#26692
The Abductive Inference: An Effective Tool for Science Communication
Suggests that the interrelated skills of understanding and representing (re-presenting) the abductive inference (often neglected in technical and professional communication pedagogy) are critical for the scientific communicator vis-a -vis kairos, and that science communication instructors ought to develop a pedagogy that includes the instruction of this skill.
Graham, S. Scott. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Scientific Communication>Rhetoric
#18616
Academic Writing: Scientific Reports
This handout describes an organizational structure commonly used to report experimental research in many scientific disciplines, the IMRAD format: Introduction, Methods, Results, And Discussion. (This format is usually not used in reports describing other kinds of research, such as field or case studies, in which headings are more likely to differ according to discipline.) Although the main headings are standard for many scientific fields, details may vary; check with your instructor, or, if submitting an article to a journal, refer to the instructions to authors.
University of Wisconsin (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Reports
#29735
Adapting Technical Communication Core Skills to Navigate the Health Care System 
Technical communicators gather data from subject-matter experts and then transform it into information that helps users accomplish tasks. In this workshop, we demonstrate how to adapt our expertise to effectively interact with health care professionals--to improve our understanding of the health care industry. By relying on our professional skills, we can successfully navigate the health care maze and effectively operate in the "foreign" environment of the doctor's office, hospital, and care facilities. And, in doing so, we will improve the quality of care we receive.
Isakson, Carol S. and Katherine Brennan Murphy. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#20515
The AMWA Journal is the official publication of the American Medical Writers Association. Delivered quarterly to AMWA members and Journal subscribers, the AMWA Journal aims to be an authoritative, comprehensive source of information about the knowledge, skills, and opportunities in the field of biomedical communication worldwide.
#25773
AMWA Position Statement on the Contributions of Medical Writers to Scientific Publications
AMWA formed a new task force in 2001 to develop a statement regarding AMWA’s position on the contributions of biomedical communicators to scientific publications.
Hamilton, C.W. and M.G. Royer. Hamilton House (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#13839
"Aristotle's Pharmacy": The Medical Rhetoric of a Clinical Protocol in the Drug Development Process 
This article analyzes the clinical protocol within the rhetorical framework of the drug development and approval process, identifying the constraints under which the protocol is written and the rhetorical form, argumentative strategies, and style needed to improve and teach the writing of this document.
Bell, Heather D., Kathleen A. Walch and Steven B. Katz. Technical Communication Quarterly (2000). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#29738
Assessing Information Needs of Diverse Users to Guide Web Design and Content Development
This paper presents a qualitative study of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's diverse users and their mental models regarding injury-related content. The study employed an innovative modified contextual inquiry method utilizing tailored, in-depth interviews with five distinct user groups. Included in this paper is a detailed description of the background, framework, and method used for this study. Analysis of the full results was still in process at the due date of this paper. The results will be in the presentation's slide set and available from the STC website www.stc.org.
Pettit Jones, Colleen and Susan J. Robinson. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Web Design>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#18589
Authorship for Research Groups
Major clinical research investigations, especially large multicenter trials, require the involvement, cooperation, and dedication of many individuals. Roles and responsibilities range from conceiving the study and designing the protocol to collecting and analyzing the data, and numerous essential steps in between. Following completion of the study, the most important responsibilities are prompt preparation of a manuscript that reports the study findings, and timely submission of the paper to a journal for peer review, publication, and communication of the study findings to the scientific and clinical communities. The number of collaborative studies and multicenter clinical trials seems to be growing, with increasing numbers of published articles involving a study group. For instance, 22% of the 185 research articles published in JAMA as Original Contributions in 2001 specifically identified a study group, compared with 6% of 172 Original Contributions published 10 years earlier. Authorship of these studies increasingly involves some indication of group participation and responsibility, reflecting the cooperative nature, multidisciplinary teamwork, and complexity of such investigations.
Flanagin, Annette, Phil B. Fontanarosa and Catherine D. DeAngelis. JAMA (2001). Articles>Scientific Communication>Collaboration
#29740
Avoiding Disasters with Better Communication
Many of the memoranda and letters related to the Chicago flood, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident and the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters that warned of impending disasters went unheeded. The reason: the writers failed to properly use various rhetorical features and conventions. They failed to include necessary information, omitted unnecessary detail, placed important information in inappropriate locations, used qualifiers to reduce perceptions of the consequences of actions, and failed to follow organizational conventions related to transmission of information. Their lack of knowledge of rhetorical strategies exacerbated the problems associated with the contexts in which the various documents were written, resulting in misunderstandings.
