sample research about science

Scientific Reports

What this handout is about.

This handout provides a general guide to writing reports about scientific research you’ve performed. In addition to describing the conventional rules about the format and content of a lab report, we’ll also attempt to convey why these rules exist, so you’ll get a clearer, more dependable idea of how to approach this writing situation. Readers of this handout may also find our handout on writing in the sciences useful.

Background and pre-writing

Why do we write research reports.

You did an experiment or study for your science class, and now you have to write it up for your teacher to review. You feel that you understood the background sufficiently, designed and completed the study effectively, obtained useful data, and can use those data to draw conclusions about a scientific process or principle. But how exactly do you write all that? What is your teacher expecting to see?

To take some of the guesswork out of answering these questions, try to think beyond the classroom setting. In fact, you and your teacher are both part of a scientific community, and the people who participate in this community tend to share the same values. As long as you understand and respect these values, your writing will likely meet the expectations of your audience—including your teacher.

So why are you writing this research report? The practical answer is “Because the teacher assigned it,” but that’s classroom thinking. Generally speaking, people investigating some scientific hypothesis have a responsibility to the rest of the scientific world to report their findings, particularly if these findings add to or contradict previous ideas. The people reading such reports have two primary goals:

• They want to gather the information presented.
• They want to know that the findings are legitimate.

Your job as a writer, then, is to fulfill these two goals.

How do I do that?

Good question. Here is the basic format scientists have designed for research reports:

• Introduction

Methods and Materials

This format, sometimes called “IMRAD,” may take slightly different shapes depending on the discipline or audience; some ask you to include an abstract or separate section for the hypothesis, or call the Discussion section “Conclusions,” or change the order of the sections (some professional and academic journals require the Methods section to appear last). Overall, however, the IMRAD format was devised to represent a textual version of the scientific method.

The scientific method, you’ll probably recall, involves developing a hypothesis, testing it, and deciding whether your findings support the hypothesis. In essence, the format for a research report in the sciences mirrors the scientific method but fleshes out the process a little. Below, you’ll find a table that shows how each written section fits into the scientific method and what additional information it offers the reader.

Thinking of your research report as based on the scientific method, but elaborated in the ways described above, may help you to meet your audience’s expectations successfully. We’re going to proceed by explicitly connecting each section of the lab report to the scientific method, then explaining why and how you need to elaborate that section.

Although this handout takes each section in the order in which it should be presented in the final report, you may for practical reasons decide to compose sections in another order. For example, many writers find that composing their Methods and Results before the other sections helps to clarify their idea of the experiment or study as a whole. You might consider using each assignment to practice different approaches to drafting the report, to find the order that works best for you.

What should I do before drafting the lab report?

The best way to prepare to write the lab report is to make sure that you fully understand everything you need to about the experiment. Obviously, if you don’t quite know what went on during the lab, you’re going to find it difficult to explain the lab satisfactorily to someone else. To make sure you know enough to write the report, complete the following steps:

• What are we going to do in this lab? (That is, what’s the procedure?)
• Why are we going to do it that way?
• What are we hoping to learn from this experiment?
• Why would we benefit from this knowledge?
• Consult your lab supervisor as you perform the lab. If you don’t know how to answer one of the questions above, for example, your lab supervisor will probably be able to explain it to you (or, at least, help you figure it out).
• Plan the steps of the experiment carefully with your lab partners. The less you rush, the more likely it is that you’ll perform the experiment correctly and record your findings accurately. Also, take some time to think about the best way to organize the data before you have to start putting numbers down. If you can design a table to account for the data, that will tend to work much better than jotting results down hurriedly on a scrap piece of paper.
• Record the data carefully so you get them right. You won’t be able to trust your conclusions if you have the wrong data, and your readers will know you messed up if the other three people in your group have “97 degrees” and you have “87.”
• Consult with your lab partners about everything you do. Lab groups often make one of two mistakes: two people do all the work while two have a nice chat, or everybody works together until the group finishes gathering the raw data, then scrams outta there. Collaborate with your partners, even when the experiment is “over.” What trends did you observe? Was the hypothesis supported? Did you all get the same results? What kind of figure should you use to represent your findings? The whole group can work together to answer these questions.
• Consider your audience. You may believe that audience is a non-issue: it’s your lab TA, right? Well, yes—but again, think beyond the classroom. If you write with only your lab instructor in mind, you may omit material that is crucial to a complete understanding of your experiment, because you assume the instructor knows all that stuff already. As a result, you may receive a lower grade, since your TA won’t be sure that you understand all the principles at work. Try to write towards a student in the same course but a different lab section. That student will have a fair degree of scientific expertise but won’t know much about your experiment particularly. Alternatively, you could envision yourself five years from now, after the reading and lectures for this course have faded a bit. What would you remember, and what would you need explained more clearly (as a refresher)?

Once you’ve completed these steps as you perform the experiment, you’ll be in a good position to draft an effective lab report.

Introductions

How do i write a strong introduction.

For the purposes of this handout, we’ll consider the Introduction to contain four basic elements: the purpose, the scientific literature relevant to the subject, the hypothesis, and the reasons you believed your hypothesis viable. Let’s start by going through each element of the Introduction to clarify what it covers and why it’s important. Then we can formulate a logical organizational strategy for the section.

The inclusion of the purpose (sometimes called the objective) of the experiment often confuses writers. The biggest misconception is that the purpose is the same as the hypothesis. Not quite. We’ll get to hypotheses in a minute, but basically they provide some indication of what you expect the experiment to show. The purpose is broader, and deals more with what you expect to gain through the experiment. In a professional setting, the hypothesis might have something to do with how cells react to a certain kind of genetic manipulation, but the purpose of the experiment is to learn more about potential cancer treatments. Undergraduate reports don’t often have this wide-ranging a goal, but you should still try to maintain the distinction between your hypothesis and your purpose. In a solubility experiment, for example, your hypothesis might talk about the relationship between temperature and the rate of solubility, but the purpose is probably to learn more about some specific scientific principle underlying the process of solubility.

For starters, most people say that you should write out your working hypothesis before you perform the experiment or study. Many beginning science students neglect to do so and find themselves struggling to remember precisely which variables were involved in the process or in what way the researchers felt that they were related. Write your hypothesis down as you develop it—you’ll be glad you did.

As for the form a hypothesis should take, it’s best not to be too fancy or complicated; an inventive style isn’t nearly so important as clarity here. There’s nothing wrong with beginning your hypothesis with the phrase, “It was hypothesized that . . .” Be as specific as you can about the relationship between the different objects of your study. In other words, explain that when term A changes, term B changes in this particular way. Readers of scientific writing are rarely content with the idea that a relationship between two terms exists—they want to know what that relationship entails.

Not a hypothesis:

“It was hypothesized that there is a significant relationship between the temperature of a solvent and the rate at which a solute dissolves.”

Hypothesis:

“It was hypothesized that as the temperature of a solvent increases, the rate at which a solute will dissolve in that solvent increases.”

Put more technically, most hypotheses contain both an independent and a dependent variable. The independent variable is what you manipulate to test the reaction; the dependent variable is what changes as a result of your manipulation. In the example above, the independent variable is the temperature of the solvent, and the dependent variable is the rate of solubility. Be sure that your hypothesis includes both variables.

Justify your hypothesis

You need to do more than tell your readers what your hypothesis is; you also need to assure them that this hypothesis was reasonable, given the circumstances. In other words, use the Introduction to explain that you didn’t just pluck your hypothesis out of thin air. (If you did pluck it out of thin air, your problems with your report will probably extend beyond using the appropriate format.) If you posit that a particular relationship exists between the independent and the dependent variable, what led you to believe your “guess” might be supported by evidence?

Scientists often refer to this type of justification as “motivating” the hypothesis, in the sense that something propelled them to make that prediction. Often, motivation includes what we already know—or rather, what scientists generally accept as true (see “Background/previous research” below). But you can also motivate your hypothesis by relying on logic or on your own observations. If you’re trying to decide which solutes will dissolve more rapidly in a solvent at increased temperatures, you might remember that some solids are meant to dissolve in hot water (e.g., bouillon cubes) and some are used for a function precisely because they withstand higher temperatures (they make saucepans out of something). Or you can think about whether you’ve noticed sugar dissolving more rapidly in your glass of iced tea or in your cup of coffee. Even such basic, outside-the-lab observations can help you justify your hypothesis as reasonable.

Background/previous research

This part of the Introduction demonstrates to the reader your awareness of how you’re building on other scientists’ work. If you think of the scientific community as engaging in a series of conversations about various topics, then you’ll recognize that the relevant background material will alert the reader to which conversation you want to enter.

Generally speaking, authors writing journal articles use the background for slightly different purposes than do students completing assignments. Because readers of academic journals tend to be professionals in the field, authors explain the background in order to permit readers to evaluate the study’s pertinence for their own work. You, on the other hand, write toward a much narrower audience—your peers in the course or your lab instructor—and so you must demonstrate that you understand the context for the (presumably assigned) experiment or study you’ve completed. For example, if your professor has been talking about polarity during lectures, and you’re doing a solubility experiment, you might try to connect the polarity of a solid to its relative solubility in certain solvents. In any event, both professional researchers and undergraduates need to connect the background material overtly to their own work.

Organization of this section

Most of the time, writers begin by stating the purpose or objectives of their own work, which establishes for the reader’s benefit the “nature and scope of the problem investigated” (Day 1994). Once you have expressed your purpose, you should then find it easier to move from the general purpose, to relevant material on the subject, to your hypothesis. In abbreviated form, an Introduction section might look like this:

“The purpose of the experiment was to test conventional ideas about solubility in the laboratory [purpose] . . . According to Whitecoat and Labrat (1999), at higher temperatures the molecules of solvents move more quickly . . . We know from the class lecture that molecules moving at higher rates of speed collide with one another more often and thus break down more easily [background material/motivation] . . . Thus, it was hypothesized that as the temperature of a solvent increases, the rate at which a solute will dissolve in that solvent increases [hypothesis].”

Again—these are guidelines, not commandments. Some writers and readers prefer different structures for the Introduction. The one above merely illustrates a common approach to organizing material.

How do I write a strong Materials and Methods section?

As with any piece of writing, your Methods section will succeed only if it fulfills its readers’ expectations, so you need to be clear in your own mind about the purpose of this section. Let’s review the purpose as we described it above: in this section, you want to describe in detail how you tested the hypothesis you developed and also to clarify the rationale for your procedure. In science, it’s not sufficient merely to design and carry out an experiment. Ultimately, others must be able to verify your findings, so your experiment must be reproducible, to the extent that other researchers can follow the same procedure and obtain the same (or similar) results.

Here’s a real-world example of the importance of reproducibility. In 1989, physicists Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischman announced that they had discovered “cold fusion,” a way of producing excess heat and power without the nuclear radiation that accompanies “hot fusion.” Such a discovery could have great ramifications for the industrial production of energy, so these findings created a great deal of interest. When other scientists tried to duplicate the experiment, however, they didn’t achieve the same results, and as a result many wrote off the conclusions as unjustified (or worse, a hoax). To this day, the viability of cold fusion is debated within the scientific community, even though an increasing number of researchers believe it possible. So when you write your Methods section, keep in mind that you need to describe your experiment well enough to allow others to replicate it exactly.

With these goals in mind, let’s consider how to write an effective Methods section in terms of content, structure, and style.

