Language and Readerships

8/9/2019 Language and Readerships

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GSSE: Scientific Writing 1

Scientific LanguageScientific Languageand Readershipsand Readerships

Robert Blake


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Outline of Session 1: Scientific Language & Readerships

Characteristics of scientific style and

readerships-task analysis of texts

Choosing an appropriate writing style-

comparison of 2 versions reporting findings

Ways of developing an impersonal scientific

style


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1. Scientific Language and Readerships- Introduction

What are your expectations as scientists when

reading texts about science in an academic

setting?


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1 Scientific language and readerships-

What are the characteristics of scientific/

technical writing in university settings? e.g.


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Task: Analysing scientific writing

To fully answer these question using data- well

look at several excerpts, all written about

scientific topics. Well do this in 2 stages

Stage 1: look at each excerpt [Handout]

Is it acceptable as scientific or technical

writing in an academic setting?

Can you identify the source or type of source

and the readership addressed?


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ANALYSIS OF THE 6 EXCERPTS *

PASSAGE ACCEPTABLE AS SCIENTIFIC WRITING IN AN ACADEMICSETTING + REASON WHY/WHY NOT

SOURCE

1

2

3

4

5

6


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Analysing scientific writing: excerpt 1

Human breast tumours are diverse in their natural history and in their

responsiveness to treatments. Variation in transcriptional programs accounts for

much of the biological diversity of human cells and tumours. In each cell, signaltransduction and regulatory systems transduce information from the cell's

identity to its environmental status, thereby controlling the level of expression of

every gene in the genome. Here we have characterized variation in gene

expression patterns in a set of 65 surgical specimens of human breast tumours

from 42 different individuals, using complementary DNA microarrays representing8,102 human genes. These patterns provided a distinctive molecular portrait of

each tumour. Twenty of the tumours were sampled twice, before and after a 16-

week course of doxorubicin chemotherapy, and two tumours were paired with a

lymph node metastasis from the same patient. Gene expression patterns in two

tumour samples from the same individual were almost always more similar to

each other than either was to any other sample. Sets of co-expressed genes were

identified for which variation in messenger RNA levels could be related to

specific features of physiological variation. The tumours could be classified into

subtypes distinguished by pervasive differences in their gene expression patterns.


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Firstly what is AIDS? Acquired Immune deficiency Syndrome is label given

to the conditions that arise from the breakdown of our immune systemscaused by the infection of human Deficiency Virus [HIV].

HIV viruses are found in most body fluids, so this is where the danger of

infection arises, almost any exchange will transfer some HIV virus. It is

because of this that one of the first groups to be hit were haemophiliacs

who receive factor VIII contaminated with HIV. In France 1500 were

infected with HIV this way an 256 of them have died of AIDS so far.

Because in the western world AIDS began as predominantly as a disease ofthe homosexual and drug using communities it was here that the first

social changes could be seen. Information on drug use and its link with the

transmission of HIV became easily available and needle exchange schemes

began springing up in certain countries. This was greeted with ....


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Analysing scientific writing: excerpt 3On the basis of our findings, it appears that ibuprofen is as effective as indomethacinin promoting ductal closure in premature infants. The rate of closure in the groupassigned to indomethacin was similar to rates previously reported. In 15 of 21 infantswith birth weights of less than 1750 g (71 percent) (30) and in 87 of 113 infants withsimilar gestational ages and birth weights (77 percent), (5) a hemodynamicallyimportant patent ductus arteriosus disappeared after indomethacin treatment at theage of two to seven days. More recently, a hemodynamically important ductusarteriosus was closed after prophylactic treatment with indomethacin in 22 of 31preterm infants (71 percent). (31) Although we observed differences in the overallrate of ductal closure among the centers participating in our study, the efficacy of thetwo drugs remained similar in each of the centers.

