Training Scientists to be Journalists

Successful applicants show us they can invest their hearts as well as their minds into their writing. They tell us stories that live in our minds long after we read their words.

Wilkes, John. EMBO Reports (2002). Articles>Scientific Communication>Writing

Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals

A small group of editors of general medical journals met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the National Library of Medicine, were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually; gradually it has broadened its concerns.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (2002). Reference>Writing>Scientific Communication

The Use of Playing Cards to Communicate Technical and Scientific Information    

This article analyzes several decks of playing cards designed to communicate technical or scientific information ranging from military topics to the domestic arts to medical subjects. It places each deck in its historical context, describes the appearance and organization of the cards, and speculates about intended audience and purpose, drawing upon relevant secondary literature. It then extrapolates the conventions of this unusual genre. Finally, it argues that technical communicators can profit from this study because it raises questions and offers insights about such important topics as audience adaptation, organizational patterns, and ethical practices. Ultimately, this study may encourage reflection about these and other issues and perhaps lead to discovery and innovation.

Malone, Edward A. Technical Communication Online (2008). Articles>Scientific Communication>TC>Genre

Use of Race and Ethnicity in Biomedical Publication

Researchers, clinicians, and policy makers face 3 challenges in writing about race and ethnicity: accounting for the limitations of race/ethnicity data; distinguishing between race/ethnicity as a risk factor or as a risk marker; and finding a way to write about race/ethnicity that does not stigmatize and does not imply a we/they dichotomy between health professionals and populations of color. Josurnals play an important role in setting standards for research and policy literature. The authors outline guidelines that might be used when race and ethnicity are addressed in biomedical publications.

Kaplan, Judith B. and Trude Bennett. JAMA (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical>Ethnicity

Using Formal Reference to Enhance Authority and Integrity in Online Mathematical Texts

This ability to provide evidence and evaluate arguments is critical to a liberal arts education or an engineering one. Hence, the interface between the document and the verified repository not only ensures correctness and eliminates error by construction, but also gives depth to the article, from the inserted math to its very foundations.

Lorigo, Lori, Stuart Allen and Robert Constable. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2006). Articles>Scientific Communication>Research>Mathematics

Using the Web to Bring Space Science and Technology Down to Earth  

At JPL, the World-Wide Web has become an invaluable educational outreach mechanism. In the area of space flight mission operations, for example, we have been able to make publicly accessible two workbooks found to be of much wider interest than their original internal training purposes would have suggested. These electronic documents, by using simple language and illustrations, andfocusing on pithy content and good writing style, have met with great success not only in disseminating important scienttjic and technological concepts to a society pittjuily behind the curve in these areas, but also in promoting understanding and enthusiasm for NASA ‘s unmanned space exploration programs.

Miller, Diane F. STC Proceedings (1997). Presentations>Scientific Communication>Engineering

A Virtual Conversation on Bernadette Longo's Spurious Coin: A History of Science, Management, and Technical Writing    

A collection of responses to Bernadette Longo's Spurious Coin.

Gaskill, David, Mary Been, Margaret N. Hundleby and Pete Praetorius. Journal of Computer Documentation (2001). Articles>Management>Scientific Communication>Technical Writing

A Visual and Social Analysis of Optometric Record-Keeping Practices    

This article investigates the contribution visual rhetoric and rhetorical genre studies (RGS) can make to health care education and communication genres. Through a visual rhetorical analysis of a patient record used in an optometry teaching clinic, this article illustrates that a genre's visual representations provide significant insights into the social action of that genre. These insights are deepened by an insider analysis of the patient record that highlights how content analyses of visual designs need to be elaborated by contextual considerations. A combined visual rhetoric and RGS analysis shows that clinical novices learn to interpret the record's visual cues to safely traverse the complex requirements of this apprenticeship genre. The article demonstrates that visual rhetoric research can meaningfully contribute to the understanding of genres by presenting an enriched contextual analysis achieved by consulting with context insiders.

