how to write a research paper for biology

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How to write your first research paper.

Writing a research manuscript is an intimidating process for many novice writers in the sciences. One of the stumbling blocks is the beginning of the process and creating the first draft. This paper presents guidelines on how to initiate the writing process and draft each section of a research manuscript. The paper discusses seven rules that allow the writer to prepare a well-structured and comprehensive manuscript for a publication submission. In addition, the author lists different strategies for successful revision. Each of those strategies represents a step in the revision process and should help the writer improve the quality of the manuscript. The paper could be considered a brief manual for publication.

It is late at night. You have been struggling with your project for a year. You generated an enormous amount of interesting data. Your pipette feels like an extension of your hand, and running western blots has become part of your daily routine, similar to brushing your teeth. Your colleagues think you are ready to write a paper, and your lab mates tease you about your “slow” writing progress. Yet days pass, and you cannot force yourself to sit down to write. You have not written anything for a while (lab reports do not count), and you feel you have lost your stamina. How does the writing process work? How can you fit your writing into a daily schedule packed with experiments? What section should you start with? What distinguishes a good research paper from a bad one? How should you revise your paper? These and many other questions buzz in your head and keep you stressed. As a result, you procrastinate. In this paper, I will discuss the issues related to the writing process of a scientific paper. Specifically, I will focus on the best approaches to start a scientific paper, tips for writing each section, and the best revision strategies.

1. Schedule your writing time in Outlook

Whether you have written 100 papers or you are struggling with your first, starting the process is the most difficult part unless you have a rigid writing schedule. Writing is hard. It is a very difficult process of intense concentration and brain work. As stated in Hayes’ framework for the study of writing: “It is a generative activity requiring motivation, and it is an intellectual activity requiring cognitive processes and memory” [ 1 ]. In his book How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing , Paul Silvia says that for some, “it’s easier to embalm the dead than to write an article about it” [ 2 ]. Just as with any type of hard work, you will not succeed unless you practice regularly. If you have not done physical exercises for a year, only regular workouts can get you into good shape again. The same kind of regular exercises, or I call them “writing sessions,” are required to be a productive author. Choose from 1- to 2-hour blocks in your daily work schedule and consider them as non-cancellable appointments. When figuring out which blocks of time will be set for writing, you should select the time that works best for this type of work. For many people, mornings are more productive. One Yale University graduate student spent a semester writing from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. when her lab was empty. At the end of the semester, she was amazed at how much she accomplished without even interrupting her regular lab hours. In addition, doing the hardest task first thing in the morning contributes to the sense of accomplishment during the rest of the day. This positive feeling spills over into our work and life and has a very positive effect on our overall attitude.

Rule 1: Create regular time blocks for writing as appointments in your calendar and keep these appointments.

2. start with an outline.

Now that you have scheduled time, you need to decide how to start writing. The best strategy is to start with an outline. This will not be an outline that you are used to, with Roman numerals for each section and neat parallel listing of topic sentences and supporting points. This outline will be similar to a template for your paper. Initially, the outline will form a structure for your paper; it will help generate ideas and formulate hypotheses. Following the advice of George M. Whitesides, “. . . start with a blank piece of paper, and write down, in any order, all important ideas that occur to you concerning the paper” [ 3 ]. Use Table 1 as a starting point for your outline. Include your visuals (figures, tables, formulas, equations, and algorithms), and list your findings. These will constitute the first level of your outline, which will eventually expand as you elaborate.

The next stage is to add context and structure. Here you will group all your ideas into sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion/Conclusion ( Table 2 ). This step will help add coherence to your work and sift your ideas.

Now that you have expanded your outline, you are ready for the next step: discussing the ideas for your paper with your colleagues and mentor. Many universities have a writing center where graduate students can schedule individual consultations and receive assistance with their paper drafts. Getting feedback during early stages of your draft can save a lot of time. Talking through ideas allows people to conceptualize and organize thoughts to find their direction without wasting time on unnecessary writing. Outlining is the most effective way of communicating your ideas and exchanging thoughts. Moreover, it is also the best stage to decide to which publication you will submit the paper. Many people come up with three choices and discuss them with their mentors and colleagues. Having a list of journal priorities can help you quickly resubmit your paper if your paper is rejected.

Rule 2: Create a detailed outline and discuss it with your mentor and peers.

3. continue with drafts.

After you get enough feedback and decide on the journal you will submit to, the process of real writing begins. Copy your outline into a separate file and expand on each of the points, adding data and elaborating on the details. When you create the first draft, do not succumb to the temptation of editing. Do not slow down to choose a better word or better phrase; do not halt to improve your sentence structure. Pour your ideas into the paper and leave revision and editing for later. As Paul Silvia explains, “Revising while you generate text is like drinking decaffeinated coffee in the early morning: noble idea, wrong time” [ 2 ].

Many students complain that they are not productive writers because they experience writer’s block. Staring at an empty screen is frustrating, but your screen is not really empty: You have a template of your article, and all you need to do is fill in the blanks. Indeed, writer’s block is a logical fallacy for a scientist ― it is just an excuse to procrastinate. When scientists start writing a research paper, they already have their files with data, lab notes with materials and experimental designs, some visuals, and tables with results. All they need to do is scrutinize these pieces and put them together into a comprehensive paper.

3.1. Starting with Materials and Methods

If you still struggle with starting a paper, then write the Materials and Methods section first. Since you have all your notes, it should not be problematic for you to describe the experimental design and procedures. Your most important goal in this section is to be as explicit as possible by providing enough detail and references. In the end, the purpose of this section is to allow other researchers to evaluate and repeat your work. So do not run into the same problems as the writers of the sentences in (1):

1a. Bacteria were pelleted by centrifugation. 1b. To isolate T cells, lymph nodes were collected.

As you can see, crucial pieces of information are missing: the speed of centrifuging your bacteria, the time, and the temperature in (1a); the source of lymph nodes for collection in (b). The sentences can be improved when information is added, as in (2a) and (2b), respectfully:

2a. Bacteria were pelleted by centrifugation at 3000g for 15 min at 25°C. 2b. To isolate T cells, mediastinal and mesenteric lymph nodes from Balb/c mice were collected at day 7 after immunization with ovabumin.

If your method has previously been published and is well-known, then you should provide only the literature reference, as in (3a). If your method is unpublished, then you need to make sure you provide all essential details, as in (3b).

3a. Stem cells were isolated, according to Johnson [23]. 3b. Stem cells were isolated using biotinylated carbon nanotubes coated with anti-CD34 antibodies.

Furthermore, cohesion and fluency are crucial in this section. One of the malpractices resulting in disrupted fluency is switching from passive voice to active and vice versa within the same paragraph, as shown in (4). This switching misleads and distracts the reader.

4. Behavioral computer-based experiments of Study 1 were programmed by using E-Prime. We took ratings of enjoyment, mood, and arousal as the patients listened to preferred pleasant music and unpreferred music by using Visual Analogue Scales (SI Methods). The preferred and unpreferred status of the music was operationalized along a continuum of pleasantness [ 4 ].

The problem with (4) is that the reader has to switch from the point of view of the experiment (passive voice) to the point of view of the experimenter (active voice). This switch causes confusion about the performer of the actions in the first and the third sentences. To improve the coherence and fluency of the paragraph above, you should be consistent in choosing the point of view: first person “we” or passive voice [ 5 ]. Let’s consider two revised examples in (5).

5a. We programmed behavioral computer-based experiments of Study 1 by using E-Prime. We took ratings of enjoyment, mood, and arousal by using Visual Analogue Scales (SI Methods) as the patients listened to preferred pleasant music and unpreferred music. We operationalized the preferred and unpreferred status of the music along a continuum of pleasantness. 5b. Behavioral computer-based experiments of Study 1 were programmed by using E-Prime. Ratings of enjoyment, mood, and arousal were taken as the patients listened to preferred pleasant music and unpreferred music by using Visual Analogue Scales (SI Methods). The preferred and unpreferred status of the music was operationalized along a continuum of pleasantness.

If you choose the point of view of the experimenter, then you may end up with repetitive “we did this” sentences. For many readers, paragraphs with sentences all beginning with “we” may also sound disruptive. So if you choose active sentences, you need to keep the number of “we” subjects to a minimum and vary the beginnings of the sentences [ 6 ].

Interestingly, recent studies have reported that the Materials and Methods section is the only section in research papers in which passive voice predominantly overrides the use of the active voice [ 5 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. For example, Martínez shows a significant drop in active voice use in the Methods sections based on the corpus of 1 million words of experimental full text research articles in the biological sciences [ 7 ]. According to the author, the active voice patterned with “we” is used only as a tool to reveal personal responsibility for the procedural decisions in designing and performing experimental work. This means that while all other sections of the research paper use active voice, passive voice is still the most predominant in Materials and Methods sections.

Writing Materials and Methods sections is a meticulous and time consuming task requiring extreme accuracy and clarity. This is why when you complete your draft, you should ask for as much feedback from your colleagues as possible. Numerous readers of this section will help you identify the missing links and improve the technical style of this section.

Rule 3: Be meticulous and accurate in describing the Materials and Methods. Do not change the point of view within one paragraph.

3.2. writing results section.

For many authors, writing the Results section is more intimidating than writing the Materials and Methods section . If people are interested in your paper, they are interested in your results. That is why it is vital to use all your writing skills to objectively present your key findings in an orderly and logical sequence using illustrative materials and text.

Your Results should be organized into different segments or subsections where each one presents the purpose of the experiment, your experimental approach, data including text and visuals (tables, figures, schematics, algorithms, and formulas), and data commentary. For most journals, your data commentary will include a meaningful summary of the data presented in the visuals and an explanation of the most significant findings. This data presentation should not repeat the data in the visuals, but rather highlight the most important points. In the “standard” research paper approach, your Results section should exclude data interpretation, leaving it for the Discussion section. However, interpretations gradually and secretly creep into research papers: “Reducing the data, generalizing from the data, and highlighting scientific cases are all highly interpretive processes. It should be clear by now that we do not let the data speak for themselves in research reports; in summarizing our results, we interpret them for the reader” [ 10 ]. As a result, many journals including the Journal of Experimental Medicine and the Journal of Clinical Investigation use joint Results/Discussion sections, where results are immediately followed by interpretations.

Another important aspect of this section is to create a comprehensive and supported argument or a well-researched case. This means that you should be selective in presenting data and choose only those experimental details that are essential for your reader to understand your findings. You might have conducted an experiment 20 times and collected numerous records, but this does not mean that you should present all those records in your paper. You need to distinguish your results from your data and be able to discard excessive experimental details that could distract and confuse the reader. However, creating a picture or an argument should not be confused with data manipulation or falsification, which is a willful distortion of data and results. If some of your findings contradict your ideas, you have to mention this and find a plausible explanation for the contradiction.

In addition, your text should not include irrelevant and peripheral information, including overview sentences, as in (6).

6. To show our results, we first introduce all components of experimental system and then describe the outcome of infections.

Indeed, wordiness convolutes your sentences and conceals your ideas from readers. One common source of wordiness is unnecessary intensifiers. Adverbial intensifiers such as “clearly,” “essential,” “quite,” “basically,” “rather,” “fairly,” “really,” and “virtually” not only add verbosity to your sentences, but also lower your results’ credibility. They appeal to the reader’s emotions but lower objectivity, as in the common examples in (7):

7a. Table 3 clearly shows that … 7b. It is obvious from figure 4 that …

Another source of wordiness is nominalizations, i.e., nouns derived from verbs and adjectives paired with weak verbs including “be,” “have,” “do,” “make,” “cause,” “provide,” and “get” and constructions such as “there is/are.”

8a. We tested the hypothesis that there is a disruption of membrane asymmetry. 8b. In this paper we provide an argument that stem cells repopulate injured organs.

In the sentences above, the abstract nominalizations “disruption” and “argument” do not contribute to the clarity of the sentences, but rather clutter them with useless vocabulary that distracts from the meaning. To improve your sentences, avoid unnecessary nominalizations and change passive verbs and constructions into active and direct sentences.

9a. We tested the hypothesis that the membrane asymmetry is disrupted. 9b. In this paper we argue that stem cells repopulate injured organs.

Your Results section is the heart of your paper, representing a year or more of your daily research. So lead your reader through your story by writing direct, concise, and clear sentences.

Rule 4: Be clear, concise, and objective in describing your Results.

3.3. now it is time for your introduction.

Now that you are almost half through drafting your research paper, it is time to update your outline. While describing your Methods and Results, many of you diverged from the original outline and re-focused your ideas. So before you move on to create your Introduction, re-read your Methods and Results sections and change your outline to match your research focus. The updated outline will help you review the general picture of your paper, the topic, the main idea, and the purpose, which are all important for writing your introduction.

The best way to structure your introduction is to follow the three-move approach shown in Table 3 .

Adapted from Swales and Feak [ 11 ].

The moves and information from your outline can help to create your Introduction efficiently and without missing steps. These moves are traffic signs that lead the reader through the road of your ideas. Each move plays an important role in your paper and should be presented with deep thought and care. When you establish the territory, you place your research in context and highlight the importance of your research topic. By finding the niche, you outline the scope of your research problem and enter the scientific dialogue. The final move, “occupying the niche,” is where you explain your research in a nutshell and highlight your paper’s significance. The three moves allow your readers to evaluate their interest in your paper and play a significant role in the paper review process, determining your paper reviewers.

Some academic writers assume that the reader “should follow the paper” to find the answers about your methodology and your findings. As a result, many novice writers do not present their experimental approach and the major findings, wrongly believing that the reader will locate the necessary information later while reading the subsequent sections [ 5 ]. However, this “suspense” approach is not appropriate for scientific writing. To interest the reader, scientific authors should be direct and straightforward and present informative one-sentence summaries of the results and the approach.

Another problem is that writers understate the significance of the Introduction. Many new researchers mistakenly think that all their readers understand the importance of the research question and omit this part. However, this assumption is faulty because the purpose of the section is not to evaluate the importance of the research question in general. The goal is to present the importance of your research contribution and your findings. Therefore, you should be explicit and clear in describing the benefit of the paper.

The Introduction should not be long. Indeed, for most journals, this is a very brief section of about 250 to 600 words, but it might be the most difficult section due to its importance.

Rule 5: Interest your reader in the Introduction section by signalling all its elements and stating the novelty of the work.

3.4. discussion of the results.

For many scientists, writing a Discussion section is as scary as starting a paper. Most of the fear comes from the variation in the section. Since every paper has its unique results and findings, the Discussion section differs in its length, shape, and structure. However, some general principles of writing this section still exist. Knowing these rules, or “moves,” can change your attitude about this section and help you create a comprehensive interpretation of your results.

The purpose of the Discussion section is to place your findings in the research context and “to explain the meaning of the findings and why they are important, without appearing arrogant, condescending, or patronizing” [ 11 ]. The structure of the first two moves is almost a mirror reflection of the one in the Introduction. In the Introduction, you zoom in from general to specific and from the background to your research question; in the Discussion section, you zoom out from the summary of your findings to the research context, as shown in Table 4 .

Adapted from Swales and Feak and Hess [ 11 , 12 ].

The biggest challenge for many writers is the opening paragraph of the Discussion section. Following the moves in Table 1 , the best choice is to start with the study’s major findings that provide the answer to the research question in your Introduction. The most common starting phrases are “Our findings demonstrate . . .,” or “In this study, we have shown that . . .,” or “Our results suggest . . .” In some cases, however, reminding the reader about the research question or even providing a brief context and then stating the answer would make more sense. This is important in those cases where the researcher presents a number of findings or where more than one research question was presented. Your summary of the study’s major findings should be followed by your presentation of the importance of these findings. One of the most frequent mistakes of the novice writer is to assume the importance of his findings. Even if the importance is clear to you, it may not be obvious to your reader. Digesting the findings and their importance to your reader is as crucial as stating your research question.

