Writing a Cover Letter for Journal Submission [Free Template]

  • Research Process
  • Peer Review

Journal cover letters are your chance to lobby on behalf of your manuscript. This AJE Journal Cover Letter Guide offers some useful tips for getting them right. It also includes a free journal cover letter template.

Updated on September 20, 2018

two researchers writing a cover letter for journal submissions

The cover letter accompanying your journal submission is your chance to lobby on behalf of your manuscript. The letter is far from just a formality and should be written with the same care as your manuscript's text (if not more). Ultimately, your cover letter is designed to influence the decision of the editor to send your manuscript out for peer review. The letter will argue that your manuscript is a good fit for the journal you are submitting it to and highlight your most important findings. Let us help you produce the most effective cover letter possible.

Getting ready to submit your manuscript? Download our comprehensive Free Journal Cover Letter Writing Guide with Template .

A cover letter should be written like a standard business letter :

Address the editor formally by name, if known. Include your contact information, as well. This information is probably available through the journal's online submission system, but it is proper to provide it in the cover letter, too.

Begin your cover letter with a paragraph that states the name of the manuscript and the names of the authors. You can also describe what type of manuscript your submission is (research article, review, case report, etc.). In this first paragraph and the next, describe the rationale behind your study and the major findings from your research. You can refer to prior work that you have published if it is directly related.

Next, write a short paragraph that explains why your manuscript would be a good fit for the journal. Do not simply state that your manuscript is “of interest to the field” or “novel.” Address specific aspects of the journal's Aims & Scope statement. If the journal expresses interest in research with a clinical application, be sure to highlight the importance of your work in terms of clinical implications. If the journal mentions that it focuses on nanostructured materials, explain how your work involved such materials. Even if your work is not a perfect fit for the journal, be sure to address some of the Aims & Scope statement, and explain why your manuscript would be of interest to the journal's readers.

Finally, close with a brief paragraph indicating the following:

  • The manuscript is original (i.e., you wrote it, not copied it)
  • No part of the manuscript has been published before, nor is any part of it under consideration for publication at another journal
  • There are no conflicts of interest to disclose
  • A list of potential reviewers (only if requested by the journal)
  • Any researchers who should NOT review your manuscript

Together, this information provides assurance to the editor that your manuscript merits consideration for publication in their journal and that you are interested specifically in their journal. Sometimes great science will be reviewed regardless of the cover letter, but a well written cover letter is useful for the vast majority of scientists who want to make their research stand out.

Best of luck with your research! If you have any questions about your cover letter, write us anytime.

Ben Mudrak, Senior Product Manager at American Chemical Society/ChemRxiv, PhD, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University

Ben Mudrak, PhD

See our "Privacy Policy"

Cover Letter for Journal Submission Templates

Download a Microsoft Word template for a standard journal cover letter (also available with instructions in Chinese , Japanese , Korean , Portuguese , and Spanish ).

U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

  • Publications
  • Account settings
  • Advanced Search
  • Journal List
  • Int J Endocrinol Metab
  • v.19(3); 2021 Jul

Logo of ijem

Scientific Publishing in Biomedicine: How to Write a Cover Letter?

Zahra bahadoran.

1 Nutrition and Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Parvin Mirmiran

Khosrow kashfi.

2 Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, School of Medicine, City University of New York, New York, USA

Asghar Ghasemi

3 Endocrine Physiology Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

A cover (covering) letter is a brief business letter introducing the scientific work alongside the submission process of a manuscript and is required by most scientific peer-review journals. A typical cover letter includes the name of the editor and the journal, date of submission, the characteristics of the manuscript, the importance of the work and its relevance to prospective audiences, declarations such as author agreements, conflicts of interest statement, funding source (s), and ethical statements. The letter also includes the contact information of the corresponding author (s) and may also include suggestions of potential reviewers. Spending enough time to draft an informative, comprehensive, and concise cover letter is quite worthwhile; a poorly drafted one would not persuade the editor that the submitted work is fit for publication and may lead to immediate rejection. Here, we provide a practical guide to draft a well-written, concise, and professional cover letter for a scientific medical paper.

The Cambridge dictionary defines a cover letter as “a letter that contains information about the thing it is sent with”. The cover letter is commonly known as a motivation letter submitted along with the curriculum vitae (CV) or a job application for employment ( 1 ) or academic position ( 2 ), and it is not clear why and how it was introduced into the scientific field ( 3 ). In scientific writing and publishing, a cover/covering letter is a letter to the editor’s target journal ( 4 ).

Providing a cover letter alongside the submission process is now required by most scientific journals. In fact, some high-quality and prestigious journals pay specific attention to the cover letter ( 3 ). Amongst the different steps of the publication process, the cover letter is the last step and is often overlooked ( 5 ). One of the most common complaints voiced by editors regarding submitted manuscripts is that the authors neglect to write a well-written cover letter, including a statement justifying the importance of their work ( 6 ). Missing this opportunity may have unintentional consequences, rejection without further consideration instead of being sent for external peer-review ( 5 , 6 ). Contrary to this view, some believe that the cover letter’s content overlaps with the manuscript’s abstract and gives mostly redundant information already found within the online submission system ( 3 ). The cover letter may also be a “misleading commercial advertisement” where it would not represent the content of the manuscript ( 3 ).

Although many editors may not read or seriously consider the cover letters of the submitted manuscripts ( 3 , 4 ), neglecting the importance of the cover letter may be a risk for the authors. Therefore, spending an adequate amount of time to write a coherent and persuasive cover letter is worth it. Following our previous publication on choosing a journal in a new series entitled Scientific Publishing in Biomedicine ( 7 ), here, we provided a practical guide to draft a well-written, professional, and concise cover letter needed to be accompanied by an original scientific paper, either with the initial submission or subsequently at revision/resubmitting stage. Since there are subtle differences in writing a cover letter for an original research paper versus a review article or an opinion, some points for drafting a cover letter for such papers are also discussed.

2. The Function of the Cover Letter

A cover letter is “a brief business letter”, which introduces the submitted manuscript to a prospective editor (s) ( 8 ). There are essentially two types of letters; the first is the one that is initially submitted with the manuscript (cover letter), and the second is when a revision is being submitted (revised letter). The first letter introduces the work at the initial manuscript submission ( 9 ), while the second one is needed following an invitation to revise and resubmit the manuscript. Here, the authors respond to the suggestions/criticisms of the reviewers ( 10 ). In this paper, “cover letter” and “second letter” refer to the first/submit letter and the revised letter, respectively.

A well-written cover letter is an effective tool for authors to sell their work to the journal editor and make a “good first impression”. A cover letter is a summary that highlights the main points, emphasizes the novelty, and communicates the potential implications of the submitted work ( 3 ). A cover letter allows the authors to persuade the editors regarding the novelty/originality and significance of the research in a less formal manner than in the manuscript itself ( 6 ). A well-written and informative cover letter helps the journal’s editor to be informed about the work and its significance. Regardless of the novelty and significance of the submitted manuscript, editors may miss those points without providing insights in a cover letter ( 5 ).

3. The Content of a Cover Letter

3.1. first cover letter (submit letter).

One point of view is that the cover letter’s content should be covered in the manuscript’s abstract ( 3 ). A typical cover letter includes the name of editor (s) and the journal, date of submission, the characteristics of the manuscript (i.e., title, type of the manuscript, e.g., review, original, case report), the importance of the work and its relevance to the readership of the journal, verification of the originality of the work, the authors’ confirmation that the manuscript is currently submitted only to this journal, declarations and ethical statements, suggested potential reviewers, and contact information of the corresponding author of the submitted work ( 5 , 6 ). Other manuscript characteristics, including the length and number of tables and figures, can also be indicated. If the manuscript belongs to a special issue or is being submitted upon an official invitation from the journal’s editorial office, it should also be addressed. The main contents of the first cover letter are described in Table 1 .

The most critical element of a cover letter is a “statement of novelty/significance/implication.” The authors are advised to carefully write a brief and concise description of their work’s impact toward communicating its significance ( 6 ). The authors are strongly advised not to copy the abstract into the cover letter and instead explain in their own words the significance of the work and the reason for submitting it to the journal ( 11 ). If this information is lacking, the editors may rely on the reviewers who may not appreciate the significance of the work and just focus on the technical issues rather than the scientific value of the work ( 5 ). Providing a clear and robust statement of novelty and significance would be more critical for editors and potential reviewers with diverse and interdisciplinary backgrounds ( 6 ).

The statements are expected to answer the following questions: (1) why is the work important? (e.g., emphasizing a new measurement, a new diagnostic method or criterion, a newly discovered biological process); and (2) how does the work advance current knowledge in the field? The best approach to answer this question is by describing the current state of knowledge in the field and clarifying how the work provides an added value by answering a previously unanswered question, finding the solution to a problem, or improving existing methods ( 5 ). Checking the recently published papers on similar topics in the journal provides new insights for the authors to clarify in the cover letter as to how the manuscript follows the publication trends of the journal and will add something new that would be relevant to the trend ( 12 ).

The cover letter is also expected to emphasize why the manuscript will attract the journal’s readers ( 5 ). The authors also need to consider the journal’s Aims and Scope to underscore how the manuscript would fit within the journal’s scope and attract potential readers ( 13 ). Instead of stating simply that the manuscript is “of interest to the field” or “novel,” the authors should address specific aspects of the journal’s Aims and Scope statement, e.g., “We believe that this manuscript is appropriate for publication by [journal name] since it… [reference to the journal’s aims and scope] ( 11 ).

For a review, opinion, or a trends paper, emphasizing the timeline and novelty is needed, as stated by Sacristán, the editor of trends in molecular medicine: “The synthesis and conceptual advance should be particularly stated in terms of what is new and has been trending in the field for the last one to five years”. She also recommends that the authors need to provide a future perspective beyond the main take-home message of the manuscript for a trends paper and take a strong and novel stance on a hypothesis or idea for a cover letter of an opinion manuscript ( 14 ).

The cover letter must contain some predefined statements, including the “author agreement” statement ( 13 ). An “author agreement” is a statement to confirm that “all authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript being submitted” ( 8 ). Furthermore, “the authors warrant that the manuscript is their original work, has not received prior publication and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere” ( 8 ). Some journals may request the corresponding author to confirm that he/she will take responsibility for informing co-authors of editorial decisions, reviews received, and any changes or revisions made; additionally, the editor (s) should be informed about any closely related manuscript (s) simultaneously submitted for consideration to the same or another journal ( 15 ). The authors also should declare if any part of the submitted work has been previously published elsewhere, even as an abstract ( 16 ); e.g., “there is some overlap in the content of the introduction section, which we have noted in the text”.

Depending on the journal’s policy, other statements, including “conflict of interest statement”, “funding source declarations”, and “permission note”, may also be required to be included in the cover letter ( 8 , 11 ). As indicated by Elsevier, a conflict of interest statement, known as a disclosure statement, is a declaration from the author that “there is no financial/personal interest or belief that could affect their objectivity”. The publisher emphasizes that the authors should declare and state the potential conflict’s source and nature in cases where a conflict of interest exists. A funding source declaration is defined by the publisher as “a declaration of any funding or research grants (and their sources) received in the course of study, research or assembly of the manuscript”. Elsevier also defines the permission note as a statement that declares that “permission has been received to use any material in the manuscript such as a figure, which is not original content” ( 8 , 17 ). Other statements like “Statement of English native editing” may also be added.

Furthermore, informing the editor (s) regarding any information that will support the submission (e.g., original or confirmatory data, supplementary materials, relevance, topicality) can be helpful ( 8 ). Other operational information, typically provided within checkboxes of the journal’s submission system, is not required to be included in the cover letter ( 5 ).

3.2. Second Cover Letter

The second cover letter, which accompanies the revised version of the manuscript, must be a model of clarity and must address every issue posed by the editor and reviewers ( 10 ). If the revised manuscript is sent for the second round of peer-review, the reviewer (s) will see the letter. The content of the header and footer sections of the revised letter is similar to that of the submitted cover letter. The letter should be directed to the editor as addressed in the first letter unless the authors are informed that a new editor will process the revised version ( 10 ). The first paragraph should start with an “expression of polite gratitude”, e.g., “we would like to thank you for the opportunity to revise and resubmit our manuscript.” The “manuscript ID” or “identification number,” usually assigned by the journal in the first submission, should be addressed in the first paragraph ( 10 ).

The second paragraph usually “signals attention to the reviewers’ comments” by providing an explicit reference to the comments made by the reviewers and the editor. Furthermore, it may contain a positive statement regarding the results, methodology, conclusions, etc., in which case the authors need to acknowledge reviews’ insights ( 10 , 18 ). For example, “We sincerely appreciate all the valuable comments and suggestions made, which helped us improve the revised version of our manuscript” or “we found the reviewers’ comments helpful in guiding us to revise the manuscript.” Such statements will help the authors in creating a polite, formal tone throughout the letter. The paragraph should be followed by providing the editor with a roadmap or a summary of the revisions, addressing “the response to comments attachment.” A point-by-point response to the specific comments of the reviewers must be provided. If the authors disagree with a point raised by a reviewer, a rebuttal or counterstatement may be in order. A scientific and polite approach should spell out why the authors disagree, never losing sight of the reviewer’s opinion ( 19 ).