Varpio, Lara, Marlee M. Spafford, Catherine F. Schryer and Lorelei Lingard. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical>Visual Rhetoric

Visual Information about Medicines for Patients

In Europe, when someone gets ill, it is common to visit a doctor. Most consultations end when a doctor prescribes a medicine that can be obtained from a pharmacy. After collecting the medicine a patient has to decide if the use of this medicine is more beneficial than not taking it. In order to make this decision, and in order to take medicines effectively, information is essential. Not only the instructions about how much to take and at what times, but also the potential risks caused by interactions with other medicines and common behaviour (eating, smoking, drinking, sleeping, exercising). It also becomes necessary to know how to recognize that a medicine does what it supposes to do. Historical developments have led to a tightly regulated situation in which the patient gets a clear message that health care providers (pharmaceutical industry, pharmacists, prescribers, etc) do not care very much about informed patients.

van der Waarde, Karel. University of Alberta (2003). Articles>Communication>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Visualizing Science Writing  

Science writing is an aspect of Technical Communication which tends to be overlooked. Traditionally, science writing includes images that, while effective, tend to merely act as points of reference for scientists already in the field. Art in Science has the potential to spark reader interest, facilitate learning, develop public awareness of the sciences and to make science writing accessible to readers with little or no scientific background. As a profession, scientific and technical writing needs to consider the implications and possibilities for art and images in the sciences, as well as learning to effectively incorporate them into science writing.

Fuller, Carlye C. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Scientific Communication

Wanted: Articulate Scientists  

This article outlines the benefits you can realize by articulating your science clearly and succinctly; next time, we'll look at how and why several academic and government institutions as well as some publications are encouraging this trend.

Whiteman, Lily. Science (2000). Articles>Writing>Scientific Communication>Minimalism

Why Should You Really Care and the Other W’s of Science Writing  

The secret to attracting readers from a public increasingly noted for its scientific illiteracy is to hook them. How? By appealing to their real-life concerns, need for stimulating visual images and interesting stories, and sense of humor. Application, not abstractions, are emphasized in effective science writing.

Krause, Carolyn H. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Writing>Scientific Communication

The Writer As a Member of the Scientific Team  

In this reprint from the June 1958 issue of Technical Communications, a publication of the Technical Publishing Society (one of STC's parent organizations), Candelaria discusses the differing but equally important contributions of writers and scientists to scientific publication.

Candelaria, Nash. Intercom (2002). Articles>Scientific Communication

Writing a Scientific Paper

What is a scientific research paper? When should you decide to write a research paper? How do you prepare to write a paper?

Gallin, Elaine K. AAAS (1999). Presentations>Scientific Communication

Writing About Science for General Audiences  

Writing about science for general audiences has its challenges. But by defining your audience (general is rarely general), balancing technical reviews (what the audience wants versus what the scientist thinks they should know), and providing graphics that explain complex concepts to a scientifically unsophisticated audience, you'll do fine.

Miller, Barbara J. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Writing>Scientific Communication

Writing about Science for General Audiences  

This presentation distinguishes science writing from scientific and technical writing. It offers suggestions for writing articles about science and technology for beginning freelancers and for students: choose timely subjects; focus on what’s new; clarify how the information is important; consider the audience’s knowledge of the subject; use a good hook; place the technical explanation carefully; control statistics and technical terms; control the pace of the article; cite local experts in regional publications; include graphics or concepts for illustrations; and write a convincing submittal letter.

Samson, Donald C., Jr. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Scientific Communication

Writing About Science For General Audiences  

As the pursuit of new scientific knowledge is exploding with discoveries in every scientific field, there also needs to be a similar explosion in scientific and technical communicators’ abilities to convey these new discoveries to the general public. Since the bulk of scientific information is contained in scholarly studies written in language for specialists, writing about science can be a daunting task for writers who are non-scientists. Using some techniques from journalism, the purpose of this presentation is to help writers learn how to decode important information from scientific studies and translate the information for general audiences.

Heba, Gary M. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Scientific Communication

Writing Across the Chemistry Curriculum  

While chemistry faculty agree that writing is an important professional skill, few know how to teach it. They lack a strategy for incorporating writing into their courses, skill in designing eflective writing assignments, and knowledge of evaluation methods. Our practical manual, funded by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation and the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Tennessee Knoxville, will provide chemistry and other science faculty with these skills along with a set of ready-to-use assignments for their courses. The manual will allow chemistry faculty to teach writing purposefully and effectively, focusing on the scientific content while systematically developing this all-important skill.