Boiarsky, Carolyn. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Scientific Communication>Risk Communication
#24908
A physicist-turned-editor shows you the basics required for copyediting physics papers (physical quantities, symbols, units, scientific notation, the structure of mathematical expressions, the nature of graphs), and points the way to learning enough 'editorial physics' to begin substantive editing.
Murphy, Peter W. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Editing>Scientific Communication
#19370
Behind the Scenes of Scientific Debating
In analysing a scientific debate, there are at least two types of relevant information. One is the debate itself, experienced first hand or via a transcript. Another is what can be called backstage information, which includes the debaters’ preparations, plans, notes, thinking and reservoir of arguments and responses. Familiarity with backstage information can provide insights for understanding the dynamics of the debate. Often, the only individuals with much backstage information are the debaters themselves, plus perhaps one or two advisers or close friends. An observer of the debate seldom has access to backstage information. The next best thing, then, is generalisations based on backstage experience with debates of a similar nature.
Martin, Brian. University of Wollongong (2000). Articles>Scientific Communication>Rhetoric
#30210
This article uses qualitative material gathered at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to construct a model of the rhetorical activity that occurs at the boundaries between diverse communities of practice working on complex sociotechnical systems. The authors reinterpret the notion of the boundary object current in science studies as a rhetorical construct that can foster cooperation and communication among the diverse members of heterogeneous working groups. The knowledge maps constructed by team members at LANL in their work on technical systems are boundary objects that can replace the demarcation exigence that so often leads to agonistic rhetorical boundary work with an integrative exigence. The integrative exigence realized by the boundary object of the knowledge map can help create a temporary trading zone characterized by rhetorical relations of symmetry and mutual understanding. In such cases, boundary work can become an effort involving integration and understanding rather than contest, controversy, and demarcation.
Wilson, Greg and Carl G. Herndl. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>Collaboration>Rhetoric
#27280
Building a Biodiversity Content Management System for Science, Education, and Outreach
We describe the system architecture and data template design for the Animal Diversity Web (http://www.animaldiversity.org), an online natural history resource serving three audiences: 1) the scientific community, 2) educators and learners, and 3) the general public. Our architecture supports highly scalable, flexible resource building by combining relational and object-oriented databases. Content resources are managed separately from identifiers that relate and display them. Websites targeting different audiences from the same database handle large volumes of traffic. Content contribution and legacy data are robust to changes in data models. XML and OWL versions of our data template set the stage for making ADW data accessible to other systems.
Parr, C.S., R. Espinosa, T. Dewey, G. Hammond and P. Myers. Data Science Journal (2005). Articles>Content Management>Scientific Communication
#23624
Challenges for Technical Communicators in Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics, a specialized field in the area of biotechnology, has been a major growth market for the last decade. Generally, bioinformatics companies serve pharmaceutical and other life science research institutes by providing powerful computational solutions for the analysis, storage, and integration of molecular data. The project-oriented organizational structures, international environment, and interdisciplinary approaches that characterize bioinformatics companies provide a wealth of challenges and opportunities. Technical communicators who want to work in this field must be willing to apply strategies and techniques that enable them to streamline communication channels and write effective documentation.
Weirich, Margaret. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#21244
Communicating About Scientific Research Over the Internet: A Case Study
University communicators specializing in science and technology are making increasing use of Internet resources to supplement traditional methods of producing and publishing their work. These resources include electronic mail; the text-only interface called Gopher; and, most recently, the World Wide Web. This paper describes some of the specific ways that communicators are using these Internet tools. It also includes a list of advantages and disadvantages that we have discovered in our work at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and seen at other technological institutions. These 'lessons learned' may benefit our counterparts who wish to begin or enhance their organizational 'presence' on the Information Superhighway.
