Scientific Papers and the Research Process
Since the last four posts were on databases, I thought I would spend the next four posts on scientific writing. Today, I start with the basics: the structure of a scientific paper. Scientific papers follow an idealized form of the scientific research process. Pick a topic and learn as much as can about what has been done. Figure out the next step that needs to be taken. Formulate a hypothesis (if A, then B) that addresses that next step. Design an experiment to test the hypothesis. Run the experiment. Collect data. Reduce data. Analyze data. Draw conclusions. Suggest future...