The footer section (closing salutation) of the letter returns to polite formalities, using statements like “we hope that the revised version of our manuscript is now acceptable to the reviewers, and suitable for publication in the [name of journal], we look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience” ( 10 ).

4. Organization

Although it is not a rule, the cover letter’s content can be organized within a cover letter header (opening salutation), three main paragraphs (the body of cover letter), and a cover letter footer (closing salutation), as described in Table 1 .

The cover letter should be initiated by addressing the editor (s) and the target journal; however, the author’s affiliation and contact information may also be included at the top of page ( 4 ). The name of the editor (s) can be easily found on the journal’s information page. If it is known, the authors must address the editor who will receive the manuscript and handle the peer-review process ( 13 ). If there are several co-editors, the person the author feels has the most appropriate background, and specialty of the topic should be addressed. In cases where such information is lacking, authors can mention all editors by name or address the letter to “dear editors” ( 12 ); however, it has been recommended to avoid writing “dear editor” ( 16 ). Also, the submission date and the journal’s name where the manuscript will be submitted are required ( 13 ).

In the first paragraph of the cover letter body, to introduce the submitted work, the title and the type of manuscript, authors’ name, journal name, and manuscript length are presented ( 4 ). In addition, it is mentioned that whether the manuscript is submitted upon an invitation or belongs to a special issue. The importance of the study, including novelty, potential implications, and its take-home message, are addressed in the second paragraph of the cover letter body. In addition, it is explained why the work would be attractive for journal readers. The third paragraph of the cover letter body includes some statements including authorship agreement, conflicts of interest, funding source, and ethical considerations. If required, potential reviewers are also suggested here.

Within the closing salutation, the authors can appreciate the editor for taking the time to read the cover letter and considering the submitted work for potential publication.

5. Some Practical Tips: The Length, and Dos and Don’ts

The authors need to spend plenty of time crafting their cover letters. They are advised to avoid too many details and keep it within one page (less than 200 words), like an introduction or a brief overview ( 4 , 11 ). The authors should check the guide for authors and cover letter suggestions provided by the journal, including all the requirements, e.g., specific disclosures, statements, and potential reviewers. Some publishers (e.g., Springer, https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/cover-letters/1398, Taylor & Francis, https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/publishing-your-research/making-your submission/writing-a-journal-article-cover-letter/) provide sample cover letters that the authors can use. Figure 1 provides a sample for a cover letter.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is ijem-19-3-115242-i001.jpg

If the authors address previously published papers in the cover letter, then appropriate citation should be considered. The authors should carefully check the letter for any spelling and grammatical errors ( 11 , 20 ). They should make sure that they correctly spell the name of the journal’s editor (s) ( 4 ). Being careless regarding the editor’s name or the change of a journal’s name in a cover letter of a resubmitted manuscript, can be embarrassing and make a bad impression ( 4 ). It is suggested that the cover letter be written on the authors’ institutional letterhead to display professionalism and reliability ( 20 , 21 ).

5.2. Don’ts

When authors suggest a number of potential reviewers, they should avoid suggesting their friends and colleagues, as this would be viewed as a conflict of interest. Collaborators whom the authors have published with in the past five years should not be suggested either; an editor may easily be informed of such associations by a quick search of PubMed or other databases ( 22 ). The authors should avoid using complex sentence structures, jargon, and acronyms and keep the text straightforward and easy to read ( 11 , 20 ). The authors should also avoid including unrelated personal information or glorifying their past research papers or any of their academic accolades ( 20 ). They must not be rude towards the editors or complement the editor’s accomplishments ( 4 ). The novelty statement should not exaggerate or overstate the findings of the work; furthermore, any conclusion stated should be completely supported by the data provided in the manuscript ( 23 ). Finally, authors are recommended not to write a generic cover letter that could be used for any manuscript and could be sent to any journal ( 21 ).

6. Conclusion

In summary, a cover letter should highlight the novelty, importance, take-home message, and goodness-of-fit of the manuscript to the journal. These are critical information that can persuade an editor that the submitted work merits publication consideration in the journal. The cover letter should not be general but should be custom-written for the target journal. Although the submitted manuscript may usually pass through the peer-review process and get published regardless of the cover letter, a well-written, informative, and concise cover letter increases the chance of gaining acceptance.

Authors' Contribution: Study concept and design, Zahra Bahadoran and Asghar Ghasemi; Drafting of the manuscript, Zahra Bahadoran, Parvin Mirmiran, and Asghar Ghasemi; Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content, Khosrow Kashfi and Parvin Mirmiran.

Conflict of Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest.

Funding/Support: This study was supported by the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (grant number 28127).

  • Journal Article Publishing Support Center

To post social content, you must have a display name. The page will refresh upon submission. Any pending input will be lost.

  • Research & Preparation

What should be included in a cover letter?

You may be required to submit a cover letter with your submission. Individual journals may have specific requirements regarding the cover letter's contents, so please consult the individual journal's Guide for Authors.

A cover letter is a simple, brief business letter, designed to introduce your manuscript to a prospective Editor.  If the Guide for Authors does not specify what to include in your cover letter, you may wish to include some of the following items:

  • Specify special considerations that should be given to the paper (if any).
  • A brief background regarding the research involved or how the data was collected.
  • Details of any previous or concurrent submissions.
  • It's also useful to provide the Editor-in-Chief with any information that will support your submission (e.g. original or confirmatory data, relevance, topicality).
  • The inclusion (or exclusion) of certain Reviewers (if  propose/oppose reviewers  isn't an available step in the submission process).
  • Bring to the Editor’s attention any  Conflict of Interest or Permissions information  which may be relevant.  Be sure to upload any accompanying forms or declarations as required to your submission.

Please note: When your manuscript is received at Elsevier, it's considered to be in its 'final form' ready to be reviewed, so please check your manuscript carefully before you submit it to the Editor. A guide to the publication process and getting your article published in an Elsevier journal is available on the Elsevier Publishing Campus .

Was this answer helpful?

Thank you for your feedback, it will help us serve you better. If you require assistance, please scroll down and use one of the contact options to get in touch.

Help us to help you:

Thank you for your feedback!

  • Why was this answer not helpful?
  • It was hard to understand / follow.
  • It did not answer my question.
  • The solution did not work.
  • There was a mistake in the answer.
  • Feel free to leave any comments below: Please enter your feedback to submit this form

Related Articles:

  • What are Conflict of Interest Statements, Funding Source Declarations, Author Agreements/Declarations and Permission Notes?
  • How can I suggest or oppose reviewers for my submission?
  • Is there a template available for my manuscript file?
  • How do I submit a manuscript in Editorial Manager?
  • What should I do if my file upload fails?

For further assistance:

  • SpringerLink shop

Cover letters

A good cover letter can help to “sell” your manuscript to the journal editor. As well as introducing your work to the editor you can also take this opportunity to explain why the manuscript will be of interest to a journal's readers, something which is always as the forefront editors’ mind. As such it is worth spending time writing a coherent and persuasive cover letter.

The following is an example of a poor cover letter:

Dear Editor-in-Chief, I am sending you our manuscript entitled “Large Scale Analysis of Cell Cycle Regulators in bladder cancer” by Researcher et al. We would like to have the manuscript considered for publication in Pathobiology. Please let me know of your decision at your earliest convenience. With my best regards, Sincerely yours, A Researcher, PhD

Instead, check to see whether the journal’s Instructions for Authors have any cover letter requirements (e.g. disclosures, statements, potential reviewers). Then, write a letter that explains why the editor would want to publish your manuscript. The following structure covers all the necessary points that need to be included.

  • If known, address the editor who will be assessing your manuscript by their name. Include the date of submission and the journal you are submitting to.
  • First paragraph: include the title of your manuscript and the type of manuscript it is (e.g. review, research, case study). Then briefly explain the background to your study, the question you sought out to answer and why.
  • Second paragraph: you should concisely explain what was done, the main findings and why they are significant.
  • Third paragraph: here you should indicate why the readers of the journal would be interested in the work. Take your cues from the journal’s aims and scope. For example if the journal requires that all work published has broad implications explain how your study fulfils this. It is also a good idea to include a sentence on the importance of the results to the field.
  • To conclude state the corresponding author and any journal specific requirements that need to be complied with (e.g. ethical standards).

TIP: All cover letters should contain these sentences:

  • We confirm that this manuscript has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by another journal.
  • All authors have approved the manuscript and agree with its submission to [insert the name of the target journal].

Submission checklist

Before submitting your manuscript, thoroughly check its quality one more time. Evaluate it critically—could anything be done better?

Be sure that:

  • The manuscript follows the Instructions for Authors
  • All files are in the correct file format and of the appropriate resolution or size
  • The spelling and grammar are correct
  • You have contact information for all authors
  • You have written a persuasive cover letter

Back │ Next

Job Seekers

Business Solutions

  • Contractors

Meet the team

  • CSR & Partnerships

Refer A Friend

How to write a successful cover letter for science jobs

How to write a successful cover letter for science jobs

Bec Johnston

Crafting a great science cover letter is an essential part of the job application process. Even if you’re right for the role and have a polished CV, you still need to prove why you’re the best person for the job.

Let’s face it: most of us dread the prospect of having to write a cover letter. Promoting ourselves can often feel uncomfortable, and writing in a persuasive, compelling style is already difficult enough.

Fortunately, writing a top-notch cover letter doesn’t require the prose abilities of Austen or Hemingway. By following a tried-and-tested formula and getting straight to the heart of what the hiring manager is looking for, anyone — regardless of writing ability — can produce an effective cover letter that really showcases your talents. 

Indeed, writing a cover letter can be a real confidence-boosting exercise and even add to your professional skill set.

In this guide, we’ll talk you through each stage of writing a cover letter as a scientist and provide some tips and tricks on how to stand out from the crowd.

How to Write a Science Cover Letter

SECTION 1: PREPARATION

Research the hiring company

To kick off the cover letter process, you should spend an hour or two of your time acquainting yourself with the role and the company.

By aiming to better understand the business, the role, and how you’d fit into the bigger picture as an employee, you’ll be able to keep your cover letter direct and to the point from the very first word.

After all, you can never do too much research. If you’re not equipped with even the most basic knowledge of the company, how can you properly demonstrate that you’re right for the role?

Your research will also help you confirm whether or not you want to work for the company. Do the company’s mission and values align with your own? If not, then you may want to consider another role.

What to look out for

Aim to familiarise yourself with info on the following:

  • What the company does
  • The company’s services and/or products
  • The company’s people and culture
  • Any relevant information on the target market (including competitors)
  • The tone of voice employed by the company

Where to look

You can use social media channels such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor employee reviews, and science publications. You should also browse through the company’s website, which will (or at least  should ) provide information on what they do (in their  own words) and the team.

The information you gather will help you tailor your cover letter according to what the company and hiring manager are looking for in the job description.

Analyse the job description

The job description is pivotal to the cover letter. While each job description differs in detail and scope from the next, they all have the same purpose: to outline the type of person that the employer requires.

Job descriptions usually start by offering an overview of the company and role, before getting into the nitty-gritty of which skills and experience are required, as well as what the role entails. Often, these are in the form of bullet points, which can help you separate and identify the exact points that your cover letter needs to cover.

This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to cover  every bullet point, but you should definitely try to cover the most important ones.

To recap:   Always have one eye on the job description when writing your cover letter. Let the former act as your guide; follow it closely and you’ll be better placed to prove your suitability to the hiring manager.

SECTION 2: WRITING YOUR COVER LETTER

How long should a cover letter be?

Ultimately, there’s no right or wrong answer. As a benchmark,  one sheet of A4 paper  or  250 to 500 words will usually suffice, but the length of your cover letter will largely depend on two things:

  • The number of essential criteria listed in the job description, most of which you’ll need to show evidence of.
  • The examples you provide to meet these criteria (more on this shortly).

PRO TIP:  Always write a  new cover letter for each role you apply to. Every job (and therefore every job description) is different, so try not to reuse an old cover letter or rely on a one-size-fits-all template. If you do have a template, then at least ensure you tailor it to the exact role you are applying for on a case-by-case basis.

Now, let’s get into the actual writing.

How to start your cover letter

The start of a cover letter is arguably the most important section. Your intro will set the tone for the reader, so make sure you are forthright and direct, but also aim to demonstrate your uniqueness and suitability for the role as early as possible.

After all, each open position will likely attract dozens of applications — which is a lot of reading for those in charge of hiring (many of whom will be strapped for time and have other responsibilities to attend to).

How to choose the right greeting for your cover letter

If you know the name of the person you’re addressing (tip: this is often stated on the job advert), use a simple:

Dear [first name],

If you don’t have a name, it’s worth gauging the tone of the company you’re applying for by browsing through their website and social media pages. If the company uses formal or technical language, go for:

To whom it may concern,

If the company is less formal (as many startups tend to be), the following greetings will be appropriate:

Dear hiring manager,

OR (for a company with a particularly informal culture)

Make the reader know your intentions from the outset

Hiring managers are busy people. Given that there’s a good chance your application may be skimmed through, it’s crucial that you stand out. Once you’ve chosen a greeting, you’ll need a killer opening line.

If writing doesn’t come naturally, don’t worry — you’re not being judged on the merits of your prose. Instead, aim to outline your intentions in the opening line. For example:

Please accept this as my application for the position of [Job Title] with [Company Name].