Sometimes the hardest thing about writing this section isn’t what you should talk about, but what you shouldn’t talk about. Writers often want to include the results of their experiment, because they measured and recorded the results during the course of the experiment. But such data should be reserved for the Results section. In the Methods section, you can write that you recorded the results, or how you recorded the results (e.g., in a table), but you shouldn’t write what the results were—not yet. Here, you’re merely stating exactly how you went about testing your hypothesis. As you draft your Methods section, ask yourself the following questions:

• How much detail? Be precise in providing details, but stay relevant. Ask yourself, “Would it make any difference if this piece were a different size or made from a different material?” If not, you probably don’t need to get too specific. If so, you should give as many details as necessary to prevent this experiment from going awry if someone else tries to carry it out. Probably the most crucial detail is measurement; you should always quantify anything you can, such as time elapsed, temperature, mass, volume, etc.
• Rationale: Be sure that as you’re relating your actions during the experiment, you explain your rationale for the protocol you developed. If you capped a test tube immediately after adding a solute to a solvent, why did you do that? (That’s really two questions: why did you cap it, and why did you cap it immediately?) In a professional setting, writers provide their rationale as a way to explain their thinking to potential critics. On one hand, of course, that’s your motivation for talking about protocol, too. On the other hand, since in practical terms you’re also writing to your teacher (who’s seeking to evaluate how well you comprehend the principles of the experiment), explaining the rationale indicates that you understand the reasons for conducting the experiment in that way, and that you’re not just following orders. Critical thinking is crucial—robots don’t make good scientists.
• Control: Most experiments will include a control, which is a means of comparing experimental results. (Sometimes you’ll need to have more than one control, depending on the number of hypotheses you want to test.) The control is exactly the same as the other items you’re testing, except that you don’t manipulate the independent variable-the condition you’re altering to check the effect on the dependent variable. For example, if you’re testing solubility rates at increased temperatures, your control would be a solution that you didn’t heat at all; that way, you’ll see how quickly the solute dissolves “naturally” (i.e., without manipulation), and you’ll have a point of reference against which to compare the solutions you did heat.

Describe the control in the Methods section. Two things are especially important in writing about the control: identify the control as a control, and explain what you’re controlling for. Here is an example:

“As a control for the temperature change, we placed the same amount of solute in the same amount of solvent, and let the solution stand for five minutes without heating it.”

Structure and style

Organization is especially important in the Methods section of a lab report because readers must understand your experimental procedure completely. Many writers are surprised by the difficulty of conveying what they did during the experiment, since after all they’re only reporting an event, but it’s often tricky to present this information in a coherent way. There’s a fairly standard structure you can use to guide you, and following the conventions for style can help clarify your points.

• Subsections: Occasionally, researchers use subsections to report their procedure when the following circumstances apply: 1) if they’ve used a great many materials; 2) if the procedure is unusually complicated; 3) if they’ve developed a procedure that won’t be familiar to many of their readers. Because these conditions rarely apply to the experiments you’ll perform in class, most undergraduate lab reports won’t require you to use subsections. In fact, many guides to writing lab reports suggest that you try to limit your Methods section to a single paragraph.
• Narrative structure: Think of this section as telling a story about a group of people and the experiment they performed. Describe what you did in the order in which you did it. You may have heard the old joke centered on the line, “Disconnect the red wire, but only after disconnecting the green wire,” where the person reading the directions blows everything to kingdom come because the directions weren’t in order. We’re used to reading about events chronologically, and so your readers will generally understand what you did if you present that information in the same way. Also, since the Methods section does generally appear as a narrative (story), you want to avoid the “recipe” approach: “First, take a clean, dry 100 ml test tube from the rack. Next, add 50 ml of distilled water.” You should be reporting what did happen, not telling the reader how to perform the experiment: “50 ml of distilled water was poured into a clean, dry 100 ml test tube.” Hint: most of the time, the recipe approach comes from copying down the steps of the procedure from your lab manual, so you may want to draft the Methods section initially without consulting your manual. Later, of course, you can go back and fill in any part of the procedure you inadvertently overlooked.
• Past tense: Remember that you’re describing what happened, so you should use past tense to refer to everything you did during the experiment. Writers are often tempted to use the imperative (“Add 5 g of the solid to the solution”) because that’s how their lab manuals are worded; less frequently, they use present tense (“5 g of the solid are added to the solution”). Instead, remember that you’re talking about an event which happened at a particular time in the past, and which has already ended by the time you start writing, so simple past tense will be appropriate in this section (“5 g of the solid were added to the solution” or “We added 5 g of the solid to the solution”).
• Active: We heated the solution to 80°C. (The subject, “we,” performs the action, heating.)
• Passive: The solution was heated to 80°C. (The subject, “solution,” doesn’t do the heating–it is acted upon, not acting.)

Increasingly, especially in the social sciences, using first person and active voice is acceptable in scientific reports. Most readers find that this style of writing conveys information more clearly and concisely. This rhetorical choice thus brings two scientific values into conflict: objectivity versus clarity. Since the scientific community hasn’t reached a consensus about which style it prefers, you may want to ask your lab instructor.

How do I write a strong Results section?

Here’s a paradox for you. The Results section is often both the shortest (yay!) and most important (uh-oh!) part of your report. Your Materials and Methods section shows how you obtained the results, and your Discussion section explores the significance of the results, so clearly the Results section forms the backbone of the lab report. This section provides the most critical information about your experiment: the data that allow you to discuss how your hypothesis was or wasn’t supported. But it doesn’t provide anything else, which explains why this section is generally shorter than the others.

Before you write this section, look at all the data you collected to figure out what relates significantly to your hypothesis. You’ll want to highlight this material in your Results section. Resist the urge to include every bit of data you collected, since perhaps not all are relevant. Also, don’t try to draw conclusions about the results—save them for the Discussion section. In this section, you’re reporting facts. Nothing your readers can dispute should appear in the Results section.

Most Results sections feature three distinct parts: text, tables, and figures. Let’s consider each part one at a time.

This should be a short paragraph, generally just a few lines, that describes the results you obtained from your experiment. In a relatively simple experiment, one that doesn’t produce a lot of data for you to repeat, the text can represent the entire Results section. Don’t feel that you need to include lots of extraneous detail to compensate for a short (but effective) text; your readers appreciate discrimination more than your ability to recite facts. In a more complex experiment, you may want to use tables and/or figures to help guide your readers toward the most important information you gathered. In that event, you’ll need to refer to each table or figure directly, where appropriate:

“Table 1 lists the rates of solubility for each substance”

“Solubility increased as the temperature of the solution increased (see Figure 1).”

If you do use tables or figures, make sure that you don’t present the same material in both the text and the tables/figures, since in essence you’ll just repeat yourself, probably annoying your readers with the redundancy of your statements.

Feel free to describe trends that emerge as you examine the data. Although identifying trends requires some judgment on your part and so may not feel like factual reporting, no one can deny that these trends do exist, and so they properly belong in the Results section. Example:

“Heating the solution increased the rate of solubility of polar solids by 45% but had no effect on the rate of solubility in solutions containing non-polar solids.”

This point isn’t debatable—you’re just pointing out what the data show.

As in the Materials and Methods section, you want to refer to your data in the past tense, because the events you recorded have already occurred and have finished occurring. In the example above, note the use of “increased” and “had,” rather than “increases” and “has.” (You don’t know from your experiment that heating always increases the solubility of polar solids, but it did that time.)

You shouldn’t put information in the table that also appears in the text. You also shouldn’t use a table to present irrelevant data, just to show you did collect these data during the experiment. Tables are good for some purposes and situations, but not others, so whether and how you’ll use tables depends upon what you need them to accomplish.

Tables are useful ways to show variation in data, but not to present a great deal of unchanging measurements. If you’re dealing with a scientific phenomenon that occurs only within a certain range of temperatures, for example, you don’t need to use a table to show that the phenomenon didn’t occur at any of the other temperatures. How useful is this table?

As you can probably see, no solubility was observed until the trial temperature reached 50°C, a fact that the text part of the Results section could easily convey. The table could then be limited to what happened at 50°C and higher, thus better illustrating the differences in solubility rates when solubility did occur.

As a rule, try not to use a table to describe any experimental event you can cover in one sentence of text. Here’s an example of an unnecessary table from How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper , by Robert A. Day:

As Day notes, all the information in this table can be summarized in one sentence: “S. griseus, S. coelicolor, S. everycolor, and S. rainbowenski grew under aerobic conditions, whereas S. nocolor and S. greenicus required anaerobic conditions.” Most readers won’t find the table clearer than that one sentence.

When you do have reason to tabulate material, pay attention to the clarity and readability of the format you use. Here are a few tips:

• Number your table. Then, when you refer to the table in the text, use that number to tell your readers which table they can review to clarify the material.
• Give your table a title. This title should be descriptive enough to communicate the contents of the table, but not so long that it becomes difficult to follow. The titles in the sample tables above are acceptable.
• Arrange your table so that readers read vertically, not horizontally. For the most part, this rule means that you should construct your table so that like elements read down, not across. Think about what you want your readers to compare, and put that information in the column (up and down) rather than in the row (across). Usually, the point of comparison will be the numerical data you collect, so especially make sure you have columns of numbers, not rows.Here’s an example of how drastically this decision affects the readability of your table (from A Short Guide to Writing about Chemistry , by Herbert Beall and John Trimbur). Look at this table, which presents the relevant data in horizontal rows:

It’s a little tough to see the trends that the author presumably wants to present in this table. Compare this table, in which the data appear vertically:

The second table shows how putting like elements in a vertical column makes for easier reading. In this case, the like elements are the measurements of length and height, over five trials–not, as in the first table, the length and height measurements for each trial.

• Make sure to include units of measurement in the tables. Readers might be able to guess that you measured something in millimeters, but don’t make them try.
• Don’t use vertical lines as part of the format for your table. This convention exists because journals prefer not to have to reproduce these lines because the tables then become more expensive to print. Even though it’s fairly unlikely that you’ll be sending your Biology 11 lab report to Science for publication, your readers still have this expectation. Consequently, if you use the table-drawing option in your word-processing software, choose the option that doesn’t rely on a “grid” format (which includes vertical lines).

How do I include figures in my report?

Although tables can be useful ways of showing trends in the results you obtained, figures (i.e., illustrations) can do an even better job of emphasizing such trends. Lab report writers often use graphic representations of the data they collected to provide their readers with a literal picture of how the experiment went.

When should you use a figure?

Remember the circumstances under which you don’t need a table: when you don’t have a great deal of data or when the data you have don’t vary a lot. Under the same conditions, you would probably forgo the figure as well, since the figure would be unlikely to provide your readers with an additional perspective. Scientists really don’t like their time wasted, so they tend not to respond favorably to redundancy.

If you’re trying to decide between using a table and creating a figure to present your material, consider the following a rule of thumb. The strength of a table lies in its ability to supply large amounts of exact data, whereas the strength of a figure is its dramatic illustration of important trends within the experiment. If you feel that your readers won’t get the full impact of the results you obtained just by looking at the numbers, then a figure might be appropriate.

Of course, an undergraduate class may expect you to create a figure for your lab experiment, if only to make sure that you can do so effectively. If this is the case, then don’t worry about whether to use figures or not—concentrate instead on how best to accomplish your task.

Figures can include maps, photographs, pen-and-ink drawings, flow charts, bar graphs, and section graphs (“pie charts”). But the most common figure by far, especially for undergraduates, is the line graph, so we’ll focus on that type in this handout.

At the undergraduate level, you can often draw and label your graphs by hand, provided that the result is clear, legible, and drawn to scale. Computer technology has, however, made creating line graphs a lot easier. Most word-processing software has a number of functions for transferring data into graph form; many scientists have found Microsoft Excel, for example, a helpful tool in graphing results. If you plan on pursuing a career in the sciences, it may be well worth your while to learn to use a similar program.

