Basic paragraph

A paragraph is simply a collection of sentences that address a single topic. The basic paragraph structure includes a topic sentence or main point (often placed at the beginning) followed by supporting evidence, an explanation, more information or an analysis. This basic paragraph structure is known as the M.E.A.L format.

Structure of a basic paragraph

Argument paragraph

In scientific papers, the paragraph topic will often be stated as a claim or an argument. This is followed by sentences that include evidence from your own experiments or from another source. The evidence you provide needs to support the claim you have made in the topic sentence and ideally it should be accompanied by an analysis to highlight why the evidence supports your argument. The analysis section of your paragraph is the connection to your audience and the section where you can demonstrate your ability to use evidence to support an argument. The final sentence will often produce a link to the argument in the next paragraph.

The topic sentence of an argument paragraph is a doubted conclusion that is reinforced with evidence.

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Explanation paragraph

A paragraph that is explaining a concept or a process usually begins with a topic sentence that is an accepted conclusion or a known fact. The sentences following the topic sentence connect a series of other accepted facts to illustrate the cause of something or explain how something works.

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Extended argument paragraph

A paragraph in a scientific paper may not perfectly adhere to the M.E.A.L format. Some paragraphs may introduce a topic and provide evidence without an analysis or linking sentence. This can be useful when introducing a topic and leading your reader to your main arguments.

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View ecology example

Editing your sentences can be one of the most effective ways to improve your written communication. During the writing process you may be focused on getting your thoughts down rather than paying close attention to sentence structure. This can result in unnecessarily wordy or confusing sentences.

Keep subjects and verbs close together

By placing the subject and verb close together, your audience can understand your sentences much more easily, particularly when you are addressing complex scientific topics.

Blue: subject

Red:verb

This sentence takes 9 words before we know what the subjects (the zombie sheep) are actually doing (threatening the futures of farming communities).

To improve the readability of your sentences, you should try to keep the subject/s and the verb as close as possible. This may not be an easy task when the sentence is describing complex scenarios or using multiple scientific terms.

Place unfamiliar information at the end of sentences

To improve cohesion within a paragraph, you should try to link the end of one sentence with the beginning of the next sentence. You can link sentences by placing familiar information at the beginning of a sentence and unfamiliar information at the end.

If you maintain this “familiar information -> unfamiliar information” structure throughout your paragraphs you will gradually expose your audience to new information or arguments, thus avoiding confusion.

Purple: familiar information
Green: unfamiliar information

Example

Poor cohesion:
The Pug is a small breed of dog that originated in China. Pugs became popular among the European nobility in the 16th century after they were imported from China.

Better cohesion:
The Pug is a small breed of dog that originated in China. Pugs were exported from China to Europe in the 16th century and became popular among the European nobility.

The second option above provides better cohesion between the two sentences because of the familiar -> unfamiliar sentence structure.

Check your sentences and, if necessary, rearrange them to place unfamiliar information at the end of sentences.

Active voice: when the subject is a person or a thing performing an action.

Passive voice: when the subject is something being affected by an action.

Blue: subject

Red: verb

These three sentences say exactly the same thing but in the passive sentences the focus has shifted from Betty to the acid.

When to use passive voice

Using the active voice is encouraged in scientific writing; however, there are situations where using the passive voice is more appropriate.

1. Changing the focus of a sentence to maintain cohesion.

Active voice: Approximately 67% of the global sheep population are classed as zombies. Each year, governments destroy millions of zombie sheep in an effort to reduce the population.

Initially the focus is on zombie sheep but then shifts to governments in the second sentence.

Passive voice: Approximately 67% of the global sheep population are classed as zombies. Each year, millions of zombie sheep are destroyed by governments in an effort to reduce the population.

In both sentences the focus remains on zombie sheep, resulting in good cohesion.

2. When the subject is unknown or irrelevant.
(I.e. a methods section)

Active voice: We added 1 µl of pug flatulence extract to the neural cell culture.

The ‘we’ in this sentence doesn’t provide anything meaningful to the sentence.

Passive voice: 1µl of pug flatulence extract was added to the neural cell culture.

This sentence removes the superfluous ‘we’ and focuses on the pug flatulence extract.

3. When the subject is too long.

Active voice: The zombie sheep neural cell sample exposed to high doses of hydrogen sulphide showed high rates of mortality.

This sentence uses far too many words before the action word is reached. This can result in an audience getting lost in the sentence before they understand the meaning.

Passive voice: High rates of mortality were shown by the zombie sheep neural cell samples exposed to high doses of hydrogen sulphide.

In this sentence, the audience is cued to think about high rates of mortality before reaching the lengthy section referring to the zombie sheep neural cells. By simply changing the subject, the sentence is easier to understand.

What is a nominalisation?

Nominalisations are verbs that are modified to create nouns. They are common in scientific writing and are often used to make a sentence sound more scholarly.

Unfortunately, using nominalisations can turn a simple sentence into a wordy or confusing sentence. Therefore, a nominalisation should only be used if it improves a sentence.

When to use a nominalisation

Nominalisations should be used in moderation. While some nominalisations may be field-specific and refer to a familiar concept, you should only use a nominalisation if it will help your audience to understand your message.

1. Maintaining paragraph cohesion (E.g. “The neural cell cultures were incubated at 37 ^oC for 1 hour. Each incubation was conducted in triplicate.”)

2. Using field-specific terminology (E.g. fragmentation, destabilisation, regulation, fertilisation, incubation).

3. Reducing lengthy sentences (E.g. “The fragmenting of an ecosystem” becomes “ecosystem fragmentation“)

Blue: subject
Red: verb
Green: nominalisation

“We analysed the data…”
using a nominalisation becomes
“We performed an analysis on the data…”

“We investigated the cause of…”
using a nominalisation becomes
“We conducted an investigation into the cause of…”

The following examples demonstrate how the type of voice and the use of nominalisations can affect the readability of a sentence. For these examples, the sentences using the active voice with no nominalisations are generally clearer and more concise. However, as discussed in the “active vs. passive voice” section, this will not always be the preferred option.

Talking about a scientific study

Talking about results

Talking about methods