Another useful strategy is to be proactive in the first move by predicting and commenting on the alternative explanations of the results. Addressing potential doubts will save you from painful comments about the wrong interpretation of your results and will present you as a thoughtful and considerate researcher. Moreover, the evaluation of the alternative explanations might help you create a logical step to the next move of the discussion section: the research context.

The goal of the research context move is to show how your findings fit into the general picture of the current research and how you contribute to the existing knowledge on the topic. This is also the place to discuss any discrepancies and unexpected findings that may otherwise distort the general picture of your paper. Moreover, outlining the scope of your research by showing the limitations, weaknesses, and assumptions is essential and adds modesty to your image as a scientist. However, make sure that you do not end your paper with the problems that override your findings. Try to suggest feasible explanations and solutions.

If your submission does not require a separate Conclusion section, then adding another paragraph about the “take-home message” is a must. This should be a general statement reiterating your answer to the research question and adding its scientific implications, practical application, or advice.

Just as in all other sections of your paper, the clear and precise language and concise comprehensive sentences are vital. However, in addition to that, your writing should convey confidence and authority. The easiest way to illustrate your tone is to use the active voice and the first person pronouns. Accompanied by clarity and succinctness, these tools are the best to convince your readers of your point and your ideas.

Rule 6: Present the principles, relationships, and generalizations in a concise and convincing tone.

4. choosing the best working revision strategies.

Now that you have created the first draft, your attitude toward your writing should have improved. Moreover, you should feel more confident that you are able to accomplish your project and submit your paper within a reasonable timeframe. You also have worked out your writing schedule and followed it precisely. Do not stop ― you are only at the midpoint from your destination. Just as the best and most precious diamond is no more than an unattractive stone recognized only by trained professionals, your ideas and your results may go unnoticed if they are not polished and brushed. Despite your attempts to present your ideas in a logical and comprehensive way, first drafts are frequently a mess. Use the advice of Paul Silvia: “Your first drafts should sound like they were hastily translated from Icelandic by a non-native speaker” [ 2 ]. The degree of your success will depend on how you are able to revise and edit your paper.

The revision can be done at the macrostructure and the microstructure levels [ 13 ]. The macrostructure revision includes the revision of the organization, content, and flow. The microstructure level includes individual words, sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

The best way to approach the macrostructure revision is through the outline of the ideas in your paper. The last time you updated your outline was before writing the Introduction and the Discussion. Now that you have the beginning and the conclusion, you can take a bird’s-eye view of the whole paper. The outline will allow you to see if the ideas of your paper are coherently structured, if your results are logically built, and if the discussion is linked to the research question in the Introduction. You will be able to see if something is missing in any of the sections or if you need to rearrange your information to make your point.

The next step is to revise each of the sections starting from the beginning. Ideally, you should limit yourself to working on small sections of about five pages at a time [ 14 ]. After these short sections, your eyes get used to your writing and your efficiency in spotting problems decreases. When reading for content and organization, you should control your urge to edit your paper for sentence structure and grammar and focus only on the flow of your ideas and logic of your presentation. Experienced researchers tend to make almost three times the number of changes to meaning than novice writers [ 15 , 16 ]. Revising is a difficult but useful skill, which academic writers obtain with years of practice.

In contrast to the macrostructure revision, which is a linear process and is done usually through a detailed outline and by sections, microstructure revision is a non-linear process. While the goal of the macrostructure revision is to analyze your ideas and their logic, the goal of the microstructure editing is to scrutinize the form of your ideas: your paragraphs, sentences, and words. You do not need and are not recommended to follow the order of the paper to perform this type of revision. You can start from the end or from different sections. You can even revise by reading sentences backward, sentence by sentence and word by word.

One of the microstructure revision strategies frequently used during writing center consultations is to read the paper aloud [ 17 ]. You may read aloud to yourself, to a tape recorder, or to a colleague or friend. When reading and listening to your paper, you are more likely to notice the places where the fluency is disrupted and where you stumble because of a very long and unclear sentence or a wrong connector.

Another revision strategy is to learn your common errors and to do a targeted search for them [ 13 ]. All writers have a set of problems that are specific to them, i.e., their writing idiosyncrasies. Remembering these problems is as important for an academic writer as remembering your friends’ birthdays. Create a list of these idiosyncrasies and run a search for these problems using your word processor. If your problem is demonstrative pronouns without summary words, then search for “this/these/those” in your text and check if you used the word appropriately. If you have a problem with intensifiers, then search for “really” or “very” and delete them from the text. The same targeted search can be done to eliminate wordiness. Searching for “there is/are” or “and” can help you avoid the bulky sentences.

The final strategy is working with a hard copy and a pencil. Print a double space copy with font size 14 and re-read your paper in several steps. Try reading your paper line by line with the rest of the text covered with a piece of paper. When you are forced to see only a small portion of your writing, you are less likely to get distracted and are more likely to notice problems. You will end up spotting more unnecessary words, wrongly worded phrases, or unparallel constructions.

After you apply all these strategies, you are ready to share your writing with your friends, colleagues, and a writing advisor in the writing center. Get as much feedback as you can, especially from non-specialists in your field. Patiently listen to what others say to you ― you are not expected to defend your writing or explain what you wanted to say. You may decide what you want to change and how after you receive the feedback and sort it in your head. Even though some researchers make the revision an endless process and can hardly stop after a 14th draft; having from five to seven drafts of your paper is a norm in the sciences. If you can’t stop revising, then set a deadline for yourself and stick to it. Deadlines always help.

Rule 7: Revise your paper at the macrostructure and the microstructure level using different strategies and techniques. Receive feedback and revise again.

5. it is time to submit.

It is late at night again. You are still in your lab finishing revisions and getting ready to submit your paper. You feel happy ― you have finally finished a year’s worth of work. You will submit your paper tomorrow, and regardless of the outcome, you know that you can do it. If one journal does not take your paper, you will take advantage of the feedback and resubmit again. You will have a publication, and this is the most important achievement.

What is even more important is that you have your scheduled writing time that you are going to keep for your future publications, for reading and taking notes, for writing grants, and for reviewing papers. You are not going to lose stamina this time, and you will become a productive scientist. But for now, let’s celebrate the end of the paper.

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How to Write a Biology Research Paper: A Comprehensive Guide

In academic circles, mastering the art of writing a biology research paper is imperative. This guide offers you a holistic approach to tackle this challenging task. You'll find detailed insights into planning, structuring, and executing your paper, ensuring that you engage your audience with well-researched, credible data. From the initial steps to the final submission, we'll walk you through each process, dissecting the complex parts to provide a manageable roadmap. We’ll cover topics from starting a biology research paper  to its outline, body, and conclusion, all while keeping your academic goals in focus. So let's dive in!

How to Start a Biology Research Paper

When commencing a biology research paper, your first task is to select a topic that interests both you and your readers. The topic should be relevant to the study of biology and present opportunities for you to showcase your findings. A well-chosen topic will make the research process smoother and help you craft a paper that resonates with your audience. Remember, the success of your paper largely depends on your initial groundwork, so make it count. Check out recent science journals for research publication inspiration.

How to Structure a Biology Research Paper

After picking your topic, the next step is planning the structure of your biology research paper. The structure should comprise of an introduction, body, and conclusion. It's crucial to create an outline before diving into the writing process, as this helps to organize your thoughts and findings. The outline should cover each section of the paper, from the introduction to the conclusion, including the arguments, experimental procedures, and vital information you intend to include.

Understanding the Biology Research Paper Outline

A biology research paper outline serves as your blueprint. It guides you through the writing process, making sure you don't drift off-topic. Your outline should include the thesis statement, the main points for your arguments, the experimental procedures to be followed, and the data you'll collect. It's also the space to decide how you'll present your research findings to your readers in a comprehensible manner. With a well-prepared outline, you'll find that writing your paper becomes significantly easier.

How to End a Biology Research Paper

Concluding a biology research paper effectively involves summarizing your key findings and stating their implications. It's not just about restating what you've already said; it's a final opportunity to leave a lasting impression on your audience. Your conclusion should reiterate your thesis statement and provide a summary of the key points made in the paper's body. It's essential to also discuss the significance of your findings and how they contribute to existing scientific research.

Submitting to Science Journals for Research Publication

After completing your paper, the final step is to submit it to reputable science journals for research publication. Peer-reviewed journals are the gold standard in the scientific community. Your paper will undergo rigorous review, ensuring it meets the academic and scientific criteria of the journal. The process may require revisions, but don't be disheartened. These are steps to ensure that your research is robust, accurate, and worthy of academic recognition.

A Comprehensive Research

The term 'comprehensive research' implies the exhaustive and detailed nature of your study. Make sure your research is thorough and leaves no stone unturned. This will lend credibility and depth to your biology research paper, enhancing its value in academic circles.

Introduction of Biology Research Paper

The introduction sets the tone for your biology research paper. It's where you outline the objective, the research question, and the thesis statement. Make it engaging enough to captivate your readers but academic enough to convey the paper’s significance.

Body of Biology Research Paper

The body is where you present your findings, experimental procedures, and analysis. Structure it logically, using headings and subheadings to guide the reader through your arguments and data. Consistency and clarity are key to keeping your audience engaged.

Conclusion of Biology Research Paper

In your conclusion, make sure to tie all your findings back to your research question and thesis statement. A compelling conclusion will summarize the research, restate the importance of your study, and suggest potential avenues for future research.

Dos and Don'ts

• Do conduct a thorough literature review.
• Do create an exhaustive outline.
• Don't use jargon without explaining it.
• Don't ignore formatting guidelines.

Final Thoughts

Completing a biology research paper is a complex yet rewarding academic exercise. It's a chance to contribute to the scientific community and showcase your ability to conduct research, analyze data, and articulate your findings. With careful planning, diligent research, and thoughtful writing, you can create a paper that not only meets academic standards but also serves as a meaningful addition to existing scientific literature.

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Ten simple rules for structuring papers

Affiliations Optimize Science, Mill Valley, California, United States of America, Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, Virginia, United States of America

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America

• Brett Mensh, 
• Konrad Kording

Published: September 28, 2017

• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005619
• See the preprint
• Reader Comments

9 Nov 2017: The PLOS Computational Biology Staff (2017) Correction: Ten simple rules for structuring papers. PLOS Computational Biology 13(11): e1005830. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005830 View correction

Citation: Mensh B, Kording K (2017) Ten simple rules for structuring papers. PLoS Comput Biol 13(9): e1005619. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005619

Editor: Scott Markel, Dassault Systemes BIOVIA, UNITED STATES

Copyright: © 2017 Mensh, Kording. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Good scientific writing is essential to career development and to the progress of science. A well-structured manuscript allows readers and reviewers to get excited about the subject matter, to understand and verify the paper’s contributions, and to integrate these contributions into a broader context. However, many scientists struggle with producing high-quality manuscripts and are typically untrained in paper writing. Focusing on how readers consume information, we present a set of ten simple rules to help you communicate the main idea of your paper. These rules are designed to make your paper more influential and the process of writing more efficient and pleasurable.

Introduction

Writing and reading papers are key skills for scientists. Indeed, success at publishing is used to evaluate scientists [ 1 ] and can help predict their future success [ 2 ]. In the production and consumption of papers, multiple parties are involved, each having their own motivations and priorities. The editors want to make sure that the paper is significant, and the reviewers want to determine whether the conclusions are justified by the results. The reader wants to quickly understand the conceptual conclusions of the paper before deciding whether to dig into the details, and the writer wants to convey the important contributions to the broadest audience possible while convincing the specialist that the findings are credible. You can facilitate all of these goals by structuring the paper well at multiple scales—spanning the sentence, paragraph, section, and document.

Clear communication is also crucial for the broader scientific enterprise because “concept transfer” is a rate-limiting step in scientific cross-pollination. This is particularly true in the biological sciences and other fields that comprise a vast web of highly interconnected sub-disciplines. As scientists become increasingly specialized, it becomes more important (and difficult) to strengthen the conceptual links. Communication across disciplinary boundaries can only work when manuscripts are readable, credible, and memorable.

The claim that gives significance to your work has to be supported by data and by a logic that gives it credibility. Without carefully planning the paper’s logic, writers will often be missing data or missing logical steps on the way to the conclusion. While these lapses are beyond our scope, your scientific logic must be crystal clear to powerfully make your claim.

Here we present ten simple rules for structuring papers. The first four rules are principles that apply to all the parts of a paper and further to other forms of communication such as grants and posters. The next four rules deal with the primary goals of each of the main parts of papers. The final two rules deliver guidance on the process—heuristics for efficiently constructing manuscripts.

Principles (Rules 1–4)

Writing is communication. Thus, the reader’s experience is of primary importance, and all writing serves this goal. When you write, you should constantly have your reader in mind. These four rules help you to avoid losing your reader.

Rule 1: Focus your paper on a central contribution, which you communicate in the title

Your communication efforts are successful if readers can still describe the main contribution of your paper to their colleagues a year after reading it. Although it is clear that a paper often needs to communicate a number of innovations on the way to its final message, it does not pay to be greedy. Focus on a single message; papers that simultaneously focus on multiple contributions tend to be less convincing about each and are therefore less memorable.

The most important element of a paper is the title—think of the ratio of the number of titles you read to the number of papers you read. The title is typically the first element a reader encounters, so its quality [ 3 ] determines whether the reader will invest time in reading the abstract.

The title not only transmits the paper’s central contribution but can also serve as a constant reminder (to you) to focus the text on transmitting that idea. Science is, after all, the abstraction of simple principles from complex data. The title is the ultimate refinement of the paper’s contribution. Thinking about the title early—and regularly returning to hone it—can help not only the writing of the paper but also the process of designing experiments or developing theories.

This Rule of One is the most difficult rule to optimally implement because it comes face-to-face with the key challenge of science, which is to make the claim and/or model as simple as the data and logic can support but no simpler. In the end, your struggle to find this balance may appropriately result in “one contribution” that is multifaceted. For example, a technology paper may describe both its new technology and a biological result using it; the bridge that unifies these two facets is a clear description of how the new technology can be used to do new biology.

Rule 2: Write for flesh-and-blood human beings who do not know your work

Because you are the world’s leading expert at exactly what you are doing, you are also the world’s least qualified person to judge your writing from the perspective of the naïve reader. The majority of writing mistakes stem from this predicament. Think like a designer—for each element, determine the impact that you want to have on people and then strive to achieve that objective [ 4 ]. Try to think through the paper like a naïve reader who must first be made to care about the problem you are addressing (see Rule 6) and then will want to understand your answer with minimal effort.

Define technical terms clearly because readers can become frustrated when they encounter a word that they don’t understand. Avoid abbreviations and acronyms so that readers do not have to go back to earlier sections to identify them.

The vast knowledge base of human psychology is useful in paper writing. For example, people have working memory constraints in that they can only remember a small number of items and are better at remembering the beginning and the end of a list than the middle [ 5 ]. Do your best to minimize the number of loose threads that the reader has to keep in mind at any one time.

Rule 3: Stick to the context-content-conclusion (C-C-C) scheme

The vast majority of popular (i.e., memorable and re-tellable) stories have a structure with a discernible beginning, a well-defined body, and an end. The beginning sets up the context for the story, while the body (content) advances the story towards an ending in which the problems find their conclusions. This structure reduces the chance that the reader will wonder “Why was I told that?” (if the context is missing) or “So what?” (if the conclusion is missing).

