How to read a scientific report

Scientific or technical reports

Reports are different than scientific papers in that they do not represent original research. Rather their purpose is to summarize the latest scientific research for non-scientists. Care is taken to make sure the language is less technical and more accessible to non-scientists. They usually have different chapters that may address different audiences and interests. For example, they may have different chapters addressing the effects of climate change on different sectors of the economy or different regions of the world, or different ecosystems.

Often, you may only be interested in a small section or chapter of the report. Therefore, you should always check the table of contents for the topic of interest. Different chapters usually have different authors, so you may need to cite the specific chapter in the references and the specific author in the text.

In government or academic reports, you may copy and paste tables or figures provided that you cite and reference them to give credit. If you do not do this it is considered plagiarism as the assumption is that the figures are your own. Some private organizations may demand that you ask permission: this is usually a formality, especially in the case of a student paper, but some organizations can be very proprietary about this.  

Inserting equations

Here are some tips on formatting equations:

• Number equations for future referencing
• Use an equation editor where necessary to produce clear equations 
• If there is more than one equation, equations should be listed and described separately. 
• They should be indented or centered from the rest of the text
• There should be a space separating them from text both above and below  the equation
• All variables should be defined directly after or directly before the equation

Example:

The annual probability p of a single season without a hurricane landfall was calculated for a 160 year period by   calculating the number of years n without a landfall event over the total number of years N in the dataset:

p = n/N     (1)

The annual probability was used in tandem with the binomial distribution to determine the likelihood P(X) of  X years free of a hurricane landfall occurring over a finite period of N years:

                                                  (2)

Calculations were performed for values of N=11 and X=5. 

Based off

The expression "based off" or worse "based off of"  (used when a writer really means "based on") should be banned from your scientific lexicon. It is not only non-existent in the English language, it makes no sense.

Take this example: "Good scientific writing is based on sound knowledge of the English language". The science student is secure in the knowledge that scientific writing is fixed on the rock-solid foundation of his/her knowledge of the English language.

However, as the image below shows, when "Scientific writing is based off of knowledge of the English language", there is nothing there to hold up good scientific writing.  It's up in the air. The science student and Whiskers the kitten live in a very precarious state. What follows is not pretty for the science student or for Whiskers..

So keep in mind that the expression   "based off" is no substitute for "based on", and actually means the opposite.

More importantly, remember that every time you use the expression "based off", a kitten dies. If only for the sake of kittens, please "use based on" instead of "based off".

Editing symbols

• coll - colloquial
• jarg - jargon
• sp - spelling
• coh - coherence
• wc - word choice

How to read a scientific paper in meteorology -

How to read a scientific paper

• Scientific papers are designed so that other scientists can check and reproduce the results; they go into too much detail to read entirely unless you are going to reproduce the results in your own research. 
• Start by reading Abstract; this summarizes the main findings of the paper.
• Read the Introduction; this introduces the subject, explains its significance, and cites earlier work that is often relevant to the topic. 
• The Summary/Conclusion/Discussion usually contains the main results of the paper and discusses their implication for future research.
• Examine some Figures, Tables  in the main body of the text, and  read a section of the paper that describes what it is they depict; choose a section that looks interesting and that you think is easy to understand.

Finding more information

• Check the references of the journal; this leads to articles cited by the article you are reading
• Check the more recent articles that cited this paper at the bottom of the article; the more citations you find here, the more likely that the paper 

How to research a topic

How to find information on a topic

Do a Google search for:

• Websites, blogs, even wikipedia are a good place to start but usually cannot be cited in your paper;
• Research (UCAR,NOAA,NWS) and university websites are more reliable than Wikipedia and popular sites and can in most circumstances be included as references.
• Refereed papers from scientific journals are the most reliable source as they have been scrutinized by at least three reviewers (called referees); research websites often provide references from the refereed literature.

Specialized information sites

• Archive of LSC Senior thesis: These provide relevant sources for your paper and can give you a concrete idea of what a good thesis or paper looks like; remember to reference it in your list of references if you use it.
• Weather forecasting
• COMET modules are educational modules on various topics developed by weather forecasters
• National Weather Service websites (NOAA, BTV, ALB, BOS) offer regional and  forecast-related research that is not necessarily published in journals
• Broadcast meteorologists
• Earthguage is a website designed for broadcast meteorologists for the Station Scientist program. Broadcast meteorlogists are often the only scientists at the station and are called on  to report on topics in science, environmental issues, and natural disasters. 
• Weather topics
• Climate topics
• Environmental topics
• Climate science and other topics
• Real Climate: Climate scientist blog site. 
• University Corporation for Climate Research (UCAR)
• Risk Management Research (private)

Refereed scientific paper

• Go to the AMS journals site where you can do a search as well 
• For more recent papers, go to the AMS journals site through LSC proxy server or Academic Search Premier on the LSC Portal.
• The Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) is a good place to start your search. It provides review articles that provides meteorologists with a review of important topics by the top scientists in the field. 
• Nature and Science represent the top grade journals for all subjects in science, including meteorology and climate science.

Introduction

As an undergraduate institution, the Lyndon State College Atmospheric Sciences (aka Meteorology) Department prepares students for the knowledge economy with a basic understanding of the atmosphere. As a graduate, you will be expected to be scientific literate and show good judgement not only  in accessing scientific information, but also in communicating it to the public, peers, clients and employers in both the public and private sector. Research skills allow students to build on their scientific knowledge independently through the use of published scientific literature. Written communication skills ensure that students can convey this information effectively through technical reports and research papers. They are also the most dependent on sustained student effort and independent initiative. It's no accident that they are some of the most valued skills in  the labor market.