Writing the Methods Section

Tell me how you did it, hut he concise. A long-winded step-hy-step Methods section sidetracks and irritates the expert reader. 

As you work through the chapter, you will write a Methods section for your own paper. The Writing on Your Own tasks throughout the chapter will guide you step by step as you do the following  

3A Read the literature 3B Describe materials 3C Describe experimental methods 

The purpose of the Methods section is to address how a particular work was conducted. Relevant information about instrumentation and experimental and/ or numerical procedures is described. The goal is to describe the information in enough detail that an expert (not a novice) could repeat the work. Usually, this section is formally called, for example. Materials and Methods or Experimental Section, but for brevity, we call it simply the Methods section. 

What we call the Methods section is given a more formal name in journal articles, such as 

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Consult figure 9.2 to review the moves that make up the Methods section of a poster. After you have decided what to include (and what to exclude), write the Methods section of your poster. Remember that past tense is preferred and that bulleted lists (with parallel language) are common. Use standard formatting, number, and abbreviation conventions at first convert to abbreviated formats if space is tight. Consider adding a photograph or illustration to your Methods section. 

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