There are many ways of telling a story. Mostly, they differ in how well they serve a patient reader versus an impatient one [ 6 ]. The impatient reader needs to be engaged quickly; this can be accomplished by presenting the most exciting content first (e.g., as seen in news articles). The C-C-C scheme that we advocate serves a more patient reader who is willing to spend the time to get oriented with the context. A consequent disadvantage of C-C-C is that it may not optimally engage the impatient reader. This disadvantage is mitigated by the fact that the structure of scientific articles, specifically the primacy of the title and abstract, already forces the content to be revealed quickly. Thus, a reader who proceeds to the introduction is likely engaged enough to have the patience to absorb the context. Furthermore, one hazard of excessive “content first” story structures in science is that you may generate skepticism in the reader because they may be missing an important piece of context that makes your claim more credible. For these reasons, we advocate C-C-C as a “default” scientific story structure.

The C-C-C scheme defines the structure of the paper on multiple scales. At the whole-paper scale, the introduction sets the context, the results are the content, and the discussion brings home the conclusion. Applying C-C-C at the paragraph scale, the first sentence defines the topic or context, the body hosts the novel content put forth for the reader’s consideration, and the last sentence provides the conclusion to be remembered.

Deviating from the C-C-C structure often leads to papers that are hard to read, but writers often do so because of their own autobiographical context. During our everyday lives as scientists, we spend a majority of our time producing content and a minority amidst a flurry of other activities. We run experiments, develop the exposition of available literature, and combine thoughts using the magic of human cognition. It is natural to want to record these efforts on paper and structure a paper chronologically. But for our readers, most details of our activities are extraneous. They do not care about the chronological path by which you reached a result; they just care about the ultimate claim and the logic supporting it (see Rule 7). Thus, all our work must be reformatted to provide a context that makes our material meaningful and a conclusion that helps the reader to understand and remember it.

Rule 4: Optimize your logical flow by avoiding zig-zag and using parallelism

Avoiding zig-zag..

Only the central idea of the paper should be touched upon multiple times. Otherwise, each subject should be covered in only one place in order to minimize the number of subject changes. Related sentences or paragraphs should be strung together rather than interrupted by unrelated material. Ideas that are similar, such as two reasons why we should believe something, should come one immediately after the other.

Using parallelism.

Similarly, across consecutive paragraphs or sentences, parallel messages should be communicated with parallel form. Parallelism makes it easier to read the text because the reader is familiar with the structure. For example, if we have three independent reasons why we prefer one interpretation of a result over another, it is helpful to communicate them with the same syntax so that this syntax becomes transparent to the reader, which allows them to focus on the content. There is nothing wrong with using the same word multiple times in a sentence or paragraph. Resist the temptation to use a different word to refer to the same concept—doing so makes readers wonder if the second word has a slightly different meaning.

The components of a paper (Rules 5–8)

The individual parts of a paper—abstract, introduction, results, and discussion—have different objectives, and thus they each apply the C-C-C structure a little differently in order to achieve their objectives. We will discuss these specialized structures in this section and summarize them in Fig 1 .

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Note that the abstract is special in that it contains all three elements (Context, Content, and Conclusion), thus comprising all three colors.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005619.g001

Rule 5: Tell a complete story in the abstract

The abstract is, for most readers, the only part of the paper that will be read. This means that the abstract must convey the entire message of the paper effectively. To serve this purpose, the abstract’s structure is highly conserved. Each of the C-C-C elements is detailed below.

The context must communicate to the reader what gap the paper will fill. The first sentence orients the reader by introducing the broader field in which the particular research is situated. Then, this context is narrowed until it lands on the open question that the research answered. A successful context section sets the stage for distinguishing the paper’s contributions from the current state of the art by communicating what is missing in the literature (i.e., the specific gap) and why that matters (i.e., the connection between the specific gap and the broader context that the paper opened with).

The content (“Here we”) first describes the novel method or approach that you used to fill the gap or question. Then you present the meat—your executive summary of the results.

Finally, the conclusion interprets the results to answer the question that was posed at the end of the context section. There is often a second part to the conclusion section that highlights how this conclusion moves the broader field forward (i.e., “broader significance”). This is particularly true for more “general” journals with a broad readership.

This structure helps you avoid the most common mistake with the abstract, which is to talk about results before the reader is ready to understand them. Good abstracts usually take many iterations of refinement to make sure the results fill the gap like a key fits its lock. The broad-narrow-broad structure allows you to communicate with a wider readership (through breadth) while maintaining the credibility of your claim (which is always based on a finite or narrow set of results).

Rule 6: Communicate why the paper matters in the introduction

The introduction highlights the gap that exists in current knowledge or methods and why it is important. This is usually done by a set of progressively more specific paragraphs that culminate in a clear exposition of what is lacking in the literature, followed by a paragraph summarizing what the paper does to fill that gap.

As an example of the progression of gaps, a first paragraph may explain why understanding cell differentiation is an important topic and that the field has not yet solved what triggers it (a field gap). A second paragraph may explain what is unknown about the differentiation of a specific cell type, such as astrocytes (a subfield gap). A third may provide clues that a particular gene might drive astrocytic differentiation and then state that this hypothesis is untested (the gap within the subfield that you will fill). The gap statement sets the reader’s expectation for what the paper will deliver.

The structure of each introduction paragraph (except the last) serves the goal of developing the gap. Each paragraph first orients the reader to the topic (a context sentence or two) and then explains the “knowns” in the relevant literature (content) before landing on the critical “unknown” (conclusion) that makes the paper matter at the relevant scale. Along the path, there are often clues given about the mystery behind the gaps; these clues lead to the untested hypothesis or undeveloped method of the paper and give the reader hope that the mystery is solvable. The introduction should not contain a broad literature review beyond the motivation of the paper. This gap-focused structure makes it easy for experienced readers to evaluate the potential importance of a paper—they only need to assess the importance of the claimed gap.

The last paragraph of the introduction is special: it compactly summarizes the results, which fill the gap you just established. It differs from the abstract in the following ways: it does not need to present the context (which has just been given), it is somewhat more specific about the results, and it only briefly previews the conclusion of the paper, if at all.

Rule 7: Deliver the results as a sequence of statements, supported by figures, that connect logically to support the central contribution

The results section needs to convince the reader that the central claim is supported by data and logic. Every scientific argument has its own particular logical structure, which dictates the sequence in which its elements should be presented.

For example, a paper may set up a hypothesis, verify that a method for measurement is valid in the system under study, and then use the measurement to disprove the hypothesis. Alternatively, a paper may set up multiple alternative (and mutually exclusive) hypotheses and then disprove all but one to provide evidence for the remaining interpretation. The fabric of the argument will contain controls and methods where they are needed for the overall logic.

In the outlining phase of paper preparation (see Rule 9), sketch out the logical structure of how your results support your claim and convert this into a sequence of declarative statements that become the headers of subsections within the results section (and/or the titles of figures). Most journals allow this type of formatting, but if your chosen journal does not, these headers are still useful during the writing phase and can either be adapted to serve as introductory sentences to your paragraphs or deleted before submission. Such a clear progression of logical steps makes the paper easy to follow.

Figures, their titles, and legends are particularly important because they show the most objective support (data) of the steps that culminate in the paper’s claim. Moreover, figures are often viewed by readers who skip directly from the abstract in order to save time. Thus, the title of the figure should communicate the conclusion of the analysis, and the legend should explain how it was done. Figure making is an art unto itself; the Edward Tufte books remain the gold standard for learning this craft [ 7 , 8 ].

The first results paragraph is special in that it typically summarizes the overall approach to the problem outlined in the introduction, along with any key innovative methods that were developed. Most readers do not read the methods, so this paragraph gives them the gist of the methods that were used.

Each subsequent paragraph in the results section starts with a sentence or two that set up the question that the paragraph answers, such as the following: “To verify that there are no artifacts…,” “What is the test-retest reliability of our measure?,” or “We next tested whether Ca 2+ flux through L-type Ca 2+ channels was involved.” The middle of the paragraph presents data and logic that pertain to the question, and the paragraph ends with a sentence that answers the question. For example, it may conclude that none of the potential artifacts were detected. This structure makes it easy for experienced readers to fact-check a paper. Each paragraph convinces the reader of the answer given in its last sentence. This makes it easy to find the paragraph in which a suspicious conclusion is drawn and to check the logic of that paragraph. The result of each paragraph is a logical statement, and paragraphs farther down in the text rely on the logical conclusions of previous paragraphs, much as theorems are built in mathematical literature.

Rule 8: Discuss how the gap was filled, the limitations of the interpretation, and the relevance to the field

The discussion section explains how the results have filled the gap that was identified in the introduction, provides caveats to the interpretation, and describes how the paper advances the field by providing new opportunities. This is typically done by recapitulating the results, discussing the limitations, and then revealing how the central contribution may catalyze future progress. The first discussion paragraph is special in that it generally summarizes the important findings from the results section. Some readers skip over substantial parts of the results, so this paragraph at least gives them the gist of that section.

Each of the following paragraphs in the discussion section starts by describing an area of weakness or strength of the paper. It then evaluates the strength or weakness by linking it to the relevant literature. Discussion paragraphs often conclude by describing a clever, informal way of perceiving the contribution or by discussing future directions that can extend the contribution.

For example, the first paragraph may summarize the results, focusing on their meaning. The second through fourth paragraphs may deal with potential weaknesses and with how the literature alleviates concerns or how future experiments can deal with these weaknesses. The fifth paragraph may then culminate in a description of how the paper moves the field forward. Step by step, the reader thus learns to put the paper’s conclusions into the right context.

Process (Rules 9 and 10)

To produce a good paper, authors can use helpful processes and habits. Some aspects of a paper affect its impact more than others, which suggests that your investment of time should be weighted towards the issues that matter most. Moreover, iteratively using feedback from colleagues allows authors to improve the story at all levels to produce a powerful manuscript. Choosing the right process makes writing papers easier and more effective.

Rule 9: Allocate time where it matters: Title, abstract, figures, and outlining

The central logic that underlies a scientific claim is paramount. It is also the bridge that connects the experimental phase of a research effort with the paper-writing phase. Thus, it is useful to formalize the logic of ongoing experimental efforts (e.g., during lab meetings) into an evolving document of some sort that will ultimately steer the outline of the paper.

You should also allocate your time according to the importance of each section. The title, abstract, and figures are viewed by far more people than the rest of the paper, and the methods section is read least of all. Budget accordingly.

The time that we do spend on each section can be used efficiently by planning text before producing it. Make an outline. We like to write one informal sentence for each planned paragraph. It is often useful to start the process around descriptions of each result—these may become the section headers in the results section. Because the story has an overall arc, each paragraph should have a defined role in advancing this story. This role is best scrutinized at the outline stage in order to reduce wasting time on wordsmithing paragraphs that don’t end up fitting within the overall story.

Rule 10: Get feedback to reduce, reuse, and recycle the story

Writing can be considered an optimization problem in which you simultaneously improve the story, the outline, and all the component sentences. In this context, it is important not to get too attached to one’s writing. In many cases, trashing entire paragraphs and rewriting is a faster way to produce good text than incremental editing.

There are multiple signs that further work is necessary on a manuscript (see Table 1 ). For example, if you, as the writer, cannot describe the entire outline of a paper to a colleague in a few minutes, then clearly a reader will not be able to. You need to further distill your story. Finding such violations of good writing helps to improve the paper at all levels.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005619.t001

Successfully writing a paper typically requires input from multiple people. Test readers are necessary to make sure that the overall story works. They can also give valuable input on where the story appears to move too quickly or too slowly. They can clarify when it is best to go back to the drawing board and retell the entire story. Reviewers are also extremely useful. Non-specific feedback and unenthusiastic reviews often imply that the reviewers did not “get” the big picture story line. Very specific feedback usually points out places where the logic within a paragraph was not sufficient. It is vital to accept this feedback in a positive way. Because input from others is essential, a network of helpful colleagues is fundamental to making a story memorable. To keep this network working, make sure to pay back your colleagues by reading their manuscripts.

This paper focused on the structure, or “anatomy,” of manuscripts. We had to gloss over many finer points of writing, including word choice and grammar, the creative process, and collaboration. A paper about writing can never be complete; as such, there is a large body of literature dealing with issues of scientific writing [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].

Personal style often leads writers to deviate from a rigid, conserved structure, and it can be a delight to read a paper that creatively bends the rules. However, as with many other things in life, a thorough mastery of the standard rules is necessary to successfully bend them [ 18 ]. In following these guidelines, scientists will be able to address a broad audience, bridge disciplines, and more effectively enable integrative science.

Acknowledgments

We took our own advice and sought feedback from a large number of colleagues throughout the process of preparing this paper. We would like to especially thank the following people who gave particularly detailed and useful feedback:

Sandra Aamodt, Misha Ahrens, Vanessa Bender, Erik Bloss, Davi Bock, Shelly Buffington, Xing Chen, Frances Cho, Gabrielle Edgerton, multiple generations of the COSMO summer school, Jason Perry, Jermyn See, Nelson Spruston, David Stern, Alice Ting, Joshua Vogelstein, Ronald Weber.

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• 12. Day R (1988) How to write and publish a scientific paper. Phoenix: Oryx.
• 13. Lester JD, Lester J (1967) Writing research papers. Scott, Foresman.
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Biology Research: Getting Started: Writing & Citing

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Links to Writing and Style Guides

• APA Style and Grammar Guidelines This comprehensive site from the American Psychological Association offers advice on topics that include paper formatting, in-text citations, references, and bias-free language.
• Ecological Society of America Style format for the journals Ecology, Ecological Applications, Ecological Monographs

Other Resources

• Conducting and Writing a Literature Review How to find and put together background information on your topic
• Guidelines for Effective Professional and Academic Writing A concise guide from the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
• How to Write Scientific Reports A comprehensive guide from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill's Writing Center
• Materials and Methods An example of how to write up what was done and how it was done in your research.
• Poster and Presentation Resources Advice on presenting academic research and an extensive list of poster resources
• Writing in the Disciplines: Biology Examples of citing your sources from the University of Richmond Writing Center, from Bates College Department of Biology.

Selected Literature Review Books

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Literature Review Tutorial

• Literature Reviews: An Overview for Graduate Students What is a literature review? What purpose does it serve in research? What should you expect when writing one? This tutorial from North Carolina State University answers these questions.

Creating Your Bibliography

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This video will provide a short introduction to literature reviews.

Steps For Writing a Literature Review

Recommended steps for writing a literature review:

• Review what a literature review is, and is not 
• Review your assignment and seek clarification from your instructor if needed
• Narrow your topic
• Search and gather literature resources. 
• Read and analyze literature resources
• Write the literature review
• Review appropriate  Citation and Documentation Style  for your assignment and literature review

Common Questions

What is a literature review?

A literature review is a type of scholarly, researched writing that discusses the already published information on a narrow topic . 

What is the purpose of a writing literature review?

Writing a literature review improves your personal understanding of a topic, and demonstrates your knowledge and ability to make connections between concepts and ideas. The literature review is a service to your reader, summarizing past ideas about a topic, bringing them up to date on the latest research, and making sure they have all any background information they need to understand the topic.  

What is "the literature"?

This already published information- called the literature- can be from primary information sources such as speeches, interviews, and reports, or from secondary information sources such as peer-reviewed journal articles, dissertations, and books. These type of sources are probably familiar to you from previous research projects you’ve done in your classes.

