Scientific Writing Flashcards
7 cards from real STP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Scientific Writing flashcards as text
In statistical reporting, which must always accompany a mean value?
Answer: A measure of variability such as SD or SEM
A mean reported alone is meaningless without a measure of spread; SD (standard deviation) or SEM (standard error of the mean) must be included.
What is the role of the Introduction in a scientific paper?
Answer: Establish background, identify the knowledge gap, and state the study aim
The Introduction moves from broad context to a specific gap in knowledge, concluding with the study's objective or hypothesis.
Which of the following should NOT appear in a Results section?
Answer: Interpretation of what the results mean
Interpretation and discussion of results belong in the Discussion section; the Results section only presents data objectively.
What is 'HARKing' in the context of scientific writing?
Answer: Hypothesizing After Results are Known
HARKing occurs when researchers present post-hoc hypotheses as if they were pre-specified, inflating false-positive rates and distorting the scientific record.
When writing for an international scientific audience, which English variety is acceptable in US-based STP submissions?
Answer: Either, but must be consistent throughout
Either American or British English is acceptable in international science, but a single variety must be used consistently throughout the manuscript.
A 95% confidence interval for a treatment effect is 1.2–3.4. What does this mean?
Answer: If the study were repeated, 95% of such intervals would contain the true population parameter
A 95% CI means that if the experiment were repeated many times, 95% of the calculated intervals would contain the true population parameter.
Which principle guides authorship order convention in most biomedical sciences?
Answer: First author contributed most; last author is typically the senior supervisor
Convention places the researcher with the greatest intellectual contribution first and the senior/supervising researcher last; middle authors are ordered by contribution level.