Introduction
1.
Start with a short overview about
the wider context of the study.
What is the wider environmental problem or ecological issue
your study belongs to?
2.
The aims paragraph is
the heart of the article.
What was the research question you wanted to get the answer to?
Methods
3.
Present the study design precisely.
Where and how did the sampling happen
in detail?
4.
Tell the number of replicates (n )
for the treatments / groups.
Does a reader understand easily
how many samples you took?
Results
5.
Present the means, deviations and n
for the treatments / groups.
Does a reader easily understand
what the actual values of your results (observations, calculated results) were and how they varied?
Discussion and Conclusions
6.
Give answers to your research questions / hypotheses / aims.
What did you learn?
Finally
7.
Separate three paragraphs out of the article:
a) The first paragraph of the introduction,
b) the aims and
c) the conclusions.
Put them one after another.
Is there a story?
Make our work easier and check/correct two more things:
8.
Use the same words/ terms / abbreviations for the variables, treatments and for the treatment levels throughout the text, from the abstract to the final conclusion.
9.
Results: Check that the values you write in the text match with the values in the tables and figures.