Is a literature review it's own paper?

You can write a literature review as a standalone paper , or as part of a larger research paper . When a standalone paper, the literature review acts as a summary, or snapshot, of what has been said and done about a topic in the field so far. When part of the a larger paper, a literature review still acts as a snapshot, but the prior information it provides can also support the new information, research, or arguments presented later in the paper.

Does a literature review contain an argument?

No, a literature review does NOT present an argument or new information. The literature review is a foundation that summarizes and synthesizes the existing literature in order for you and your readers to understand what has already been said and done about your topic.

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How to Write an Excellent Biology Research Paper

A good example of a biology research paper is not hard to find. The trick, however, is not to find it, but to understand how it was created. Writing such an assignment requires precision, dedication, and an understanding of the rules and expectations of such a paper. And many students are forced to seek biology homework help from various homework help websites like writance.com/pay-for-essay and many others. So, here is a quick guide on how to write a biology research paper. Read, learn, apply, and enjoy the results!

Choose a Topic

Before considering other questions, such as what methods are best to use, asking for paper writing helpfrom an essay helper, or how to format a biology research paper, you need to choose a topic.A title or a thesis statement are not the same as a topic. You choose a general theme for your paper by selecting a topic. It ought to be limited enough to maintain a focused objective. But it shouldn’t be overly constrained. If not, it will be difficult for you to do research and locate the needed sources. Our recommendation applies to selecting a topic for research papers on human resources, technology, or history as well. Pick something you are already familiar with to investigate it more thoroughly.

Thesis Statement Definition

The thesis statement is what you can write once you have your topic selected. A thesis statement encapsulates your work’s definition and main goal. Here, you describe the goal of your research—what you hope to learn, demonstrate, or test. You present reasons for why your research is important and what results you want to achieve from the assigned assignment.

You will never find a biology research paper example without a clear thesis statement in the work’s introduction. You must follow these examples and briefly state your work’s goal in the final paragraph of your introduction. The two key components of any introduction are the thesis statement and the overarching theme of your work.

The logical next step for you is to conduct research on your subject. It’s best to finish this step before beginning the outlining process. Make sure your study has application in your field throughout this phase. In other words, you should check to determine if other researchers have conducted similar studies and if you have any original research to offer. If you can’t, you should probably switch topics.

Additionally, you should try to locate all the resources you’ll need to do your assignment during your study. You might not have adequate evidence to support your argument if you talk about very recent issues or discoveries. Therefore, make sure you have just the right amount of knowledge and scholarly references to produce a solid biology research paper.

An outline for a biology research paper is essentially a road map for your future work. All of the primary points that you attempt to communicate in each body paragraph must be included in your outline. Consequently, you want to start by outlining your thesis. Then move on to the body of the essay and briefly summarize each paragraph. Each of them ought to contain the main notion and substantiating arguments. Finish with a summary of all the main points and how they relate to the thesis statement.

Look for a biology research paper sample online whenever you get stuck on your plan. They will all have the same format. You’ll have a strong understanding of the optimum format for a biology paper after reading around a dozen of these samples.

Methods and Results in the Body

Your work’s primary body should be composed of components like a technique, a result, and an analysis. This is the main body of your writing, in my opinion. For your thesis statement, you must select the approach that is most pertinent to the situation. These approaches in biology are:

• historical technique; 
• bibliographical method; 
• experiment; 
• observation; 

You must proceed to the outcomes once you have finished conducting your experiments or compiling your scientific proof. List the conclusions you’ve reached. Make sure they are pertinent to your work’s goal.

Discussion and Verdict

The discussion and conclusion should come after the main body of your paper is finished. Here, you must succinctly summarize the evidence and conclusions you have drawn. Compare the outcomes to the goals you stated in the introduction. Indicate whether the results support the point that your thesis sought to make. Describe any additional research that is required, if any.

Last but not least, remember to revise and proofread your work. If you are not prepared to make your biology paper stand out in the end, there is no point in learning how to write one. You can step back and evaluate your work as a reader via proofreading. Check to see if you have any weak points. Ensure that your transitions are seamless and simple to understand. Verify your work for typos and grammatical faults.

Even though doing all that work may take some time, your paper will appear fantastic in the end. Impressions are important. Even if you put all the materials together and conduct a successful study, how you present it will affect how people will react to it.

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• Thesis Guidelines

A thesis for Distinction in Biology is a wonderful way for you to close the loop on your undergraduate research experience and showcase your scientific scholarship. Your thesis will be evaluated by the Faculty in Biology and answers the following questions: What did you do? Why did you do it? What is the significance of your results? What else would you do, were you to continue the project?

In answering the above questions, you have an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding and intellectual ownership of a project; not simply your productivity in the lab. The volume of results or completeness of the study is not critical for a successful thesis. Instead, we will be looking for the following:

• An argument for the significance of your research, contextualized within the scientific literature;
• A review of appropriate literature as evidence in support of claims you make in your argument;
• A statement of your research goals, i.e., a meaningful question of biological importance;
• A description of experimental approaches and methods ;
• Appropriate presentation of results through tables, figures, and images;
• A discussion of the meaning and significance of your results;
• A description of limitations and future directions for the project.

Expanded guidelines can be found in the Biology Thesis Assessment Protocol (BioTAP):

Format of the Thesis

The basic format of the thesis should resemble that of any scientific journal article that is common in your subdiscipline. It generally includes the following sections: Introduction & Background; Methods; Results; Discussion; Acknowledgements; and References. In some instances, it may be useful to sub-divide the Methods & Results section to correspond to multiple aims. However, if you chose to take this route, remember that there should still be a general Introduction and Discussion sections that address the project as a whole. The thesis should not consist of several "mini-papers" that are unconnected.  

Submission Guidelines

The format of the final copy should follow these guidelines:

• Cover Page ( sample ): Title; student's name; supervisor's name; date of submission; 3 signature lines at bottom right (Research Supervisor, DUS, Reader). Please follow the format and language of the sample.
• Abstract Page: single-spaced, roughly 250 words.
• Thesis should be double-spaced
• Pages should be numbered at the top right corner of the page
• It is preferred that figures are embedded within the document instead of all at the end
• There is no minimum page requirement or limit, although most are approximately 25 pages. 

Sample Theses

Examples of Distinction papers from previous years are available for examination in the Undergraduate Studies Office (Rm 135 BioSci).  Several samples are also available below as PDF files.

• Tracing the origins of antimalarial resistance in Plasmodium vivax
• Interaction network optimization improves the antimicrobial efficacy of phage cocktails
• Identifying how ufmylation of RAB1B regulates IFN-β signaling

Additional Resources

• Library Resources for Students Writing Theses
• How to write and publish a scientific paper by Barbara Gastel and Robert A. Day
• Biology 495(S): Scientific Argument in Writing . This course is particularly appropriate for seniors working on an undergraduate thesis or major research paper and is recommended, although not required, for all candidates for Graduation with Distinction in biology. The course is writing intensive and carries a “W” designation and, in the fall semester only, is a seminar and carries an “S” designation.
• Biology Writes  offers writing resources, feedback, one-on-one consultations, and more.  
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• Prof. Christopher Burge
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Departments

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Learning Resource Types

Experimental molecular biology: biotechnology ii, scientific comm..

This course includes significant instruction in scientific communications. During the term, Dr. Marilee Ogren-Balkema presents ten lectures on a range of reading, presentation and writing topics.

Background reading

Gopen, George D., and Judith A. Swan. “ The Science of Scientific Writing .” The American Scientist 78 (1990): 550-558.

Lectures on Scientific Communications

1: Basic Scientific Communication ( PDF )

2: How to Review the Literature ( PDF )

3: How To Write a Research Proposal ( PDF )

4: Preparing Effective Oral Presentations ( PDF )

5: How to Write a Mini Literature Review ( PDF )

6: How to Write a Research Paper I: Illustrations ( PDF - 1.2 MB )

7: How to Write a Research Paper II: Results Section ( PDF )

8: How to Write a Research Paper III: Methods Section ( PDF )

9: How to Write a Research Paper IV: Introduction and Discussion ( PDF )

10: How to Write a Research Paper V: Title and Abstract ( PDF )

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How To Write An Introduction For A Biology Research Paper

Table of Contents:

Writing in the Disciplines: Biology . Writing the Introduction (printable version here)

No reference: In the report writing sample one there are no references to any outside sources, whereas sample two refers often to a text by Campbell. All factual statements should be backed with references to show that the information has been obtained from a credible source. (return to Sample 1)

Video advice: Writing an Introduction for Biology Research Papers

Asynchronous video workshop on writing the introduction for a biology research paper developed by WIP TA Margot Popecki in Fall 2020.

Although this may come as a surprise to many, the introduction section of a report should be one of the last sections written. In writing the Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion sections, you have outlined the issues that your report discusses. The introduction sets the framework for the entire report and shows the readers (and your professors) that you understand the purpose of the study you have done. Explaining the overall purpose of the experiment is the most important part of the introduction and is generally used to conclude this section (Pechenik, p. 95). In the examples presented here, the reports are written on experiments rather than studies. Experiments always involve the testing of a specific hypothesis, whereas studies do not. Insect collections, simple observations, and any work done that do not require manipulation are referred to as studies rather than as experiments (Pechenik, p. 97).

LibGuides: Writing Centre Online Resource Guide: Biology

You should provide the complete references for all sources cited in your paper. Unlike other disciplines that strictly follow prescribed formats such as MLA or APA, the exact format of references in Biology varies with each journal. Therefore, professors will often indicate which journal style you should use in your own paper or report.

As with many fields, printed literature in the area of Biology frequently undergoes peer-review, a process in which an author’s jobs are posted to some journal editor, who then asks 2 or 3 experts inside a related field to see and discuss the caliber of the posted work. Peer-reviewed publications may take one of many forms: research article, literature review, or book. Some printed work might not be peer-reviewed and frequently seems in popular science magazines, such as American Scientist or National Geographic. An undergraduate in Biology is most frequently requested to create review papers (essays) and formal lab reports. Review papers most carefully resemble literature reviews. Formal lab reports, however, most carefully look like a peer-reviewed research article, which is the main focus of the guide.

Video advice: How to Write a Research Paper Introduction

After the title page and abstract, the reader’s first true interaction with your research paper is the introduction. Your introduction will establish the foundation upon which your readers approach your work, and if you use the tips we discuss in this video, these readers should be able to logically apply the rules set in your Introduction to all parts of your paper, all the way through the conclusion.

5 Steps To Succeed In Writing a Biology Research Paper

Students taking courses in the life science often think of biology courses as focusing on practical experiments, including everything from germinating seeds to dissecting small animals. This can leave many students unprepared for the challenges that they will face when assigned a research paper on a scientific subject. The truth is that the life sciences involve a great deal of archival research and careful analysis of the work that previous scientists have done in the field. If you’ve been assigned a biology research paper, there is hope: Our guide to the five key steps to writing a biology research paper will have you ready and able to produce a top-quality essay in no time. Let’s take a look at some of the key steps to producing a killer biology research paper:Review the assignment carefully. This sounds like a no-brainer, but it is often the place where students first go wrong in starting their biology research papers. Your first step should always be to read the assignment from start to finish and to make sure that you understand each of the requirements of the assignment.

Video advice: How to Write a Compelling Introduction to Your Scientific Paper

Learn how to write an introduction to a research paper using a simple formula. The introduction of a scientific article is where the author needs to articulate what problem the study addressed and why it is important. First-time authors of a scientific paper are often mystified about what goes into the introduction and how to structure it. I know, because when I started writing, I had no idea what was expected in the introduction of a scientific article. In this video, I walk you through a simple formula to crafting a compelling introduction using examples from a published paper.

How do you write a biology research paper?

Structure of a biology research paper

• Title. The title of your paper should be an opening statement or question based on the topic of the paper.
• Abstract. An abstract is a short summary from start to finish of what the paper includes. ...
• Introduction. ...
• Methods. ...
• Results. ...
• Discussion. ...
• Literature Cited.

What should we write in introduction of research paper?

Writing an Introduction to a Research Paper – What to Include

• Introduce your topic.
• Create some context and background.
• Tell your reader about the research you plan to carry out.
• State your rationale.
• Explain why your research is important.
• State your hypothesis.

How do you write an introduction for a biology project?

One very important part of the introduction section is outlining the purpose of the experiment as concisely as possible. Stating the question or questions that are to be answered by the experiment can easily be introduced with the phrase " In this experiment" or "In this study" and then explaining from there.

How do you write an introduction for a science paper?

When writing your article, begin with a strong hook for your introduction. Dictate the direction your paper will take. Provide some background information and state the issue you will discuss as well as the solutions you have come up with.

How do I start my introduction?

Introductions

• Attract the Reader's Attention. Begin your introduction with a "hook" that grabs your reader's attention and introduces the general topic. ...
• State Your Focused Topic. After your “hook”, write a sentence or two about the specific focus of your paper. ...
• State your Thesis. Finally, include your thesis statement.

Related Articles:

• How To Write A Research Paper Biology
• How To Write A Biology Lab Introduction
• How To Write A Research Paper In Biotechnology
• How To Write A Research Paper Science
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Research Paper Writing Guides

Biology Research Paper Topics

Last updated on: Mar 27, 2024

Diverse Biology Research Paper Topics for Students: A Comprehensive List

By: Barbara P.

25 min read

Reviewed By: Cathy A.

Published on: Mar 26, 2024

Sometimes, picking a cool biology topic for a research paper can be tricky for researchers. There are so many options, and it's not easy to know which one is just right.

It can feel overwhelming because there's a ton of biology stuff out there. 

You might be unsure about which topic will impress your teacher and make your research paper stand out. It's normal to feel a bit stressed about choosing the perfect topic.

But don't worry! This blog is here to help.

We'll guide you by sharing the latest and most exciting topics and ideas for a biology research paper. We'll help you find a topic that interests you and will make your research paper stand out.

Let's get started!

On this Page

Biology Research Paper Topics for Students

Choosing the right topic for a biology research paper is very important, and we're here to help you out. In this section, we'll provide you with a list of biology research paper ideas made just for researchers like you. 

9th Grade Biology Research Paper Topics 

• Cell Structure and Function: Exploring the Basics of Cells and Their Organelles
• Photosynthesis: Understanding How Plants Convert Sunlight into Energy
• DNA and Genetic Research: Mendelian Inheritance and Punnett Squares
• Human Anatomy: Investigating the Skeletal, Muscular, and Nervous Systems
• Microorganisms and Disease: Examining Bacteria, Viruses, and Fungi
• Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Roles of Plants and Animals in their Environments
• Evolutionary Concepts: Natural Selection and Adaptations
• Environmental Issues: Pollution, Climate Change, and Conservation
• Biotechnology Basics: Genetic Engineering and Its Applications
• Human Reproduction: Male and Female Reproductive Systems

Easy Biology Research Topics for High School Students 

• The Impact of Climate Change on Local Ecosystems
• Genetic Disorders and Their Inheritance Patterns
• The Role of Microorganisms in Food Spoilage
• The Effects of Different Diets on Human Gut Microbiota
• Biodiversity Conservation in Urban Environments
• Investigating the Science Behind Vaccines and Immunization
• Human Evolution and Its Influences on Modern Society
• The Relationship Between Exercise and Cognitive Function
• Plant Cell Adaptations to Arid Environments
• The Influence of Pollution on Aquatic Ecosystems

Interesting Biology Research Topics For Grade 12

• Gene Editing Technologies: CRISPR-Cas9 and its Applications
• The Human Microbiome: Impacts on Health and Disease
• Mendelian Genetics: Inheritance Patterns and Genetic Disorders
• Evolutionary Biology: Mechanisms of Natural Selection
• Neurobiology: Understanding Brain Function and Neural Pathways
• Environmental Impact on Gene Expression: Epigenetics
• Cell Signaling Pathways: Communication within Cells
• Biotechnology in Medicine: Applications and Future Prospects
• Ecological Succession: Changes in Ecosystems Over Time
• The Carbon Cycle: Importance in Climate Regulation

Good Biology Research Topics for College Students 

• Evolutionary Psychology: Understanding Human Behavior through Evolution
• Precision Medicine: Tailoring Treatments Based on Genetic Makeup
• Immunotherapy in Cancer Treatment: Harnessing the Immune System
• Ecological Impact of Invasive Species on Local Ecosystems
• Bioinformatics and Big Data in Genomics Research
• Regenerative Medicine: Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering
• Climate Change and its Effects on Marine Biology
• The Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis: Linking Gut Health to Mental Health
• CRISPR-Cas9 and Gene Editing: Promises and Challenges
• Proteomics: Analyzing the Functions and Interactions of Proteins

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job!

