Introduction: although your readers may be life scientists, it is unlikely that they will be familiar with
your particular research field. The introduction should therefore be written so that it can be understood
by a scientist without special expertise in your area. The aims and objectives of the project should
be clearly set out in the introduction. Ask a question.
Main section (and sub-sections): critically present the evidence you have found and where
appropriate provide illustrations (acknowledging their source). This is the main body of your
dissertation and should be divided under different section headings.
Discussion: this section is where you finally discuss and interpret the evidence which you have found
in the literature, setting this in context to the question you asked and giving an overview. You also
have the opportunity to be more speculative and you should include suggestions for further studies
that might develop from your work.
Conclusions: you can end the Discussion with a conclusion, or general summary.
Figures: each figure should be embedded in the main text, close to the paragraph that refers to it.
The figures should be numbered in the sequence in which they are cited in the text (as Fig. 1, Fig. 2
etc.). Each figure must be accompanied by a legend (see below). Do not put the diagrams together at
the end in an appendix.
Figure legends: these should begin with the figure number and a brief descriiptive title. The
remainder of the legend should describe what is presented in the figure with enough additional
material to enable the figure to be understood without reference to the text. If the figure is not your
own, then you must cite the source – even if you have adapted or altered the original artwork.
Tables: data too complicated to be described in the text may be presented in a table. Each table
should have an explanatory title making its general meaning understandable without reference to the
text. It should also be numbered (as Table 1, Table 2 etc.) and may have a legend. Sometimes tables
provide a good way for summarizing and comparing results from different publications.
References: references must be cited within the text and then listed at the end in a bibliography. We
prefer the format used by a modern Journal, citing each reference by authors’ last names and year
(this is called the Harvard System). Thereafter, the References section should be sorted
alphabetically.