Now you’ve set your stall, it’s time to briefly summarise:

  • What makes you right for the role
  • Why you want to work for the company

In one or two paragraphs, explain what attracted you to the job posting and include some relevant information about what the organisation does. This will demonstrate that your research on their company has gone beyond just the job title and job spec.

PRO TIP: Aim for paragraphs of between three and six lines. This will break up the text for the hiring manager and make it easier to read through. 

Think of your cover letter as an elevator pitch 

Much like a sales pitch, the cover letter represents your chance to sell yourself. But instead of trying to sell an idea or a product in a five-minute presentation, you’ll have a page of A4 to impress the hiring manager and showcase your suitability. As you start writing, aim to make every word, sentence, and paragraph count. Likewise, aim to remove anything that doesn’t add value.

What to include in the cover letter main body

Once you’ve crafted a snappy intro of one or two paragraphs, the bulk of the letter should see you systematically work through the job description and highlight any skills, experience, and the techniques that are relevant to the role.

Be explicit, as these are the details that will jump out to a busy recruiter or hiring manager who may be scanning your letter.

Here are some pointers on what to bear in mind or include when writing your cover letter.

Write in the company’s tone of voice 

If you’ve done your research on the employer, you’ll likely have picked up pointers on the type of language they use externally (if not internally, too). 

When writing and editing your cover letter, aim to mirror their tone of voice as closely as possible. Do they place emphasis on scientific jargon? Use scientific jargon. Do they have a conversational approach? Write to them in a conversational way (though again, not too informal). 

By mirroring cultural markers, you’ll subconsciously stand out to the hiring manager as someone who is likely to quickly assimilate.

Provide situational evidence of your competencies 

Given the technical demands of scientific roles, hiring managers want to see evidence of you applying your technical knowledge to real-world scenarios. You’ll, therefore need to demonstrate how your background, skills, experience, and attitude can enhance the business you are applying for. 

To do so, you should refer to one successful real-life example where you have saved your previous/current employer time and money or have streamlined processes to increase profitability. Using the ‘ STAR ’ technique will help give you a rounded example. STAR stands for:

Situation  — Briefly describe the background to the situation

Task  — Describe the task or challenge you were faced with

Action  — Describe what you did and why you did it

Result — Describe the outcome of your actions

Show your personality 

This key part of any cover letter is often neglected (particularly by scientists!). While skills, experience, and aptitude is crucial for any hire, so too is the personality and cultural fit of each candidate. 

Given that many scientific roles continue to be office- or lab-based, every hiring manager is looking for candidates who value teamwork and camaraderie. As such, you should include a paragraph that provides an insight into who you are outside of work. 

This doesn’t have to be a huge achievement; it can be as simple as the things you like to do in your downtime (e.g. activities with family and friends; hobbies, groups, charitable endeavours; engagement with the local community).

Demonstrate your adaptability and willingness to learn  

Innovation in STEM happens at a breakneck pace, so most employers are looking for candidates who are adaptable and up-to-date with the latest trends. Focusing on your transferable skills will demonstrate to the hiring manager that you’re self-aware and on a journey of professional development. It will also show that you can be a long-term asset to the business.

Include memorable numbers and statistics  

Much like how an infographic helps break up a blog, any relevant or valuable data will immediately stand out to the reader and pique their interest (especially as they’re likely to be scientific professionals themselves). Let’s be honest; “ I increased lab efficiency by 35% ” sounds more impressive than the vague “ I increased lab efficiency .”

Use keywords

Make sure to pepper your cover letter with relevant keywords that relate to the role or job, particularly any that are included in the job description. 

For a molecular biology role, for example, skills- or technique-related keywords may include things like  PCR  (polymerase chain reaction) ,  gel electrophoresis ,  ELISA  (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) , and  cell culture . 

For an analytical chemistry role, this could include  HPLC  (high-performance liquid chromatography) ,  GC  (gas chromatography) , and/or  MS  (mass spectrometry) . Of course, you should only include keywords that are relevant to the role and reflect your actual experience.

Be honest about your experience 

Like with your CV, you’ll eventually get caught out if you include half-truths in your cover letter. If you’re missing experience, there’s no need to apologise or try and overcompensate for it elsewhere. Simply act natural and let your actual experiences and values come to the fore. Besides, being honest will help you better recall what you wrote in any subsequent interview — and help you avoid any awkward umming and ahhing.

How to end a cover letter

If your reader has made it this far, you’ll want to leave them with a favourable final impression of your application. After all, there’s no use in nailing the introduction and main body if you rush the ending and/or sign off with a whimper.

Instead, you want to end with a bang.

First up, summarise your key strengths, skills, and experience. In one or two sentences, reiterate the most important points from your main body. Don’t simply lift words or phrases from earlier in the cover letter, though. Rephrase what you’ve already said and, if possible, try to inject something new into it.

In your closing statement, you want to exude professionalism and confidence but without being pushy. Round off your cover letter by thanking the reader for their time and attention, and offer your contact details so that you are easy to get in touch with should they wish to organise a further exploratory conversation with you.

Keep it short and sweet.

Finally, choose a professional and courteous salutation to wrap up your letter, such as, “ Yours sincerely ” (only if the recipient is addressed by their name), “ Kind regards ,” or “ Thank you for your consideration .” Avoid overly casual or informal phrases such as “ Yours ,” “ Cheers ,” or “ Take care .”

SECTION 3: EDITING AND FOLLOW UP

Before sending your cover letter...

Proofread your letter. 

Some scientific roles will require writing skills, so try to avoid any embarrassing typos (“ King regards ” crops up very frequently). A second pair of eyes always helps, so ask a close friend to give it a read. Free plugins such as Grammarly can also help you spot repeated words or grammatical errors, which can be a real timesaver (and lifesaver!) when writing.

Make sure it sells you as the best person for the job. 

While a good cover letter takes time, you’ll also feel proud when you’ve got it down to a tee. Put yourself in the shoes (or reading glasses) of the hiring manager: does the letter excite you? If not, you may need to add some more tweaks.

Writing an email subject line for a job application 

In many instances, the job advert will instruct you to apply via email. This requires creating a strong subject line to capture the hiring manager’s attention.

When crafting your subject line, don’t overthink it. Be succinct and direct. Unless explicitly instructed otherwise, include both the job title of the role you are applying for and the company. For example:

Application for the position of [Job Title] with [Company Name]

The above is short, simple, and to the point. In other words, it’s an effective way of telling the hiring manager exactly what to expect when they open the email.

How to follow up your job application

If you’ve not had an acknowledgment or feedback on your application within the suggested time on the advertisement (or a week if not stated), follow it up with an email. Demonstrate you are keen, interested, and motivated to successfully see your application through.

In your follow-up email, you should open with a polite and courteous salutation, keep it brief, and express in sentence or two why you are a good fit. Then, ask any questions related to the job at the end of the email. As before, close with a professional salutation.

Follow-up email template

Subject Line:  Molecular Scientist Position - [Your full name] Application

Dear [their first name].

I hope you are well. I recently submitted my application for the molecular scientist position and wondered if it would be possible to receive an update on your decision timeline.

I am very interested in working at [company name] and believe that my skill set — especially my extensive experience in [give example of relevant experience] at [current or former employer] — make me an ideal fit for the role.

Please let me know if you need any additional information from my end.

Thanks again for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

[Your full name]

With that said, good luck in your job hunting!

Latest News, Events & Insights

Working in Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance: Career Guidance

Working in Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance: Career Guidance

Discover the importance of quality assurance in pharma and what skills matter most with Behruz Sheikh, Pharmaceutical Sector Head

Why we need to embrace genetically modified food in the UK

Why we need to embrace genetically modified food in the UK

Is public perception on genetically modified foods aligned with scientific reality? Find out more...

Why VCs are rushing to invest in medtech innovation

Why VCs are rushing to invest in medtech innovation

Find out why the medtech landscape will continue to abound with investment opportunities in 2021 and beyond — though with some minor caveats.

Why STEM Workplaces Need Inclusive Leadership Today

Why STEM Workplaces Need Inclusive Leadership Today

The need for inclusive leadership in STEM is heightening as discrimination and harassment challenge the sector. Find out more...

Why is Diverse Leadership in STEM Important?

Why is Diverse Leadership in STEM Important?

Jacob Midwinter, Director of Sales and Search by SRG, discusses the key success factors behind driving diversity in leadership, as well as the challenges and opportunities leaders in STEM can expect to encounter along the way, with senior leaders Julia Buckler - QIAGEN, Dr. Amy Smith - CPI, Rich McLean - GPAS, Dr. Garry Pairaudeau - Exscientia, and Professor Charlotte Deane - Exscientia.

What types of jobs are available in the petroleum engineering field?

What types of jobs are available in the petroleum engineering field?

Petroleum engineers are pivotal to the global economy. Involved in all stages of hydrocarbon extraction, development and production, they ensure that the end-to-end process is safe, efficient and cost-effective.

What STEM skills do you need to futureproof your career?

What STEM skills do you need to futureproof your career?

Read about the vital STEM skills needed to drive the evolution of the STEM sector and propel your career forward.

What is hyperautomation? And how will it affect the life-science industry?

What is hyperautomation? And how will it affect the life-science industry?

In this article, we examine how hyperautomation can give life-science and STEM businesses the agility and insight to successfully navigate the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Want to Know More?

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Stay up to date with SRG

Latest Salary Survey

SRG are industry leaders and work with 3rd party vendors for market intelligence

Get in Touch

0161-526-1901

[email protected]

For Job Seekers

  • Executive & Technical Search
  • Managed Service Provider & Contingent Workforce Solutions
  • Early Talent
  • Recruitment Process Outsourcing and Permanent Workforce Solutions
  • Salary Benchmarking
  • Staffing Solutions
  • Meet the Team
  • SRG Scotland
  • News & Insights
  • Guides & Reports
  • Podcasts & Webinars
  • Career Advice
  • Case Studies
  • Whistleblowing policy
  • Accessibility
  • Carbon Reduction Plan
  • Covid-19 Updates
  • ED&I statement
  • Gender Pay Gap Report
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Modern Slavery Statement
  • Terms and conditions

© 2024 SRG.

  • Gender pay gap report

scientific report cover letter

CLIMB

Scientific Writer Cover Letter Examples & Writing Tips

Use these Scientific Writer cover letter examples and writing tips to help you write a powerful cover letter that will separate you from the competition.

scientific report cover letter

Table Of Contents

  • Scientific Writer Example 1
  • Scientific Writer Example 2
  • Scientific Writer Example 3
  • Cover Letter Writing Tips

Scientific writers are responsible for communicating scientific information to the general public. They may also be responsible for writing proposals to obtain funding for scientific research.

To get a job as a scientific writer, you need to have excellent writing skills and a strong understanding of scientific principles. Use these examples and tips to write a cover letter that will help you stand out from the competition.

Scientific Writer Cover Letter Example 1

I am excited to be applying for the Scientific Writer position at Topdown Science. I have a Master’s degree in science writing and more than five years of experience writing about complex scientific concepts for a lay audience. I am confident that I have the skills and experience necessary to be a valuable member of your team.

In my previous role at the Science News Journal, I wrote about a variety of scientific disciplines, including physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. I have a knack for taking complex scientific concepts and breaking them down into easy-to-understand language that is still accurate and informative. I am also experienced in writing for different media platforms, including print, online, and video.

Most importantly, I have a passion for science writing and for helping people understand complex scientific concepts. I am excited to join Topdown Science and contribute my skills and experience to your team. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Scientific Writer Cover Letter Example 2

I am writing to apply for the Scientific Writer position that was recently advertised on the company website. I am confident that I have the skills and qualifications that you are looking for, and I believe that I would be a valuable asset to your team.

I have been working as a Scientific Writer for the past three years, and during that time I have developed a strong understanding of the scientific writing process. I am well-versed in writing for both academic and non-academic audiences, and I have experience writing for a variety of formats including journal articles, conference proceedings, and scientific reports. I am also familiar with the latest trends and developments in the field, and I am able to keep up with the latest research and developments.

In addition to my writing skills, I am also an effective team player. I am able to work well with other professionals, and I am able to take direction and feedback well. I am confident that I would be a valuable member of your team, and I look forward to the opportunity to discuss this position further with you.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Scientific Writer Cover Letter Example 3

I am writing to express my interest in the Scientific Writer position that you have posted. I believe that my experience as a scientific writer and my enthusiasm for science make me an excellent candidate for this position.

I have been a scientific writer for the past five years, working on projects ranging from small-scale research papers to large-scale grant proposals. My experience has taught me how to work with scientists of all levels of expertise, from graduate students to senior professors. I have also learned how to write in a way that is both accessible and accurate, which is essential when working with scientists.

My experience has also taught me how to work under pressure. I have written papers and proposals on tight deadlines, and I know how to meet deadlines while still producing high-quality work. I am confident that I can produce quality work quickly if necessary.

I am very interested in working at your company because of its reputation for excellence in science. I would enjoy the opportunity to work with other scientists who are dedicated to their work and committed to excellence. I would also enjoy the chance to learn more about science and how it works.

I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Scientific Writer Cover Letter Writing Tips

1. show your writing skills.

As a scientific writer, you will be responsible for writing scientific papers, proposals, and reports. To show hiring managers that you have the writing skills necessary for the job, be sure to:

  • Include a writing sample with your application.
  • Talk about your experience writing scientific papers, proposals, and reports.
  • Explain how you select the most important information to include in your writing, and how you make sure your writing is clear and concise.