Computers can’t, however, decide for you how your graph really works; you have to know how to design your graph to meet your readers’ expectations. Here are some of these expectations:

• Keep it as simple as possible. You may be tempted to signal the complexity of the information you gathered by trying to design a graph that accounts for that complexity. But remember the purpose of your graph: to dramatize your results in a manner that’s easy to see and grasp. Try not to make the reader stare at the graph for a half hour to find the important line among the mass of other lines. For maximum effectiveness, limit yourself to three to five lines per graph; if you have more data to demonstrate, use a set of graphs to account for it, rather than trying to cram it all into a single figure.
• Plot the independent variable on the horizontal (x) axis and the dependent variable on the vertical (y) axis. Remember that the independent variable is the condition that you manipulated during the experiment and the dependent variable is the condition that you measured to see if it changed along with the independent variable. Placing the variables along their respective axes is mostly just a convention, but since your readers are accustomed to viewing graphs in this way, you’re better off not challenging the convention in your report.
• Label each axis carefully, and be especially careful to include units of measure. You need to make sure that your readers understand perfectly well what your graph indicates.
• Number and title your graphs. As with tables, the title of the graph should be informative but concise, and you should refer to your graph by number in the text (e.g., “Figure 1 shows the increase in the solubility rate as a function of temperature”).
• Many editors of professional scientific journals prefer that writers distinguish the lines in their graphs by attaching a symbol to them, usually a geometric shape (triangle, square, etc.), and using that symbol throughout the curve of the line. Generally, readers have a hard time distinguishing dotted lines from dot-dash lines from straight lines, so you should consider staying away from this system. Editors don’t usually like different-colored lines within a graph because colors are difficult and expensive to reproduce; colors may, however, be great for your purposes, as long as you’re not planning to submit your paper to Nature. Use your discretion—try to employ whichever technique dramatizes the results most effectively.
• Try to gather data at regular intervals, so the plot points on your graph aren’t too far apart. You can’t be sure of the arc you should draw between the plot points if the points are located at the far corners of the graph; over a fifteen-minute interval, perhaps the change occurred in the first or last thirty seconds of that period (in which case your straight-line connection between the points is misleading).
• If you’re worried that you didn’t collect data at sufficiently regular intervals during your experiment, go ahead and connect the points with a straight line, but you may want to examine this problem as part of your Discussion section.
• Make your graph large enough so that everything is legible and clearly demarcated, but not so large that it either overwhelms the rest of the Results section or provides a far greater range than you need to illustrate your point. If, for example, the seedlings of your plant grew only 15 mm during the trial, you don’t need to construct a graph that accounts for 100 mm of growth. The lines in your graph should more or less fill the space created by the axes; if you see that your data is confined to the lower left portion of the graph, you should probably re-adjust your scale.
• If you create a set of graphs, make them the same size and format, including all the verbal and visual codes (captions, symbols, scale, etc.). You want to be as consistent as possible in your illustrations, so that your readers can easily make the comparisons you’re trying to get them to see.

How do I write a strong Discussion section?

The discussion section is probably the least formalized part of the report, in that you can’t really apply the same structure to every type of experiment. In simple terms, here you tell your readers what to make of the Results you obtained. If you have done the Results part well, your readers should already recognize the trends in the data and have a fairly clear idea of whether your hypothesis was supported. Because the Results can seem so self-explanatory, many students find it difficult to know what material to add in this last section.

Basically, the Discussion contains several parts, in no particular order, but roughly moving from specific (i.e., related to your experiment only) to general (how your findings fit in the larger scientific community). In this section, you will, as a rule, need to:

Explain whether the data support your hypothesis

• Acknowledge any anomalous data or deviations from what you expected

Derive conclusions, based on your findings, about the process you’re studying

• Relate your findings to earlier work in the same area (if you can)

Explore the theoretical and/or practical implications of your findings

Let’s look at some dos and don’ts for each of these objectives.

This statement is usually a good way to begin the Discussion, since you can’t effectively speak about the larger scientific value of your study until you’ve figured out the particulars of this experiment. You might begin this part of the Discussion by explicitly stating the relationships or correlations your data indicate between the independent and dependent variables. Then you can show more clearly why you believe your hypothesis was or was not supported. For example, if you tested solubility at various temperatures, you could start this section by noting that the rates of solubility increased as the temperature increased. If your initial hypothesis surmised that temperature change would not affect solubility, you would then say something like,

“The hypothesis that temperature change would not affect solubility was not supported by the data.”

Note: Students tend to view labs as practical tests of undeniable scientific truths. As a result, you may want to say that the hypothesis was “proved” or “disproved” or that it was “correct” or “incorrect.” These terms, however, reflect a degree of certainty that you as a scientist aren’t supposed to have. Remember, you’re testing a theory with a procedure that lasts only a few hours and relies on only a few trials, which severely compromises your ability to be sure about the “truth” you see. Words like “supported,” “indicated,” and “suggested” are more acceptable ways to evaluate your hypothesis.

Also, recognize that saying whether the data supported your hypothesis or not involves making a claim to be defended. As such, you need to show the readers that this claim is warranted by the evidence. Make sure that you’re very explicit about the relationship between the evidence and the conclusions you draw from it. This process is difficult for many writers because we don’t often justify conclusions in our regular lives. For example, you might nudge your friend at a party and whisper, “That guy’s drunk,” and once your friend lays eyes on the person in question, she might readily agree. In a scientific paper, by contrast, you would need to defend your claim more thoroughly by pointing to data such as slurred words, unsteady gait, and the lampshade-as-hat. In addition to pointing out these details, you would also need to show how (according to previous studies) these signs are consistent with inebriation, especially if they occur in conjunction with one another. To put it another way, tell your readers exactly how you got from point A (was the hypothesis supported?) to point B (yes/no).

Acknowledge any anomalous data, or deviations from what you expected

You need to take these exceptions and divergences into account, so that you qualify your conclusions sufficiently. For obvious reasons, your readers will doubt your authority if you (deliberately or inadvertently) overlook a key piece of data that doesn’t square with your perspective on what occurred. In a more philosophical sense, once you’ve ignored evidence that contradicts your claims, you’ve departed from the scientific method. The urge to “tidy up” the experiment is often strong, but if you give in to it you’re no longer performing good science.

Sometimes after you’ve performed a study or experiment, you realize that some part of the methods you used to test your hypothesis was flawed. In that case, it’s OK to suggest that if you had the chance to conduct your test again, you might change the design in this or that specific way in order to avoid such and such a problem. The key to making this approach work, though, is to be very precise about the weakness in your experiment, why and how you think that weakness might have affected your data, and how you would alter your protocol to eliminate—or limit the effects of—that weakness. Often, inexperienced researchers and writers feel the need to account for “wrong” data (remember, there’s no such animal), and so they speculate wildly about what might have screwed things up. These speculations include such factors as the unusually hot temperature in the room, or the possibility that their lab partners read the meters wrong, or the potentially defective equipment. These explanations are what scientists call “cop-outs,” or “lame”; don’t indicate that the experiment had a weakness unless you’re fairly certain that a) it really occurred and b) you can explain reasonably well how that weakness affected your results.

If, for example, your hypothesis dealt with the changes in solubility at different temperatures, then try to figure out what you can rationally say about the process of solubility more generally. If you’re doing an undergraduate lab, chances are that the lab will connect in some way to the material you’ve been covering either in lecture or in your reading, so you might choose to return to these resources as a way to help you think clearly about the process as a whole.

This part of the Discussion section is another place where you need to make sure that you’re not overreaching. Again, nothing you’ve found in one study would remotely allow you to claim that you now “know” something, or that something isn’t “true,” or that your experiment “confirmed” some principle or other. Hesitate before you go out on a limb—it’s dangerous! Use less absolutely conclusive language, including such words as “suggest,” “indicate,” “correspond,” “possibly,” “challenge,” etc.

Relate your findings to previous work in the field (if possible)

We’ve been talking about how to show that you belong in a particular community (such as biologists or anthropologists) by writing within conventions that they recognize and accept. Another is to try to identify a conversation going on among members of that community, and use your work to contribute to that conversation. In a larger philosophical sense, scientists can’t fully understand the value of their research unless they have some sense of the context that provoked and nourished it. That is, you have to recognize what’s new about your project (potentially, anyway) and how it benefits the wider body of scientific knowledge. On a more pragmatic level, especially for undergraduates, connecting your lab work to previous research will demonstrate to the TA that you see the big picture. You have an opportunity, in the Discussion section, to distinguish yourself from the students in your class who aren’t thinking beyond the barest facts of the study. Capitalize on this opportunity by putting your own work in context.

If you’re just beginning to work in the natural sciences (as a first-year biology or chemistry student, say), most likely the work you’ll be doing has already been performed and re-performed to a satisfactory degree. Hence, you could probably point to a similar experiment or study and compare/contrast your results and conclusions. More advanced work may deal with an issue that is somewhat less “resolved,” and so previous research may take the form of an ongoing debate, and you can use your own work to weigh in on that debate. If, for example, researchers are hotly disputing the value of herbal remedies for the common cold, and the results of your study suggest that Echinacea diminishes the symptoms but not the actual presence of the cold, then you might want to take some time in the Discussion section to recapitulate the specifics of the dispute as it relates to Echinacea as an herbal remedy. (Consider that you have probably already written in the Introduction about this debate as background research.)

This information is often the best way to end your Discussion (and, for all intents and purposes, the report). In argumentative writing generally, you want to use your closing words to convey the main point of your writing. This main point can be primarily theoretical (“Now that you understand this information, you’re in a better position to understand this larger issue”) or primarily practical (“You can use this information to take such and such an action”). In either case, the concluding statements help the reader to comprehend the significance of your project and your decision to write about it.

Since a lab report is argumentative—after all, you’re investigating a claim, and judging the legitimacy of that claim by generating and collecting evidence—it’s often a good idea to end your report with the same technique for establishing your main point. If you want to go the theoretical route, you might talk about the consequences your study has for the field or phenomenon you’re investigating. To return to the examples regarding solubility, you could end by reflecting on what your work on solubility as a function of temperature tells us (potentially) about solubility in general. (Some folks consider this type of exploration “pure” as opposed to “applied” science, although these labels can be problematic.) If you want to go the practical route, you could end by speculating about the medical, institutional, or commercial implications of your findings—in other words, answer the question, “What can this study help people to do?” In either case, you’re going to make your readers’ experience more satisfying, by helping them see why they spent their time learning what you had to teach them.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

American Psychological Association. 2010. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association . 6th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Beall, Herbert, and John Trimbur. 2001. A Short Guide to Writing About Chemistry , 2nd ed. New York: Longman.

Blum, Deborah, and Mary Knudson. 1997. A Field Guide for Science Writers: The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers . New York: Oxford University Press.

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald. 2016. The Craft of Research , 4th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Briscoe, Mary Helen. 1996. Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A Guide to Better Posters, Presentations, and Publications , 2nd ed. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Council of Science Editors. 2014. Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers , 8th ed. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.

Davis, Martha. 2012. Scientific Papers and Presentations , 3rd ed. London: Academic Press.

Day, Robert A. 1994. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper , 4th ed. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

Porush, David. 1995. A Short Guide to Writing About Science . New York: Longman.

Williams, Joseph, and Joseph Bizup. 2017. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace , 12th ed. Boston: Pearson.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Write a Science Fair Project Report

Lab Reports and Research Essays

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• Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
• B.A., Physics and Mathematics, Hastings College

Writing a science fair project report may seem like a challenging task, but it is not as difficult as it first appears. This is a format that you may use to write a science project report. If your project included animals, humans, hazardous materials, or regulated substances, you can attach an appendix that describes any special activities your project required. Also, some reports may benefit from additional sections, such as abstracts and bibliographies. You may find it helpful to fill out the science fair lab report template to prepare your report.

Important: Some science fairs have guidelines put forth by the science fair committee or an instructor. If your science fair has these guidelines, be sure to follow them.

• Title:  For a science fair, you probably want a catchy, clever title. Otherwise, try to make it an accurate description of the project. For example, I could entitle a project, "Determining Minimum NaCl Concentration That Can Be Tasted in Water." Avoid unnecessary words, while covering the essential purpose of the project. Whatever title you come up with, get it critiqued by friends, family, or teachers.
• Introduction and Purpose:  Sometimes this section is called "background." Whatever its name, this section introduces the topic of the project, notes any information already available, explains why you are interested in the project, and states the purpose of the project. If you are going to state references in your report, this is where most of the citations are likely to be, with the actual references listed at the end of the entire report in the form of a bibliography or reference section.
• The Hypothesis or Question:  Explicitly state your hypothesis or question.
• Materials and Methods:  List the materials you used in your project and describe the procedure that you used to perform the project. If you have a photo or diagram of your project, this is a good place to include it.
• Data and Results:  Data and results are not the same things. Some reports will require that they be in separate sections, so make sure you understand the difference between the concepts. Data refers to the actual numbers or other information you obtained in your project. Data can be presented in tables or charts, if appropriate. The results section is where the data is manipulated or the hypothesis is tested. Sometimes this analysis will yield tables, graphs, or charts, too. For example, a table listing the minimum concentration of salt that I can taste in water, with each line in the table being a separate test or trial, would be data. If I average the data or perform a statistical test of a null hypothesis , the information would be the results of the project.
• Conclusion:  The conclusion focuses on the hypothesis or question as it compares to the data and results. What was the answer to the question? Was the hypothesis supported (keep in mind a hypothesis cannot be proved, only disproved)? What did you find out from the experiment? Answer these questions first. Then, depending on your answers, you may wish to explain the ways in which the project might be improved or introduce new questions that have come up as a result of the project. This section is judged not only by what you were able to conclude but also by your recognition of areas where you could not draw valid conclusions based on your data.