Human Biology Research Topics

• Epigenetics and Human Health: Environmental Influences on Gene Expression
• Human Evolution: Genetic and Anthropological Perspectives
• Reproductive Biology: Fertility, Pregnancy, and Reproductive Disorders
• Cardiovascular Health: Physiology, Diseases, and Treatment Strategies
• Metabolic Syndrome: Links Between Obesity, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Diseases
• Aging and Age-Related Diseases: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms
• Stem Cell Therapies: Applications in Regenerative Medicine
• Neurodegenerative Diseases: Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's
• Nutrigenomics: Interactions Between Diet, Genes, and Health
• Personalized Medicine: Genomic Approaches to Tailored Healthcare

Basic Principles of Cloning Research Paper Topics

• Epigenetic Aspects of Cloned Organisms
• Cloning and Genetic Diversity: Implications for Species Conservation
• Stem Cell Cloning: Potential for Regenerative Medicine
• Comparative Analysis of Cloning Methods in Different Species
• Cloning and Reproductive Technologies: Fertility Treatments and Beyond
• Cloning in Biomedical Research: Models and Contributions
• Cloning and the Future of Organ Transplants
• Environmental Impact of Cloning: Ecological Considerations
• Cloning and Genetic Engineering in Pharmaceuticals
• Cloning and the Quest for Extinct Species Revival

Climate Change Research Paper Topics 

• The Role of Human Activities in Climate Change
• Impact of Climate Change on Global Weather Patterns
• Rising Sea Levels: Causes and Consequences
• Climate Change and its Effects on Biodiversity
• The Relationship Between Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Global Warming
• Mitigation Strategies for Reducing Carbon Footprints
• The Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture and Food Security
• Extreme Weather Events and their Connection to Climate Change
• Polar Ice Melting: Consequences for Ecosystems and Sea Levels
• Climate Change and its Influence on Ocean Circulation

CRISPR and Genetic Engineering Research Paper Topics 

• Off-Target Effects in CRISPR-Cas Editing: Challenges and Solutions
• CRISPR in Gene Therapy: Advancements and Limitations
• CRISPR and Synthetic Biology: Engineering Biological Systems
• CRISPR-Cas Systems in Microbial Biotechnology
• Regulatory Frameworks for CRISPR Applications in Different Countries
• CRISPR and Epigenome Editing: Modifying Gene Expression
• CRISPR and Functional Genomics: Unraveling Gene Functions
• Precision Medicine: Personalized Therapies Enabled by CRISPR
• CRISPR and Disease Resistance in Plants and Animals
• CRISPR-Cas Systems in Prokaryotes: Diversity and Evolutionary Insights

Current Oxytocin Science Research Paper Topics

• Oxytocin's Influence on Empathy and Emotional Processing
• Oxytocin and Autism Spectrum Disorders: Current Research Findings
• The Neurobiology of Oxytocin: Receptors, Signaling Pathways, and Modulation
• Oxytocin as a Potential Treatment for Mental Health Disorders
• Oxytocin and Bonding in Animal Models: Comparative Studies
• Oxytocin and Pain Perception: Mechanisms and Clinical Applications
• Oxytocin in the Context of Social Decision-Making and Trust Games
• Oxytocin and Cardiovascular Health: Exploring the Connection
• The Gut-Brain Axis: Oxytocin's Role in Intestinal Functions and Health
• Oxytocin and Aging: Implications for Cognitive Function and Well-being

Does Vaccination Have Benefits? Research Paper Topics 

• Economic Impact of Vaccination on Healthcare Systems
• Vaccination and Global Health Equity: Challenges and Opportunities
• Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases: The Role of Vaccination in Prevention
• Vaccination in the Era of COVID-19: Lessons Learned and Future Strategies
• Vaccine Hesitancy: Identifying Factors and Developing Effective Communication Strategies
• The Role of Vaccination in Maternal and Child Health
• Vaccination and Antibiotic Resistance: A Holistic Approach to Disease Prevention
• Immunization in High-Risk Populations: Tailoring Strategies for Vulnerable Communities
• Vaccine Diplomacy: International Collaboration in Disease Prevention
• Advances in Vaccine Technology: RNA Vaccines and Beyond

Endangered Species Recovery Research Paper Topics

• Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution: Enhancing Coexistence for Endangered Species
• Conservation Policies and Legislation: Assessing Effectiveness in Species Recovery
• Technology in Conservation: Drones, Satellites, and their Applications for Endangered Species Monitoring
• Community Engagement in Conservation: Building Support for Endangered Species Recovery
• Ecotourism and Conservation: Balancing Economic Interests with Wildlife Protection
• Assessing the Effectiveness of Protected Areas in Endangered Species Recovery
• Behavioral Ecology of Endangered Species: Understanding Patterns for Conservation
• Disease Management in Endangered Species: Risks and Strategies
• The Role of Citizen Science in Monitoring and Protecting Endangered Species
• Cross-Border Collaboration in Endangered Species Recovery: Challenges and Opportunities

Hormonal Control of Reproductive System Research Paper Topics 

• Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH): Central Regulator of Reproductive Hormones
• Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinizing Hormone (LH): Their Roles in Ovarian and Testicular Function
• Estrogen and Progesterone: Hormonal Regulation of the Female Reproductive System
• Testosterone: Key Player in Male Reproductive Physiology
• Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal Axis: Coordinated Control of Reproductive Hormones
• Hormonal Changes during the Menstrual Cycle: Implications for Fertility
• Thyroid Hormones and Reproduction: Interactions and Impact
• Prolactin: Role in Reproduction and Lactation
• Kisspeptin: Emerging Regulator of Reproductive Hormones
• Hormonal Control of Spermatogenesis: Insights into Male Fertility

Research Paper Topics About Human Hormones

• Insulin and Glucagon: Hormonal Control of Blood Sugar Levels
• Hormones and Sleep: Understanding the Circadian Rhythms
• Reproductive Hormones in Men and Women: Beyond Fertility
• Hormonal Influences on Mood and Behavior: Neuroendocrinology
• Oxytocin: The "Love Hormone" and Social Bonding
• Hormonal Regulation of Bone Health: Osteoporosis and Beyond
• Hormones and Cardiovascular Health: Implications for Heart Disease
• Melatonin: Circadian Rhythms and Sleep-Wake Cycles
• Endocrine Disruptors: Environmental Impact on Hormonal Balance
• Hormones and the Immune System: Interactions and Immunomodulation

Research Paper Topics About Immune System 

• Immunotherapy in Cancer Treatment: Current Advances and Future Directions
• Autoimmune Diseases: Unraveling Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies
• Role of Gut Microbiota in Immune System Regulation
• Vaccines and Immunization: Advancements and Global Health Impacts
• Innate Immune System: Key Players and Responses to Pathogens
• Adaptive Immune System: Understanding Antigen Recognition and Memory
• Immunodeficiency Disorders: Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment
• Inflammatory Responses in Autoimmune Diseases: Targeting Therapeutic Interventions
• Cross-Talk Between the Immune System and the Nervous System
• Immunosenescence: Aging and Changes in Immune Function

Research Paper Topics About Animal Habitats Conservation

• Conservation of Migratory Species: Challenges and International Collaboration
• Protected Areas and Their Role in Preserving Animal Habitats
• Human-Wildlife Conflict: Balancing Conservation and Human Needs
• Climate Change and Animal Habitats: Adaptive Management Strategies
• Conservation of Endangered Ecosystems: Lessons from Success Stories
• Wetland Conservation: Importance for Waterfowl and Biodiversity
• The Role of Connectivity in Habitat Conservation: Corridors and Networks
• Conservation of Grasslands and Savannas: Sustaining Open Habitats
• Alpine Ecosystem Conservation: Challenges at High Altitudes
• Tropical Rainforest Conservation: Addressing Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss

Research Paper Topics About Biology Behind The Bipolar Disorder

• Inflammatory Markers and Immune Dysregulation in Bipolar Disorder
• Neuroplasticity and Bipolar Disorder: Implications for Treatment
• Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Bipolar Disorder: Energy Metabolism Perspectives
• Neuroendocrine Aberrations in Bipolar Disorder: Cortisol and Stress Response
• Sleep Disturbances and Circadian Disruptions in Bipolar Disorder
• Oxidative Stress and Antioxidant Defense in Bipolar Disorder
• Hormonal Influences on Bipolar Disorder: Estrogen and Testosterone
• Gut-Brain Axis and Bipolar Disorder: Role of the Microbiome
• Pharmacogenomics of Bipolar Medications: Personalized Approaches
• Animal Models in Bipolar Disorder Research: Bridging the Biological Gap

Research Paper Topics About Can Abortion Be Safe? 

• Comparative Analysis of Abortion Safety: Surgical vs. Medical Methods
• Access to Safe Abortion Services: Global Disparities and Challenges
• Impact of Legal Restrictions on Abortion Safety: A Public Health Perspective
• Telemedicine and Abortion: Safety, Accessibility, and Regulatory Considerations
• Psychological Well-being After Abortion: Longitudinal Studies and Meta-Analyses
• Quality of Care in Abortion Services: Patient Experiences and Healthcare Provider Perspectives
• Innovations in Abortion Techniques: Advancing Safety and Efficacy
• Post-Abortion Care: Addressing Complications and Ensuring Patient Support
• Public Health Interventions to Improve Abortion Safety: Lessons from Successful Programs
• Abortion in Humanitarian Crises: Ensuring Safe Services in Challenging Environments

Cell Biology Research Topics 

• Cellular Senescence: Aging at the Cellular Level
• Cytoskeleton Dynamics: Microtubules, Microfilaments, and Intermediate Filaments
• Apoptosis and Programmed Cell Death: Molecular Mechanisms
• Cellular Reprogramming and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
• Human DNA Replication and Repair Mechanisms in Cell Biology
• Cell Adhesion Molecules: Functions in Development and Disease
• Ion Channels and Membrane Transport in Cell Physiology
• Stem Cell Niche: Microenvironment Regulation and Stem Cell Fate
• Cell Differentiation: Molecular Signals and Transcriptional Control
• Organelle Biogenesis and Dynamics in Cellular Function

Marine Biology Research Paper Topics 

• Coral Reef Ecology: Threats, Conservation, and Restoration
• Marine Biodiversity: Assessing Patterns and Drivers
• Ocean Acidification: Impacts on Marine Life and Ecosystems
• Deep-Sea Bioluminescence: Adaptations and Ecological Significance
• Marine Mammal Communication: Vocalizations and Social Behaviors
• Plastic Pollution in Oceans: Effects on Marine Life and Mitigation Strategies
• Marine Microorganisms: Roles in Biogeochemical Cycling and Climate Regulation
• Fisheries Management: Sustainable Practices and Overfishing Concerns
• Marine Protected Areas: Effectiveness and Challenges in Conservation
• Seagrass Ecology: Importance in Coastal Ecosystems and Restoration Efforts

Research Paper Topics for Environmental Psychology

• Impact of Urban Design on Human Well-being: A Psychological Perspective
• Nature-Based Therapies: The Psychological Benefits of Green Spaces
• Environmental Stressors in Urban Environments: Coping Mechanisms and Interventions
• Psychological Effects of Climate Change: Understanding and Mitigating Anxiety
• Pro-environmental Behavior: Factors Influencing Sustainable Practices
• Restorative Environments: Exploring the Role of Nature in Stress Recovery
• The Influence of Environmental Aesthetics on Emotional Well-being
• Connection to Nature and its Relationship to Mental Health
• Environmental Justice: Psychosocial Impacts of Unequal Environmental Exposures
• Place Attachment and Identity: How People Form Bonds with their Environment

Evolutionary Biology Research Paper Topics 

• Evolutionary Medicine: Understanding Human Health in an Evolutionary Context
• Evolutionary Psychology: Behavioral Adaptations and Human Evolution
• Evolutionary Conservation Biology: Balancing Conservation and Evolutionary Processes
• Evolutionary Genetics: Genetic Variation, Selection, and Adaptation
• Paleontology and Evolution: Fossil Record and Insights into Ancient Life Forms
• Evolution of Social Behavior: Cooperation, Altruism, and Kin Selection
• Evolutionary Insights into Aging and Senescence
• Evolution of Sex: Theories and Mechanisms
• Phylogeography: Evolutionary History and Geographic Distribution of Species
• Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Origins and Migration Patterns

Research Paper Topics About How Addictive Substances Affect Our Genes? 