2. Customize your cover letter

Since you will be writing for a variety of clients, it’s important to customize your cover letter for each job you apply to. Highlight your skills and experience that are the best match for the position you’re applying for. For example, if you see that the job requires experience writing for a specific audience, be sure to mention any past experience you have writing for that audience.

3. Show your passion for science

Hiring managers are looking for passionate writers who are excited about science. Show your excitement by using phrases like “I’m passionate about” and “I love” when talking about science. You can also describe how you became interested in science and how you continue to learn more about it every day.

4. Proofread your cover letter

Proofreading your cover letter is one of the most important steps to taking when applying for a job as a scientific writer. Make sure to spell-check and double-check that there are no errors in your resume or cover letter. Otherwise, you risk being disqualified before the employer even sees your qualifications.

Internal Communications Manager Cover Letter Examples & Writing Tips

Erp specialist cover letter examples & writing tips, you may also be interested in..., financial secretary cover letter examples, farmer cover letter examples, film director cover letter examples, crm business analyst cover letter examples & writing tips.

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • View all journals
  • Explore content
  • About the journal
  • Publish with us
  • Sign up for alerts

Collage of science images

Publish with Scientific Reports

We're an open-access journal publishing rigorously peer-reviewed research from across the natural sciences, psychology, medicine and engineering.

Announcements

Icon of metrics.

Journal Metrics

  • *2023 Journal Citation Reports® Science Edition (Clarivate Analytics, 2023).

Icon of a megaphone, indicating the Call for Papers page.

Calls for Papers

  • The median time from submission to acceptance for papers submitted to our Guest Edited Collections is 102 days.

Icon of an article with a star icon

Top 100 Collections

  • *Data obtained from SN Insights which is based on Digital Science's Dimensions.

Icon of cogs, indicating the Engineering scope expansion announcement.

  • Engineering

We are delighted to announce that Scientific Reports is now expanding its scope to include engineering disciplines.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Browse articles

Physical sciences.

scientific report cover letter

Enhancing multi-UAV air combat decision making via hierarchical reinforcement learning

  • Jintao Wang

scientific report cover letter

Optimizing protein delivery rate from silk fibroin hydrogel using silk fibroin-mimetic peptides conjugation

  • Jaturong Promsuk
  • Juthatip Manissorn
  • Kittikhun Wangkanont

scientific report cover letter

The disparate impacts of college admissions policies on Asian American applicants

  • Joshua Grossman
  • Sabina Tomkins
  • Sharad Goel

scientific report cover letter

Purcell-enhanced single photons at telecom wavelengths from a quantum dot in a photonic crystal cavity

  • Catherine L. Phillips
  • Alistair J. Brash
  • A. Mark Fox

scientific report cover letter

A look at the performance of barrel and wedge assembly in cable bolts applications

  • Ashkan Rastegarmanesh
  • Ali Mirzaghorbanali
  • Abbas Taheri

Subjects within Physical sciences

  • Astronomy and planetary science
  • Energy science and technology
  • Materials science
  • Mathematics and computing
  • Nanoscience and technology
  • Optics and photonics

Earth and environmental sciences

scientific report cover letter

An environmental perspective of energy consumption, overpopulation, and human capital barriers in South Asia

  • Mohammad Mafizur Rahman
  • Muhammad Iftikhar ul Husnain
  • Mohammad Naim Azimi

scientific report cover letter

GIS-based non-grain cultivated land susceptibility prediction using data mining methods

  • Tingyu Zhang

scientific report cover letter

The development of priority decision model for old urban community renovation in China

  • Huawei Yang
  • Shuwei Jing

scientific report cover letter

Study of waterpipe smoking topography in Fars province of Iran

  • S. Hosseini

Subjects within Earth and environmental sciences

  • Biogeochemistry
  • Climate sciences
  • Environmental sciences
  • Environmental social sciences
  • Natural hazards
  • Ocean sciences
  • Planetary science
  • Solid Earth sciences
  • Space physics

Biological sciences

scientific report cover letter

A bioluminescent and homogeneous assay for monitoring GPCR-mediated cAMP modulation and PDE activity

  • Dareen Mikheil
  • Matthew A. Larsen
  • Said A. Goueli

scientific report cover letter

Comprehensive analyses of solute carrier family members identify SLC12A2 as a novel therapy target for colorectal cancer

  • Dan-yang Chen
  • Yang-yang Zhang

scientific report cover letter

The underlying molecular mechanism of ciliated epithelium dysfunction and TGF-β signaling in children with congenital pulmonary airway malformations

scientific report cover letter

Increased reliance on temporal coding when target sound is softer than the background

  • Nima Alamatsaz
  • Merri J. Rosen
  • Antje Ihlefeld

scientific report cover letter

Non-coding RNA-related FCGBP downregulation in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a novel biomarker for predicting paclitaxel resistance and immunosuppressive microenvironment

  • Fengjie Lin

Subjects within Biological sciences

  • Biochemistry
  • Biological techniques
  • Biotechnology
  • Cell biology
  • Chemical biology
  • Computational biology and bioinformatics
  • Developmental biology
  • Drug discovery
  • Microbiology
  • Molecular biology
  • Neuroscience
  • Plant sciences
  • Structural biology
  • Systems biology

Health sciences

scientific report cover letter

In vivo evaluation of a nanotechnology-based microshunt for filtering glaucoma surgery

  • Stefanie Gniesmer
  • Svenja Rebecca Sonntag
  • Swaantje Grisanti

scientific report cover letter

Assessing peptic ulcer risk with the HAMPROW score in the general Chinese population

  • Sheng Zhang

scientific report cover letter

Ameliorative effect and mechanism of ursodeoxycholic acid on hydrogen peroxide-induced hepatocyte injury

  • Xueqin Wang
  • Guangxi Liang
  • Xiangyu Zhou

scientific report cover letter

Effect of multidrug therapy on the prognosis of Mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary disease

  • Atsuhito Ushiki
  • Shunnosuke Tanaka
  • Masayuki Hanaoka

scientific report cover letter

Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward cochlear implants among deaf patients who received cochlear implants

  • Ruhuan Zhou
  • Jianxin Qiu

Subjects within Health sciences

  • Endocrinology
  • Gastroenterology
  • Health care
  • Health occupations
  • Medical research
  • Molecular medicine
  • Pathogenesis
  • Rheumatology
  • Risk factors
  • Signs and symptoms

Advertisement

Trending - Altmetric

Score 1026

Prevalence, comorbidity, and breed differences in canine anxiety in 13,700 Finnish pet dogs

Score 368

A functional linear modeling approach to sleep–wake cycles in dogs

Score 310

Natural course of post-COVID symptoms in adults and children

Score 248

The nature of protein intake as a discriminating factor of diet sustainability: a multi-criteria approach

Science jobs, scientific officer.

ABOUT US The Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) is a unique organization, supporting international collaboration to undertake inno...

Strasbourg-Ville, Bas-Rhin (FR)

HUMAN FRONTIER SCIENCE PROGRAM ORGANIZATION

scientific report cover letter

Tenure Track Assistant Professor towards Associate Professor in the field of biomedical sciences

UNIL is a leading international teaching and research institution, with over 5,000 employees and 17,000 students split between its Dorigny campus, ...

Lausanne, Canton of Vaud (CH)

University of Lausanne (UNIL)

scientific report cover letter

Faculty Positions at City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan)

CityU (Dongguan) warmly invites individuals from diverse backgrounds to apply for various faculty positions available at the levels of Professor...

Dongguan, Guangdong, China

City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan)

scientific report cover letter

Principal Clinical Investigator in Immuno-Oncology

A new wave of Immunotherapeutics drugs is coming and its development requires specific expertise in the field of clinical research, clinical immuno...

Villejuif (Ville), L'Haÿ-les-Roses (FR)

GUSTAVE ROUSSY

scientific report cover letter

Recruitment of Global Talent at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOZ, CAS)

The Institute of Zoology (IOZ), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), is seeking global talents around the world.

Beijing, China

Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOZ, CAS)

scientific report cover letter

This journal is a member of and subscribes to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

Ithenticate Plagiarism Detection

Quick links

  • Explore articles by subject
  • Guide to authors
  • Editorial policies

scientific report cover letter

Template for submissions to Scientific Reports

This is an article template for new submissions to Scientific Reports .

Online and open access, Scientific Reports is a primary research publication from the publishers of Nature, covering all areas of the natural and clinical sciences.

This template has been designed in collaboration with Overleaf to make it easier for you and your co-authors to write and submit your papers online.

Scientific Reports is accepting submissions from all scientific fields. For more information, please see the information for authors section of their website.

Template for submissions to Scientific Reports

Have you checked our knowledge base ?

Message sent! Our team will review it and reply by email.

Privacy preference center

We care about your privacy

When you visit our website, we will use cookies to make sure you enjoy your stay. We respect your privacy and we’ll never share your resumes and cover letters with recruiters or job sites. On the other hand, we’re using several third party tools to help us run our website with all its functionality.

But what exactly are cookies? Cookies are small bits of information which get stored on your computer. This information usually isn’t enough to directly identify you, but it allows us to deliver a page tailored to your particular needs and preferences.

Because we really care about your right to privacy, we give you a lot of control over which cookies we use in your sessions. Click on the different category headings on the left to find out more, and change our default settings.

However, remember that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of our website. Finally, note that we’ll need to use a cookie to remember your cookie preferences.

Without these cookies our website wouldn’t function and they cannot be switched off. We need them to provide services that you’ve asked for.

Want an example? We use these cookies when you sign in to Kickresume. We also use them to remember things you’ve already done, like text you’ve entered into a registration form so it’ll be there when you go back to the page in the same session.

Thanks to these cookies, we can count visits and traffic sources to our pages. This allows us to measure and improve the performance of our website and provide you with content you’ll find interesting.

Performance cookies let us see which pages are the most and least popular, and how you and other visitors move around the site.

All information these cookies collect is aggregated (it’s a statistic) and therefore completely anonymous. If you don’t let us use these cookies, you’ll leave us in the dark a bit, as we won’t be able to give you the content you may like.

We use these cookies to uniquely identify your browser and internet device. Thanks to them, we and our partners can build a profile of your interests, and target you with discounts to our service and specialized content.

On the other hand, these cookies allow some companies target you with advertising on other sites. This is to provide you with advertising that you might find interesting, rather than with a series of irrelevant ads you don’t care about.

Nature Scientist Cover Letter Samples & Examples That Worked in 2024

Martin Poduška — Editor in Chief / Resume Writer

Navigating the jungle of a nature scientist's career starts with a well-crafted cover letter . With the right combination of passion for the natural world and examples of your hands-on experience, your application can stand out from the rest.

Roll up your sleeves and get ready to dig into our collection of handy tips, inspiring examples, and user-friendly templates to pen a cover letter that'll make employers sit up and take notice. 

Keep reading and learn all about:

  • Creating your nature scientist cover letter header and headline
  • Personalizing your nature science cover letter for specific employers
  • Writing a great introduction for your nature scientist cover letter
  • Highlighting your key skills and accomplishments as a nature scientist
  • Concluding your nature scientist cover letter correctly
  • Accessing top resources for job-seeking nature scientists

Geotechnical Engineer Cover Letter Sample

1. Create an effective nature scientist cover letter header and headline

Creating a good-looking cover letter header and cover letter headline is the first key step in the cover letter writing process.

These elements help give your letter visual appeal and a better sense of organization .

Starting with your header, this should include:

  • Your name and professional title
  • Your professional contact information
  • A formal address of the employer

Here is an example of a well-formatted nature scientist cover letter header

Jack Doe , Nature Scientist (123) 456-7890 | [email protected] | linkedin.com/in/jack-doe

To: Blue Nature & Ocean Research Center Nature Science Department 1234 Street Address Charleston, SC 29401

Following your header is your cover letter headline.

Think of this as similar to an article or blog title — it should be concise and attention-grabbing, all while accurately portraying the content found within your letter.

When writing a headline, you should always use a keyword related to the position, an eye-catching number or trigger word , and a powerful adjective or verb .

Here is an example of a great headline from a nature scientist’s cover letter

My Top 3 Successes as a Nature Scientist & How I Can Achieve Similar Feats at Your Research Center

Let your cover letter write itself — with AI!

2. personalize your nature science cover letter for specific employers.

Anytime you write a nature science cover letter, it is important to include personalized details that are highly specific to each employer you reach out to.

Personalizing a cover letter in this way requires you to research the employer thoroughly, searching for key information about the employer’s values, current projects or research they are conducting, and more.

Moreover, you should take the time while researching to discover who handles hiring at the employer’s business. Then, you can create a personalized greeting that addresses this person by name.

Here are 3 examples of personalized nature scientist cover letter greetings

  • Dear Head Scientist Joe King,
  • Dear Dr. Joe King,

Dear Dr. Joe King & the Nature Science Department,

3. Write a great introduction for your nature scientist cover letter

After you have the personalized notes ready at your side to reference in your letter, you can begin writing your cover letter introduction .

This introduction should include:

  • A brief overview of your professional history and specializations
  • A statement on why you are enthusiastic about applying to this company
  • A mutual acquaintance (when possible) — professional mutual acquaintances can help build rapport and trust with an employer right away

Here is an example of a well-written introduction for a nature scientist cover letter

I am a nature scientist with 9 years of specialized experience studying the migration patterns of whales. Given your research center’s current focus on marine life, I believe I am a valuable addition to your team and express my great enthusiasm for this opportunity. My mentor, Mr. John Green, is on your center’s board of directors and strongly recommended I apply.