Appearances Matter

Neatness counts, spelling counts, grammar counts. Take the time to make the report look nice. Pay attention to margins, avoid fonts that are difficult to read or are too small or too large, use clean paper, and make print the report cleanly on as good a printer or copier as you can.

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A Guide to Writing a Scientific Paper: A Focus on High School Through Graduate Level Student Research

Renee a. hesselbach.

1 NIEHS Children's Environmental Health Sciences Core Center, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

David H. Petering

2 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Craig A. Berg

3 Curriculum and Instruction, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Henry Tomasiewicz

Daniel weber.

This article presents a detailed guide for high school through graduate level instructors that leads students to write effective and well-organized scientific papers. Interesting research emerges from the ability to ask questions, define problems, design experiments, analyze and interpret data, and make critical connections. This process is incomplete, unless new results are communicated to others because science fundamentally requires peer review and criticism to validate or discard proposed new knowledge. Thus, a concise and clearly written research paper is a critical step in the scientific process and is important for young researchers as they are mastering how to express scientific concepts and understanding. Moreover, learning to write a research paper provides a tool to improve science literacy as indicated in the National Research Council's National Science Education Standards (1996), and A Framework for K–12 Science Education (2011), the underlying foundation for the Next Generation Science Standards currently being developed. Background information explains the importance of peer review and communicating results, along with details of each critical component, the Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results , and Discussion . Specific steps essential to helping students write clear and coherent research papers that follow a logical format, use effective communication, and develop scientific inquiry are described.

Introduction

A key part of the scientific process is communication of original results to others so that one's discoveries are passed along to the scientific community and the public for awareness and scrutiny. 1 – 3 Communication to other scientists ensures that new findings become part of a growing body of publicly available knowledge that informs how we understand the world around us. 2 It is also what fuels further research as other scientists incorporate novel findings into their thinking and experiments.

Depending upon the researcher's position, intent, and needs, communication can take different forms. The gold standard is writing scientific papers that describe original research in such a way that other scientists will be able to repeat it or to use it as a basis for their studies. 1 For some, it is expected that such articles will be published in scientific journals after they have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication. Scientists must submit their articles for examination by other scientists familiar with the area of research, who decide whether the work was conducted properly and whether the results add to the knowledge base and are conveyed well enough to merit publication. 2 If a manuscript passes the scrutiny of peer-review, it has the potential to be published. 1 For others, such as for high school or undergraduate students, publishing a research paper may not be the ultimate goal. However, regardless of whether an article is to be submitted for publication, peer review is an important step in this process. For student researchers, writing a well-organized research paper is a key step in learning how to express understanding, make critical connections, summarize data, and effectively communicate results, which are important goals for improving science literacy of the National Research Council's National Science Education Standards, 4 and A Framework for K–12 Science Education, 5 and the Next Generation Science Standards 6 currently being developed and described in The NSTA Reader's Guide to A Framework for K–12 Science Education. 7 Table 1 depicts the key skills students should develop as part of the Science as Inquiry Content Standard. Table 2 illustrates the central goals of A Framework for K–12 Science Education Scientific and Engineering Practices Dimension.

Key Skills of the Science as Inquiry National Science Education Content Standard

National Research Council (1996).

Important Practices of A Framework for K–12 Science Education Scientific and Engineering Practices Dimension

National Research Council (2011).

Scientific papers based on experimentation typically include five predominant sections: Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion . This structure is a widely accepted approach to writing a research paper, and has specific sections that parallel the scientific method. Following this structure allows the scientist to tell a clear, coherent story in a logical format, essential to effective communication. 1 , 2 In addition, using a standardized format allows the reader to find specific information quickly and easily. While readers may not have time to read the entire research paper, the predictable format allows them to focus on specific sections such as the Abstract , Introduction , and Discussion sections. Therefore, it is critical that information be placed in the appropriate and logical section of the report. 3

Guidelines for Writing a Primary Research Article

The Title sends an important message to the reader about the purpose of the paper. For example, Ethanol Effects on the Developing Zebrafish: Neurobehavior and Skeletal Morphogenesis 8 tells the reader key information about the content of the research paper. Also, an appropriate and descriptive title captures the attention of the reader. When composing the Title , students should include either the aim or conclusion of the research, the subject, and possibly the independent or dependent variables. Often, the title is created after the body of the article has been written, so that it accurately reflects the purpose and content of the article. 1 , 3

The Abstract provides a short, concise summary of the research described in the body of the article and should be able to stand alone. It provides readers with a quick overview that helps them decide whether the article may be interesting to read. Included in the Abstract are the purpose or primary objectives of the experiment and why they are important, a brief description of the methods and approach used, key findings and the significance of the results, and how this work is different from the work of others. It is important to note that the Abstract briefly explains the implications of the findings, but does not evaluate the conclusions. 1 , 3 Just as with the Title , this section needs to be written carefully and succinctly. Often this section is written last to ensure it accurately reflects the content of the paper. Generally, the optimal length of the Abstract is one paragraph between 200 and 300 words, and does not contain references or abbreviations.

All new research can be categorized by field (e.g., biology, chemistry, physics, geology) and by area within the field (e.g., biology: evolution, ecology, cell biology, anatomy, environmental health). Many areas already contain a large volume of published research. The role of the Introduction is to place the new research within the context of previous studies in the particular field and area, thereby introducing the audience to the research and motivating the audience to continue reading. 1

Usually, the writer begins by describing what is known in the area that directly relates to the subject of the article's research. Clearly, this must be done judiciously; usually there is not room to describe every bit of information that is known. Each statement needs one or more references from the scientific literature that supports its validity. Students must be reminded to cite all references to eliminate the risk of plagiarism. 2 Out of this context, the author then explains what is not known and, therefore, what the article's research seeks to find out. In doing so, the scientist provides the rationale for the research and further develops why this research is important. The final statement in the Introduction should be a clearly worded hypothesis or thesis statement, as well as a brief summary of the findings as they relate to the stated hypothesis. Keep in mind that the details of the experimental findings are presented in the Results section and are aimed at filling the void in our knowledge base that has been pointed out in the Introduction .

Materials and Methods

Research utilizes various accepted methods to obtain the results that are to be shared with others in the scientific community. The quality of the results, therefore, depends completely upon the quality of the methods that are employed and the care with which they are applied. The reader will refer to the Methods section: (a) to become confident that the experiments have been properly done, (b) as the guide for repeating the experiments, and (c) to learn how to do new methods.

It is particularly important to keep in mind item (b). Since science deals with the objective properties of the physical and biological world, it is a basic axiom that these properties are independent of the scientist who reported them. Everyone should be able to measure or observe the same properties within error, if they do the same experiment using the same materials and procedures. In science, one does the same experiment by exactly repeating the experiment that has been described in the Methods section. Therefore, someone can only repeat an experiment accurately if all the relevant details of the experimental methods are clearly described. 1 , 3

The following information is important to include under illustrative headings, and is generally presented in narrative form. A detailed list of all the materials used in the experiments and, if important, their source should be described. These include biological agents (e.g., zebrafish, brine shrimp), chemicals and their concentrations (e.g., 0.20 mg/mL nicotine), and physical equipment (e.g., four 10-gallon aquariums, one light timer, one 10-well falcon dish). The reader needs to know as much as necessary about each of the materials; however, it is important not to include extraneous information. For example, consider an experiment involving zebrafish. The type and characteristics of the zebrafish used must be clearly described so another scientist could accurately replicate the experiment, such as 4–6-month-old male and female zebrafish, the type of zebrafish used (e.g., Golden), and where they were obtained (e.g., the NIEHS Children's Environmental Health Sciences Core Center in the WATER Institute of the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee). In addition to describing the physical set-up of the experiment, it may be helpful to include photographs or diagrams in the report to further illustrate the experimental design.

A thorough description of each procedure done in the reported experiment, and justification as to why a particular method was chosen to most effectively answer the research question should also be included. For example, if the scientist was using zebrafish to study developmental effects of nicotine, the reader needs to know details about how and when the zebrafish were exposed to the nicotine (e.g., maternal exposure, embryo injection of nicotine, exposure of developing embryo to nicotine in the water for a particular length of time during development), duration of the exposure (e.g., a certain concentration for 10 minutes at the two-cell stage, then the embryos were washed), how many were exposed, and why that method was chosen. The reader would also need to know the concentrations to which the zebrafish were exposed, how the scientist observed the effects of the chemical exposure (e.g., microscopic changes in structure, changes in swimming behavior), relevant safety and toxicity concerns, how outcomes were measured, and how the scientist determined whether the data/results were significantly different in experimental and unexposed control animals (statistical methods).

Students must take great care and effort to write a good Methods section because it is an essential component of the effective communication of scientific findings.

The Results section describes in detail the actual experiments that were undertaken in a clear and well-organized narrative. The information found in the Methods section serves as background for understanding these descriptions and does not need to be repeated. For each different experiment, the author may wish to provide a subtitle and, in addition, one or more introductory sentences that explains the reason for doing the experiment. In a sense, this information is an extension of the Introduction in that it makes the argument to the reader why it is important to do the experiment. The Introduction is more general; this text is more specific.

Once the reader understands the focus of the experiment, the writer should restate the hypothesis to be tested or the information sought in the experiment. For example, “Atrazine is routinely used as a crop pesticide. It is important to understand whether it affects organisms that are normally found in soil. We decided to use worms as a test organism because they are important members of the soil community. Because atrazine damages nerve cells, we hypothesized that exposure to atrazine will inhibit the ability of worms to do locomotor activities. In the first experiment, we tested the effect of the chemical on burrowing action.”

Then, the experiments to be done are described and the results entered. In reporting on experimental design, it is important to identify the dependent and independent variables clearly, as well as the controls. The results must be shown in a way that can be reproduced by the reader, but do not include more details than needed for an effective analysis. Generally, meaningful and significant data are gathered together into tables and figures that summarize relevant information, and appropriate statistical analyses are completed based on the data gathered. Besides presenting each of these data sources, the author also provides a written narrative of the contents of the figures and tables, as well as an analysis of the statistical significance. In the narrative, the writer also connects the results to the aims of the experiment as described above. Did the results support the initial hypothesis? Do they provide the information that was sought? Were there problems in the experiment that compromised the results? Be careful not to include an interpretation of the results; that is reserved for the Discussion section.

The writer then moves on to the next experiment. Again, the first paragraph is developed as above, except this experiment is seen in the context of the first experiment. In other words, a story is being developed. So, one commonly refers to the results of the first experiment as part of the basis for undertaking the second experiment. “In the first experiment we observed that atrazine altered burrowing activity. In order to understand how that might occur, we decided to study its impact on the basic biology of locomotion. Our hypothesis was that atrazine affected neuromuscular junctions. So, we did the following experiment..”

The Results section includes a focused critical analysis of each experiment undertaken. A hallmark of the scientist is a deep skepticism about results and conclusions. “Convince me! And then convince me again with even better experiments.” That is the constant challenge. Without this basic attitude of doubt and willingness to criticize one's own work, scientists do not get to the level of concern about experimental methods and results that is needed to ensure that the best experiments are being done and the most reproducible results are being acquired. Thus, it is important for students to state any limitations or weaknesses in their research approach and explain assumptions made upfront in this section so the validity of the research can be assessed.

The Discussion section is the where the author takes an overall view of the work presented in the article. First, the main results from the various experiments are gathered in one place to highlight the significant results so the reader can see how they fit together and successfully test the original hypotheses of the experiment. Logical connections and trends in the data are presented, as are discussions of error and other possible explanations for the findings, including an analysis of whether the experimental design was adequate. Remember, results should not be restated in the Discussion section, except insofar as it is absolutely necessary to make a point.

