Key Components of the Methods Section
This video illustrates the three key components of the methods section in a scientific research by examining excerpts from a fictional research article about varroa mites in honeybee colonies.
This video is part of the University of Guelph’s Writing in the Sciences (WITS) website designed to provide science researchers and post-secondary students with practical guidance on how to use clarity and precision in scientific writing. This video was created by Dr. Jodie Salter and Dr. Sarah Gibbons, and the WITS project was made possible by an NSERC Science Communication Skills Training Grant. To access the WITS website with its modules, resources, and interviews, visit https://writinginthesciences.uoguelph....
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
MATERIALS, PROCEDURES, and ANALSES: These are the 3 key components in the methods section in a scientific research article.
Let’s examine these components by looking at excerpts from a fictional scientific research article about varroa mites in honeybee colonies.
In the methods section, the writer starts by describing their MATERIALS – both the equipment that they used and the bee colonies that they examined. They write, “In this study, we tracked the efficacy of natural chemical treatments across 20 bee colonies in Guelph, Ontario.” Our treatment types included essential oil (thyme), sucrocide spray, oxalic acid trickling, and formic acid strips.”
The writer would then provide specific information about the field sites, the colonies, and the equipment used across the four different treatment types.
Next, the writer would describe the treatment types that they carried out in this study. They divide their PROCEDURES into four sections – one for each of the four treatment types.
When explaining their fourth treatment method, their application of formic acid strips, we might read the following sentence: “We applied Mite Away Quick Strips (46.7% formic acid) to the brood chamber of 2 of the colonies and removed the strips after 7 days.”
Finally, this writer then describes the statistical ANALYSIS that they performed. They tell the reader, “We used R to calculate the mean reduction of mites for all treatments and compared results from treated colonies to our control colonies.”
When writing or revising your methods section, it can be helpful to write up your methods using the SUB-HEADINGS “materials,” “procedures,” and “analyses” to guide your writing process and to make sure you include all essential information for each of these three key components.