Chapter 34: Experiment and the 'Paper

Obtaining experimental results takes time.

But the paper's writing can begin early, putting the modular, conceptual, and framework content on paper first.

The paper Lin Ke needs to write is an experimental paper, generally composed of introduction, main body (experimental principle, experimental materials, equipment and methods, experimental procedure, experimental results, analysis and discussion), conclusion, and references.

The introduction must outline and clarify the background, purpose, and significance of this experiment.

Including but not limited to: what experiment is being done? Why do this experiment? How was the problem raised? What is the theoretical and practical basis? What problem is solved, and what is the application scenario of the results? What work have predecessors or others done? What problems remain unsolved? What can this experiment achieve?

Finally, one must give the creative achievement ultimately obtained by this experiment.

This part can be written entirely in advance.

A researcher should consider the above questions before starting the experiment and have some results.

The main body is rich in content; waiting until the experiment ends to start writing leads to rush and omissions.

Items such as experimental principle, and experimental materials, equipment and methods can be completely written in advance; doing so also helps organize thoughts.

In the experimental procedure, aside from the data, items such as the experimental plan, technical route, and operating steps can be written in advance, or written while conducting the experiment.

If there are changes, they can be changed at any time.

It is convenient and, as far as possible, ensures no mistakes.

Experimental results cannot be written in advance; one must wait for the data to come out before deciding how to process and present them, and what final results are obtained.

One cannot preset them, otherwise bias may easily occur when processing the experimental data.

The analysis and discussion section is very important; its purpose is to express the significance of the experimental results.

It should demonstrate the experiment's confirmatory, factual, and innovative nature.

This section places extremely high demands on the paper author's theoretical foundation, and it can well reflect the breadth and depth of the author's knowledge structure.

The conclusion section is generally written after the experiment ends, the experimental data have been processed, and a comprehensive analysis and discussion of the experiment have been carried out.

References can be completely prepared in advance; delete if too many, add if too few.

Lin Ke's coming days are busier than before.

He has to attend classes, do part-time work, conduct experiments, and write the paper.

Fortunately, Lin Ke manages his time very well, and with the highest level of the Brain Seal Technique he can organize his mental state, control emotions, and avoid the irritability, anxiety, and gain‑loss worries that often plague researchers.

Otherwise, Lin Ke's hairline would be in great danger.

If hair falls out in big clumps, how could one be a qualified researcher, right?

Mo Li, standing aside, witnessed Lin Ke's frantic state, and also secretly worried about her own future.

As she studied more earnestly and learned more knowledge, Mo Li's understanding of wizards deepened, no longer superficial.

She also fully understood why the formal wizards who serve as lecturers rush about, fearing to waste even a second.

The wizard world's civilization is highly developed, with very clear ranks: wizard apprentices, formal wizards (first‑ to third‑class), sages (fourth‑ to sixth‑class), great sages (seventh‑ to ninth‑class), and saints (above ninth‑class).

Many wizards crowd this heavenly path, but resources are limited; to obtain more resources to advance faster, one must strive fiercely.

How to strive fiercely?

Externally, wage war across the myriad worlds; internally, produce research results.

Only these two paths are possible.

But those below sage rank cannot take the external conquest path.

Because formal wizards, after leaving the rules of the wizard world, suffer from casting delays, deviations, and even backlash.

Only by advancing to sage and establishing a strong link with the wizard world's world will can one, aided by that world will extending into the myriad worlds, cast normally.

Therefore, every formal wizard is a research maniac, vying to put out research results.

What?

You say you don't want to strive fiercely, you just want to lie flat?

Sure, absolutely.

But if you stop striving and lie flat, don't blame those who are still striving fiercely for coming to exploit you.

By then, you will not only fail to enjoy an easy, comfortable life, but also have to serve others as a beast of burden, becoming material for their advancement.

Mo Li simply does not want to become such material.

She grew up in luxury, and has personally seen the miserable lives of the territory's lower‑class people who have lost freedom and are exploited by nobles.

She certainly does not want to live such a life herself.

"We must work hard!"

Mo Li glanced at Lin Ke, who was burying himself in revising the paper with full concentration, oblivious to outside affairs, and gave herself encouragement.

Even if a trumpet creeper wants to cling to an oak tree, it must root itself in the earth and strive to grow.

……

It seemed like only a blink of an eye.

Lin Ke hardly noticed the passage of time, and it was already Wednesday of the eighth week.

That evening, after finishing his part‑time job at the Third Botanical Garden and returning to the dormitory, Lin Ke routinely applied two Secondary Mist Rain Techniques and one Growth‑Inducing Technique to his Group Ji.

While the seeds of Groups Jia, Yi, Ding, and Wu showed no signs of germination, the Silver Star Flower seeds of Group Ji happily sprouted.

As for Group Bing (normal seeds, receiving one Secondary Mist Rain Technique each morning, two each evening, and a Growth‑Inducing Technique every two days), they had already sprouted by Monday.

Lin Ke compiled the data, recording Group Ji's germination time, germination duration, and germination success rate.

A simple comparison of Group Bing and Group Ji data, using Lin Ke's germination method, shows that Group Bing's normal seeds germinated two days earlier than Group Ji's problematic seeds, with a success rate higher by 8%: Group Bing at 79.2%, Group Ji at 71.1%.

Considering the sample size issue, if the sample were enlarged, the germination success rate figures could be made more precise.

But these two numbers also possess a certain validity and reliability.

By this point, Lin Ke's paper had basically taken shape.

Because the experiments of Groups Jia, Yi, Ding, and Wu have already been done by predecessors, multiple related papers can be found in the High‑Level Literature Repository.

If one were to directly cite the data from those documents, Lin Ke could now just tweak the "paper" a bit and get it published.

But Lin Ke decided that slow work yields fine results; he plans to wait until the experiment is done, all data collected, then fill the "paper" with real data, then publish.

Details determine success or failure.

Whether the numbers are true or not can sometimes be inferred.

Lin Ke didn't want to lose the big picture over small gains—picking up sesame seeds while losing the watermelon—and end up branded as having falsified the "paper".

Once reputation is ruined, it's like water spilled on the ground—basically impossible to recover.

(End of chapter)