Ibuprofen has been shown to constrict the ductus arteriosus effectively in lambs. (11)Earlier, smaller studies suggested that ibuprofen might be [3 paragraphs omitted]

A limitation of our trial is the relatively small number of patients, which limited thepower of the study to detect significant differences in other clinical effects that weobserved -- notably, those related to outcomes such as necrotizing enterocolitis,isolated bowel perforation, intraventricular hemorrhage, and periventricularleukomalacia. For the same reason, small differences in the efficacy of the drugs

according to gestational age may not have become apparent.In summary, our data indicate that ibuprofen is as effective as indomethacin inpromoting ductal closure on the third day of life in premature infants. However,ibuprofen is associated with significantly less impairment of renal function. Nosignificant differences with regard to other side effects were observed. A lowergestational age (less than or equal to 26 weeks), antenatal indomethacin use, receiptof high-frequency oscillatory ventilation, and an elevated pulmonary-artery pressure

increased the risk of treatment failure.


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SPIDERS may hold the key to colonising space, say Australian scientists. They are

blasting eight into space to see if their web-weaving skills can be used to help

design huge new space stations.

Orbiting "tin cans" like Mir and the new ISS can accommodate only a dozen

astronauts.

The scientists believe that the Australian orb weaver, which spins an almost

perfect symmetrical web with silk tougher than steel, can teach man "spidertechnology" to use in constructing space stations miles wide and big enough to

house thousands.

The boffins at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology will monitor the

spiders during their 16-day space mission to see how they spin webs in a

weightless environment.

Space stations at present have to be constructed on Earth and flown up. This has

limited their size. It is hoped the spiders will show how they can be built in

space. The creatures - all female because they are more conscientious builders -

will blast off on NASA's space shuttle Columbia next February.


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AS A SPECIES, Cambridge physicists are not renowned for being excitable. Popular

imagery has them leading solitary existences in small, stuffy rooms, where they ponder

the finer points of life, the Universe and everything. For relaxation, there are the mugs

of stewed tea, over which endless debates take place about the number of currants in

the canteen buns.

But in the spring of 1989, the occupants of Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory

were jolted from their deep deliberations on both cosmos and currants. The atmosphere

glowed with speculation about a trio of researchers who had been spotted in hushed

conversation. Rumours abounded of secret experiments, and there were ever-so-slightly

envious whispers about the "P" word - patent. Something extraordinary seemed to have

happened, and the question on everyone's lips was - what have they found?

At face value, something unremarkable. By chance, Jeremy Burroughes, Donal Bradley

(now at the University of Sheffield) and Richard Friend had discovered that if you

slapped a voltage across an ultrathin film of an exotic plastic known as poly(p-phenylene

vinylene), or PPV, it glowed a pale yellow-green. "I was about six feet away, facing inthe other direction, when I noticed this bright green light in the corner of my eye,"

recalls Burroughes. "It was just pouring light out all over the place!

So what was the big deal? After all, you can make almost anything glow with enough

volts, although you will probably fry it in the process. But this was no inadvertent

example


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6.7 Summary

At the end of this chapter the following conclusions are made.

It is possible to construct trellis structures to meet the

requirements in a quasi-synchronous adder

channel. These trellises are modified versions of the synchronous cases

and have improved the reliability of composite codewords.

A price paid for the improvement of the individual user is a

reduction in the sum rate.

In an M-choose T scenario, the identification process based on metric

accumulation is shown to be reliable when using the modified decoders

catering for each quasi-synchronous set


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ANALYSIS OF THE 6 EXCERPTS**

PASSAGE ACCEPTABLE AS SCIENTIFIC WRITING IN ANACADEMIC SETTING + REASON WHY/WHY NOT

SOURCE

1

2

3

4

5

6


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Analysing scientific writing: 2nd task

Using the passages that you judge to be acceptable in

academic scientific writing and, perhaps those passages

that are for contrast, can you now identify some of the

characteristics of scientific writing? Use the following

headings & table in slide 18 organisation

style

vocabulary and grammar

visual presentation


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CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING

ORGANISATION STYLE VOCABULARY &

GRAMMAR

GRAPHICAL PRESENTATION


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Expectations Of Readership

Precise

Explicit Analytical and critical

Explanatory

Objective

Impartial

Concise

Responsible [claims carefully made, supported where

possible & use of sources acknowledged]

Follows established conventions

Above list adapted from Gillett [1999-2004] Features of academic writing UEFAP

http://www.uefap.co.uk/writing/writfram.htm


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Organisation

Structured for easy access to information e.g. headings

& sub-headings; cohesive links across sentences e.g.however, The first measurement.