Find out your resume score!

Resume Analytics

4. Highlighting your key skills and accomplishments as a nature scientist

With your introduction out of the way, you can now dive into a deeper exploration of your top skills and accomplishments as a nature scientist.

To showcase these qualifications properly, you should include details that are highly relevant, contextual, and — whenever possible — quantifiable.

Here are 6 nature science skills to describe in a cover letter

  • Nature science specializations (botany, biology, etc.)
  • Conducting experiments
  • Writing research reports
  • Presenting research and experimental findings
  • Submitting research for peer-review
  • Collaborating with other science professionals

Here is an example of how to describe an accomplishment in a nature science cover letter

As a nature scientist at [Former Employer], one of my vital roles was to lead a research team in investigating an invasive species of plant found in the American South. My team and I were able to not only identify the source of this species but also an effective means for getting the plant’s invasion under control, reducing the growth of this plant in the region by 85%.

5. Conclude your nature scientist cover letter correctly

To finish off your nature scientist cover letter strong, you need a great conclusion that persuades the employer to contact you promptly.

This conclusion should contain:

  • A reiteration of your enthusiasm for the position
  • An explanation of how and when you can be best contacted
  • Your plans to follow up, including when and how
  • A formal sign-off

Here is an example of an effective conclusion from a nature scientist’s cover letter

I am eager to learn more about this opportunity and your department, and I hope to hear from you within the next week regarding this position. You may call me at any time between the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays at (123) 456-7890 or email me at [email protected] on weekends. If I have not heard from you by next Wednesday morning, I plan to follow up via phone call at that time.

Many Respects,

[Applicant Name]

If you have ever wondered how a cover letter differs from a resume, this article will tell you everything about the key differences between the two.

6. Top resources for job-seeking nature scientists

You've got the passion, the skills, and now, an enchanting nature scientist cover letter ready to charm employers. It's time to uncover where the best opportunities lie in the wild world of nature science. Let’s explore top resources brimming with potential job opportunities:

  • ResearchGate and Academia.edu : These are crucial platforms where researchers share their work, making them ideal for spotting job ads in academia or research organizations.
  • EnvironmentJobs : As its name suggests, this platform is a big network of environmental jobs including opportunities for nature scientists.
  • Ecological Society of America: The ESA's job board features a wealth of opportunities in ecology and related fields.
  • Conservation Job Board : This is a one-stop-shop for conservation-related jobs, including many that would be a great fit for nature scientists.
  • USAJobs : For those based in the US, the federal government's official job site includes positions related to nature science.
  • LinkedIn : Don’t overlook it — many companies and recruiters use LinkedIn to post nature science-related jobs.
  • Indeed , Glassdoor , and ZipRecruiter : General job search sites often list opportunities in the science sector - and nature science is no exception. 

Remember to make the most of these sources and let your nature scientist cover letter shine!

Nature Scientist Cover Letter FAQ

Your nature scientist cover letter should contain your contact information, the date, and the recipient's details. Also, include a clear and engaging introductory paragraph, detailed body paragraphs that highlight your relevant experiences and skills, a strong concluding paragraph, and a formal sign-off. Don't forget to mention your passion for nature science. 

A well-structured Nature Scientist cover letter starts with a compelling introduction and is followed by body paragraphs detailing your experience, skills and achievements relevant to the job posting. This should then be concluded with a closing paragraph reiterating your interest in the role and gratitude for being considered. 

Your nature scientist cover letter should ideally be a maximum of one page long. Employers typically prefer concise, well-crafted letters that get to the point quickly while demonstrating your qualifications and enthusiasm for the role.

Certainly. Tailoring your cover letter for each job application helps demonstrate your understanding of the role and how you fit perfectly with that specific position. It shows you took the time to understand the company's needs and that you're not simply sending out generic applications. 

Yes, even if you lack professional experience, you can still craft a compelling cover letter. Highlight relevant courses, internships, research projects, or transferable skills from other fields. A strong cover letter is about potential as much as it is about past achievements. 

Martin Poduška — Editor in Chief / Resume Writer

Martin Poduška

Martin is a resume expert and career advice writer at Kickresume. In his five years at Kickresume, he has written hundreds of in-depth, painstakingly researched resume advice articles and, as chief editor, he has also edited and revised every single article on this website. Tens of thousands of job seekers read Martin’s resume advice every month. He holds a degree in English from the University of St Andrews and a degree in Comparative Literature from the University of Amsterdam .

All science cover letter examples

  • Agricultural Scientist
  • Formal Scientist
  • Humanities Scientist
  • Medical Researcher / Scientist
  • Natural Scientist
  • Social Scientist

All nature scientist cover letter examples

Related nature scientist resume examples.

Junior Research Analyst CV Sample

Let your resume do the work.

Join 3,600,000 job seekers worldwide and get hired faster with your best resume yet.

english template

The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Scientific Reports

What this handout is about.

This handout provides a general guide to writing reports about scientific research you’ve performed. In addition to describing the conventional rules about the format and content of a lab report, we’ll also attempt to convey why these rules exist, so you’ll get a clearer, more dependable idea of how to approach this writing situation. Readers of this handout may also find our handout on writing in the sciences useful.

Background and pre-writing

Why do we write research reports.

You did an experiment or study for your science class, and now you have to write it up for your teacher to review. You feel that you understood the background sufficiently, designed and completed the study effectively, obtained useful data, and can use those data to draw conclusions about a scientific process or principle. But how exactly do you write all that? What is your teacher expecting to see?

To take some of the guesswork out of answering these questions, try to think beyond the classroom setting. In fact, you and your teacher are both part of a scientific community, and the people who participate in this community tend to share the same values. As long as you understand and respect these values, your writing will likely meet the expectations of your audience—including your teacher.

So why are you writing this research report? The practical answer is “Because the teacher assigned it,” but that’s classroom thinking. Generally speaking, people investigating some scientific hypothesis have a responsibility to the rest of the scientific world to report their findings, particularly if these findings add to or contradict previous ideas. The people reading such reports have two primary goals:

  • They want to gather the information presented.
  • They want to know that the findings are legitimate.

Your job as a writer, then, is to fulfill these two goals.

How do I do that?

Good question. Here is the basic format scientists have designed for research reports:

  • Introduction

Methods and Materials

This format, sometimes called “IMRAD,” may take slightly different shapes depending on the discipline or audience; some ask you to include an abstract or separate section for the hypothesis, or call the Discussion section “Conclusions,” or change the order of the sections (some professional and academic journals require the Methods section to appear last). Overall, however, the IMRAD format was devised to represent a textual version of the scientific method.

The scientific method, you’ll probably recall, involves developing a hypothesis, testing it, and deciding whether your findings support the hypothesis. In essence, the format for a research report in the sciences mirrors the scientific method but fleshes out the process a little. Below, you’ll find a table that shows how each written section fits into the scientific method and what additional information it offers the reader.

Thinking of your research report as based on the scientific method, but elaborated in the ways described above, may help you to meet your audience’s expectations successfully. We’re going to proceed by explicitly connecting each section of the lab report to the scientific method, then explaining why and how you need to elaborate that section.

Although this handout takes each section in the order in which it should be presented in the final report, you may for practical reasons decide to compose sections in another order. For example, many writers find that composing their Methods and Results before the other sections helps to clarify their idea of the experiment or study as a whole. You might consider using each assignment to practice different approaches to drafting the report, to find the order that works best for you.

What should I do before drafting the lab report?

The best way to prepare to write the lab report is to make sure that you fully understand everything you need to about the experiment. Obviously, if you don’t quite know what went on during the lab, you’re going to find it difficult to explain the lab satisfactorily to someone else. To make sure you know enough to write the report, complete the following steps:

  • What are we going to do in this lab? (That is, what’s the procedure?)
  • Why are we going to do it that way?
  • What are we hoping to learn from this experiment?
  • Why would we benefit from this knowledge?
  • Consult your lab supervisor as you perform the lab. If you don’t know how to answer one of the questions above, for example, your lab supervisor will probably be able to explain it to you (or, at least, help you figure it out).
  • Plan the steps of the experiment carefully with your lab partners. The less you rush, the more likely it is that you’ll perform the experiment correctly and record your findings accurately. Also, take some time to think about the best way to organize the data before you have to start putting numbers down. If you can design a table to account for the data, that will tend to work much better than jotting results down hurriedly on a scrap piece of paper.
  • Record the data carefully so you get them right. You won’t be able to trust your conclusions if you have the wrong data, and your readers will know you messed up if the other three people in your group have “97 degrees” and you have “87.”
  • Consult with your lab partners about everything you do. Lab groups often make one of two mistakes: two people do all the work while two have a nice chat, or everybody works together until the group finishes gathering the raw data, then scrams outta there. Collaborate with your partners, even when the experiment is “over.” What trends did you observe? Was the hypothesis supported? Did you all get the same results? What kind of figure should you use to represent your findings? The whole group can work together to answer these questions.
  • Consider your audience. You may believe that audience is a non-issue: it’s your lab TA, right? Well, yes—but again, think beyond the classroom. If you write with only your lab instructor in mind, you may omit material that is crucial to a complete understanding of your experiment, because you assume the instructor knows all that stuff already. As a result, you may receive a lower grade, since your TA won’t be sure that you understand all the principles at work. Try to write towards a student in the same course but a different lab section. That student will have a fair degree of scientific expertise but won’t know much about your experiment particularly. Alternatively, you could envision yourself five years from now, after the reading and lectures for this course have faded a bit. What would you remember, and what would you need explained more clearly (as a refresher)?

Once you’ve completed these steps as you perform the experiment, you’ll be in a good position to draft an effective lab report.

Introductions

How do i write a strong introduction.

For the purposes of this handout, we’ll consider the Introduction to contain four basic elements: the purpose, the scientific literature relevant to the subject, the hypothesis, and the reasons you believed your hypothesis viable. Let’s start by going through each element of the Introduction to clarify what it covers and why it’s important. Then we can formulate a logical organizational strategy for the section.

The inclusion of the purpose (sometimes called the objective) of the experiment often confuses writers. The biggest misconception is that the purpose is the same as the hypothesis. Not quite. We’ll get to hypotheses in a minute, but basically they provide some indication of what you expect the experiment to show. The purpose is broader, and deals more with what you expect to gain through the experiment. In a professional setting, the hypothesis might have something to do with how cells react to a certain kind of genetic manipulation, but the purpose of the experiment is to learn more about potential cancer treatments. Undergraduate reports don’t often have this wide-ranging a goal, but you should still try to maintain the distinction between your hypothesis and your purpose. In a solubility experiment, for example, your hypothesis might talk about the relationship between temperature and the rate of solubility, but the purpose is probably to learn more about some specific scientific principle underlying the process of solubility.

For starters, most people say that you should write out your working hypothesis before you perform the experiment or study. Many beginning science students neglect to do so and find themselves struggling to remember precisely which variables were involved in the process or in what way the researchers felt that they were related. Write your hypothesis down as you develop it—you’ll be glad you did.

As for the form a hypothesis should take, it’s best not to be too fancy or complicated; an inventive style isn’t nearly so important as clarity here. There’s nothing wrong with beginning your hypothesis with the phrase, “It was hypothesized that . . .” Be as specific as you can about the relationship between the different objects of your study. In other words, explain that when term A changes, term B changes in this particular way. Readers of scientific writing are rarely content with the idea that a relationship between two terms exists—they want to know what that relationship entails.

Not a hypothesis:

“It was hypothesized that there is a significant relationship between the temperature of a solvent and the rate at which a solute dissolves.”

Hypothesis:

“It was hypothesized that as the temperature of a solvent increases, the rate at which a solute will dissolve in that solvent increases.”

Put more technically, most hypotheses contain both an independent and a dependent variable. The independent variable is what you manipulate to test the reaction; the dependent variable is what changes as a result of your manipulation. In the example above, the independent variable is the temperature of the solvent, and the dependent variable is the rate of solubility. Be sure that your hypothesis includes both variables.

Justify your hypothesis

You need to do more than tell your readers what your hypothesis is; you also need to assure them that this hypothesis was reasonable, given the circumstances. In other words, use the Introduction to explain that you didn’t just pluck your hypothesis out of thin air. (If you did pluck it out of thin air, your problems with your report will probably extend beyond using the appropriate format.) If you posit that a particular relationship exists between the independent and the dependent variable, what led you to believe your “guess” might be supported by evidence?

Scientists often refer to this type of justification as “motivating” the hypothesis, in the sense that something propelled them to make that prediction. Often, motivation includes what we already know—or rather, what scientists generally accept as true (see “Background/previous research” below). But you can also motivate your hypothesis by relying on logic or on your own observations. If you’re trying to decide which solutes will dissolve more rapidly in a solvent at increased temperatures, you might remember that some solids are meant to dissolve in hot water (e.g., bouillon cubes) and some are used for a function precisely because they withstand higher temperatures (they make saucepans out of something). Or you can think about whether you’ve noticed sugar dissolving more rapidly in your glass of iced tea or in your cup of coffee. Even such basic, outside-the-lab observations can help you justify your hypothesis as reasonable.

