How to write and publish a scientific paper - Barbara Gastel, Robert A. Day 2022
Purpose of the section
How to write the materials and methods section
Preparing the text
The greatest invention of the nineteenth century was the invention of the method of invention.
—A. N. Whitehead
Purpose of the section
In the first section of the paper, the introduction, you should have stated the methodology employed in the study. If necessary, you also defended the reasons for your choice of a particular method over competing methods.
Now, in “Materials and Methods” (also designated in some cases by other names, such as “Experimental Procedures” or just “Methods”), you must give the full details. Most of this section should be written in the past tense because it reports actions already completed. Do not fall prey to the graduate student error of cutting and pasting from a thesis proposal without changing the tense.
The main purpose of the materials and methods section is to describe (and if necessary, defend) the experimental design, and then provide enough detail so that a competent worker can repeat the experiments. Other purposes include providing information that will let readers judge the appropriateness of the experimental methods (and thus the probable validity of the findings) and assess the extent to which the results can be generalized. Many (perhaps most) readers of your paper will skip or just skim this section because they already know from the introduction the general methods you used, and they probably have no interest in the experimental details. However, careful writing of this section is critical because the cornerstone of the scientific method requires that, to be of scientific merit, your results are reproducible—and, for the results to be adjudged reproducible, you must provide the basis for repetition of the experiments by others. That experiments are unlikely to be reproduced is beside the point; the potential for reproducing the same or similar results must exist, or else your paper does not represent good science.
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When your paper is subjected to peer review, a good reviewer will read the materials and methods section carefully. If there is any serious doubt that your experiments could be repeated, the reviewer will recommend rejection of your manuscript or provision of more detail, no matter how awe-inspiring your results.