Headings

Use of forecasting and signposting

Importance of introductions, conclusions and transitions Field specific patterns [e.g. IMRaD]

Matrix or hierarchical structure structures to organise

ideas

Cross referencing in longer texts

Paragraphs well structured [begin with topic sentences]

etc


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Style, Vocabulary & Grammar

FORMAL & OBJECTIVE STYLE

'I' or 'You are avoided in most writing;

Contracted verb forms avoided: can't, doesnt: cannot, does not

Formal rather than colloquial English; vague/imprecise words avoided:

stuff, things, loads, lots materials, issues, significant number/ large

quantities

Spoken negatives avoided: there are not manyfew;there is not much

little

Attitudinal words are avoided in favour of objectivity: really, actually,

great, magnificently

Word origin: Nouns & verbs with Latin/ Greek derivations are frequent. 2

part [phrasal] verbs- infrequent: look about, look into, look up,survey,

examine, consult


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Style, Vocabulary & Grammar

VOCABULARY CHOICE:

Precise & often abstract vocabulary: issues, values, materials,specification

GRAMMAR:

Fairly densely packed with information [particularly nouns, noun

groups/ nominalisation]. Avoidance of direct questions and standardnegatives

Common use but not overuse of passive: Two specimens were then

selected .. rather than I then selected 2 samples ..

Complex sentence structure [with more than 1 clause] to relateideas and improve flow of ideas.

Modals are important in making carefully weighted claims: can,

may, might etc


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Style, Grammar and Vocabulary In Scientific Writing

The use of personal pronouns, I & particularly you, is rare in

scientific writing, where an objective or impersonal style is standard.

Use of the passive is a common way to avoid using personal

pronouns. Its discouraged in American academic writing, as the MS

Word grammar checker, if turned on, shows you. However, itscommonly used in British scientific writing.

Overuse of the passive, can make writing heavy going for the reader.

Slides 25-8 show ways of writing in an objective or impersonal style.


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Writing in an Impersonal Scientific Style: The Passive

Using the passive is a way of removing the subject [I, Andrew,

the Msc students] and prioritising the object e.g.

Several samples (object) were (verb- to be) + selected (past

participle). by me(object deleted)

This avoids the informal and subjective: I (subject) + selected

(verb) several samples (object)

Disadvantage: it can remove agency, making it unclear who

performed a particular action.


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Writing in an Impersonal Scientific Style: The Passive

X is demonstrated by

Z are based on X is provided by

X is used

X was evaluated

It is expected that .. It was found that

It was concluded that

It is widely held

To determine the effects of x,a series of measurementswas taken.

An increase in the range of 60% is anticipated as a resultof y


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Writing in an Impersonal Scientific Style- Modal Passives

Modals [e.g. can, could, may might, will, would] have an important effect

on varying the strength of a claim you are making about your data:

It can/could be seen/observed/concluded that

It can be suggested that

It can be tentatively accepted that

x can be characterised

This can be done by/carried out by

x can be done by/measured by

This would suggest that

Attention should be given to


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Writing in an Impersonal Scientific Style: Sentences with It/There

To avoid the passive, we can use impersonal constructions

starting with It and There e.g. It is essential to

It is important to

It is necessary to

It may be possible to

It may be necessary to

May reduces commitment

There is general agreement that .

There are a number of reasons for

There is a strong possibility that . There seems to be

There appears to be

Seems/appears- reducethe strength of theproposition


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Writing in an Impersonal Scientific Style- Other Forms

By making the study/experiment/paper/report the subject

This study shows

This report gives

Section 1 covers

The results obtained.. The measurements obtained in this study/experiment

The results section gives detailed data for ..

The results of this experiment were inconclusive

X allows y to

One way of measuring the output of

By measuring the interference from


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Choosing a scientific writing style

Read the 2 passages in the next 2 slides.

Which scientist communicates more efffectively?