Background/previous research

This part of the Introduction demonstrates to the reader your awareness of how you’re building on other scientists’ work. If you think of the scientific community as engaging in a series of conversations about various topics, then you’ll recognize that the relevant background material will alert the reader to which conversation you want to enter.

Generally speaking, authors writing journal articles use the background for slightly different purposes than do students completing assignments. Because readers of academic journals tend to be professionals in the field, authors explain the background in order to permit readers to evaluate the study’s pertinence for their own work. You, on the other hand, write toward a much narrower audience—your peers in the course or your lab instructor—and so you must demonstrate that you understand the context for the (presumably assigned) experiment or study you’ve completed. For example, if your professor has been talking about polarity during lectures, and you’re doing a solubility experiment, you might try to connect the polarity of a solid to its relative solubility in certain solvents. In any event, both professional researchers and undergraduates need to connect the background material overtly to their own work.

Organization of this section

Most of the time, writers begin by stating the purpose or objectives of their own work, which establishes for the reader’s benefit the “nature and scope of the problem investigated” (Day 1994). Once you have expressed your purpose, you should then find it easier to move from the general purpose, to relevant material on the subject, to your hypothesis. In abbreviated form, an Introduction section might look like this:

“The purpose of the experiment was to test conventional ideas about solubility in the laboratory [purpose] . . . According to Whitecoat and Labrat (1999), at higher temperatures the molecules of solvents move more quickly . . . We know from the class lecture that molecules moving at higher rates of speed collide with one another more often and thus break down more easily [background material/motivation] . . . Thus, it was hypothesized that as the temperature of a solvent increases, the rate at which a solute will dissolve in that solvent increases [hypothesis].”

Again—these are guidelines, not commandments. Some writers and readers prefer different structures for the Introduction. The one above merely illustrates a common approach to organizing material.

How do I write a strong Materials and Methods section?

As with any piece of writing, your Methods section will succeed only if it fulfills its readers’ expectations, so you need to be clear in your own mind about the purpose of this section. Let’s review the purpose as we described it above: in this section, you want to describe in detail how you tested the hypothesis you developed and also to clarify the rationale for your procedure. In science, it’s not sufficient merely to design and carry out an experiment. Ultimately, others must be able to verify your findings, so your experiment must be reproducible, to the extent that other researchers can follow the same procedure and obtain the same (or similar) results.

Here’s a real-world example of the importance of reproducibility. In 1989, physicists Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischman announced that they had discovered “cold fusion,” a way of producing excess heat and power without the nuclear radiation that accompanies “hot fusion.” Such a discovery could have great ramifications for the industrial production of energy, so these findings created a great deal of interest. When other scientists tried to duplicate the experiment, however, they didn’t achieve the same results, and as a result many wrote off the conclusions as unjustified (or worse, a hoax). To this day, the viability of cold fusion is debated within the scientific community, even though an increasing number of researchers believe it possible. So when you write your Methods section, keep in mind that you need to describe your experiment well enough to allow others to replicate it exactly.

With these goals in mind, let’s consider how to write an effective Methods section in terms of content, structure, and style.

Sometimes the hardest thing about writing this section isn’t what you should talk about, but what you shouldn’t talk about. Writers often want to include the results of their experiment, because they measured and recorded the results during the course of the experiment. But such data should be reserved for the Results section. In the Methods section, you can write that you recorded the results, or how you recorded the results (e.g., in a table), but you shouldn’t write what the results were—not yet. Here, you’re merely stating exactly how you went about testing your hypothesis. As you draft your Methods section, ask yourself the following questions:

  • How much detail? Be precise in providing details, but stay relevant. Ask yourself, “Would it make any difference if this piece were a different size or made from a different material?” If not, you probably don’t need to get too specific. If so, you should give as many details as necessary to prevent this experiment from going awry if someone else tries to carry it out. Probably the most crucial detail is measurement; you should always quantify anything you can, such as time elapsed, temperature, mass, volume, etc.
  • Rationale: Be sure that as you’re relating your actions during the experiment, you explain your rationale for the protocol you developed. If you capped a test tube immediately after adding a solute to a solvent, why did you do that? (That’s really two questions: why did you cap it, and why did you cap it immediately?) In a professional setting, writers provide their rationale as a way to explain their thinking to potential critics. On one hand, of course, that’s your motivation for talking about protocol, too. On the other hand, since in practical terms you’re also writing to your teacher (who’s seeking to evaluate how well you comprehend the principles of the experiment), explaining the rationale indicates that you understand the reasons for conducting the experiment in that way, and that you’re not just following orders. Critical thinking is crucial—robots don’t make good scientists.
  • Control: Most experiments will include a control, which is a means of comparing experimental results. (Sometimes you’ll need to have more than one control, depending on the number of hypotheses you want to test.) The control is exactly the same as the other items you’re testing, except that you don’t manipulate the independent variable-the condition you’re altering to check the effect on the dependent variable. For example, if you’re testing solubility rates at increased temperatures, your control would be a solution that you didn’t heat at all; that way, you’ll see how quickly the solute dissolves “naturally” (i.e., without manipulation), and you’ll have a point of reference against which to compare the solutions you did heat.

Describe the control in the Methods section. Two things are especially important in writing about the control: identify the control as a control, and explain what you’re controlling for. Here is an example:

“As a control for the temperature change, we placed the same amount of solute in the same amount of solvent, and let the solution stand for five minutes without heating it.”

Structure and style

Organization is especially important in the Methods section of a lab report because readers must understand your experimental procedure completely. Many writers are surprised by the difficulty of conveying what they did during the experiment, since after all they’re only reporting an event, but it’s often tricky to present this information in a coherent way. There’s a fairly standard structure you can use to guide you, and following the conventions for style can help clarify your points.

  • Subsections: Occasionally, researchers use subsections to report their procedure when the following circumstances apply: 1) if they’ve used a great many materials; 2) if the procedure is unusually complicated; 3) if they’ve developed a procedure that won’t be familiar to many of their readers. Because these conditions rarely apply to the experiments you’ll perform in class, most undergraduate lab reports won’t require you to use subsections. In fact, many guides to writing lab reports suggest that you try to limit your Methods section to a single paragraph.
  • Narrative structure: Think of this section as telling a story about a group of people and the experiment they performed. Describe what you did in the order in which you did it. You may have heard the old joke centered on the line, “Disconnect the red wire, but only after disconnecting the green wire,” where the person reading the directions blows everything to kingdom come because the directions weren’t in order. We’re used to reading about events chronologically, and so your readers will generally understand what you did if you present that information in the same way. Also, since the Methods section does generally appear as a narrative (story), you want to avoid the “recipe” approach: “First, take a clean, dry 100 ml test tube from the rack. Next, add 50 ml of distilled water.” You should be reporting what did happen, not telling the reader how to perform the experiment: “50 ml of distilled water was poured into a clean, dry 100 ml test tube.” Hint: most of the time, the recipe approach comes from copying down the steps of the procedure from your lab manual, so you may want to draft the Methods section initially without consulting your manual. Later, of course, you can go back and fill in any part of the procedure you inadvertently overlooked.
  • Past tense: Remember that you’re describing what happened, so you should use past tense to refer to everything you did during the experiment. Writers are often tempted to use the imperative (“Add 5 g of the solid to the solution”) because that’s how their lab manuals are worded; less frequently, they use present tense (“5 g of the solid are added to the solution”). Instead, remember that you’re talking about an event which happened at a particular time in the past, and which has already ended by the time you start writing, so simple past tense will be appropriate in this section (“5 g of the solid were added to the solution” or “We added 5 g of the solid to the solution”).
  • Active: We heated the solution to 80°C. (The subject, “we,” performs the action, heating.)
  • Passive: The solution was heated to 80°C. (The subject, “solution,” doesn’t do the heating–it is acted upon, not acting.)

Increasingly, especially in the social sciences, using first person and active voice is acceptable in scientific reports. Most readers find that this style of writing conveys information more clearly and concisely. This rhetorical choice thus brings two scientific values into conflict: objectivity versus clarity. Since the scientific community hasn’t reached a consensus about which style it prefers, you may want to ask your lab instructor.

How do I write a strong Results section?

Here’s a paradox for you. The Results section is often both the shortest (yay!) and most important (uh-oh!) part of your report. Your Materials and Methods section shows how you obtained the results, and your Discussion section explores the significance of the results, so clearly the Results section forms the backbone of the lab report. This section provides the most critical information about your experiment: the data that allow you to discuss how your hypothesis was or wasn’t supported. But it doesn’t provide anything else, which explains why this section is generally shorter than the others.

Before you write this section, look at all the data you collected to figure out what relates significantly to your hypothesis. You’ll want to highlight this material in your Results section. Resist the urge to include every bit of data you collected, since perhaps not all are relevant. Also, don’t try to draw conclusions about the results—save them for the Discussion section. In this section, you’re reporting facts. Nothing your readers can dispute should appear in the Results section.

Most Results sections feature three distinct parts: text, tables, and figures. Let’s consider each part one at a time.

This should be a short paragraph, generally just a few lines, that describes the results you obtained from your experiment. In a relatively simple experiment, one that doesn’t produce a lot of data for you to repeat, the text can represent the entire Results section. Don’t feel that you need to include lots of extraneous detail to compensate for a short (but effective) text; your readers appreciate discrimination more than your ability to recite facts. In a more complex experiment, you may want to use tables and/or figures to help guide your readers toward the most important information you gathered. In that event, you’ll need to refer to each table or figure directly, where appropriate:

“Table 1 lists the rates of solubility for each substance”

“Solubility increased as the temperature of the solution increased (see Figure 1).”

If you do use tables or figures, make sure that you don’t present the same material in both the text and the tables/figures, since in essence you’ll just repeat yourself, probably annoying your readers with the redundancy of your statements.

Feel free to describe trends that emerge as you examine the data. Although identifying trends requires some judgment on your part and so may not feel like factual reporting, no one can deny that these trends do exist, and so they properly belong in the Results section. Example:

“Heating the solution increased the rate of solubility of polar solids by 45% but had no effect on the rate of solubility in solutions containing non-polar solids.”

This point isn’t debatable—you’re just pointing out what the data show.

As in the Materials and Methods section, you want to refer to your data in the past tense, because the events you recorded have already occurred and have finished occurring. In the example above, note the use of “increased” and “had,” rather than “increases” and “has.” (You don’t know from your experiment that heating always increases the solubility of polar solids, but it did that time.)

You shouldn’t put information in the table that also appears in the text. You also shouldn’t use a table to present irrelevant data, just to show you did collect these data during the experiment. Tables are good for some purposes and situations, but not others, so whether and how you’ll use tables depends upon what you need them to accomplish.

Tables are useful ways to show variation in data, but not to present a great deal of unchanging measurements. If you’re dealing with a scientific phenomenon that occurs only within a certain range of temperatures, for example, you don’t need to use a table to show that the phenomenon didn’t occur at any of the other temperatures. How useful is this table?

A table labeled Effect of Temperature on Rate of Solubility with temperature of solvent values in 10-degree increments from -20 degrees Celsius to 80 degrees Celsius that does not show a corresponding rate of solubility value until 50 degrees Celsius.

As you can probably see, no solubility was observed until the trial temperature reached 50°C, a fact that the text part of the Results section could easily convey. The table could then be limited to what happened at 50°C and higher, thus better illustrating the differences in solubility rates when solubility did occur.

As a rule, try not to use a table to describe any experimental event you can cover in one sentence of text. Here’s an example of an unnecessary table from How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper , by Robert A. Day:

A table labeled Oxygen requirements of various species of Streptomyces showing the names of organisms and two columns that indicate growth under aerobic conditions and growth under anaerobic conditions with a plus or minus symbol for each organism in the growth columns to indicate value.

As Day notes, all the information in this table can be summarized in one sentence: “S. griseus, S. coelicolor, S. everycolor, and S. rainbowenski grew under aerobic conditions, whereas S. nocolor and S. greenicus required anaerobic conditions.” Most readers won’t find the table clearer than that one sentence.

When you do have reason to tabulate material, pay attention to the clarity and readability of the format you use. Here are a few tips:

  • Number your table. Then, when you refer to the table in the text, use that number to tell your readers which table they can review to clarify the material.
  • Give your table a title. This title should be descriptive enough to communicate the contents of the table, but not so long that it becomes difficult to follow. The titles in the sample tables above are acceptable.
  • Arrange your table so that readers read vertically, not horizontally. For the most part, this rule means that you should construct your table so that like elements read down, not across. Think about what you want your readers to compare, and put that information in the column (up and down) rather than in the row (across). Usually, the point of comparison will be the numerical data you collect, so especially make sure you have columns of numbers, not rows.Here’s an example of how drastically this decision affects the readability of your table (from A Short Guide to Writing about Chemistry , by Herbert Beall and John Trimbur). Look at this table, which presents the relevant data in horizontal rows:

A table labeled Boyle's Law Experiment: Measuring Volume as a Function of Pressure that presents the trial number, length of air sample in millimeters, and height difference in inches of mercury, each of which is presented in rows horizontally.

It’s a little tough to see the trends that the author presumably wants to present in this table. Compare this table, in which the data appear vertically:

A table labeled Boyle's Law Experiment: Measuring Volume as a Function of Pressure that presents the trial number, length of air sample in millimeters, and height difference in inches of mercury, each of which is presented in columns vertically.

The second table shows how putting like elements in a vertical column makes for easier reading. In this case, the like elements are the measurements of length and height, over five trials–not, as in the first table, the length and height measurements for each trial.