• Epigenetic Modifications Induced by Substance Abuse: Unraveling the Molecular Mechanisms
• Impact of Addictive Substances on DNA Methylation Patterns
• Genetic Vulnerability to Substance Addiction: Identifying Risk Factors
• Neurotransmitter Receptor Gene Expression and Substance Dependence
• Epigenetic Changes in Offspring Due to Parental Substance Use
• Substance Abuse and DNA Repair Mechanisms: Implications for Genomic Stability
• Epigenetic Regulation of Reward Pathways in the Brain: Role in Addiction
• Long-Term Effects of Addictive Substances on Gene Expression
• Pharmacogenomics of Addiction Treatment: Personalized Approaches
• Epigenetic Biomarkers of Substance Addiction: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Potential

Human Cloning Biology Topics 

• Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) in Human Cloning: Techniques and Applications
• Ethics of Human Cloning: Considerations and Controversies
• Genetic and Epigenetic Consequences of Cloning: Insights from Animal Models
• Cloning for Reproductive Purposes: Challenges and Ethical Implications
• Therapeutic Cloning: Potential Applications in Regenerative Medicine
• Legal Frameworks and Regulations Surrounding Human Cloning
• Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques: Addressing Genetic Disorders through Cloning
• Cloning and Genetic Diversity: Evaluating the Impact on Population Genetics
• Cloned Organisms and Aging: Exploring Telomere Dynamics and Longevity
• Challenges in Cloning Human Organs for Transplantation

Research Paper Topics on Immune System And Stress

• Stress and the Immune System: Interactions and Bidirectional Influences
• Psychoneuroimmunology: Understanding the Connection between Stress, Brain, and Immunity
• Chronic Stress and Inflammation: Implications for Health and Disease
• Acute Stress Responses and Their Immediate Impact on Immune Function
• Stress-Induced Changes in Immune Cell Distribution and Activity
• Neuroendocrine Regulation of Immune Responses during Stress
• Stress and Autoimmune Diseases: Unraveling the Complex Relationship
• Impact of Early Life Stress on Immune System Development
• Coping Mechanisms and Stress Reduction Interventions: Effects on Immune Function
• Psychological Stress and Susceptibility to Viral Infections

Research Paper Topics for Infectious Diseases

• Epidemiology of Respiratory Viruses: Influenza, COVID-19, and Beyond
• Bacterial Pathogenesis: Mechanisms of Infection and Host Responses
• Waterborne Diseases: Contaminated Water Sources and Public Health Risks
• Neglected Tropical Diseases: Challenges in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Eradication
• Fungal Infections: Rising Incidence and Novel Therapeutic Approaches
• Surveillance and Control of Nosocomial Infections in Healthcare Settings
• Viral Hepatitis: Global Burden, Prevention, and Treatment Strategies
• Tuberculosis: Advances in Diagnosis, Treatment, and Drug Development
• Helminthic Infections: Parasitic Worms and their Impact on Human Health
• Epidemiology of Sexually Transmitted Infections: Trends and Challenges

Research Paper Topics for Molecular Biology

• Protein Folding and Misfolding: Implications in Diseases
• DNA Repair Mechanisms: Maintaining Genomic Integrity
• Molecular Basis of Cancer: Oncogenes, Tumor Suppressors, and Signaling Pathways
• Telomeres and Telomerase: Maintaining Chromosomal Integrity
• Synthetic Biology: Engineering Biological Systems for Practical Applications
• Molecular Mechanisms of Apoptosis: Programmed Cell Death
• Signal Transduction Pathways: Molecular Communication within Cells
• Molecular Biology of Aging: Understanding the Cellular Aging Process
• Gene Expression Profiling: Techniques and Applications in Molecular Biology
• Structural Biology: Revealing the Three-Dimensional Architecture of Biomolecules

Research Paper Topics for Organ Transplantation

• Immune Responses to Transplanted Organs: Mechanisms and Alloreactivity
• Organ Preservation Techniques: Advances and Challenges in Transplantation
• Organ Transplantation and Xenotransplantation: Current Status and Future Prospects
• Donor-Recipient Matching in Organ Transplantation: Immunological Considerations
• Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Transplanted Organs: Molecular Mechanisms and Prevention
• Organ Allocation and Distribution: Ethical Dilemmas and Policy Considerations
• Regenerative Medicine Approaches in Organ Transplantation: Tissue Engineering and Stem Cells
• Living Organ Donation: Medical, Ethical, and Psychosocial Implications
• Immunomodulatory Therapies in Organ Transplantation: Impact on Graft Survival
• Biomarkers in Transplantation: Monitoring and Predicting Allograft Function

Research Paper Topics for Plant Pathology

• Fungal Plant Pathogens: Identification, Classification, and Control
• Bacterial Plant Pathogens: Mechanisms of Infection and Disease Management
• Viral Diseases in Plants: Molecular Biology and Strategies for Control
• Plant Immunity and Defense Mechanisms Against Pathogens
• Phytophthora infestans and Late Blight: History, Impact, and Management
• Epidemiology of Plant Diseases: Understanding Spread and Impact
• Host-Pathogen Interactions: Molecular Dialogue in Plant-Pathogen Relationships
• Integrated Pest Management in Agriculture: Strategies for Sustainable Disease Control
• Genomic Approaches in Plant Pathology: Unraveling the Molecular Basis of Resistance
• Emerging Plant Diseases: Identification, Characterization, and Preparedness

Plant Biology Research Topics

• Photosynthesis: Understanding Mechanisms and Enhancing Efficiency
• Plant Hormones: Roles in Growth, Development, and Response to Stress
• Disease Resistance in Plants: Molecular Mechanisms and Genetic Engineering
• Plant-Microbe Interactions: Symbiosis and Pathogenesis
• Seed Germination: Environmental Cues and Molecular Regulation
• Genetic Diversity in Crop Plants: Conservation and Utilization
• Climate Change and Plant Adaptations: Implications for Agriculture
• Phytoremediation: Plants as Tools for Environmental Cleanup
• Plant Epigenetics: Epigenetic Modifications and Gene Regulation
• Plant Physiology Under Abiotic Stress: Drought, Salinity, and Temperature

Research Paper Topics for Prions 

• Prion Diseases: Overview, Classification, and Epidemiology
• Prion Protein Structure: Insights into Misfolding and Aggregation
• Cellular Prion Protein (PrPC) Function and Implications in Health
• Prion Strains: Diversity, Characteristics, and Disease Variability
• Prion Transmission: Routes, Mechanisms, and Zoonotic Potential
• Neurodegenerative Effects of Prions: Impact on Brain Function
• Prion Diseases in Humans: Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and Variant CJD
• Prion Diseases in Animals: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and Scrapie
• Prion Detection Methods: Advances and Challenges in Diagnosis
• Prion Strain Adaptation and Evolution: Molecular Mechanisms

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Research Paper Topics for Social Behavior in Animals

• Altruism in Social Animals: Evolutionary Explanations and Adaptive Benefits
• Communication Strategies in Social Insects: Chemical, Visual, and Acoustic Signals
• Dominance Hierarchies in Animal Societies: Mechanisms and Functions
• Social Learning in Animals: Observational Learning and Cultural Transmission
• Mate Choice and Sexual Selection: Social Dynamics in Animal Courtship
• Cooperative Breeding in Social Birds and Mammals: Mechanisms and Benefits
• Agonistic Behavior in Social Groups: Conflict Resolution and Communication
• Parental Care in Social Animals: Roles, Strategies, and Cooperation
• Territoriality in Animal Societies: Defense and Resource Management
• Group Dynamics in Primates: Social Structure and Hierarchy

Research Paper Topics for Stem Cells

• Pluripotent Stem Cells: Induction, Differentiation, and Applications
• Adult Stem Cells: Niches, Identification, and Regenerative Potential
• Hematopoietic Stem Cells: Biology and Clinical Applications in Blood Disorders
• Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Therapeutic Potential in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
• Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs): Reprogramming and Applications
• Neural Stem Cells: Development, Function, and Neuroregeneration
• Cancer Stem Cells: Origin, Identification, and Targeted Therapies
• Stem Cell-Based Therapies for Cardiovascular Regeneration
• Ethical Considerations in Stem Cell Research: Cloning, Genome Editing, and Beyond
• Stem Cells in Ophthalmology: Vision Restoration and Retinal Diseases

Biological Psychology Research Paper Topics

• Neurotransmitters and Behavior: Examining the Role of Dopamine, Serotonin, and Acetylcholine
• Neuroplasticity: Implications for Learning, Memory, and Brain Rehabilitation
• Brain Imaging Techniques: Advances in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Neuroimaging
• Hormones and Behavior: Exploring the Influence of Endocrine System on Psychological Processes
• Genetics and Mental Health: Investigating the Role of Genetic Factors in Psychiatric Disorders
• Neurobiology of Stress: Impact on Cognitive Function and Emotional Well-being
• Sleep and Brain Function: Understanding the Relationship between Sleep and Mental Health
• Neurological Basis of Addiction: Mechanisms of Substance Abuse and Dependence
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Exploring the Brain Basis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Emotion and the Brain: Neural Substrates of Emotional Processing

Controversial Biology Topics Research Paper

• Genetic Engineering and Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations
• Cloning of Animals and Humans: Scientific Advancements and Moral Dilemmas
• Gene Editing Technologies (e.g., CRISPR): Potential and Ethical Concerns
• Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Moral and Religious Perspectives
• Human Enhancement Technologies: Biological and Ethical Implications
• Vaccination Controversies: Public Health, Safety, and Individual Rights
• Evolution vs. Creationism: Teaching Perspectives in Schools
• Animal Testing: Ethical Considerations in Scientific Research
• Endangered Species Conservation: Balancing Preservation and Human Needs
• Climate Change Skepticism: Scientific Consensus and Public Perception

How to Choose a Biology Research Topic? 

Choosing a research paper topic can be an exciting but challenging task. Here's a guide on how to choose biology research topics:

• Identify Your Interests: Consider what aspects of biology interest you the most. 

Whether it's genetics, ecology, physiology, or any specific field, choosing a topic aligned with your interests makes the research process more engaging.

• Explore Current Trends: Stay updated on current trends and breakthroughs in biology. 

Investigate recent publications, journals, and news to find emerging topics that pique your curiosity.

• Consider the Scope: Determine the scope of your research. 

Choose a topic that is neither too broad nor too narrow. It should be specific enough to explore in-depth but broad enough to find relevant literature and resources.

• Consult with Mentors or Instructors: Seek advice from mentors, instructors, or research advisors.

They can provide insights into feasible and interesting research areas, as well as guidance on available resources.

• Think About Real-World Applications: Explore topics with real-world applications. 

Consider how the research can contribute to solving practical problems or advancing technologies.

• Consider Ethical Implications: Be mindful of ethical considerations.

Ensure that your research topic aligns with ethical standards and guidelines in the field of biology.

In conclusion, choosing a biology research topic is a crucial step in your academic journey. A well-chosen topic not only contributes to scientific knowledge but also enhances your understanding of biology.

But if you feel overwhelmed choosing a topic or writing a research paper about any topic, let SharkPapers.com assist you with professional services.

Our experts will help you write your paper as well as edit and proofread it for you! 

So, don’t waste time! Hire an expert paper writing service online today! 

Barbara has a Ph.D. in public health from an Ivy League university and extensive experience working in the medical field. With her practical experience conducting research on various health issues, she is skilled in writing innovative papers on healthcare. Her many works have been published in multiple publications.

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Advice to a Young Mathematical Biologist

• Perspectives
• Open access
• Published: 09 April 2024
• Volume 86 , article number  52 , ( 2024 )

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• Paul A. Roberts   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5293-6431 1  

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This paper offers advice to early-mid career researchers in Mathematical Biology from ten past and current Presidents of the Society for Mathematical Biology. The topics covered include deciding if a career in academia is right for you; finding and working with a mentor; building collaborations and working with those from other disciplines; formulating a research question; writing a paper; reviewing papers; networking; writing fellowship or grant proposals; applying for faculty positions; and preparing and giving lectures. While written with mathematical biologists in mind, it is hoped that this paper will be of use to early and mid career researchers across the mathematical, physical and life sciences, as they embark on careers in these disciplines.

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1 Introduction

Early-mid career researchers in Mathematical Biology face a particular set of challenges. As they develop in their career, a number of skills need to be learnt, most of which are not taught in a typical undergraduate degree. In this paper, ten leading mathematical biologists—all current or former Presidents of the Society for Mathematical Biology (SMB)—share their advice on a number of areas of particular interest to early and mid career researchers. While written with mathematical biologists in mind, much of the advice presented here is of relevance to any researcher working in the life, physical or mathematical sciences. It is hoped that this paper will prove a valuable resource to early and mid career researchers as they make the first steps in their academic journey, providing a helping hand from those who have trodden the road before them.

The idea for this paper occurred to me following the excellent past Presidents’ panel discussion, organised by Prof. Heiko Enderling, at the 2023 SMB conference, held at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. This was an inspiring session, with many useful insights shared by some of the greats in the field. It struck me that it would be good to capture the insights from some of these researchers in a permanent way, and that this would be of particular interest and benefit to early/mid career researchers.

All of the living past and current SMB Presidents were contacted, and to those who were able to contribute, a series of questions was posed, inviting their top tips and advice in a number of areas relevant to early/mid career researchers. These questions consisted of a subset of ten specific topics, together with two, more general questions, which were posed to all contributors. Responses were then compiled, ordered and edited to provide coherent guidance in each area.

The advice offered here is not intended to be exhaustive. Rather, it is hoped that this will be a starting point, bringing together guidance on a range of topics into a single place, leaving the reader to explore specific areas in greater depth as desired. As with any advice, it is left to the reader to follow or leave at their discretion.

The title of this article is a homage to Prof. Sir Peter Medawar’s book ‘Advice To A Young Scientist’ (Medawar, 1979 ) and to the later multi-author chapter ‘Advice to a Young Mathematician’ in The Princeton Companion to Mathematics (Atiyah et al., 2008 ); both of which are recommended. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first paper to offer guidance specifically to early/mid career mathematical biologists.

In what follows, we cover ten specific topics: ‘Deciding if a career in academia is right for you’, ‘Finding and working with a mentor’, ‘Building collaborations and working with those from other disciplines’, ‘Formulating a research question’, ‘Writing a paper’, ‘Reviewing papers’, ‘Networking’, ‘Writing fellowship or grant proposals’, ‘Applying for faculty positions’ and ‘Preparing and giving lectures’; together with two general topics: ‘What do you wish you had known when you were an early-mid career researcher?’ and ‘Some final words of advice’. These sections can be read in any order or in isolation, depending on the needs and interests of the reader.

2 Deciding if a Career in Academia is Right for You

Many of us may wonder if the academic path is the right one for us. This question might occur when deciding whether or not to pursue a doctorate, to apply for postdoctoral or faculty positions, or even whether to remain in academia, having obtained a permanent position. Whatever your stage, the following advice may be helpful to bear in mind.

Make a list of things that are important to you, what you want to accomplish in your professional life and what will make you happy going to work every day for the rest of your life.

If you are self-driven, have lots of questions, like to work and meet with people, and like to share your work in different venues (e.g. papers and presentations), you could consider a career in academia.

A career in academia is not easy.

You need to consider what kind of academic you would like to be: more research focused, or more teaching focused. Do you want to have a large or small group, or work at a large or small school?

You also need to consider that there is a lot more to an academic job than what you may have experienced during your undergrad/PhD/postdoc. Talk to PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty to find out what they do from day to day, and get a sense of what the job entails. Learn what they like about their roles and what they wish was different.

Talk to many professionals outside academia about their experiences.

3 Finding and Working with a Mentor

The concept of a mentor is a familiar one, both historically and in popular culture: Plato had Socrates, Luke Skywalker had Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bertrand Russell had Alfred North Whitehead and Frodo had Gandalf. Though familiar, finding and developing such a relationship can be difficult. Here are some expert tips on how to navigate this area.

The mentor is probably the most important part of your academic career.

Finding a mentor

You can find a mentor in many different ways:

Get to know the faculty in your research institution;

Talk to people at conferences;

Participate in mentoring programs.

Have a one-on-one conversation about ideas and what the potential mentor looks for.

Identify what YOU need from a mentor. Make sure that you communicate your needs to a prospective mentor and evaluate if they can help you in your academic journey.

Be honest about your interests.

The best science is not necessarily done by the mentor that best serves your needs, though make sure the research approach of the mentor excites you.

Try to visit and meet members of the potential mentor’s group, talking with former/current students/collaborators/mentees. This is important, not least because it will enable you to check the potential mentor’s reputation. This will also help you to evaluate if their mentorship style is right for you.

Take into account the breadth of the institution, and especially the department, and the potential to interact with others outside the group.

Working with a mentor

Expect the relationship to develop and change over time.

Mentorship can be developed very naturally—through discussion at conferences and workshops, and then some emails in between.

Make time for the relationship to develop in social contexts in connection with or outside of research discussions (e.g. coffee/tea/beer etc. time).

Do not agree to work on a project if it does not align with your interests, but be open to suggestions of new projects or research questions/approaches.

4 Building Collaborations and Working with Those from Other Disciplines

Given the intrinsic interdisciplinarity of mathematical biology, the ability to build and grow fruitful collaborations is key to developing biologically faithful and impactful models. This is not something that is usually taught at the undergraduate level, but rather is learned on-the-job, with a degree of trial-and-error(/-improvement). While this is a rite-of-passage that all mathematical biologists must pass through—and, indeed, a lifelong learning process—here are few tips to smooth the way.

