Writing in the biological sciences

Biologists use writing in many ways:

Writing for your audience in biology

When you write in biology, your audience may consist of researchers, professors, other students, and sometimes members of the government or business communities and the general public. Researchers or teachers may read to find out the results of an experiment, an analysis of new data, or information supporting or critiquing a theory. They may need this information to guide their own research projects or improve their assignments and classroom materials. Students read to learn about major concepts and discoveries as well as methods for conducting laboratory experiments.

Researchers, teachers, and students expect detailed, specific presentation of data and findings in words and in graphic form, such as diagrams and graphs. Members of the general public want to understand how concepts affect personal decisions they must make about issues such as medical care or nutritional choices. People working in government or business may have to make decisions about funding for research proposals. For more general audiences, you may not need to provide the same level of detail. For example, the public or businesspeople may not need species names to be written in Latin.

In your biology courses, your goal will generally be to convince readers of the validity of conclusions you draw from observations, experimental data, or your evaluations of previously published or proposed research. For most assignments, you will need to use a scientific style of writing, conveying your information to readers as succinctly and accurately as possible.

Related topics:

Forms of writing in biology

Questions biologists ask

Kinds of evidence biologists use

Writing conventions in biology

CSE system for citation in biology writing

Sample student papers: Laboratory report and review of the literature