Davis, Nancy E., Mark Hodges and Leigh F. McElvaney. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Scientific Communication>Research>Online
#30271
Communicating Environmental Issues To A Diverse Public
A wide variety of environmental issues needs to be communicated to diverse groups of audiences. A panel representing government and industry discusses with the audience the impact of government regulations, public perception, and ongoing research findings on environmental writing. Communication strategies and theories for disseminating information and gaining public support are applied and analyzed.
Barr, Christine R., Kathy E. Carter and Margaret E. Durbin. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Scientific Communication>Environmental
#26557
Review: Communication Reference Books for Engineers and Scientists
Over the past years, many reference books have been published for various science and engineering disciplines. Based on publishers’ descriptions, I selected four for review.
Kaempf, Charlotte. ATTW Bulletin (2005). Articles>Reviews>Scientific Communication>Engineering
#25175
The Complex Dynamics of Scientific Communication
Scientific communications are expected to search for truth, while the Truth is no longer given as in (religious) belief systems. Truth can then be considered as a code or a meta-heuristics of communication. In this dynamic system of rationalized expectations new ideas can be entertained and tested, while communications in a belief system must be normatively integrated. Scientific communications in different fields do no longer need to be organized hierarchically: during their further development, the hierarchies may have been inverted. The concept of a "unity of science" can from this perspective be replaced with a dynamic within and among the sciences. This dynamics is both complex and non-trivial. Inter-human communication is expected to contain uncertainty, and it can be provided with (interactive and reflexive) meaning. Languages allow for the codification of these relations. Higher-order codifications (e.g., the paradigmatic control of the use of language) can endogenously be developed.
Leydesdorff, Loet. Universiteit van Amsterdam (2004). Articles>Scientific Communication
#19505
Confronting Illiteracy with Scientific Communication
Explains how workplace principles of effective scientific communication also have an important role in literacy outreach programs for schools.
Girill, T.R. STC East Bay (2003). Articles>Education>Scientific Communication
#29632
Congratulations, You Have ADD!
The author describes his history after being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), including a brief discussion of what the disorder is, how he came to be diagnosed as having it, and how he has come to live in harmony with, and even embrace, ADD. Murray concludes by offering helpful hints for accommodating the disorder that have helped him lead a fulfilling and successful career in technical communications.
Murray, Mike. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#29111
Context-Driven: How is Traditional Chinese Medicine Labeling Developed?
To promote intercultural understanding in medical communication, this article studies a regulation issued by the Chinese government to standardize traditional Chinese medicine labeling. Then the author claims that the traditional Chinese medicine labeling is medicine-focused. This feature has its roots in traditional Chinese philosophy of stressing the context while de-emphasizing individuals. The author examines a particular medicine label to support his claim that the medicine-focused feature draws patients' attention to the situations that cause disorders.
Ding, Daniel D. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical>Regulation
#11891
Converting Science News for the Web
With the Internet emerging as a primary newsgathering source, many traditional media outlets have converted their products for online viewing. This paper explores how two science news magazines, New Scientist and Science News, have approached this challenge. Elements of hyptertext theory are also included.
Carsten, Laura D. EServer (2001). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Scientific Communication
#22252
As the word craft in the title of the book suggests, the ability to give good presentations is not a genetically linked trait but a craft that can be learned.
Armbruster, David L. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Presentations>Scientific Communication
#24033
Several years ago, four new prefixes, for representing very large and very small measurements, were introduced into the International System of Units (Système International d'Unités, or SI): yotta, zetta, zepto and yocto.
Ivey, Keith C. Editorial Eye, The (1996). Articles>Style Guides>Standards>Scientific Communication
#30687
Dam Visuals: The Changing Visual Argument for the Glen Canyon Dam
Arguments manifest in scientific visuals through graphic representation, content placement, and overall document structure. These arguments, designed to influence public perception, change over time in relation to sociopolitical climate. Analysis of a series of documents constructed deliberately to influence perception can help to determine patterns of argumentation and perceived exigencies. In this article, four self-guided tour brochures produced for distribution to visitors to the Glen Canyon Dam in 1977, 1984, 1990, and 1993 are analyzed in order to identify rhetorical strategies designed to influence public perceptions of the dam site, and examine how public perception of the dam, and related argumentation, is structured by sociopolitical climate.
Ross, Derek G. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>Technical Illustration>Visual Rhetoric