Second, the task is to help the reader link the present work with the larger body of knowledge that was portrayed in the Introduction . How do the results advance the field, and what are the implications? What does the research results mean? What is the relevance? 1 , 3

Lastly, the author may suggest further work that needs to be done based on the new knowledge gained from the research.

Supporting Documentation and Writing Skills

Tables and figures are included to support the content of the research paper. These provide the reader with a graphic display of information presented. Tables and figures must have illustrative and descriptive titles, legends, interval markers, and axis labels, as appropriate; should be numbered in the order that they appear in the report; and include explanations of any unusual abbreviations.

The final section of the scientific article is the Reference section. When citing sources, it is important to follow an accepted standardized format, such as CSE (Council of Science Editors), APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), or CMS (Chicago Manual of Style). References should be listed in alphabetical order and original authors cited. All sources cited in the text must be included in the Reference section. 1

When writing a scientific paper, the importance of writing concisely and accurately to clearly communicate the message should be emphasized to students. 1 – 3 Students should avoid slang and repetition, as well as abbreviations that may not be well known. 1 If an abbreviation must be used, identify the word with the abbreviation in parentheses the first time the term is used. Using appropriate and correct grammar and spelling throughout are essential elements of a well-written report. 1 , 3 Finally, when the article has been organized and formatted properly, students are encouraged to peer review to obtain constructive criticism and then to revise the manuscript appropriately. Good scientific writing, like any kind of writing, is a process that requires careful editing and revision. 1

A key dimension of NRC's A Framework for K–12 Science Education , Scientific and Engineering Practices, and the developing Next Generation Science Standards emphasizes the importance of students being able to ask questions, define problems, design experiments, analyze and interpret data, draw conclusions, and communicate results. 5 , 6 In the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, we found the guidelines presented in this article useful for high school science students because this group of students (and probably most undergraduates) often lack in understanding of, and skills to develop and write, the various components of an effective scientific paper. Students routinely need to focus more on the data collected and analyze what the results indicated in relation to the research question/hypothesis, as well as develop a detailed discussion of what they learned. Consequently, teaching students how to effectively organize and write a research report is a critical component when engaging students in scientific inquiry.

Acknowledgments

This article was supported by a Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) grant (Award Number R25RR026299) from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. The SEPA program at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee is part of the Children's Environmental Health Sciences Core Center, Community Outreach and Education Core, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Award Number P30ES004184). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

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Recent Research in Science Teaching and Learning

• Sarah L. Eddy

*Address correspondence to: Sarah L. Eddy ( E-mail Address: [email protected] ).

Department of Biological Sciences, STEM Transformation Institute, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199

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The Current Insights feature is designed to introduce life science educators and researchers to current articles of interest in other social science and education journals. In this installment, I highlight three diverse research studies: one addresses the relationships between active learning and teaching evaluations; one presents an observation tool for documenting metacognition in the classroom; and the last explores things teachers can say to encourage students to employ scientific reasoning during class discussions.

STUDENT EVALUATIONS AND ACTIVE LEARNING

Henderson, C., Khan, R., & Dancy, M. (2018). Will my student evaluations decrease if I adopt an active learning instructional strategy? American Journal of Physics , 86 (12), 934–942. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5065907

Student evaluations are widely used and are often the sole source for the evaluation of faculty teaching. As described in the Introduction, fear that one’s student evaluations may decrease is one of the oft-cited reasons for faculty not adopting active-learning techniques. Yet this phenomenon has not been studied on a large scale. Henderson and colleagues test the hypothesis that active learning lowers student evaluations in a population of physics and astronomy instructors who participated in a long-running faculty development workshop. Forty percent (40%) of new physics and astronomy faculty attended this workshop. Of the more than 1300 workshop participants, 431 responded to a follow-up survey. Participants were asked about their use of active-learning methods in their most recent quantitative physics class; whether their student evaluations were impacted by the use of active learning; and whether students complained about the inclusion of active learning. If a faculty member reported a change in student evaluations, he or she was given an opportunity to provide an explanation for that change.

The majority of respondents saw either an increase (48%) or no change in their student evaluations (32%). The subset of instructors who reported receiving lower teaching evaluations also reported substantially less time lecturing than instructors who reported better evaluations. This pattern seemed driven by people using interactive methods for more than 80% of a class period, as this population was more likely to report reduced evaluations. Student complaints followed a similar pattern, with an increase in complaints becoming the most common outcome for instructors using active methods more than 80% of class time.

The reasons shared by instructors for why their evaluations changed were varied. For those who reported their evaluations improving, more than 20% of the instructors thought this increase was due to each of the following: students believing they were learning more, students enjoying class more, students enjoying interacting with one another, or students enjoying using technology. For those who reported lower evaluations, 40% reported that the students felt that the instructor was not teaching. Interestingly, many of these instructors also confessed as part of this comment that they were not good at “selling” the active learning. They next most common explanation given for lower evaluations was that students did not like working during class time; they would rather be listeners.

The results of this study suggest that, for the majority of faculty, adopting active learning will not negatively impact student evaluations. The study also suggests that those instructors concerned about student evaluations could incorporate active-learning activities for as much as 80% of class time and still not be likely to see a negative impact on their evaluations. This could be useful information to share with departmental colleagues and anyone mentoring new faculty who are deciding how to teach. As always, though, some caution should be taken in applying these results in a new context. Specifically, the authors acknowledge that they did not account for what types of active learning instructors implemented. It may be that some methods are more accepted by students than others.

TEACHERS TALKING METACOGNITION

Zepeda, C. D., Hlutkowsky, C. O., Partika, A. C., & Nokes-­Malach, T. J. (2018, October 29). Identifying teachers’ supports of metacognition through classroom talk and its relation to growth in conceptual learning. Journal of Educational Psychology (advance online publication). https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000300

Metacognition refers to one’s knowledge and awareness of one’s own thought processes. As reviewed in the Introduction, metacognition is considered highly desirable for students, because it has been linked to many positive outcomes in experimental and classroom studies, including achievement, transfer of knowledge from one context to another, and motivation. Although many studies have focused on the use of planned interventions for metacognition, few have looked at what teachers are saying and doing spontaneously in the classroom that might influence student metacognition.

Zepeda and colleagues developed an observation protocol to detect classroom talk directed toward metacognitive growth in middle school students in math classrooms. They identified both the metacognitive content of the talk and the delivery method by documenting four dimensions, each with three possible states: the type of metacognitive knowledge being promoted; the metacognitive skill being worked on; the manner in which the teacher delivered this content; and how specific the metacognitive skill is frame d (from specific to the question being worked on to a more global approach to problem solving). For example, a teacher might say, “Alright, so explain to us what you are doing right now.” This would be coded as personal knowledge, because the student is asked about his or her own process. The skill being worked on would be monitoring, (i.e., being aware of why they are doing what they are doing). The manner in which the teacher delivers the content would be directive, because the teacher is telling the student to do something. The framing could be domain general, because the prompt could be used with any type of problem. I am not going to go further into the individual states for each dimension due to space, but there are lengthy descriptions of them within the original paper.

The authors use this observation tool with one class session from 39 middle school math instructors. The classes were selected from a larger national data set of middle school classrooms. Every class included in this larger data set had math knowledge assessments. The current authors created a smaller data set that included instructors who had the most student growth on the math assessment over a year and a set of instructors who had the least growth after accounting for various student- and instructor-level factors. Each video was transcribed and each teacher statement was examined for metacognitive talk. Any instance of metacognitive talk was coded for the four dimensions in the observation tool.

Overall, there were very few metacognitive statements made by teachers (∼7% of teacher statements), but even with this low overall percentage, there were some interesting patterns. The odds of teachers engaging in metacognitive talk were 4.75 times greater during whole-class activities than during activities done individually by students. In addition, in high math growth classes, the odds of instructors engaging in metacognitive talk were 1.5 times higher than in low math growth classes.

The content of the metacognitive talk differed between these two class types as well. In terms of the knowledge dimension, teachers in the high math growth classes elicited more personal knowledge statements in which students shared their own understanding of what they were doing in class than teachers in the low math growth classes. The high math growth class also had more statements focused on the skills of monitoring and evaluating their own work. In terms of how the metacognitive content was delivered (manner), the high math growth class had more directive statements. Finally, the high math growth classes had more domain-general framing of the metacognitive statements.

This study demonstrates that classroom observations can be used to explore metacognition and that the same methods that work most effectively in interventions designed to promote metacognition may also work more informally during teach talk in class. Although the authors cannot rule out that teachers who are more effective in other ways are also more likely to engage in metacognitive talk, the results do suggest that certain ways and certain content of metacognitive talk is more effective than others.

BUILDING STUDENT’S SCIENTIFIC REASONING IN CONVERSATIONS

Grinath, A. S., & Southerland, S. A. (2018). Applying the ambitious science teaching framework in undergraduate biology: Responsive talk moves that support explanatory rigor. Science Education ,  103 (1), 92–122. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21484

Active learning is centered around the idea that it encourages students to engage in their own learning, often through conversations about course content. Yet the quality of these conversations can vary. In this paper, Grinath and Southerland explore how instructors can influence in-class student discussions.

To explore the question of facilitation effects without confounding variables of differences between lessons, content, and students, the authors chose to work with 26 teaching assistants (TAs) instructing sections of the same introductory biology lab for nonmajors at the same university. This controlled both the content being presented to students across instructors and the structure of the lessons, as each TA was provided the same slides and the same training in how to conduct the lab. The laboratory lessons were designed around the Ambitious Science Teaching framework described in the Introduction, which is meant to help students engage in the meaningful practices of their discipline, including scientific dialogue. One aspect of this framework is helping students connect their everyday explanations of their experiences to the scientific principles underlying them, that is, bridging their everyday way of talking and science talk. This initial conversation is thought to help them meaningfully engage in the subsequent lesson. This study focuses on these initial conversations.

Grinath and Southerland recorded the 8- to 22-minute–long class discussions that opened a lab class exploring how organisms respond to stimuli. At the start of class, students were asked to describe how they experience stress and explain what is driving this response. The authors transcribed the recordings and characterized each TA discourse “move,” a statement made by a TA that served a specific communication function. These moves were coded as conservative or ambitious . Conservative patterns follow the traditional classroom pattern, in which the expertise lies with the instructor only. These moves include the instructor asking questions that only have one correct answer, usually about recalling facts or procedures; evaluating a student response as right or wrong; and explaining the connection between the student response and the scientific concept rather than having students make the connection. Ambitious patterns of discourse allow students to be experts, and the instructor is the facilitator. These instructor moves include asking questions with many possible reasonable answers, probing student responses, and pressing students to supply explanations for their answers. Finally, observers also coded TA moves as inclusive or not inclusive . Inclusive moves could include providing opportunities for multiple students to respond to a question, acknowledging a contribution without indicating correctness, and repeating student responses out loud.

The discourse moves were correlated with student talk. Grinath and Southerland used a framework for explanatory rigor of scientific talk to code student responses in the initial class discussion. There were three codes for student answers: fact , observation , and explanation . A turn of student talk was coded as fact if it was short and a vocabulary word or scientific definition not grounded in personal experience. Observations were what a student thought was happening based on personal experience. Finally, explanations were students’ ideas of why something was happening. The goal of ambitious science teaching is to help students start making their own explanations of phenomena grounded in science and their own experiences. Thus, TA discourse moves that promoted student explanations were considered the most important in this study.

Using linear regressions with a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, Grinath and Southerland found that conservative discourse moves by TAs were related to an increase in student responses being simply fact statements. Ambitious questions (with multiple possible answers) did not predict student responses, but ambitious responses in which TAs deliberately probed student response and pressed students to expand on their answers did relate to increased explanations. Finally, inclusive moves together related to increased observations given by students.

This work highlights several interesting principles that could be expanded beyond labs. First, it seems that, without deliberately pressing for it (and removing the instructor’s explanations), students are not making explanations themselves. They offer facts or observations and wait for the instructor to put them together. Yet explaining phenomena is a key scientific practice and one students should develop. Second, how instructors respond to student answers is critical for creating meaningful conversations in the classroom, maybe even more critical than the qualities of the initial question itself.

