In scientific writing, a methods section is one of the most important parts of a research paper, because it allows the project to be recreated. Recreation of a scientific project is the first step towards turning an experiment into a theory or a scientific law. In Spring 2018, for a Writing in Biology class at University of Massachusetts Amherst, the main goal was to design a figure about a plant and include a methods section along with it that would allow another person to recreate the figure with a high degree of accuracy. The figure that was recreated included photos of a plant and its geographical range. The plant that was used is a Blc Momilani ‘The Gypsy’ and it was selected because of its ease of access.
An important part of designing the methods was maximizing the number of factors that could be controlled. This would then enable the other student to recreate the figure with a higher degree of accuracy. These factors include the ease of access to the subject and the reliability of the subject. When it comes to ease of access, the greenhouse where the plant is found is open for most of the day on every week day, so the other student would be able to find time to take a picture of the flower. In the case of the reliability of the subject, the plant is in a climate controlled area, and it is watered and taken care of every day. Because of this prime environment, there was a very high chance that the plant would still be alive when the other student went to take a picture of it. This is better than if the plant was outside, where it could die or be ripped out of the ground.
Recent comments