5 - Scientific information

Summary

Introduction

If a scientist carries out a major research project, but no one knows about it, or no one can understand it, the research is of little use. So a large part of science is communication. The communication happens informally between colleagues in the hallway, at conferences through presentations, and most durably with global distribution of information through articles and books. Scientists have developed many conventional ways to explain their results, including equations, figures, and specialized vocabulary. Once you have completed a research project, you will need to practice communicating the results, to round out the set of scientific skills you have acquired. Each of the sections of this chapter touches just on a few essentials. You can find much more complete discussion of all the topics mentioned here in Valiela (2001).

Writing a proposal

Scientists spend a large fraction of their time writing proposals, whether they want to or not. Proposals are necessary to apply for grant funding, or for permission to conduct research. The research proposals needed for funding from federal agencies are usually a minimum of 15 pages in length, not including budgets, bibliography, and supporting documents. In this class you will not have to write proposals of that length. However, your instructors may ask you to write proposals a page or two long as you are beginning your inquiries.