Listen carefully to lectures on topics from other disciplines, and read review papers carefully to identify what questions motivate that discipline/topic. Ask yourself in what way you could contribute to answering such questions using your skill-set.

Learn a lot about the subject matter. Attend experiments when they are being done.

Follow your heart and make the effort to work with people who you find interesting and exciting.

Find someone who is open to theoretical approaches and who is a person with whom you get along really well.

It can take a while to build a good collaboration, so be patient, and invest in a few possible directions. Usually one or another will eventually pan out.

Trust that your collaborators know what they are talking about.

Ask a lot of stupid questions, balancing keeping expectations low with occasional moments of surprising brilliance.

Be clear about shared responsibilities.

Be willing to suppress your ego. Remember that what makes the work interesting is the experiments rather than the theory.

Learn the jargon of the biological discipline(s) relevant to your research.

Explain your ideas in plain English. Do not expect potential collaborators to know or be familiar with mathematical jargon or methods.

Explain what your methods could do to help test hypotheses or to analyse data, or to help with the design of experiments.

Try to get in a situation where you can help design the experiments to provide data needed for analysis.

Biological experiments usually cost a lot of money and take a lot of time. Do not expect that a collaborator will immediately agree to do your favourite experiment. (Sometimes, you have to make-do with data from the literature.)

Be willing to pay any students who may work on the theory and perhaps other costs associated with doing the experiments. Working on joint grants is one way to do this but that takes patience.

5 Formulating a Research Question

As any Douglas Adams fan will know, the key to making discoveries lies in asking the right questions. The following advice may be helpful in deciding upon a research topic and what question(s) to ask.

Find a problem that really interest you, about which you are passionate and want to know the answer, and do not care what others think.

Be driven by the research question, not by the methods you will use.

Find a topic that will potentially expand the field, not something that is just incremental.

There are many kinds of research questions: explaining a puzzling data set; testing a hypothesis for some mechanism; finding some optimal strategy; making a long-term prediction. Each case would imply a different strategy.

To find new interesting quantitative questions, read a number of recent review papers on the topic of your choice. Find sentences such as ‘The mechanism for this observed behaviour is poorly understood’, and look for key areas where a knowledge-gap is identified. Be sure that these questions are not just experimental ones. Be sure that some facts are known and/or some data is available on which to construct your model, for example.

Be open to approach by colleagues from other disciplines. Listen to their ideas and motivation, and assess whether your skills could be useful, or whether other colleagues have just the right tools to be helpful.

6 Writing a Paper

Most mathematical biologists begin by taking an undergraduate degree in mathematics, spending the bulk of their time working through a series of problem sheets. As such, when they come to do a doctorate and begin writing their first paper, it may be some years since they were required to write at any length. Further, the process of writing an academic article is unlike that of writing a secondary/high school essay. The following advice should be of help in providing a possible approach to writing papers, while also highlighting some common pitfalls.

Some general points

Do your literature review well: you do not want to submit a manuscript that is missing important references.

Spend time critically reviewing your results. Do they make sense? What are some questions that reviewers might have? Are any results difficult to understand?

Do not make the paper too long. Figure out what you want to say in a direct way.

A possible approach

Let us assume you have wrapped up an original piece of research and you are ready to write your first paper. The first step is to get your work organized in a logical, convincing fashion. You have probably already done this in preparing for your committee meetings, student presentations and poster sessions. A good MS PowerPoint presentation is a great place to start.

Next, consider the audience you want to reach. Defining your audience will dictate what journal to submit to and also what background information you need to include in the introduction.

Write an outline, using the standard format of a scientific publication.

Title: start with a working title; it may change later.

Abstract: write this last!

Introduction: make an outline, with your target audience in mind.

arrange your research in a logical fashion;

sketch your figures in some detail (and write cogent legends);

consider what tables you will need;

push some results to ‘Supplementary Material’ to stress the main points.

Discussion: make notes along the way, but write this part later.

Now that you are ready to start writing, keep the following Four Cs in mind.

Correct. Everything you write must be scientifically correct, to the best of your knowledge. Check each sentence and every equation. Make sure you have provided the correct parameter values for all your calculations.

Clear. Now that everything is correct, you must communicate your results clearly to your audience. You do not have to tell people what DNA means, but do not skip over important things that the reader needs to know. It is helpful here to get someone else’s point of view—on joint authored papers, it is the responsibility of all authors to make sure that what is written is clear. Some important points to note:

Often papers are not structured in a logical way, and read like a stream of consciousness. Look at the logical structure of your flow of ideas to make sure that your argument will make sense to your readers.

In this regard, basic grammar rules are important, especially coherent paragraphs with topical sentences. Do not let your paragraphs get too long; most long paragraphs can be broken into two or more separate ideas.

Watch how you use pronouns—they can be dangerous. You may know what your pronoun is referring to, but your reader may not. When a reader comes across a pronoun, he/she typically assumes that the pronoun refers to the last noun mentioned in the previous sentence. If the reader has to look further back, he/she will likely get lost. The simple fix is to repeat the noun, so it is absolutely clear what you are talking about.

Another mistake of non-English writers is overloading the subject of a sentence, using too many modifiers for a noun, or other nouns as modifiers of the main noun. It can be difficult for the reader to figure out what the noun of the sentence is, and which words are modifiers. The simple fix is to use prepositional phrases and dependent clauses to expand on a noun, rather than going beyond a few adjectives. For example, ‘the budding yeast cell cycle spindle assembly checkpoint’ should be ‘the spindle assembly checkpoint of the budding-yeast cell cycle’. Another good example of an ‘overloaded noun’ of a sentence is: ‘Initiation and progression of the cell cycle are considered to occur in response to the timely ordered transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and posttranslational regulation of the cell cycle (cyclin/cyclin dependent kinase [CDK]) machinery components ’. The italicised phrase is the object of the passive verb construction ‘are considered to occur in response to’. The object is ‘components’ and the preceding words all modify ‘components’. It would be clearer to write: ‘Progression through the cell cycle is thought to be based on the temporally ordered activation of cyclin/cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs), which are regulated by a complex molecular network of transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational controls’.

Concise. After you are sure your text is correct and clear, then go through it carefully to get rid of annoying repetitions that may have crept in. Pare things down to a minimum without destroying clarity. State your main points several times (in the Abstract, Results and Discussion); as for everything else, just say it once.

Compelling. Finally, polish up the writing. Use MS Word’s thesaurus to find exactly the right word to get your idea across. Make the paper easy/pleasant/attractive to read, so people will recommend it to others.

7 Reviewing Papers

Reviewing your first paper can feel like a daunting task, with a weight of responsibility to make an accurate and fair assessment. The following tips should prove useful both to first time reviewers, and to those with some experience under their belts.

Only accept reviews for manuscripts you are competent to assess.

Make sure you are familiar with other research in the field, so you know how novel the work is.

Do not take on another review if you already have one.

Negotiate with the editor a timeline that suits you and not just them.

Do not allow deadlines to make you do a superficial job.

Try to be fair and write the kind of review you would like to receive.

Read the introduction and discussion first, to get a feel for what the authors want you to get from the paper, then read the whole manuscript to see if the results match with this.

Do not question the motives but focus on the results.

Do not be sucked in by overhype.

Always ask for codes to be shared if they are not already.

8 Networking

Our scientific research is not conducted in isolation, but rather as part of a community. As such, developing relationships with fellow scientists and mathematicians is an important part of any mathematical biologist’s career. Indeed, the contacts we make now could be our future collaborators, reviewers or employers. We often use the word ‘networking’ to denote the practice of making and developing these relationships, particularly in the context of conferences. While most would agree that networking is important, many of us are unsure of how best to go about it. This problem is especially acute for early and mid career researchers, who may wish to speak with senior researchers, but are unsure of how to introduce themselves, or manage the conversation. Here is some advice on how to approach it.

Study the conference program before the meeting. Identify 4–6 people with whom you might be interested in meeting. These include people that are senior to you and also people that may be more junior. Email them ahead of time and schedule meetings during coffee or lunch breaks early in the conference.

Do your homework before approaching a specific scientist. If you have some knowledge of their research, then a simple introduction can be had through a compliment or question about a specific piece of work. All scientists love to discuss their research, so if you have a question or insight to share they almost always want to hear it.

Find an appropriate time to approach someone and be polite. A good time to introduce yourself might be at a reception or poster session; another meeting can always happen after the initial introduction.

Go to poster sessions, or better yet, present a poster. Poster sessions are a great networking opportunity.

Go to after program events (e.g. dinner, drinks and hikes). The best networking happens off campus.

Ask a mentor, or another scientist who knows the researcher you would like to meet to introduce you and help break the ice.

9 Writing Fellowship or Grant Proposals

Writing good fellowship and grant proposals is something of an art form in itself. As an early/mid career researcher writing your first proposal, it is easy to feel bewildered, not knowing quite where to start. It is hoped that the following guidance will set you in the right direction.

Know your audience. Grant proposals are diverse and depend on the specific call in regard to what is required, what the review procedures will be and who will be the reviewers; therefore, always read the specific call/request for proposals carefully, so that you know what is expected and what the deadlines are.

If appropriate, discuss your proposal with the specific program officer / agency’s program manager, if there is one, to be certain that what you are proposing fits the guidelines for support. They can often give good advice on what will be received well versus what will not be. Ask if the proposal will be reviewed by more than one group.

Follow faithfully any guidelines that are given by the funding body, e.g. if you are asked to write the proposal in 12pt Arial font.

Ask a successful grant writer to share some of their previous grants—the structure and level of detail as well as visual support for a proposal varies greatly and needs to be tailored to the specific call.

Collaborate with someone who has been successful in obtaining support in the past from the agency.

Try to plan ahead so that you have time to share a draft of your proposal with your peers or mentor for feedback.

Make sure you have an exciting and innovative idea in the first place! Remember that the person(s) reviewing your fellowship application / grant proposal will probably have many others as well, so it is important to ‘grab the reviewer’s attention’ from the outset. Aim to write a factual but stimulating first paragraph which will make the reviewer want to read on and find out about the exciting project you are proposing.

Ensure also that your idea is appropriate, carefully stating the goals of the proposed work somewhere near the start of the proposal.

Write passionately from the heart and be ‘achievably ambitious’.

Justify any claims you make and give as good an argument as you can that what you are about to do can be achieved.

Do not try to cram every possible thing you can think of into the proposal; rather, be focused and have a good timeline with appropriate milestones.

Most grants are scored badly because the reviewer could not understand what you really wanted to do. Far fewer fail because of a flawed idea, so make a big effort in articulating your ideas as clearly as possible; visual support can really help e.g. cartoons, schematics and graphs.

Emphasize why you are the appropriate person to do the work.

Almost nobody is successful with the first iteration of a grant, so it is good to submit to a call on the first round and then resubmit on subsequent rounds, integrating reviewer feedback.

For more on this topic, see ‘Notes on Writing and Getting Grants’ by Lou Gross: lgross.utk.edu/grantwriting.txt .

10 Applying for Faculty Positions

Many early/mid career researchers may be relatively inexperienced in writing job applications, or be unsure of how best to present themselves to potential employers. The following advice is given with faculty applications in mind, though many of the tips are also relevant to applications for postdoctoral positions.

Do not apply for a job you do not want—you might get it.

Publish your work when it is ripe, even if it is not perfect.

Collaborate, but be sure to establish your own identity.

Think about who you are: a fox or a hedgehog? This reference comes from a 1953 book by the philosopher Isaiah Berlin, in which he quotes the Ancient Greek poet Archilochus as saying that ‘ the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing ’ (Berlin 1953 ). In the context of mathematical biology, think about whether you see your research as centring around one topic, or as touching on many topics, perhaps with a more abstract common theme. Both are valid ways to work, but it is good to think about who you are, to avoid getting pushed or pulled in directions that might not fit.

Make sure your CV is up-to-date and is written well.

Do not try to exaggerate anything, e.g. do not list lots of unpublished papers.

Cover letter

Read the job advertisement carefully and write a relevant, engaging cover letter, outlining your background, your current research interests, your future research plans and your teaching philosophy / teaching experience.

Be explicit as to why you are appropriate for the position. Spend some time finding out about the department and the university in general, and aim to include in your cover letter how you feel you could fit in and connect with the teaching and research that is going on in the department and also potential collaborations elsewhere in the university (e.g. departments of biology / life sciences and medicine).

Be enthusiastic.

Statement of research interests

Summarize in one paragraph the main results from your prior work.

Lay out a research plan, possibly with several different components. Think of this as a research plan for the initial 5–10 years of your career. Where do you want to be, what ‘big’ questions do you want to work on and how do the smaller ones fit into this?

Statement of teaching interests

Summarize what your teaching experience has been.

Give a bit of your teaching philosophy and provide examples of how you have applied it (e.g. projects you developed/used in a course you taught, or implementation of computer-based examples).

State your teaching objectives over the next 5 years—what courses and seminars you might like to teach/develop, what texts you might be interested in developing. Tie this in to particular courses the university provides.

Make sure you have good referees who will provide strongly supportive but not hyperbolic references.

Make it as easy as possible for your referees to write a letter for you—give them all the material you are sending out, explaining how to address letters and providing the links to the adverts for positions you are applying to.

Make sure the referees know which jobs are the ones of most interest to you.

Perhaps ask your referees to contact (email or phone) anyone they know at your top choice positions to alert them to your application.

For more on this topic, see ‘Applying for a job, haggling for a job, and keeping a job’ by Lou Gross: lgross.utk.edu/gettingjobs.postdocs.mbi06.txt .

11 Preparing and Giving Lectures

The average early/mid career researcher will have attended hundreds of lectures during their undergraduate studies; some of them better than others. While many PhD students will get experience of leading or assisting with tutorials and problems classes, opportunities for lecturing experience arise less frequently. The following guidance should be of help to postdoctoral researchers and new faculty preparing to give their first lectures.

Find the lecturing style that you are most comfortable with e.g. ‘chalk and talk’, slides, iPad/Tablet etc., and practise at it.

Do not practise too much—talks can sound really canned with too much practice. Put another way, too much practice can stand in the way of ‘presence’ during a talk, thinking a little on your feet and taking a few chances.

Prepare your notes in advance and try to connect with external material e.g. books, research articles, online videos etc.

Think about your main point during your pre-lecture preparation.

Your lecture has to fit your audience. Do not attempt to give the same lecture to biologists and to mathematicians.

Optimise your slides: a maximum of 20 words per slide, brief bullet points, self-contained and easy to follow.

Do not include something on a slide if you do not want to talk about it.

Go to the lecture theatre before you start the course and work out where everything is so that you can begin the first lecture without any glitches or delays.

Try to be enthusiastic and passionate in your delivery and to ENJOY giving the lecture.

Never forget that it is about the material, not about you.

Consider introducing your talk with interesting scientific questions, and returning to those at the end to show that you ‘solved them’. Merely reproducing a behaviour with a model is not very interesting unless you can show new insights or novel predictions.

Aim to engage the students rather than just lecture for one hour e.g. stop regularly and ask questions, ask the students to suggest ways to complete a piece of algebra or offer the answer to a problem.

Provide plenty of motivation and background for the audience to understand the main ideas. Be sure to emphasize the significance and goals.

Give plenty of worked examples in the class which underpin any piece of theory you deliver.

Be sure to EXPLAIN everything. Your audience will appreciate that.

Make the lecture interesting. Use some colour, make fonts nice and large, consider some humour if possible, once you gain confidence.

