These papers must be restricted to 500-750 words of text. This text must be in a 12-point, readable, single- or double-spaced, serif font, such as Times or Computer Modern Roman, with standard 1-inch margins. There however may be an appendix of unrestricted length for references, tables, equations, and figures and their captions, which shouldn't be more than four lines long. The text of the paper, however, must not exceed 500-750 words.

This isn't much. By far the most common comment I made on the summaries last semester was to "narrow or focus your topic." Whole books have been written on Mars, for example: it's hard to write an incisive, thoughtful article on it in only three pages. One way to narrow such a broad topic would be to write about one aspect of Mars, such as its cratering history, or the evidence that it once might have had an ocean. Another way would be to discuss one particular feature of Mars, such as the Tharsis Region, or Vallis Marineris, or its layered polar terrain, or the landing sites for any of the past or future missions. Likewise for extrasolar planet detection: whole books on this new subject have already appeared. A paper on present instruments, or one instrument coming online, or on one technique, or on planetary habitability, would be much better.

This is important because science is fundamentally the art of the soluble, of being able to pick out something specific to do next, that one really can do and finish, that matters. A great idea that can't produce consequential results in a timely manner really wasn't so great, after all.

Another comment I often wrote on the summaries was to avoid gratuitous opinion. If you can substantiate an opinion logically, fine, that's what it's all about. If you can't, you really ought to. Back up your claims with evidence! Avoid a histrionic, complaining, or just plain mean tone. Never call fellow scientists incompetent: they may be right, regardless...

Avoid cutesy titles for scientific papers. Sure, they can get you attention, but often it's the kind of attention you don't want. Worse, they're usually not very descriptive. Scientists are busy people. Often, just glancing at a list of titles of papers is as far as they ever get to reading any of them. This is why titles and summaries, also called abstracts, are so important. Whether or not your paper gets read can depend crucially on how informative and compelling your title and abstract are. Again, avoid histrionics. Look up histrionics if you don't know what the word means. Essentially, it's making exaggerated claims in the hysterical tone of a salesperson, and not the calm, measured, honest tone of a real scientist, who will be the first to admit the limitations of the data or technique. Your science should sell itself: if it doesn't, it wasn't interesting in the first place. The purpose of titles and abstracts isn't so much to sell your paper, as it is to present a clear and short version, so people will know that reading the full text would be worthwhile.

Scientific papers should have a more formal tone than the average e-mail message. Remember the guideline from Strunk and White: Do not affect a breezy manner. This doesn't mean you must write in a stuffy and boring manner, just that there's a time to joke around, and a time not to. Likewise with sentiment: writing about one's feelings appears to be popular among high-school teachers, these days. Unfortunately, how one feels about something rarely has much to do with it. This is science: we want logical arguments, that concern objective reality. Write with nouns and verbs, not modifiers, and above all, stick to the facts.

Do all you can to produce papers of the highest quality. Many people do fine jobs here, but I'm pained to see how many don't even run a spelling checker. This makes you look really sloppy. Proofread carefully to spot missing words, jumbled sentences, or other ill effects of editing with a computer.

Most importantly, make your paper interesting and informative. I learned enormously from last semesters' papers, about all manner of things outside my field, or in it. I'd much appreciate doing so again this semester!