A Brief Intro to Science
Let us start of with some good ol' definitions first - after all, we are trying to be serious here, right? To get started, let us define the term "science" according to the experience one might have:
Science (noun): The art of turning complex questions about the universe into even more complex answers, often requiring vast amounts of caffeine, late nights, and equipment that looks like it's from a sci-fi movie, all while pretending to understand everything during presentations. Most of the times, stuff does not work as expected, and even more often, stuff randomly stops working. Anyone engaging with this so-called "science" must be able to endure great stress while also pretending to know exactly what is going on when asked by bystanders.
Should the perceived complexity of this "scientific working" now hinder you in actively participating? Of course not - as with most things in life, practice and a little help can get you a long way. Sometimes, things might not work the way they are designed to, but do not let that discourage you from continuing, as all scientific inventions that brought humanity to where it is now once started with someone who did not exactly know what was going on!
A little longer intro to scientific writing
As confusing as it may seem at first, the art of scientific writing is not one that is overly hard to grasp. In all honesty, it might be easier to do scientific writing than it is to create fantasy worlds in novels such as The Lord of the Rings (I know, it does not seem that way in the beginning)! For now, just believe that this does, in fact, prove to be true and follow along to find out more and be amazed.
Why is is that scientific writing is easy, one might ask? Well, for starters: Scientific writing focuses solely on facts and figures, meaning there is no fiction or fantasy involved in the text. In fact, there should be no fantasy involved at all (especially not for inventing facts) - as that is what divides fiction from science here! This clear distinction makes it rather easy to get started, as one does not need to imagine a whole universe of characters, antagonists, creatures, and scenery, but one can simply rely on things that can be observed, measured or proven by empirical methods in conjunction with that what has already been researched before. This reliance on what has already been researched is one cornerstone of scientific work - we will later refer to this as using references and citations. But science does also have its very own characters of all kinds (although they tend to be less sword-wielding than the ones found in abovementioned books). They are represented by researchers and contributors that are scattered all over the world, providing factual and reviewed knowledge that propels the world's most innovative thinking forward, enabling everyone to advance their own knowledge and provide new approaches based on what has been discovered before.
This provides great opportunities for each and everyone to also create something bold, just like the vast fantasy worlds that many of the world's best authors imagined! Sounds awesome, doesn't it? You just take a look at what has already been discovered and provide your own knowledge on top, just like a good film adaptation of a well-written book.
Who should read this?
No matter if you are a currently enrolled student at a university or just someone looking to better understand factual writing, this site is for you! As this content does not only apply to university settings, but to all factual reasoning, it is universally usable and can provide anyone with the ability to understand and create scientific reasoning without the hassle of having to read through hundreds of pages of theoretical backgrounds.
Why should you read on?
Most probably you ended up here because somewhen in your life, someone told you to write a scientific paper - likely related to some kind of academic achievement that you are pursuing. As this usually is not among the preferred student activities (and you most likely would rather be out doing other, more fun things currently) this guide aims to ease your pain by providing best practices when dealing with such science. Additionally, it tries to provide you with templates, methods and little helpers to make scientific writing not only bearable, but perhaps even fun! The author (find me on LinkedIn) has extensive experience in writing and supervising scientific papers, having graded more than 30 papers so far - so all of this builds on the practical experience that accumulated over the past few years, so that you do not make the same mistakes that most students do.
If you do not feel like reading all of this, just skip ahead to whatever portion you deem necessary for your own success (they are all neatly organized in the sidebar).