- What is a scientific text?
- Characteristics of a scientific text
- Types of scientific texts
- Structure of a scientific text
- Examples of scientific texts
We explain what a scientific text is, its types, structure and other characteristics. Also, some examples.
What is a scientific text?
A scientific text or scientific publication is a writing originating from and directed to a specialized scientific community. That is, they are those texts drawn up in a language specialized, in which it provides information the reader, following a set of rules academic presentation, exhibition and reference.
Scientific texts are disseminated to share with the rest of the community that studies the same topic, the advances or discoveries or the hypothesis that are handled with respect to an object of study. In this sense, they can be found in books, specialized magazines and other types of academic publications, such as lectures, conferences, papers, etc.
Since the validation between peers is essential for the advancement of the science, publication is an indispensable part of the process of accumulation and legitimation of scientific knowledge.
That is why scientific institutions not only require a certain number of annual publications from their researchers, but also carry out various peer-reviewed periodicals to do so.
Characteristics of a scientific text
Scientific texts are characterized by:
- Be expository and objective, that is, there is no place in them for subjectivity, or for anything other than to clearly and succinctly expose the results obtained and what they could mean in their field of study.
- They must be clear, precise, universal and verifiable.
- Its brevity or length depends on the type of text: an article, a thesis, a presentation or a book.
- They generally have a main author and several collaborating authors, involved in the research.
- They present the results of a set of experimental, field or any other type of research, emphasizing the formal, the methodology followed and in the results.
- They have a technical language, which generally requires a level of knowledge prior on the part of the reader.
Types of scientific texts
Scientific texts can be of various types, depending on their scope of appearance and their formal characteristics:
- Articles. Generally appearing in scientific magazines and weeklies, they have a limited extension and are usually accompanied by graphics, images or tables, since they provide the reader with a resume or an approach to an experience, a result or a broader research topic.
- Reports Y monographs. Of particularly academic use, they are usually long, dense and complete research papers, with annexes, bibliographic references and different chapters, in which a research topic is approached from a specific perspective.
- Conferences and presentations. Generally oral, although they can also be published in writing, this type of text is usually short, without much support material (although in its reading may be used slideshow, images, etc.) and presented to an audience or audience in person.
- Informative texts. These are simplified scientific texts designed for the consumption of the general public, for pedagogical or informative purposes, that is, to spread scientific knowledge to those who are not academically trained in science.
Structure of a scientific text
The structure of scientific texts varies enormously, depending on what text it is. It is not the same to structure a monograph with three chapters, introduction Y conclusions, than to do it with an article destined for a magazine or a conference to read before an audience.
However, many scientific texts are usually guided by the following structure:
- Title and list of authors. What is the name of the text and who made it, distinguishing between the main authors and the collaborators or secondary authors.
- Summary or abstract. It is a short, introductory text that quickly details what the text is about and what its main ideas are, so that a researcher can know up front whether they are interested or not. These summaries usually culminate with a series of keywords or thematic descriptors.
- Introduction. A section, formally defined or not, in which the reader is given the general perspective of the topic from which the presentation of the research will start.
- Content. The bulk of the text, divided or not by chapters, presented in a logic, objective, orderly, without ramblings or digressions. This section usually culminates with some conclusions or results, formally defined or not, in which the above is summarized and its main findings are highlighted.
- Thanks. If there are, they usually refer to those individuals and institutions that made the research work possible.
- Annexes. All relevant support material: tables, graphs, images, etc.
- Bibliography. All the books and archival materials consulted in order to prepare the research and the text that exposes it.
- Express authorization of data use. In many cases, scientific texts require authorizations for the disclosure of information, especially with regard to patients, Business or third parties.
Examples of scientific texts
Some examples of scientific texts are the following:
- “Evaluation of the impact of a taeniasis-cysticercosis control program (Taenia solium) ”By Aline S de Aluja, Raúl Suárez-Marín, Edda Sciuto-Conde, et. al., in Mexico public health (May-June 2014).
- "Variation of the brightness of the background of the sky at the zenith with the phase and height of the Moon" by Sánchez de Miguel, Alejandro, at the Complutense University of Madrid.
- “Buffer gas cooling of a trapped ion to the quantum regime”By T. Feldker, H. Fürst, H. Hirzler, N. V. Ewald, M. Mazzanti, D. Wiater, M. Tomza and R. Gerritsma, in Nature (February 2020).