Scientific Essay | How To Write It, Parts And Characteristics

We explain what a scientific essay is, its characteristics and the parts that make it up. Also, how to write a scientific essay?

What is a scientific essay?

A scientific essay is a type of prose writing in which the author gives his opinion or position on a particular topic based on certain objective information that comes from laws or scientifically reliable evidence.

The scientific essay uses formal language , although not necessarily elaborate or sophisticated, to convey an idea or present a thought of the author. It is made up of two fundamental parts: an objective part, in which the thesis or scientific theory is exposed, and another subjective part in which the writer of the essay presents conclusions or hypotheses on the issue raised.

The type of content that a scientific essay addresses is varied, but always revolves around science-related topics . In addition, the essays vary among themselves in length, objective and audience to which they are directed.

Characteristics of a scientific essay

Some of the main characteristics of a scientific essay are:

• It must be original and unpublished . An essay must present an opinion or point of view drawn up by the author himself, so subjective information from other authors cannot be copied or replicated.
• You can use a free theme . There is no specific area or topic for the development of a scientific essay, but the author can choose the subject that is of interest to him.
• It should only address one topic . A scientific essay does not address multiple topics at once, but rather focuses on expressing a single, central idea. Then you can address related or secondary topics, but always in relation to the main topic.
• Use a scientific theory or law as a basis . The starting point of any scientific essay is to investigate a topic and then develop the conclusions or hypotheses.
• It must be synthetic . All scientific essays must be brief but must always include relevant data. In general terms, although it depends on the topic addressed, scientific essays do not usually exceed four or five A4 pages.
• It has stages . A scientific essay is carried out by following certain steps that guide the author and allow him to do a good job.
• It is written in simple and formal language . For the writing of a scientific essay, a formal and objective language must be used, although it does not have to be strictly scientific.
• It must have order and coherence . For the organization of an essay, it is advisable to follow certain guidelines or order when organizing and capturing the information.
• Bibliography must be included . Any scientific essay must include the sources from which the scientific data is obtained. This is extremely important to give seriousness and confidence in the essay and to give credit to the authors of the scientific theories or laws.

How to do a scientific essay?

There are certain steps or stages that can be carried out when doing a scientific essay. These are:

• Selection of the research area . The author of the essay chooses the field or discipline on which he wants to investigate.
• Research . We proceed to the reading of different topics of interest that allow reducing the field of action and result in the topic on which it will be investigated.
• Delimitation of the subject . After defining the theme, the author recognizes something that he does not understand or is interesting about a theory and discovers the axis of his essay.
• Information search . The author investigates everything that is published on that particular topic and collects the data and information he needs to later refute or affirm his own hypotheses or conclusions.
• Organization and selection of information . The author uses all the information previously collected and chooses which is the essential information, which will be discarded and which will be complementary data.
• Elaboration of an outline . From the information collected, the most important concepts are extracted and the primary and secondary ideas are recognized. The data of interest and the conclusions drawn from the research are turned over on a sheet.
• Preparation of a draft . The order that the information will have within the essay is defined and the writing begins.
• Writing the essay . The final version of the essay is written and contents of the draft can be added or deleted. In this instance, attention must be paid to the correction and editing of the writing, since it is important that the essay does not have errors in style or in spelling and grammar.

Parts of a scientific essay

A scientific essay consists of the following elements:

• Title . It is the name that the scientific essay will bear. It is important that it is original and refers to the content of the writing.
• Introduction . The topic that the essay will address is raised and the hypotheses or what explains the reason for the choice of that topic are formulated.
• Development . The ideas or data that support the author's position are presented and developed and the bases on which the author starts for the investigation are raised and made known . Information and data from certified sources are used in the development of the essay and opinions and points of view of the author may be included (although always duly justified). The essay must be a personal and original analysis and, in the event that extracts or content from other authors are cited, the source must be specified.
• Conclusions . The conclusions reached by the author after the investigation and analysis of information are detailed.
• Bibliography. The sources of information used throughout the research and writing process are listed.

Kalum Talbot

MA student of the TransAtlantic Masters program at UNC-Chapel Hill. Political Science with a focus on European Studies. Expressed ideas are open to revision. He not only covers Technical articles but also has skills in the fields of SEO, graphics, web development and coding. .