  • Make sure to include units of measurement in the tables. Readers might be able to guess that you measured something in millimeters, but don’t make them try.
  • Don’t use vertical lines as part of the format for your table. This convention exists because journals prefer not to have to reproduce these lines because the tables then become more expensive to print. Even though it’s fairly unlikely that you’ll be sending your Biology 11 lab report to Science for publication, your readers still have this expectation. Consequently, if you use the table-drawing option in your word-processing software, choose the option that doesn’t rely on a “grid” format (which includes vertical lines).

How do I include figures in my report?

Although tables can be useful ways of showing trends in the results you obtained, figures (i.e., illustrations) can do an even better job of emphasizing such trends. Lab report writers often use graphic representations of the data they collected to provide their readers with a literal picture of how the experiment went.

When should you use a figure?

Remember the circumstances under which you don’t need a table: when you don’t have a great deal of data or when the data you have don’t vary a lot. Under the same conditions, you would probably forgo the figure as well, since the figure would be unlikely to provide your readers with an additional perspective. Scientists really don’t like their time wasted, so they tend not to respond favorably to redundancy.

If you’re trying to decide between using a table and creating a figure to present your material, consider the following a rule of thumb. The strength of a table lies in its ability to supply large amounts of exact data, whereas the strength of a figure is its dramatic illustration of important trends within the experiment. If you feel that your readers won’t get the full impact of the results you obtained just by looking at the numbers, then a figure might be appropriate.

Of course, an undergraduate class may expect you to create a figure for your lab experiment, if only to make sure that you can do so effectively. If this is the case, then don’t worry about whether to use figures or not—concentrate instead on how best to accomplish your task.

Figures can include maps, photographs, pen-and-ink drawings, flow charts, bar graphs, and section graphs (“pie charts”). But the most common figure by far, especially for undergraduates, is the line graph, so we’ll focus on that type in this handout.

At the undergraduate level, you can often draw and label your graphs by hand, provided that the result is clear, legible, and drawn to scale. Computer technology has, however, made creating line graphs a lot easier. Most word-processing software has a number of functions for transferring data into graph form; many scientists have found Microsoft Excel, for example, a helpful tool in graphing results. If you plan on pursuing a career in the sciences, it may be well worth your while to learn to use a similar program.

Computers can’t, however, decide for you how your graph really works; you have to know how to design your graph to meet your readers’ expectations. Here are some of these expectations:

  • Keep it as simple as possible. You may be tempted to signal the complexity of the information you gathered by trying to design a graph that accounts for that complexity. But remember the purpose of your graph: to dramatize your results in a manner that’s easy to see and grasp. Try not to make the reader stare at the graph for a half hour to find the important line among the mass of other lines. For maximum effectiveness, limit yourself to three to five lines per graph; if you have more data to demonstrate, use a set of graphs to account for it, rather than trying to cram it all into a single figure.
  • Plot the independent variable on the horizontal (x) axis and the dependent variable on the vertical (y) axis. Remember that the independent variable is the condition that you manipulated during the experiment and the dependent variable is the condition that you measured to see if it changed along with the independent variable. Placing the variables along their respective axes is mostly just a convention, but since your readers are accustomed to viewing graphs in this way, you’re better off not challenging the convention in your report.
  • Label each axis carefully, and be especially careful to include units of measure. You need to make sure that your readers understand perfectly well what your graph indicates.
  • Number and title your graphs. As with tables, the title of the graph should be informative but concise, and you should refer to your graph by number in the text (e.g., “Figure 1 shows the increase in the solubility rate as a function of temperature”).
  • Many editors of professional scientific journals prefer that writers distinguish the lines in their graphs by attaching a symbol to them, usually a geometric shape (triangle, square, etc.), and using that symbol throughout the curve of the line. Generally, readers have a hard time distinguishing dotted lines from dot-dash lines from straight lines, so you should consider staying away from this system. Editors don’t usually like different-colored lines within a graph because colors are difficult and expensive to reproduce; colors may, however, be great for your purposes, as long as you’re not planning to submit your paper to Nature. Use your discretion—try to employ whichever technique dramatizes the results most effectively.
  • Try to gather data at regular intervals, so the plot points on your graph aren’t too far apart. You can’t be sure of the arc you should draw between the plot points if the points are located at the far corners of the graph; over a fifteen-minute interval, perhaps the change occurred in the first or last thirty seconds of that period (in which case your straight-line connection between the points is misleading).
  • If you’re worried that you didn’t collect data at sufficiently regular intervals during your experiment, go ahead and connect the points with a straight line, but you may want to examine this problem as part of your Discussion section.
  • Make your graph large enough so that everything is legible and clearly demarcated, but not so large that it either overwhelms the rest of the Results section or provides a far greater range than you need to illustrate your point. If, for example, the seedlings of your plant grew only 15 mm during the trial, you don’t need to construct a graph that accounts for 100 mm of growth. The lines in your graph should more or less fill the space created by the axes; if you see that your data is confined to the lower left portion of the graph, you should probably re-adjust your scale.
  • If you create a set of graphs, make them the same size and format, including all the verbal and visual codes (captions, symbols, scale, etc.). You want to be as consistent as possible in your illustrations, so that your readers can easily make the comparisons you’re trying to get them to see.

How do I write a strong Discussion section?

The discussion section is probably the least formalized part of the report, in that you can’t really apply the same structure to every type of experiment. In simple terms, here you tell your readers what to make of the Results you obtained. If you have done the Results part well, your readers should already recognize the trends in the data and have a fairly clear idea of whether your hypothesis was supported. Because the Results can seem so self-explanatory, many students find it difficult to know what material to add in this last section.

Basically, the Discussion contains several parts, in no particular order, but roughly moving from specific (i.e., related to your experiment only) to general (how your findings fit in the larger scientific community). In this section, you will, as a rule, need to:

Explain whether the data support your hypothesis

  • Acknowledge any anomalous data or deviations from what you expected

Derive conclusions, based on your findings, about the process you’re studying

  • Relate your findings to earlier work in the same area (if you can)

Explore the theoretical and/or practical implications of your findings

Let’s look at some dos and don’ts for each of these objectives.

This statement is usually a good way to begin the Discussion, since you can’t effectively speak about the larger scientific value of your study until you’ve figured out the particulars of this experiment. You might begin this part of the Discussion by explicitly stating the relationships or correlations your data indicate between the independent and dependent variables. Then you can show more clearly why you believe your hypothesis was or was not supported. For example, if you tested solubility at various temperatures, you could start this section by noting that the rates of solubility increased as the temperature increased. If your initial hypothesis surmised that temperature change would not affect solubility, you would then say something like,

“The hypothesis that temperature change would not affect solubility was not supported by the data.”

Note: Students tend to view labs as practical tests of undeniable scientific truths. As a result, you may want to say that the hypothesis was “proved” or “disproved” or that it was “correct” or “incorrect.” These terms, however, reflect a degree of certainty that you as a scientist aren’t supposed to have. Remember, you’re testing a theory with a procedure that lasts only a few hours and relies on only a few trials, which severely compromises your ability to be sure about the “truth” you see. Words like “supported,” “indicated,” and “suggested” are more acceptable ways to evaluate your hypothesis.

Also, recognize that saying whether the data supported your hypothesis or not involves making a claim to be defended. As such, you need to show the readers that this claim is warranted by the evidence. Make sure that you’re very explicit about the relationship between the evidence and the conclusions you draw from it. This process is difficult for many writers because we don’t often justify conclusions in our regular lives. For example, you might nudge your friend at a party and whisper, “That guy’s drunk,” and once your friend lays eyes on the person in question, she might readily agree. In a scientific paper, by contrast, you would need to defend your claim more thoroughly by pointing to data such as slurred words, unsteady gait, and the lampshade-as-hat. In addition to pointing out these details, you would also need to show how (according to previous studies) these signs are consistent with inebriation, especially if they occur in conjunction with one another. To put it another way, tell your readers exactly how you got from point A (was the hypothesis supported?) to point B (yes/no).

Acknowledge any anomalous data, or deviations from what you expected

You need to take these exceptions and divergences into account, so that you qualify your conclusions sufficiently. For obvious reasons, your readers will doubt your authority if you (deliberately or inadvertently) overlook a key piece of data that doesn’t square with your perspective on what occurred. In a more philosophical sense, once you’ve ignored evidence that contradicts your claims, you’ve departed from the scientific method. The urge to “tidy up” the experiment is often strong, but if you give in to it you’re no longer performing good science.

Sometimes after you’ve performed a study or experiment, you realize that some part of the methods you used to test your hypothesis was flawed. In that case, it’s OK to suggest that if you had the chance to conduct your test again, you might change the design in this or that specific way in order to avoid such and such a problem. The key to making this approach work, though, is to be very precise about the weakness in your experiment, why and how you think that weakness might have affected your data, and how you would alter your protocol to eliminate—or limit the effects of—that weakness. Often, inexperienced researchers and writers feel the need to account for “wrong” data (remember, there’s no such animal), and so they speculate wildly about what might have screwed things up. These speculations include such factors as the unusually hot temperature in the room, or the possibility that their lab partners read the meters wrong, or the potentially defective equipment. These explanations are what scientists call “cop-outs,” or “lame”; don’t indicate that the experiment had a weakness unless you’re fairly certain that a) it really occurred and b) you can explain reasonably well how that weakness affected your results.

If, for example, your hypothesis dealt with the changes in solubility at different temperatures, then try to figure out what you can rationally say about the process of solubility more generally. If you’re doing an undergraduate lab, chances are that the lab will connect in some way to the material you’ve been covering either in lecture or in your reading, so you might choose to return to these resources as a way to help you think clearly about the process as a whole.

This part of the Discussion section is another place where you need to make sure that you’re not overreaching. Again, nothing you’ve found in one study would remotely allow you to claim that you now “know” something, or that something isn’t “true,” or that your experiment “confirmed” some principle or other. Hesitate before you go out on a limb—it’s dangerous! Use less absolutely conclusive language, including such words as “suggest,” “indicate,” “correspond,” “possibly,” “challenge,” etc.

Relate your findings to previous work in the field (if possible)

We’ve been talking about how to show that you belong in a particular community (such as biologists or anthropologists) by writing within conventions that they recognize and accept. Another is to try to identify a conversation going on among members of that community, and use your work to contribute to that conversation. In a larger philosophical sense, scientists can’t fully understand the value of their research unless they have some sense of the context that provoked and nourished it. That is, you have to recognize what’s new about your project (potentially, anyway) and how it benefits the wider body of scientific knowledge. On a more pragmatic level, especially for undergraduates, connecting your lab work to previous research will demonstrate to the TA that you see the big picture. You have an opportunity, in the Discussion section, to distinguish yourself from the students in your class who aren’t thinking beyond the barest facts of the study. Capitalize on this opportunity by putting your own work in context.

If you’re just beginning to work in the natural sciences (as a first-year biology or chemistry student, say), most likely the work you’ll be doing has already been performed and re-performed to a satisfactory degree. Hence, you could probably point to a similar experiment or study and compare/contrast your results and conclusions. More advanced work may deal with an issue that is somewhat less “resolved,” and so previous research may take the form of an ongoing debate, and you can use your own work to weigh in on that debate. If, for example, researchers are hotly disputing the value of herbal remedies for the common cold, and the results of your study suggest that Echinacea diminishes the symptoms but not the actual presence of the cold, then you might want to take some time in the Discussion section to recapitulate the specifics of the dispute as it relates to Echinacea as an herbal remedy. (Consider that you have probably already written in the Introduction about this debate as background research.)

This information is often the best way to end your Discussion (and, for all intents and purposes, the report). In argumentative writing generally, you want to use your closing words to convey the main point of your writing. This main point can be primarily theoretical (“Now that you understand this information, you’re in a better position to understand this larger issue”) or primarily practical (“You can use this information to take such and such an action”). In either case, the concluding statements help the reader to comprehend the significance of your project and your decision to write about it.

Since a lab report is argumentative—after all, you’re investigating a claim, and judging the legitimacy of that claim by generating and collecting evidence—it’s often a good idea to end your report with the same technique for establishing your main point. If you want to go the theoretical route, you might talk about the consequences your study has for the field or phenomenon you’re investigating. To return to the examples regarding solubility, you could end by reflecting on what your work on solubility as a function of temperature tells us (potentially) about solubility in general. (Some folks consider this type of exploration “pure” as opposed to “applied” science, although these labels can be problematic.) If you want to go the practical route, you could end by speculating about the medical, institutional, or commercial implications of your findings—in other words, answer the question, “What can this study help people to do?” In either case, you’re going to make your readers’ experience more satisfying, by helping them see why they spent their time learning what you had to teach them.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

American Psychological Association. 2010. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association . 6th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Beall, Herbert, and John Trimbur. 2001. A Short Guide to Writing About Chemistry , 2nd ed. New York: Longman.

Blum, Deborah, and Mary Knudson. 1997. A Field Guide for Science Writers: The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers . New York: Oxford University Press.

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. FitzGerald. 2016. The Craft of Research , 4th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Briscoe, Mary Helen. 1996. Preparing Scientific Illustrations: A Guide to Better Posters, Presentations, and Publications , 2nd ed. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Council of Science Editors. 2014. Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers , 8th ed. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.

Davis, Martha. 2012. Scientific Papers and Presentations , 3rd ed. London: Academic Press.

