Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Written by a professional biologist who is also an experienced writing teacher, this comprehensive guide for students writing in biology, zoology, and botany provides detailed instruction on researching, drafting, revising, and documenting papers, reviews, poster presentations, and other forms of science writing. The sixth edition features an expanded and revised chapter 1 on research strategies and sources, a greater diversity of examples from different subdisciplines (molecular biology, animal ecology, and genetics), and new technology tips throughout for searching databases and using software designed for charts, graphs, note-taking, and documentation.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. v)
• Acknowledgments (p. vii)
• About the Author (p. xiii)
• Introduction How and Why Biologists Write: An Introduction to Biological Literature (p. 1)
• 1 Locating and Using Biological Literature (p. 5)
• Searching the Literature (p. 5)
• Sample Database Search (p. 11)
• Using the Internet (p. 16)
• Reading Scientific Papers (p. 21)
• Avoiding Plagiarism and Taking Notes (p. 23)
• Working Collaboratively (p. 26)
• Tech Talk (p. 28)
• Keeping Up with the Literature (p. 29)
• 2 Handling Data and Using Statistics (p. 31)
• Getting Started (p. 31)
• Recording and Organizing Your Findings (p. 34)
• Using Statistics to Analyze Your Data (p. 36)
• Additional Sources (p. 41)
• 3 Using Tables and Figures (p. 43)
• Tables (p. 44)
• Figures (p. 50)
• Tech Talk (p. 56)
• Checklist for Tables and Figures (p. 64)
• Additional Sources (p. 64)
• 4 Writing Lab Reports and Research Papers (p. 65)
• Title (p. 66)
• Abstract (p. 70)
• Introduction (p. 73)
• Materials and Methods (p. 75)
• Results (p. 81)
• Discussion (p. 87)
• Acknowledgments (p. 91)
• References (p. 91)
• Checklist for Lab Reports and Research Papers (p. 92)
• Additional Sources (p. 93)
• Sample Laboratory Report (p. 93)
• Sample Student Research Paper (p. 99)
• 5 Writing a Review Paper (p. 111)
• Choosing a Topic (p. 112)
• Deciding on a Title (p. 113)
• Working with the Literature (p. 113)
• Presenting Your Material (p. 114)
• Checklist for Review Papers (p. 123)
• Sample Review Paper (p. 124)
• 6 Documenting the Paper (p. 131)
• Citing Sources in the Text (p. 131)
• Preparing the References Section (p. 140)
• 7 Drafting and Revising (p. 151)
• The First Draft (p. 151)
• Practical Suggestions for Revising (p. 154)
• Tech Talk (p. 155)
• Checking Content and Structure (p. 158)
• Improving Paragraphs (p. 159)
• Writing Clear, Accurate Sentences (p. 162)
• Avoiding Wordiness (p. 171)
• Verb Tense (p. 174)
• Punctuation (p. 175)
• 8 Preparing the Final Draft (p. 180)
• Mechanics and Technicalities (p. 180)
• Manuscript Format (p. 185)
• Writing an Acknowledgments Section (p. 188)
• Proofreading (p. 189)
• 9 Using Writing to Prepare for Examinations (p. 190)
• Getting the Most Out of Textbooks (p. 190)
• Taking Good Lecture Notes (p. 191)
• Preparing for Laboratory Exams (p. 192)
• Studying for Short-Answer Questions (p. 194)
• Answering Essay Questions (p. 196)
• Additional Sources (p. 198)
• 10 Other Forms of Biological Writing (p. 199)
• Oral Presentations (p. 199)
• Sample PowerPoint Presentation (p. 205)
• Poster Presentations (p. 210)
• Sample Poster Presentation (p. 215)
• Research Proposals (p. 218)
• Sample Research Proposal (p. 220)
• Letters of Application (p. 226)
• Sample Cover Letter (p. 227)
• Résumés (p. 229)
• Tech Talk (p. 229)
• Sample Resume (p. 231)
• Sample Curriculum Vitae (p. 233)
• Additional Sources (p. 235)
• Works Cited in Text Examples (p. 236)
• Index (p. 237)
• Symbols and Abbreviations Used in Biology (p. 250)