• A Critical Feminist Approach for Equity and Inclusion in Undergraduate Biology Education 22 April 2021

© 2019 S. L. Eddy. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2019 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

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Mental wellbeing is increasingly recognized as an essential aspect of our overall health. It supports our ability to handle challenges, build strong relationships, and live more fulfilling lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) emphasizes the importance of mental health by acknowledging it as a fundamental human right.

This Mental Health Awareness Week, we highlight the remarkable work of scientists driving open research that helps everyone achieve better mental health.

Here are five Research Topics that study themes including how we adapt to a changing world, the impact of loneliness on our wellbeing, and the connection between our diet and mental health.

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There is no health without mental health. Thus, this Research Topic collects ideas and research related to strategies that promote mental health across all disciplines. The goal is to raise awareness about mental health promotion and protection to ensure its incorporation in national mental health policies.

This topic is of relevance given the mental health crisis being experienced across the world right now. A reality that has prompted the WHO to declare that health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing.

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There is a clear consensus that the quality, quantity, and even timing of our human feeding patterns directly impact how brains function. But despite the epidemiological and mechanistic links between mental health and diet-related diseases, these two are often perceived as separate medical issues.

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85.000 views | 29 articles

In this Research Topic, scientists study a wider range of variables involved in change and adaptation. They examine changes of any type or magnitude whenever the lack of adaptive response diminishes our development and well-being.

Today’s society is characterized by change, and sometimes, the constant changes are difficult to assimilate. This may be why feelings of frustration and defenselessness appear in the face of the impossibility of responding adequately to the requirements of a changing society.

Therefore, society must develop an updated notion of the processes inherent to changing developmental environments, personal skills, resources, and strategies. This know-how is crucial for achieving and maintaining balanced mental health.

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The goal of this Research Topic is to move beyond a synthesis of what is already known about mental health in the context of health equity. Rather, the focus here is on transformative solutions, recommendations, and applied research that have real world implications on policy, practice, and future scholarship.

Attention in the field to upstream factors and the role of social and structural determinants of health in influencing health outcomes, combined with an influx of innovation –particularly the digitalization of healthcare—presents a unique opportunity to solve pressing issues in mental health through a health equity lens.

The topic is opportune because factors such as structural racism and climate change have disproportionately negatively impacted marginalized communities across the world, including Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, and transition-age youth and young adults. As a result, existing disparities in mental health have exacerbated.

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Effect of nano-TiO 2 size and utilization ratio on the performance of photocatalytic concretes; self-cleaning, fresh, and hardened state properties

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• Published: 18 May 2024

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• Hatice Gizem Şahin 1 ,
• Müge Temel 1 ,
• Gözde Koçak 2 ,
• Ali Mardani   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0326-5015 1 &
• Ali Kara 2  

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In this study, photocatalysis technology was used to reduce water pollution. Decolorization of Reactive Black 5 using nano-TiO 2 (NT) as a photocatalyst was investigated by adsorption and degradation experiments. Effects of NT particle size and utilization ratio on the time-dependent flow performance, compressive-flexural strength, and Bohme abrasion resistance of cementitious systems were investigated. In addition to the NT-free control mixture, a total of six photocatalytic self-cleaning mortar mixtures (PSCM) were prepared using NT in two different particle sizes (28 and 38 nm) and three different ratios (0.5%, 1%, and 1.5%). The PSCM sample containing 38 nm NT exhibited superior performance in terms of photocatalytic properties compared to the 28 nm state. It was observed that the flow performance of PSCM mixtures with NT substitution is adversely affected regardless of the NT type. Mixtures containing NT with a lower particle size (28 nm) had higher compressive and flexural strengths.

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Introduction

Air and water pollution caused by rapidly developing industrialization brings along important social concerns (Kalıpcılar et al. 2016 ; Mardani-Aghabaglou et al. 2019 ; Sezer et al. 2016 ; Yiğit et al. 2020 ; Mardani-Aghabaglou 2016 ; Yüksel et al. 2016 ; Şahin and Mardani 2022a ). At the forefront of these concerns is “health problems.” It is known that approximately 9% of the total annual carbon emissions come from the construction sector. Studies are being carried out on CO 2 emissions resulting from increasing environmental requirements and different suggestions have been presented to reduce CO 2 emissions. In a very comprehensive study conducted by Riekstins et al. ( 2020 ), it was stated that one of these is to ensure energy efficiency by using grinding aids during clinker grinding, and another is to reduce cement usage by substituting certain amounts of mineral additives into the cement used. The use of mineral admixtures in cementitious systems is widely researched (Şahin et al. 2024a , 2024b ).

Volatile organic compounds and inorganic oxides (CO 2 , NO x , and SO x ) in the air accelerate global warming by causing secondary hazards such as acid rain in addition to health problems (Nath et al. 2016 ). The application of “photocatalysis” technology, which accelerates the natural decomposition process, was accepted as an effective solution to reduce and/or prevent the pollution in question (Yang et al. 2000 ). With the help of this technology, numerous pollutants, including hydrocarbons, chlorinated hydrocarbons, SO 2 , CO, and NO, can be transformed directly into H 2 O and CO 2 without the use of an additional carrier gas (Castro-Hoyos et al. 2022 ). In a study by Beeldens ( 2008 ), it was stated that concrete is an ideal substrate for “photocatalysis” reactions due to its large surface area. Similarly, it was stated by various researchers that the self-cleaning and pollutant removal performance is improved when photocatalytic materials are used in concrete (Liang et al. 2019 ). In this process, energy and time savings are achieved due to the use of sun rays and rain water (Obuchi et al. 1999 ; Yu and Brouwers 2009 ). Due to these positive effects, concretes with self-cleaning technology, produced by using materials with photocatalytic properties, have become a popular topic in recent years (Shen et al. 2015 ; Zailan et al. 2017 ). Most studies in this area have focused on the use of semiconductor oxides as photocatalysts, such as titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), zinc oxide (ZnO), cadmium selenide (CdSe), and tungsten oxide (WO 3 ). Compared to other oxides, TiO2 is preferred more because of (i) low cost, (ii) non-toxicity and (iii) good thermal stability, (iv) easy accessibility, and (v) chemical-biological inertness (Yuranova et al. 2007 ; Yasmina et al. 2014 ; Lazar et al. 2012 ; Kweinor Tetteh et al. 2021 ; Zhang et al. 2016 ). Apart from its self-cleaning effect, it was reported that the use of nano-TiO 2 (NT) has some positive effects on the mechanical properties of cementitious systems (Sanchez and Sobolev 2010 ; Pacheco-Torgal and Jalali 2011 ). In a study conducted by Li et al. ( 2007 ), it was determined that the flexural-fatigue performance of the concrete mixture increased with the addition of 1% NT. In a study by Daniyal et al. ( 2019 ), it was emphasized that the use of NT improves the microstructure by causing a denser matrix formation. In another study by Senff et al. ( 2012 ), it was determined that the use of NT increased the compressive strength of concrete mixtures.

The large amount of waste water resulting from industrialization and globalization causes water pollution by being discharged into water resources without undergoing treatment processes. It was emphasized that dyestuffs come first among these pollutants (Lellis et al. 2019 ). It was declared that the mentioned dyestuffs are classified as nitro, azo, indigo, phtalein, anthraquinone, triphenyl, methyl, and nitrate dyes according to the chemical structures of the chromophore groups. Reactive Black 5 (RB5) dyestuff is in the azo dyestuffs class, which constitutes approximately 70% of the dyestuffs used in the industry (Berradi et al. 2019 ). It was emphasized that RB5 is a water-soluble synthetic dyestuff found most commonly in wastewater (Jalali Sarvestani and Doroudi 2020 ). It was understood that the chemical structure of RB5 is characterized by an azo (-N = N-) chromophore group and a sulfonic (-SO3-) functional group (Przystas et al. 2012 ; Sudha et al. 2014 ; Benkhaya et al. 2017 ; Kaplan et al. 2019 ). Dyestuffs cause deterioration of water quality, decrease in gas solubility, increase in toxicity, allergic reactions, and cancer in the skin by reducing photosynthesis in the aquatic ecosystem (Sudha et al. 2014 ; Asad et al. 2007 ; Shanehsaz et al. 2015 ; Imran et al. 2015 ; Slama et al. 2021 ). For this reason, the treatment of dyestuffs from wastewater has become extremely important.

Traditional treatment methods are used to reduce the environmental impact of dyestuffs. It was reported that these methods are (i) ozonation (Snider and Porter 1974 ), (ii) chlorination (Francy et al. 2012 ), (iii) sedimentation (Mazari and Abdessemed 2020 ), (iv) ultrafiltration (Barredo-Damas et al. 2010 ), and (v) adsorption (Ram et al. 2012 ; Georgiou et al. 2002 ).

It was emphasized that traditional treatment methods are not sufficient to remove dyestuffs, despite the various positive effects they provide. Advanced oxidation processes have come about as a result of this. It was understood that photocatalytic decolorization is an advanced oxidation process and is a more effective and sustainable method for the removal of dyestuffs compared to other methods (Natarajan et al. 2018 ). As emphasized earlier, this process converts organic pollutants into non-toxic small molecules such as CO 2 , H 2 O, and HCl using low-energy UV light and a semiconductor (Espulgas et al. 2002 ; Bizani et al. 2006 ; Cebeci and Selçuk 2020 ).

In this study, photocatalysis technology was used to reduce water pollution. It was reported that charcoal (Horgnies et al. 2012 ), methylene blue (Zhou et al. 2022 ), and Rhodamine-B (Ruot et al. 2009 ) are used in concrete structures to control this process. However, in the textile industry, RB5 was found to be removed from fabrics by photocatalysis technology (Tang and Chen 2004 ). It was emphasized before that RB5 is found in high amounts in wastewater as a dyestuff. In this study, it was planned to remove RB5 by applying the photocatalysis process. Thus, it is foreseen that the quality of wastewater will be increased by applying the photocatalysis process. However, the use of NT is also aimed to improve the mechanical properties of the produced photocatalytic self-cleaning mortar (PSCM) mixtures. Within the scope of this study, it was aimed to examine the effect of NT particle size and utilization ratio on photocatalytic concrete properties. In addition to the control mixture without NT, six series of NT substituted mixtures were prepared. For this purpose, PSCM mixtures were produced by replacing NT with particle sizes of 28 nm and 38 nm with cement at the rates of 0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5%. Time-dependent flow performance, photocatalytic property, compressive-flexural strength, and Böhme abrasion resistance of PSCM mixtures were determined. The photocatalytic property of the mixtures was examined in two stages: adsorption and decolorization.

Material and method

CEM I 42.5R type PC was used as a binder. The properties of the cement are shown in Table  1 .

Two NT with 28- and 38-nm particle size were used in order to fully comprehend the impact of NT fineness on the performance of cementitious systems. Some properties of the NT used are shown in Table  2 .

Crushed limestone aggregate with a D max of 2 mm was used in the preparation of photocatalytic self-cleaning mortar (PSCM) mixtures. The specific gravity and water absorption capacity values of the aggregate determined in accordance with TS EN 1097–6 were measured as 2.58 and 0.4%, respectively. Figure  1 shows the SEM analysis image and EDS results of the limestone aggregate. Additionally, the granulometry of the aggregate is shown in Fig.  2 .

SEM and EDS analysis of limestone aggregate

Grading curve of the aggregate used in the study

A polycarboxylate ether-based high range water reducing admixture (HRWRA) was used to achieve a target flow value of 240 ± 20 mm. Some properties of the HRWRA are shown in Table  3 .

In experimental studies, RB5 (dye content ≥ 50%) used to determine photocatalytic properties, from Sigma-Aldrich, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (Mw = 70.000, ≥ 85% hydrolyzed), toluene (≥ 99%), HCl (32%), benzoyl peroxide (with 25% H 2 O), NaOH (98%, pellet), and ethyl alcohol were obtained from Merck. The chemical structure of the RB5 dyestuff applied in the study is shown in Fig.  3 .