Give reasons for your choice using the headings below:

style grammar

structure [overall]

sentence structure

readability

Materials in slides 30-32 Adapted from Turk and Kirkman (1989:17-18) & materials by Ian Saunders(2000) http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/celt/sldc/materials/science/writing.htm


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Choosing a scientific writing style- Browns version

In the first experiment of the series using mice it was discovered that the

total removal of the adrenal glands effects reduction of aggressivenessand that aggressiveness in adrenalectomized mice is restorable to the

level of intact mice by treatment with corticosterone. These results

point to the indispensability of the adrenals for the full expression of

aggression. Nevertheless, since adrenalectomy is followed by an increase

of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), and since ACTH has been

reported [Brain 1972), to decrease the aggressiveness of intact mice, it ispossible that the effects of adrenalectomy on aggressiveness are a

function of the concurrent increased levels of ACTH. However high levels

of ACTH, in addition to causing increases in glucocorticoids (which

possibly accounts for the depression of aggression in intact mice by

ACTH), also result in decreased androgen levels. In view of the fact that

animals with low androgen levels are characterised by decreased

aggressiveness the possibility exists that adrenalectomy, rather than

affecting aggression directly, has the effect of reducing aggressiveness by

producing an ACTH- mediated condition of decreased androgen levels.


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Choosing a scientific writing style- Smiths version

The first experiment in our series with mice showed that total

removal of the adrenal glands reduces aggressiveness . Moreover,when treated with corticosterone, mice that had their adrenalstaken out became as aggressive as intact animals again. Thesefindings suggest that adrenals are necessary for animals to show fullaggressiveness.

But the removal of adrenals raises the levels of adrenocorticotrophichormone (ACTH) and Brain 1972 found that ACTH lowers theaggressiveness of intact mice. Thus the reduction of aggressivenessafter this operation might be due to the higher levels of ACTH whichaccompany it.

However, high levels of ACTH have two effects. First, the levels of

glucocorticoids rise, which might account for Brians results. Secondthe levels of androgen fall. Since animals with low levels of androgenare less aggressive, it is possible that removal of the adrenalsreduces aggressiveness only indirectly: by raising the levels of ACTHit causes androgen levels to drop.


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Choosing a scientific writing style:

From a sample of 1580 scientists from academia & industry,

almost 70% preferred Smiths version as more: stimulating,

interesting, & credible

75% also considered Smith better organised

Yet the order is the same as is the use of technical terms [5

undefined technical words (adrenal, androgen, corticosterone,

glucocorticoids and hormone)].

The main difference is the use of ordinary language in Smiths, fewer

unfamiliar words & convoluted constructions. Use of active rather

than the passive.

Browns version is more taxing to read, with longer sentences [more

than 1 clause] & more formal grammar e.g. passive, more difficult

terms e.g. adrenalectomized


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Further reading (+ = available for photocopying)

*Successful scientific writing: a step-by-step guide for

biomedical scientists. 1996. Janice R. Matthews. CambridgeUniversity Press,

*Writing Successfully in Science. Maeve OConnor E & FN Spon

1991

*Effective Writing: Improving Scientific, Technical and Business

Communication. (Second edition) Turk and Kirkman 1989

Scientific Style and Format : The CBE Manual for Authors,

Editors, and Publishers. Style Manual Committee, Council of

Biology Editors. 6th ed. Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Scientists Must Write by Robert Barras (2002). Aimed more atpostgraduate and professional scientists. It has some useful

checklists.

The Craft of Scientific Writing (1995) Second edition) Michael

Alley. Springer


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ANALYSIS OF THE 6 EXCERPTS

PASSAGE ACCEPTABLE AS SCIENTIFIC WRITING IN AN ACADEMIC SETTING +REASON WHY/WHY NOT

SOURCE

1 YES: Abstract with clear summary of IMRaD* structure; veryformal; succinct/dense with much specialist vocabulary

Biomedical journalonline

2 NO?: formal style; undeveloped introduction- too short, shortundeveloped paragraphs; clear argument; data/claims notsupported by references

undergrad LU essay

3 YES: IMRaD structure. Follows typical pattern of Discussionsections; very formal; succinct, even dense with much specialistvocabulary. Well structured with v effective topic sentences;claims cautiously expressed

Biomedical journalonline

4 NO : no underlying structure; no flow/cohesion, claims notidentified, nor appropriately supported; narrative structure-

Tabloid newspapere.g. Daily Mail

5 NO: narrative structure; direct speech- through quotation; notconcise; very slow lead into topic; descriptive & informallanguage [many adjectives]

New Scientistarticle intro

6 YES: succinct; formal style; specialist language; claimscautiously made

End of chaptersummary in PhD

Documents

Language and Readerships