End strong by taking a step back from the story told so far, and reflect upon what has been learned. Put it in the larger context of the field, give the reader something valuable to come away with. Hint at further adventures (ie. future directions) to come.