• Reactive Black 5

Mixing ratios

In order to examine the effect of NT particle size and utilization ratio on the photocatalytic concrete properties, six series of NT substituted mixtures were prepared in addition to the NT-free control mixture. For this purpose, PSCM mixtures were produced by replacing NT with 28-nm and 38-nm particle sizes with 0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5% cement. Within the scope of the study, the amount of material used in the production of 1 m 3 PSCM mixtures with a flow value of 240 ± 20 mm is shown in Table  4 . The w/b ratio was kept as 0.45 in all mixtures. The naming of the mixtures was made according to the NT particle size and utilization ratio. For example, the mixture containing NT at a 1% substitution ratio with a particle size of 28 nm was named NT28_1%. The prepared samples were subjected to water curing in accordance with the standard until the test day.

Time-dependent flow performance, photocatalytic property, compressive-flexural strength, and Bohme abrasion resistance of PSCM mixtures were determined. The workflow applied within the scope of the study is shown in Fig.  4 .

Workflow carried out within the scope of the study

Flow performance

Nano-materials, which are highly reactive and increase the risk of agglomeration (Wiesner and Bottero 2017 ), can seriously affect fresh state properties such as time-dependent flow and rheological performance of cementitious systems (Nazar et al. 2020 ). Thus, it was thought that the properties that provide information about the homogeneity and flowability of cementitious systems should be determined in mixtures containing NT (Jiang et al. 2018 ; Senff et al. 2012 ). It was understood that these properties of paste mixtures are generally determined by rheology testing (Şahin and Mardani 2022b , Şahin and Mardani 2023a ). It was understood that these properties of mortar and concrete mixtures are generally determined by time-dependent flow performance. According to the literature, it was reported that the rheological properties are generally negatively affected by the addition of nano-materials to the mixture. However, some studies have also been found that state the opposite of this situation. In order to resolve these contradictions, time-dependent flow properties of mortar mixtures were investigated.

Time-dependent flow performance of PSCM mixtures was determined by measuring the flow value in accordance with ASTM C1437. In addition, the flow value was measured time interval 20 min for 60 min in order to examine the effect of NT usage on the flow performance of the mixtures.

Photocatalytic properties

Photocatalytic properties of the mixtures were investigated in two stages as adsorption and decolorization.

Adsorption experiments

It was reported by Ferkous et al. ( 2022 ) that the pH value of the solution is the most important factor affecting the adsorption and decolorization of dyestuffs on concrete samples, since the surface charge of the adsorbent changes. For the adsorption and decolorization studies of RB5 dyestuff, the optimum pH value was chosen as pH3 based on previous studies. Three different specimens, control, NT28_1.5%, and NT38_1.5%, were used for adsorption studies of concrete samples. Experimental studies were carried out under the optimum conditions of 25 °C ambient temperature and 30 mg/L solution concentration; it was carried out by taking 50 ml of dyestuff solution. The surface area of the concrete specimens in contact with the dye solution was measured as 75 cm 2 . RB5 dyestuff solutions containing concrete samples were kept in the dark for 24 h. At the end of the experiment, the remaining dyestuff concentration in the solutions was determined by UV–vis spectrophotometer (Shimadzu-2100 UV–vis, Japan). In Fig.  5 , the wavelength-absorbance graph of the RB5 dyestuff is shown. The adsorption capacity ( Q e ) (mg/g) of the remaining dyestuff concentration in each solution was determined using Eq.  1 (Özer et al. 2015 ; El-Bery et al. 2022 ).

where \({C}_{0}\) is the initial dye concentration (mg/L), \({C}_{e}\) is the dye remaining concentration in solution (mg/L), \(v\) is the volume of solution (mL), and \(m\) is the polymer amount (g).

Wavelength-absorbance graph of RB5

Decolorization experiments

Photocatalytic decolorization of RB5 dyestuff was investigated over time. The experiments were carried out under UV light with a wavelength of 366 nm and in a cabinet at a constant temperature of 25 °C. The remaining dyestuff concentration in the solution was determined by UV–vis spectrophotometer. The % removal amount was calculated using Eq.  2 (Elhadj et al. 2020 ).

where \({C}_{0}\) is the initial dye concentration (mg/cm 2 ), and \({C}_{e}\) is the dye remaining concentration in solution (mg/L).

The adsorption of RB5 dyestuff to PSCM samples is shown in Fig.  6 .

Adsorption of RB5 dyestuff to PSCM samples

A schematic depiction of the photocatalytic degradation mechanism of RB5 dyestuff with a concrete sample is presented in Fig.  7 . Photocatalytic reactions commence with the excitation of the TiO 2 semiconductor by a UV source. The electrons in the valence band move to the conduction band, creating positive vacancies (h +) in the valence band and electrons (e − ) in the conduction band. These electron–hole pairs initiate redox reactions by transferring to the surface of the TiO 2 photocatalyst. Thus, water molecules or hydroxyl (OH − ) ions in the valence band are oxidized by the vacancies to form active hydroxyl radicals (OH). The electrons transitioning to the conduction band also react with O 2 molecules on the photocatalyst surface to produce O 2 − . The free radicals facilitate the degradation of pollutant compounds, leading to their conversion into CO 2 and H 2 O (Koçak Mutlu et al. 2024 ; Navidpour et al. 2023 ). This mechanism generally describes not only the removal of pollution in water (dyes, lead, copper, mercury, etc.) but also the elimination of volatile organic compounds in air (benzene, formaldehyde, toluene, etc.) and the self-cleaning ability of the TiO 2 semiconductor with the assistance of UV rays (Tsang et al. 2019 ).

Schematic representation of the photocatalytic degradation mechanism of RB5 dyestuff with concrete sample

Mechanical properties

The 7- and 28-day compressive strength and Bohme abrasion resistance of the mixtures were determined on 50-mm cube samples, respectively, according to ASTM C109 and EN 1338 Standards. The 7- and 28-day flexural strength of the mixtures was determined by performing a three-point bending test on 40 × 40 × 160 mm prism specimens in accordance with TS EN 196–1 Standard.

Experimental results and discussion

RB5 adsorption capacities and photocatalytic decolorization of control, NT28_1.5%, and NT38_1.5% are shown in Figs.  8 and 9 , respectively.

Adsorption capacity

Graph of % removal over time

Regardless of the particle size, the adsorption capacity of the mixtures containing NT was found to be higher than the control mixture. Also, it is seen that the 38 nm NT-containing PSCM sample has better RB5 adsorption capacity and dye removal performance than the 28-nm case. It was stated by Gunnelius et al. ( 2014 ) that the surface area and activity of NT increase with increasing particle fineness. It is thought that the hydration rate is higher in mixtures containing NT with a particle size of 28 nm (Li et al. 2020 ). It was also stated by Nazari and Riahi ( 2010 ) and Nazari et al. ( 2010 ) that with the decrease in the particle fineness of NT, the potential of NTs that do not or only slightly bind to CH to leak to the surface is high. In this case, it is thought that the particles infiltrating the surface increase the photocatalytic effect. As expected, the percentage of dye removal increased over time.

In a study by Kalkan et al. ( 2014 ), the removal of RB5 from aqueous solutions using silica fume after its modification with laccase from Russulaceae ( Lactarius volemus ) was examined. It was shown that the adsorption experimental data agreed well with the Langmuir isotherm model, and the adsorption capacity was found to be 322.58 mg/g. As a result, it has been understood that laccase-modified silica fume can be used as an alternative low-cost adsorbent in the processing of aqueous solutions. In another study conducted by Erdal et al. ( 2010 ), the removal of textile dye RB5 color by actively growing the mycelium of the Penicillium chrysogenum MT-6 fungus isolated from cement-contaminated soil was examined. The maximum removal/uptake of dye by the fungus was measured to be 89% with a biomass production of 3.83 g/l at an initial dye concentration of 0.3 g/l in 100 h. As a result, it was determined that the fungus is a good biosystem for decolorizing the medium containing RB5.

In order to explain the decolorization kinetics of RB5 dyestuff in the presence of concrete samples, a suitable kinetic model was searched by drawing ln( C / C 0 ) −  t graphs. The degradation kinetics of RB5 dyestuff were also evaluated by literature studies and explained with a first-order kinetic model (Hang et al. 2005 ).

where r is the rate and K app (min −1 ) the apparent first-order rate constant; the integration of Eq. ( 4 ) gives:

It is known that the ln( C / C 0 ) graph is linear and examined as a function of time (David and Vedhi 2017 ). A constant K app value is characteristic of the photocatalytic process and defines that the model conforms to the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model, where the reaction takes place in diluted medium (Elhadj et al. 2020 ). The graph of 1/ K app vs. C 0 is presented in Fig.  10 .

1/ K app -C graph

Modeling of degradation kinetics by the Langmuir–Hinshelwood

The Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) model states that dyestuffs are adsorbed according to the Langmuir model before undergoing photocatalytic degradation (Elhadj et al. 2020 ). Adsorption of RB5 dyestuff on the surface of concrete samples affects the rate of degradation. The L–H equation, which expresses the connection between concentration and velocity, is given in Eq.  5 .

where Ks (L/mg) is the adsorption constant; Kr (mg/L.min) represents the rate of reaction.

Linear form of the equation:

1/ K aap is expressed as a function of Cr. Looking at the graph in Fig.  10 , it is seen that the curve is linear ( r  = 0.9969). This shows that it is compatible with the L–H model.

Time-dependent flow performance

The flow value of the PSCM mixtures produced within the scope of the study, measured every 20 min for 60 min, and the HRWRA requirement where the target flow value is achieved are shown in Table  5 . Regardless of the utilization ratio and particle size, it was understood that the need for HRWRA increased in order to achieve the desired flow value with NT substitution into the mixture. In a similar study (Joshaghani et al. 2020 ), it was emphasized that the workability was adversely affected by the use of 5% NT, and this was due to the increased water requirement of the mixtures. Similar results were obtained by Nazari and Riahi ( 2010 ) and Nazari et al. ( 2010 ). According to Lee and Kurtis ( 2010 ), the use of NT in cementitious systems increases the hydration rate of C 3 S, causing the formation of C–S–H gel at earlier ages. It was emphasized that this situation causes an increase in the degree of hydration of cementitious systems and negatively affects the workability. Similar statements were also reported by Singh et al. ( 2015 ). In another study by Chen et al. ( 2012 ), it was found that when 5% and 10% NT are substituted into the mixture, the water requirement to achieve target flow value increases by 7 and 15%, respectively. It was emphasized that this may be due to the rapid free water consumption accelerating the bridging process of the voids, resulting in increased viscosity and earlier solidification. It was reported by Ma et al. ( 2016 ) that the addition of NT accelerates the formation and precipitation of early hydration products. It was emphasized that this situation caused the workability properties of NT-containing mixtures to be adversely affected.

It is also understood from Table  5 that the decrease in flow performance as a result of NT substitution into the mixture becomes more evident with the decrease in NT particle size. As a result of the addition of 1.5% of NT with 28- and 38-nm particle sizes to the mixture, it was understood that the need for HRWRA in PSCM mixtures increased by 29% and 14%, respectively. It is thought that the need for HRWRA is higher due to the increase in the wettable surface area (Durgun et al. 2022 ; Mardani-Aghabaglou et al. 2018 ; Özen et al. 2021 ; Şahin et al. 2022 , 2020 ; Şahin and Mardani 2023b ) and the amount of adsorbed water due to the increased surface area due to the decrease in NT particle size (Kuo et al. 2006 ). It was reported by Chen et al. ( 2012 ) that the rapid hardening potential, which is directly dependent on the NT particle size and utilization ratio, directly affects the consistency retention capacity of the mixtures.

It is understood from the table that 0.5% substituted PSCM mixtures in both particle sizes exhibited the best consistency retention performance at 60 min. In addition, it was observed that mixtures containing 0.5% NT have better consistency retention performance, regardless of particle size. It was observed that the consistency retention capacity decreased as the NT substitution ratio increased. It was reported by Wang et al. ( 2018 ) that this may be due to the increase in the hydration rate and the acceleration of the setting due to the increase in NT substitution.