Make a deliberate mistake now and again—this can encourage the students to engage and when they get the correct answer it gives them confidence. It also shows them that you are not infallible!

Never go over time.

12 What Do You Wish You Had Known When You were an Early-mid Career Researcher?

In addition to asking our seasoned professionals for guidance on specific questions, their advice to early and mid career researchers was also sought at a more general level, as recounted in this section and that which follows. First, in this section, we explore the hard-earned knowledge that our experts wish they had possessed when they were early/mid career researchers.

Seeking advice

Do not be shy about getting advice, particularly on grant proposals.

Understand how the system at your institution works, who to go to for advice/assistance and how to work around arcane rules that constrain your ability to advance your research and teaching.

Career planning

Think a few years ahead but do not let long-term planning stand in the way.

Early in your career, it is common not to know what you really want and that is OK, since you have not experienced enough yet.

‘When I started as a graduate student, I had a very specific plans about what I wanted to study: quantum chemistry. Like most mathematical biologists, I never intended to be one! I stumbled onto the field through my professors and mentors. So keep your eyes open, see what catches your interest, see where new research areas are opening up and where you can make a contribution. Be flexible, find your place in the world and have fun!’

Think strategically about what you will gain from a specific position and how it might lead you to new opportunities in the future.

‘Failure’ and rejections

Be ready to accept rejections and how to move on effectively from these, such as re-applying for grants to either the same agency which initially rejected it or to try someplace else.

Do not take failure personally; academia is a constant source of failure, whether it is papers, grants or even your science. Failure is the only way we can learn; of course it still stings, but know that this is a universal pain we all feel as scientists, and it is also temporary, as it will drive resubmissions, rewriting, reframing and ultimately success.

Lack of a job offer, or interview, may just be due to various political factors in a given department/unit that have nothing to do with your excellence. Therefore, do not let such ‘rejections’ affect your morale and work.

Do not skip your postdoc; exploit every second of it. It is a rare time in your scientific career that you will never have again—both scientific freedom and no financial concerns.

Have fun! Most research ideas come outside the laboratory; on a walk, while exercising, or while having dinner with friends. A lot of great ideas start out on a napkin.

If you are not excited about a problem, the work is not going to be worthwhile.

You can work on anything you want to, independent of your field, as long as you are willing to learn the new area.

Keep doing good work, even when the job-market looks bleak. Eventually this will pay off.

Take the time to learn new skills.

Do the hard work yourself.

‘I wish I had known’:

LaTeX —‘I wrote my PhD thesis using troff’ ( wikipedia.org/wiki/Troff ).

More numerical analysis.

The Sobolev Embedding Theorem (just kidding!).

Sharing your work

Put real effort into making your science as accessible as possible—the more people who understand it, the better it will be cited and shared.

Grab any opportunity you can to present your work, even if you find it difficult. It will help you understand your own work better and expose the community to what you are doing and critically provide valuable feedback.

Open science is a golden opportunity to share your work before it is published, embrace it. Share your papers on preprint servers (e.g. bioRxiv and arXiv), and your code and data on public repositories (e.g. GitHub).

Collaboration and networking

Work with people you like, in labs that are happy and have a good community ethic. Do not try to work with people simply because of their prestige.

Use administrative roles to build collaborations.

Networking with others (in your unit and at conferences) is very important. Consider sending your e-publications to the top researchers with a short email. Many are busy, so may not answer, but some will.

Do not be shy at a conference. Schedule meetings ahead of time to make sure you are not alone during coffee breaks.

Maintain contact with those you have met who might help your career advance in the future.

Organising your time

‘I did not realize how much time I would spend in service-related activities. I sit on many committees. My service takes about one full day per week.’

‘I did not realize how much grant writing I would be doing. I had to learn how to write grants for many different reviewing bodies. This can take time, but can also be helpful in that you then understand how to talk about your research with many different audiences.’

Teaching and mentorship activities can occupy much of your time. Make sure that you structure your week so that you have research blocks that are long enough for you to remember what you are doing, and get some work done to review and advance your projects.

Get home in time for dinner with your family.

13 Some Final Words of Advice

In this last section, we offer some final words of advice, not covered by the previous sections.

Community, collaboration and care

Collaborate broadly and build your network of collaborators in ways that stretch your research to fields that might be far from your formal education.

Team science is truly a gift for mathematical biology. It is being embraced across many different disciplines and is a golden opportunity to work across fields with creative teams, where the team is far more powerful scientifically than any of the individuals. If you can work with a team, jump at the chance.

Develop a community around you, but do not feel that you need to collaborate with everyone. Deliberately keep some experts in your field at ‘arm’s-length’ as you will need people to review your file at tenure and promotion, for grants, and your manuscripts for publication.

Care about your community—take time to contribute, to nurture and enrich your community as it will not continue without it.

Make time for self-care; something outside of science even if it is with scientists. It is important to recharge your creative and non-creative batteries and that cannot happen if you use them all the time.

Most scientists are good people even if they may ask difficult questions and appear intimidating—they are a scientist just like you and care about similar things.

Always be honest, even if it means admitting mistakes, being truthful will always pay dividends in the end.

Work on what you want, not on what other people think you should.

Enjoy yourself, have fun, work on problems that you are really interested in and passionate about.

Aim high. Always ask ‘could my work be better?’ Do not settle for the first result and hurry to publish—do your due diligence and make that sure every piece of work has the highest impact it can.

Mathematical biology is a subfield of biology. Talk to biologists as often as you can. Let their questions guide your research.

Do not be afraid of data. Indeed, look at the data! You may find something that you did not expect that is more interesting than what you did expect.

Understand what it means to calibrate and validate a mathematical model. Not every curve that fits data makes a model plausible and it does not guarantee predictive power (if that is what you are aiming for).

Do not be a one-trick pony. It will help your career if you become the go-to person in the world on a particular topic, but do not constrain yourself to this area. Look for side-projects that may be well outside this area of focus.

Be willing to take risks and try out new/alternative things. It is only by failing that we discover what does not work and this helps put us on another track that perhaps will work. Do not be afraid to ‘fail’. The following quote from John Backus (who invented FORTRAN) illustrates this point:

‘ I, myself, have had many failures and I’ve learned that if you are not failing a lot, you are probably not being as creative as you could be—you aren’t stretching your imagination. You need the willingness to fail all the time. You have to generate many ideas and then you have to work very hard only to discover that they don’t work. And you keep doing that over and over until you find one that does work. ’ — mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Backus/quotations/

Communication

Learning to communicate in writing and orally is just as important as doing advanced research. Your funding and the respect you achieve will depend on your ability to explain your work and convince others that it is significant.

Work to build your vocabulary to be able to communicate with experts in fields quite different from your own.

Get some formal training from science communication experts to assist you in being able to discuss your work with non-scientists and journalists. Do not be bashful about tooting your own horn.

For more on careers in academia, see ‘Careers in Academia: How to Enhance your Chances for Success’ by Lou Gross: lgross.utk.edu/eeb504Spring2021.html .

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Acknowledgements

This paper would not have been possible were it not for the sagacious advice, generously offered by the following current and former SMB Presidents: Prof. Frederick R. Adler (University of Utah); Prof. Alexander R. A. Anderson (H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute); Prof. Mark A. J. Chaplain (University of St Andrews); Prof. Leah Edelstein-Keshet (University of British Columbia); Prof. Heiko Enderling (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center); Prof. Leon Glass (McGill University); Prof. Louis J. Gross (University of Tennessee); Prof. Jane M. Heffernan (York University); Prof. Simon A. Levin (Princeton University); and Prof. John J. Tyson (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). PAR acknowledges financial support from the University of Birmingham Dynamic Investment Fund.

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Roberts, P.A. Advice to a Young Mathematical Biologist. Bull Math Biol 86 , 52 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11538-024-01269-1

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Paraphrasing for Better Research Papers: A Step-by-Step Guide

Research papers rely on other people’s writing as a foundation to create new ideas, but you can’t just use someone else’s words. That’s why paraphrasing is an essential writing technique for academic writing .

Paraphrasing rewrites another person’s ideas, evidence, or opinions in your own words. With proper attribution, paraphrasing helps you expand on another’s work and back up your own ideas with information from other sources while retaining your own writing style and tone.

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In this guide to paraphrasing, we explain how to strengthen your research papers through the art and craft of paraphrasing. We discuss the rules of ethical paraphrasing and share paraphrasing tips to help you get started. We even provide a few paraphrasing examples to illustrate how to do it yourself.

Why should you paraphrase in a research paper?

There are a few reasons research writers rely on paraphrasing in their papers:

• It shows comprehension. Paraphrasing requires you to understand ideas well enough to write them in your own words, so it not only helps you pass on information but also can help you learn and retain it.
• Paraphrasing other research or another writer’s work allows you to make valuable connections between ideas. Crediting your sources ethically and according to standards shows professional collaboration and respect.
• Paraphrasing can transform dense academic language into clearer or more modern text. Research writers employ it to make important information more understandable to a wider audience.
• Paraphrasing can increase the readability of your paper and make impactful direct quotes stand out.

When should paraphrasing be used in a research paper?

Paraphrasing is best used in concert with other research writing techniques, such as direct quotes and summaries. Here are instances when paraphrasing is appropriate for your research paper:

• Opt for paraphrasing when you can explain the same concept in plainer language or with less jargon.
• Paraphrasing works best when you need to share background information. Save direct quotes for striking statements and opinions. Rely on your own words to set the stage or provide context.
• Similarly, methodology from published studies generally doesn’t require direct quotes. Consider rewriting this contextual information in your own words.
• Paraphrasing also works well when you’re reporting key results from other research. You might restate the results by paraphrasing the main findings and then use a direct quote to share opinions about the value gleaned from the research.

Paraphrasing vs. quoting and summarizing

Unlike summarizing, paraphrasing uses roughly the same amount of detail as the original work but adjusts the language to demonstrate comprehension or make the text more understandable. Summarizing, in contrast, shortens the information to only the most important points.

While paraphrasing uses your own phrasing, quoting transcribes someone else’s words exactly, placing them in quotation marks so the reader knows someone else said them.

Direct quotes work best when you’re dealing with striking statements or opinions or when you want the tone of the original work to shine. Opt for paraphrasing when you can convey the same information in plain language. Sometimes, placing a direct quote in a sentence would lead to an error in subject-verb agreement or pronoun agreement, so paraphrasing works better in that case. Paraphrasing can also help modernize outdated wording, such as gendered language.

Generally, your writing will have the most readability and engagement if you strike a balance between paraphrasing and direct quotes.

Common paraphrasing mistakes

Writers risk committing plagiarism or losing clarity when they commit the following common paraphrasing mistakes:

• Substituting synonyms but not otherwise changing the phrasing
• Altering the original meaning
• Failing to add citations within the text and in the bibliography

Tips for paraphrasing successfully in your research paper

Try to rewrite from memory.

It can be difficult to reword a passage when you’re staring at it. Sometimes it can help to jot down notes about a passage and then try to rewrite the same sentiment from scratch. This forces your brain to think creatively because you can’t just copy the passage verbatim.

Focus on meaning, not just vocabulary

Paraphrasing is more than just swapping out words for their synonyms; you need to completely rewrite a sentence in your own style. Pay close attention to what the original author is trying to say as a whole, rather than focusing on the individual words. You may find yourself changing phrases or clauses. You may even come up with a way to restate the whole idea in a clearer or more concise way.

Change or update the language

Use synonyms to replace the essential words of an original passage with other words that mean the same thing, such as using “scientist” for “researcher,” or “seniors” for “the elderly.” You can also pay special attention to modernizing and broadening the language, such as for more gender inclusivity. This is a common approach to paraphrasing, although it’s not sufficient on its own.

Edit the sentence structure

Editing the sentence structure by rearranging the order of certain phrases and clauses or combining or breaking apart sentences is another strategy for paraphrasing. But if you do this, be careful not to overuse the passive voice.

Sometimes, you can rephrase a sentence by changing the parts of speech, such as converting a gerund into an operative verb or turning an adjective into an adverb . This strategy depends on the wording of the original passage, so you may not always have the opportunity.

Often, using only one of these techniques is not enough to differentiate your paraphrase from the source material. Try combining a few of these techniques on the same passage to set it apart.

Use transition phrasing

Some introductory and transitional phrases let your reader know you’re about to paraphrase an existing work. This tactic has the added benefit of helping you rewrite key findings by recasting the sentence structure with a new subject. Here are a few examples:

• Research shows that . . .
• A recent study found that . . .
• According to [author]’s analysis . . .
• Thanks to [source], we now know that . . .

Avoid patchwriting

If you don’t change enough of the original, it leaves “patches” of the source text that are easily identifiable to anyone who’s read it. This is known as patchwriting , and it’s a big problem with paraphrasing. Double-check to see if your paraphrase is unique enough with our free plagiarism checker .

Use ethical paraphrasing tools

Use Grammarly’s free paraphrasing tool to quickly paraphrase text with the help of generative AI. Paste the text into Grammarly to get options for how to paraphrase it instantly, then use our citations generator to get the proper attribution.

Learn about other aspects of research paper writing by browsing Grammarly’s research paper guides and resources .

Paraphrasing examples

Paraphrasing a research paper to avoid plagiarism.

Plagiarism refers to claiming another person’s ideas or words as your own. Paraphrasing alone is not enough to avoid plagiarism—if the words are different but the ideas are the same, you have to do more. That’s why citing paraphrases is not just morally right, it’s also a mandatory part of how to write a research paper , regardless of the research paper topic .

In academic writing, paraphrases typically use parenthetical citations , a type of in-text citation that places the author’s last name in parentheses, along with the year of publication or page number. Parenthetical citations are placed at the end of a passage, before the ending punctuation.

Additionally, you need to include a full citation for any source you use in the bibliography section at the end of the research paper. A full citation includes all the necessary details the reader needs to track down the source, such as the full title, the publication year, and the name of the publisher.

The information to include in both parenthetical and full citations depends on which formatting style you’re using: APA , MLA , or Chicago . Refer to our guides to learn more about how to properly cite your paraphrasing in whatever style you prefer.

If you’re still having trouble citing paraphrases, you can use our free citation generator to save time.

How to paraphrase for a research paper FAQs

When should you use paraphrasing in research writing.

If you want to use someone else’s ideas in your research paper, you can either paraphrase or quote them. Paraphrasing works best when the original wording has room for improvement or doesn’t fit in with the rest of your paper. Quoting is best when the original wording is already perfect.

What techniques can you use for paraphrasing practice?

The most common paraphrasing technique is using synonyms to replace some of the original words. That only gets you so far, though; also consider rearranging the sentence structure, adding/removing parts of the original, or changing some of the parts of speech (like turning a verb into a noun).

Do research paper paraphrasing rules change for different citation styles?

The rules for paraphrasing are always the same—but the rules for citations change a lot between styles. Review the citation guidelines for the formatting style you’re using, whether APA, MLA, or Chicago.

Can I paraphrase sources with no named author, like websites?

Yes, you can paraphrase websites, but ensure they are reputable. And you still need to cite the source according to the citation guidelines.

What’s the best way to integrate paraphrased information smoothly in my paper’s flow?

Transitional phrases can help you introduce paraphrased information. Try using language such as:

Use paraphrasing alongside other writing devices, such as direct quotes or summaries, to help your paper flow naturally.

Is it acceptable to paraphrase content from my own previous papers?

Yes, you can paraphrase your other content, unless your academic institution has a policy against it. You should still cite the original source material, even though it is your own work.