Day, Robert A. 1994. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper , 4th ed. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

Porush, David. 1995. A Short Guide to Writing About Science . New York: Longman.

Williams, Joseph, and Joseph Bizup. 2017. Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace , 12th ed. Boston: Pearson.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Make a Gift

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS. A lock ( Lock Locked padlock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Dear Colleague Letter: NSF INCLUDES Research Experience and Mentoring (REM) Supplemental Funding Opportunities

February 22, 2024

Dear Colleague:

The National Science Foundation continually seeks to advance scientific progress in research and innovation by broadening the participation and inclusion of the full spectrum of diverse talents in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science ( INCLUDES ) Initiative seeks to inform the community about an opportunity to pursue supplemental funding for Research Experience and Mentoring ( REM ) activities for active NSF projects focused on microelectronics, in response to the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 .

The NSF INCLUDES Initiative, in collaboration with the REM program, will support costs associated with bringing a cohort of high school students, STEM middle school and high school teachers, undergraduate students, faculty from non-research intensive institutions, and/or veterans to be engaged as Research Participants in a microelectronics research environment, in alignment with REM program guidance ( NSF 23-012 ). Research experiences and mentorship have been positively correlated with academic and professional success in STEM ( click here for a list of related references). Research Participants shall participate in research activities aligned with the parent project's microelectronics research goals and receive structured mentoring throughout the 2024-2025 academic year. The INCLUDES-REM program welcomes submission of proposals to this funding opportunity that include the participation of the full spectrum of diverse talent to include underrepresented and under-served populations in microelectronics-related STEM fields. (see https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23315 for statistical information about underrepresentation in STEM). Partnerships with K-12 schools, community colleges, technical schools, and/or minority-serving four-year institutions are especially encouraged.

PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING REQUESTS

Information about requesting supplemental support is contained in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), Chapter VI.E.5, available online at PAPPG . In addition to the PAPPG requirements for supplemental support, the following materials must be included.

Summary of Proposed Work: (Combine the plans listed below into a single document.)

  • Recruitment Plan , describing how an at least six-member cohort of research participants will be established. Letters of collaboration demonstrating credible relationships with campus or community organizations must be included. The REM program strongly recommends utilizing the NSF Education & Training Application ( ETAP ) mechanism to manage the recruitment, application, and selection processes. (2 pages maximum, not including the letters)
  • Participant Research Plan , describing types of research activities to which the Research Participants will contribute. The plan must include the significance of the research area, expected outcomes of research activities, and example projects that describe the types of tasks Research Participants will complete. The plan should be specific to the local setting, resources, and skills of the PI/Research Team. The plan should include Research Participants' attendance at the Emerging Researchers National Conference (ERN) in STEM in Washington, DC in 2025. Conference details can be found at https://emerging-researchers.org/ . (3 pages maximum)
  • Research Participant Mentoring Plan , describing the mentoring activities that will be provided to the Research Participants supported by a supplement, if awarded. Mentoring plans should include a list of the individual(s) who will serve as mentors and describe their mentoring experience and the proposed mentoring activities. (3 pages maximum)
  • Mentorship Training Plan , describing the formal mentorship training that individuals responsible for mentoring Research Participants will receive. (2 pages maximum)
  • Evaluation Plan , describing expected outcomes of the activities undertaken and methods for measuring outcomes. (2 pages maximum)

Justification for Supplemental Funding:

Provide a brief project summary that describes how the proposed research and mentoring activities will broaden participation in microelectronics fields. (1/2 page maximum)

Biographical Sketches:

Standard NSF biographical sketches must be provided for the individuals who will serve as mentors, submitted as a supplementary document.

Budget and Budget Justification:

The supplemental funding request must include a budget and budget justification for the funds requested and their proposed use. The maximum annual amount that may be requested (including any associated indirect costs) is $250,000. The budget must include expenses related to providing Research Participants with appropriate mentoring, materials, and laboratory access, as well as travel/registration expenses for Research Participants and mentors to participate in the Emerging Researcher National Conference to be held in Washington, DC. It must not include tuition at the supported organization(s). NSF INCLUDES-REM Research Participants must be provided with a stipend for their participation in research and mentoring activities.

For additional information on preparation of supplemental funding requests, see https://www.nsf.gov/edu/Pubs/2024INCLUDESREMInfo.pdf .

Organizations with active awards leading microelectronics research projects may apply for NSF INCLUDES-REM supplemental funding. The request for supplemental funding should be submitted to NSF via Research.gov . Recipients may request NSF INCLUDES-REM supplements for up to 12 months, but the period of support must cover at least the full 2024-2025 academic year.

Specific questions related to this DCL should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed below.

An informational video for those interested in applying for NSF INCLUDES-REM supplemental funding is available at https://www.nsf.gov/edu/Videos/2024INCLUDESREMWebinar.jsp .

For Fiscal Year 2024, the deadline for submission of an NSF INCLUDES-REM supplemental funding request is 5:00 p.m., submitter's local time, on April 10, 2024.

ELIGIBILITY

A request for supplemental funding may be submitted by the AOR on behalf of the PI or co-PI of any currently active NSF research award or cooperative agreement that has a microelectronics focus. These supplemental funding requests may include collaboration with and/or placement of Research Participants in other laboratories if the research activities are in the field of microelectronics. Research Participant candidates must be United States citizens, nationals, or permanent residents. It is the responsibility of the submitting organization to verify the eligibility of Research Participant candidates.

REVIEW PROCESS

Decisions to provide supplemental funding will be based on internal review and/or external review by experts from academia and industry and pending the availability of funds. We anticipate recommending awards by August 2024.

OTHER FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

In addition to supplemental funding requests, the NSF INCLUDES Initiative also encourages submission of EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGERs) or conference proposals, as described in the PAPPG, that focus on activities that broaden participation and develop the workforce in microelectronics through research experiences and structured mentoring. Interested principal investigators must contact the NSF program staff contact(s) listed below prior to submission.

CONTACTS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

We hope that you are inspired by this opportunity to design and implement a program that serves your research needs while simultaneously working to develop the microelectronics workforce of the future. We look forward to reading your innovative supplemental funding requests.

James L. Moore III, PhD Assistant Director Directorate for STEM Education

Susan Margulies, PhD Assistant Director Directorate for Engineering

IMAGES

  1. Science Cover Letter Examples

    scientific report cover letter

  2. Sample Cover Letter For Research Paper Submission : Learn about writing an effective cover

    scientific report cover letter

  3. Postdoctoral Research Scientist Cover Letter

    scientific report cover letter

  4. Cover Letter To: The Editor of the Pakistan Journal of Scientific and

    scientific report cover letter

  5. Scientific Report Template

    scientific report cover letter

  6. 😊 A scientific report. Template for submissions to Scientific Reports. 2019-01-23

    scientific report cover letter

VIDEO

  1. WRITING REPORT

  2. NPCIL Offer Letter

  3. Challenges in Scientific Report Writing

  4. NPCIL Scientific Assistant Joining Letter|| My First Joining Letter

  5. How to draw meaningful and data-driven research conclusions

  6. 2023 photo report cover

COMMENTS

  1. Submission guidelines

    In your cover letter, you should include: ... If you intend to submit a Registered Report to Scientific Reports, please refer to detailed guidelines here. Explore content.

  2. How to write a cover letter for journal submission

    Name of the journal you are submitting to. Statement that your paper has not been previously published and is not currently under consideration by another journal. Brief description of the research you are reporting in your paper, why it is important, and why you think the readers of the journal would be interested in it.

  3. How To Write a Cover Letter for a Research Paper (Plus Example)

    Here are nine steps to help you compose a cover letter when submitting your research paper to a professional journal: 1. Set up the formatting. Set up your word processor to format your cover letter correctly. Formatting standards for research paper cover letters usually include: Using single spacing between each line.

  4. Writing a Cover Letter for Journal Submission [Free Template]

    Address the editor formally by name, if known. Include your contact information, as well. This information is probably available through the journal's online submission system, but it is proper to provide it in the cover letter, too. Begin your cover letter with a paragraph that states the name of the manuscript and the names of the authors.

  5. Scientific Publishing in Biomedicine: How to Write a Cover Letter?

    3.1. First Cover Letter (Submit Letter) One point of view is that the cover letter's content should be covered in the manuscript's abstract ().A typical cover letter includes the name of editor (s) and the journal, date of submission, the characteristics of the manuscript (i.e., title, type of the manuscript, e.g., review, original, case report), the importance of the work and its ...

  6. Cover Letter for Journal Submission: Sample & How To Write

    A cover letter for journal submissions better than 9 out of 10 others. A sample cover letter for manuscript submission that gets your work published. A step-by-step guide on how to write a cover letter for a journal submission. How a neat abstract can put your scientific career on the right track. Want to write your cover letter fast?

  7. What should be included in a cover letter?

    If the Guide for Authors does not specify what to include in your cover letter, you may wish to include some of the following items: Specify special considerations that should be given to the paper (if any). A brief background regarding the research involved or how the data was collected. Details of any previous or concurrent submissions.

  8. Information for authors

    The cover letter should indicate why the additional length is merited. The main text can be up to 6000 words, with 4 to 8 display items (which may include videos), and up to 100 main-text references. (If you have a meta-analysis that requires more than 250 total references, please contact the editors at [email protected] before submission.)

  9. Cover letters

    The following is an example of a poor cover letter: Dear Editor-in-Chief, I am sending you our manuscript entitled "Large Scale Analysis of Cell Cycle Regulators in bladder cancer" by Researcher et al. We would like to have the manuscript considered for publication in Pathobiology. Please let me know of your decision at your earliest ...

  10. Writing an Effective Science Cover Letter

    How to write a science cover letter. A science cover letter includes the typical summary of your experience and qualifications, but it also focuses on your academic credentials, presentations, publications, and research projects on which you may have worked. Internships and fellowships may figure prominently in a cover letter for a scientist ...

  11. How to Tailor Your Cover Letter to Scientific Journals

    3 Summarize your manuscript. Your cover letter should include a concise and clear summary of your manuscript, covering the main question, methods, results, and implications of your research. You ...

  12. Science Cover Letter: Examples & Writing Tips for Scientists

    1. Use a proven science cover letter format and layout. For a cover letter design that passes the chi-square test, follow these tips: Cover letter layout: one-inch margins on all sides will make your cover letter look professional and inviting. Cover letter outline: write 3-4 paragraphs.

  13. How to write a successful cover letter for science jobs

    Think of your cover letter as an elevator pitch . Much like a sales pitch, the cover letter represents your chance to sell yourself. But instead of trying to sell an idea or a product in a five-minute presentation, you'll have a page of A4 to impress the hiring manager and showcase your suitability.

  14. Scientific Writer Cover Letter Examples & Writing Tips

    Scientific Writer Cover Letter Writing Tips. 1. Show your writing skills. As a scientific writer, you will be responsible for writing scientific papers, proposals, and reports. To show hiring managers that you have the writing skills necessary for the job, be sure to: Include a writing sample with your application.

  15. Science Cover Letter Example & Writing Tips

    While our scientific cover letter example is written for an academic postdoc position, it can also give you ideas for writing cover letters for science jobs in industry. Follow these four tips to write a cover letter for a scientist position: 1. Research the job thoroughly. Job descriptions can be sparse, especially for academic science positions.

  16. Scientific Reports

    Scientific Reports has a 2-year impact factor of 4.6 (2022), and is the 5th most-cited journal in the world, with more than 738,000 citations in 2022*. *2023 Journal Citation Reports® Science ...

  17. Scientist Cover Letter Example and Template for 2024

    Evanston, Illinois. 771-555-0199. [email protected] May 1, 2023 Dear hiring manager, I'm a labratory scientist with an Master of Science in chemistry and four years of lab experience. I'm writing you to discuss my candidacy for the open Scientist position at Grasch-Plyman Labs. I bring a passion for toxicology, a methodical approach to ...

  18. Writing a winning cover letter

    A good cover letter, like a good sales pitch, has several characteristics. First, like a good doctor, it does no harm: It avoids making a negative impression. Second, it demonstrates that the product suits the consumer's—your future employer's—specific needs. Third, it assures the customer that the quality of the product (you) is superb.

  19. Template for submissions to Scientific Reports

    Online and open access, Scientific Reports is a primary research publication from the publishers of Nature, covering all areas of the natural and clinical sciences. This template has been designed in collaboration with Overleaf to make it easier for you and your co-authors to write and submit your papers online. Scientific Reports is accepting ...

  20. Nature Scientist Cover Letter Samples & Examples 2024

    Here are 3 examples of personalized nature scientist cover letter greetings. Dear Head Scientist Joe King, Dear Dr. Joe King, Dear Dr. Joe King & the Nature Science Department, 3. Write a great introduction for your nature scientist cover letter. After you have the personalized notes ready at your side to reference in your letter, you can begin ...

  21. Scientific Reports

    What this handout is about. This handout provides a general guide to writing reports about scientific research you've performed. In addition to describing the conventional rules about the format and content of a lab report, we'll also attempt to convey why these rules exist, so you'll get a clearer, more dependable idea of how to approach ...

  22. Dear Colleague Letter: NSF INCLUDES Research Experience and Mentoring

    Through this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science Initiative seeks to inform the community about an opportunity to pursue supplemental funding for Research Experience and Mentoring activities for active NSF ...