Compressive strength

Compressive strength (CS) results of PSCM are shown in Fig.  11 . It was understood that the CS of the mixtures containing NT with a lower particle size value (28 nm) was higher regardless of the sample age. This condition is believed to be the result of the quick consumption of Ca(OH) 2 produced during the hydration of portland cement, which was brought on by the NT’s smaller particle size, increased surface area, and increased reactivity. However, it was stated by Nazari et al. ( 2010 ) that the use of NT improves the particle packing density of the cement and thus less large pores are formed in the cement paste.

Seven- and 28-day CS values of PSCM

It was observed that the 7-day CS increased by 1, 11, and 6%, respectively, with 0.5%, 1.0, and 1.5% NT substitution with 28-nm particle size to the control mixture. In 28-day samples, this rate was found to be 1, 19, and 11, respectively. Thus, it was determined that the optimum NT particle size and utilization ratio in terms of CS were 28 nm and 1%, respectively. It was understood that the use of NT above this ratio affects the CS of PSCM mixtures negatively. It was emphasized that this situation may be due to the decrease in the crystalline Ca(OH) 2 content required for C-S–H gel formation with the increase of NT, on the one hand, and the increase in the amount of voids in the matrix as a result of the presence of large amounts of nano-particles in the system (Sorathiya et al. 2017 ). Similarly, in a study where NT with a particle size of 15 nm was used at 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.25, and 1.50% of the cement weight, it was emphasized that the optimum NT usage rate in terms of CS was 1% (Sorathiya et al. 2017 ). In another study by Nazari et al. ( 2010 ), it was determined that the CS value obtained when 2% of NT with a particle size of 15 nm is used is similar to the control mixture without NT. According to reports, the combination contains more NT particles than is necessary for them to react with the lime that is produced during the hydration process. This results in excessive particle leakage and negatively affects the mixture’s strength. Similar results were also reported by Dikkar et al. ( 2021 ). In another study conducted by Mohd Sani et al. ( 2022 ), it was reported that the CS increased with an increase of 1% in the use of NT, but decreased above this rate. However, in a study conducted by Sharma et al. ( 2019 ), it was observed that the maximum CS value in mixtures containing NT with a particle size of 15 nm is obtained when 1.5% NT is used.

Various studies in the literature (Feng et al. 2013 ; Khataee et al. 2013 ; Karapati et al. 2014 ; Zhu et al. 2022 ; Mousavi et al. 2021 ) have emphasized that the optimum NT usage rate in cementitious mixtures containing NT is between 1 and 2%. In a study conducted by Zhu et al. ( 2022 ), the compressive strength of cement paste produced using different proportions of NT was examined. It has been reported that the mixture with optimum compressive strength contains 2% NT. In a study conducted by Khushwaha et al. ( 2015 ), the compressive strength of mixtures with 1%, 2%, and 3% NT content was examined. It has been determined that the strength decreases with increasing dosage. According to Chen et al. ( 2012 ), the compressive strength of mixtures containing two different NTs with particle sizes of 21 nm and 350 nm was examined. It was stated that the 7- and 28-day compressive strengths of the mixture containing 21 nm NT were higher than the results of the mixture containing 350 nm NT. It has been emphasized that the increase in strength is greater as the particle size decreases. However, the study conducted by Li ( 2021 ) reported the opposite. It was emphasized that as the particle size increases, it can absorb less amount of water as its surface area decreases. It was emphasized that NTs used in smaller particle sizes will deteriorate the W/B ratio, negatively affect workability, and cause internal defects. It was stated in various studies that the dosage of NT usage is important to increase the compressive strength in cementitious systems and that it depends on many parameters such as particle size, distribution, W/B ratio, and curing temperature (Li et al. 2023 ; Moro et al. 2020 ; Francioso et al. 2019 , Pimenta Teixeira et al. 2016 ).

Unlike the mixtures containing NT with a particle size of 28 nm, the 7-day CS was decreased by 15, 12, and 2%, respectively, with 0.5%, 1.0, and 1.5% substitution of NT with 38-nm particle size in the control mixture. It was understood that this decrease was 7 and 6%, respectively, in the samples with 0.5% and 1% NT replacement for 28 days. A 3.5% increase in strength was measured for the mixture containing 1.5% NT. It is thought that this negative effect experienced with the use of NT with 38-nm particle size is due to its relatively lower surface area and reactivity compared to 28 nm NT.

Three-point flexural strength

Seven- and 28-day three-point flexural strength (FS) results of PSCM are presented in Fig.  12 . FS values increased with the addition of NT to the mixture, regardless of particle size and sample age. It was understood that there are different opinions about this behavior in the literature. Nazari and Riahi ( 2010 ) and Nazari et al. ( 2010 ) suggested that this is due to the acceleration of the hydration reaction, especially at early ages, with the addition of NT, and thus the formation of hydration products in larger volumes. However, according to Meng et al. ( 2012 ), this increase in FS was not due to the increase in the amount of hydration products, which was due to the decrease in the orientation index for the core function. On the other hand, it was stated by Nazari and Riahi ( 2010 ) and Nazari et al. ( 2010 ) that NTs provide the reduction of voids in cementitious systems by recovering the particle packing density of the cement, thus contributing to the increase in strength. It was determined that the 7-day FS were increased by 15, 16, and 20%, respectively, with 0.5%, 1.0, and 1.5% NT substitution with 28-nm particle size to the control mixture.

Results of FS of mixtures

In a similar study (Selvasofia et al. 2022 ), in which NT was used at 1, 2, 3, and 4% of cement weight, it was found that 2% and 3% NT substituted mixtures had the highest FS values. In order to explain the reason for this situation, FESEM images were examined. It was observed that in the 2% and 3% NT substituted state, a homogeneous C-S–H gel with relatively few spaces between the particles was formed. In addition, it was reported that NT used at the rate of 2% and 3% is fully bonded to the cement, resulting in a stronger bond and increased FS. However, it was understood that the highest FS values in the 28-day samples were obtained when the NT usage rate was 0.5% and it was not necessary to increase the usage rate. A similar statement was also stated by Meng et al. ( 2012 ).

In NT-substituted mixtures with 38-nm particle size, 4% and 13% reductions were measured in 7- and 28-day FS, respectively, with an increase in NT utilization rate from 0.5 to 1.5%. In a study conducted by Salman et al. ( 2016 ), the effect of using 0.25%, 0.75, 1.25, and 1.75% NT on the FS of mixtures was investigated. As a result, it was reported that the use of NT up to 0.75% causes the FS of the mixtures to increase, but the use of NT above this ratio causes the FS values to be adversely affected. It was stated that in the case of 0.75% of the cement weight NT is used, it acts as a filler to strengthen the microstructure of the system, reduces the amount and size of CH crystals, and increases the strength due to filling the voids of the C-S–H gel structure. However, it was reported that there is a decrease in nano-particle distance with an increase in the amount of NT use up to 1.75%, and the CH crystal cannot grow to the appropriate size due to the limited space, and this causes a decrease in strength.

As with the CS values, it was measured that the NT-containing mixtures with a particle size of 28 nm have a higher FS value than the mixtures containing NT with a particle size of 38 nm, regardless of the NT utilization rate. With smaller particle size, the number of surface atoms increases, depending on the increase in the surface area. It was emphasized that the highly active and unstable nature of these surface atoms causes an increase in the hydration reaction rate and higher strengths (Kuo et al. 2006 ).

In addition, it was observed that the optimum NT utilization rate was 0.5% in terms of FS, regardless of particle size. In this case, the mixture with the highest FS was NT28_0.5%.

• Bohme abrasion resistance

The 7- and 28-day Bohme abrasion resistance (B’AR) results of PSCM specimens are shown in Fig.  13 . It was found that mixtures containing NT had higher B’AR at all ages, independent of NT particle size and utilization ratio. This situation was thought to be due to the formation of a denser matrix with the use of nano-materials and the reduction of the permeability of the system due to the nucleation effect (Selvasofia et al. 2022 ). A study by Chen et al. ( 2012 ) reported that as hydration continues, aggregations containing nano-particles expand and fill the void space around them over time, contributing to the reduction of porosity over time. On the other hand, Gartner et al. ( 2002 ) emphasized that the decrease in porosity as a result of nano-material addition is due to the physical clogging of capillary spaces.

Bohme abrasion resistance results

Effect of NT usage rate on the B’AR of the mixtures varies depending on the sample age, particle size, and NT usage rate. It was observed that the mass loss of 7-day PSCM decreased with the increase in the use of NT with 28-nm particle size up to 1%. However, the opposite was found with NT substitution above this ratio. It was understood that the mass loss increased continuously with the increase in the use of NT in the 28-day samples. In mixtures containing NT with a particle size of 38 nm, regardless of the sample age, it was understood that the mass loss increased as the NT usage rate increased up to 1%, but decreased above this rate.

It was found that NT substituted mixtures with 38-nm particle size have higher B’AR than mixtures containing 28 nm NT. This is thought to be due to the increase in the particle size of NT and the NTs that do not bind to CH leak onto the surface (Nazari and Riahi 2010 ; Nazari et al. 2010 ), contributing to the hardening of the surface and thus to the increase in B’AR. When the 7-day B’AR performance was examined, it was observed that the NT38_1.5% mixture had a 50% higher B’AR compared to the control mixture. This result was measured to be followed by the NT28_1.0% mixture, which had a 40% increase compared to the control. In the 28-day samples, the mixture with the best B’AR was found to be NT38_0.5% (44% increase compared to control), followed by NT28_0.5% (33% increase compared to control).

Microstructure ımages

Microstructure images of the mixtures produced within the scope of the study are shown in Fig.  14 . The micro-structure of the specimens was studied by using Carl Zeiss/Gemini 300 electron microscope. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were attempted to identify the properties of mentioned materials. When Fig.  14 is examined, the effect of NT addition on density and porosity is clearly understood. It was observed that the cracks and pores in the control mixture, shown with the red line, decreased with the use of NT, regardless of the fineness of the NT. Similarly, in a study conducted by Feng et al. ( 2013 ), cement paste containing 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5% of the cement mass with NT and a water/cement ratio of 0.4 was prepared and SEM images were examined. As a result, it was observed that NT substitution greatly reduced the amount of internal microcracks in the cement paste. Also, it was emphasized that a new type of needle-shaped hydration product was observed.

Microstructure images of mixtures

Conclusions

The following results are provided in line with the study’s materials and the practical experiments:

It was understood that the mixtures containing NT with a higher particle size value (38 nm) in terms of photocatalytic properties performed better.

It was determined that decolorization kinetics were compatible with Langmuir–Hinshelwood model in all mixtures regardless of NT particle size and utilization ratio.

It was understood that the flow performance of PSCM mixtures was negatively affected by NT substitution. This situation became more evident with the increase in NT utilization ratio and the decrease in particle size.

It was determined that the addition of 1.5% of NT with particle sizes of 28 and 38 nm to the mixture raised the requirement for HRWRA in PSCM mixes by 29% and 14%, respectively.

CS of the mixtures containing NT with lower particle size (28 nm) was higher. In terms of compressive strength, the optimum NT particle size and utilization ratio were found to be 28 nm and 1%, respectively.

It was found that when 0.5%, 1.0, and 1.5% of the NT replacement with 28-nm particle size was added to the control mixture, the 7-day CS increased by 1, 11, and 6%, respectively. This rate was determined to be 1, 19, and 11 in 28-day samples.

It was determined that flexural strength and Bohme abrasion resistance values increased with the addition of NT to the control mixture, regardless of particle size and sample age. In terms of flexural strength, the optimum NT utilization rate was 0.5%. NT-substituted mixtures with 38-nm particle size were measured to have higher abrasion resistance.

When the 7-day B’AR performance was examined, it was measured that the NT38_1.5% mixture had a 50% higher B’AR value than the control mixture, and the NT28_1.0% mixture showed a 40% increase compared to the control.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Bursa Uludağ University Scientific Research Coordination Center (BUUSRC) for their support to the project numbered FOA-2022-1135. First author thanks the TUBITAK 2211-A program for its support throughout her doctoral education. In addition, second author thanks the scholarship provided by BUUSRC with the project number FAY-2021-579.

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Şahin, H.G., Temel, M., Koçak, G. et al. Effect of nano-TiO 2 size and utilization ratio on the performance of photocatalytic concretes; self-cleaning, fresh, and hardened state properties. Environ Sci Pollut Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-33660-9

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