Kovac, Jeffrey and Donna Walter Sherwood. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Writing for the Third Millennium  

The Third Millennium will require writers to help society cope with rapid technological change. Writers frame experience and communicate it to others in way that allows them to better understand complex ideas and make them part of their own experience. More than ever, technical writers are needed to help society understand the rapid changes taking place. Technology is merging disciplines into multimedia, compressing information into a more compact space.

Agnew, Beth. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Writing>Scientific Communication

Writing Science for Children in an Age of Discovery

Writing a children's book is never easy. But the challenges are multiplied for children's books about science. It is all too common for the paramount importance of accuracy to conflict with the need to make a book enticing, or at least accessible.

Nagourney, Eric. New York Times, The (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Accessibility>Children

Writing Technical Documents for the Global Pharmaceutical Industry      

Technical writers in the global pharmaceutical industry write for two major audiences: regulatory agencies and healthcare practitioners. These audiences differ in their information needs and expectations. Therefore, information products that address these audiences must balance the competing forces of business interests, market penetration, and the cultural variables of products so tied to people's beliefs. Pharmaceutical writers may carry an extra burden because the topics of their documents have such a potential for social benefit or serious harm. Electronic technology can greatly enhancing writers' abilities to meet these document needs, but system incompatibilities must first be overcome. Audience analysis still remains the key to crafting effective pharmaceutical documents.

Bonk, Robert J. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Writing to Learn in Mathematics    

The majority of people, mathematicians included, think that writing out formulas is exactly what we call writing in mathematics. I was guilty of the same preconceptions before I started to work with the Writing Across the Curriculum Project at Medgar Evers College. The definition of writing to learn that we use at MEC helped me come up with the idea that served as the basic principle for my further experiments and conclusions as I implemented writing to learn in mathematics.

Flesher, Tatyana. WAC Journal, The (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Writing Across the Curriculum

Особенности понимания естественно-языковых аргументов в научном тексте

Аргументацию можно рассматривать как социальную знаковую подсистему (если принять, что системой является язык), которая, как и всякое человеческое знание, создана, по Канту, силой человеческого разума (Kant 1929). Согласно Канту, человеческое знание основано на производимых мышлением операциях структурирования, которые трансформируют ощущения в чувственные образы. Знание есть конструкт человеческого мышления и возникает в результате взаимодействия "узнаваемого" ("knowable") с мыслительными возможностями познающего субъекта. Конструктивные знакообразующие потенции познающих субъектов считаются общими для всех людей. Это не означает, что все познающие субъекты создают идентичные познавательные конструкты; но разнообразие конструктов на некотором абстрактном уровне является отражением категорий, управляющих этим процессом - например, логических (Collins 1954; Kneupper 1977) Всякая социальная реальность становится межсубъектной посредством коммуникации. Важным фактором в становлении или изменении знаковых подсистем является, соответственно, принятие или отвержение структуры знания. Если старая структура знания отвергается или оказывается непригодной для описания или объяснения некоторого объекта, ее место заполняется новой или модифицированной. Поэтому можно говорить о сосуществовании конкурирующих структур знания, каждая из которых, являясь продуктом человеческого разума и человеческого взаимодействия, не может претендовать на абсолютную истину. Следовательно, можно говорить о том, что и аргументативные теории могут быть поразному пригодны для разных целей.

Vasilev, L.G. Argumentation (2002). (Russian) Articles>Scientific Communication>Rhetoric

Procedural Explanations in Mathematics Writing: A Framework for Understanding College Students' Effective Communication Practices    

This study analyzes the procedural explanations written by remedial college mathematics students. Relevant literatures suggest that six communication activities might be key in effective procedural explanations in mathematics writing: (a) orienting the learner, (b) providing kernels or definitions of concepts and procedures, (c) using exemplars or worked examples, (d) providing descriptions of the process or procedure, (e) solidifying learner understanding, and (f) facilitating linguistic control of mathematical terms. Using this framework, 18 practices or types of difficulties were discovered in students' written explanations. Independent experts consistently evaluated student explanations more highly when the explanations contained arithmetic or algebraic exemplars, described specific actions and their meanings, linked new with prior knowledge, and used descriptive language; experts evaluated student explanations more negatively when students displayed difficulties reasoning with kernels, reasoning with exemplars, or with describing processes.

Kline, Susan L. and Drew K. Ishii. Written Communication (2008). Articles>Writing>Scientific Communication>Mathematics