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Writing Analysis:

Scientific Writing in the Biological Sciences

Introduction

            Biology is the natural science that studies life, how other organisms interact with each other, how organisms are structured, functions, and behave.  Modern biology has become an eclectic field, from animal behavior and mechanosensation to genetics and biochemistry, there are plenty of things to write about as a researcher.  Specifically, I will be focusing on my field of interest: research genetics.  Twelve years after the Human Genome Project, researchers are hard at work discovering and documenting how the nucleic bases that code who we are affects our physic, mental pathways, even down to whether we like cilantro on our burritos or not.  I have interviewed Dr.  Kevin Christie, Post-doctoral at the Eberl Fly Lab and Assistant in Instructing at the University of Iowa, to discuss how the writing process is done at the biological level.  Kevin has written four published papers and spends anywhere between 90 minutes to nearly six hours a day writing emails, memos, and working on his next paper.  Professional biological researchers like Kevin write technical, dry, and objective documents to clearly explain what they have discovered as efficiently as possible.  It is imperative that only the facts and reasoning behind the research are discussed so we may educate ourselves about the genetic makeup of all living things.  These documents have specific structure, language, use of references, and use of visuals so that researchers can work together to better society.

Structure

Academic writing

            Intro, Results, Methods, Discussion, Conclusion – this is the skeleton of a research paper.  Much like an argumentative piece of writing, research articles introduce their topic followed with their supporting evidence and discussion, then closed with a summary and concluding thoughts (Kevin, 2018).  The structure of academic writing does not stop at the outline.  A common technique to introduce the topic to the reader is called the Keyhole Model.  You start your paper broadly, such as: “Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a growing health issue, with costly treatment and lost quality of life” (Kevin W. Christie, et al.  2013).  Hearing loss from loud noises is a topic anyone can relate to.  Next, you write a more specific area that you research is about: “Here we establish Drosophila melanogaster as…[a] genetic model system for NIHL.  We exposed flies to acoustic trauma and quantified physiological and anatomical effects” (Kevin W.  Christie, et al.  2013).  This introduces what your research entails and gives the reader an idea what to expect as they continue reading.  Finally, a writer could summarize the result of using flies as a model of NIHL and why it is relevant to the problem at hand.  This, along with raw results from your research, helps the reader understand the general idea of your experiment.  “Drosophila exhibit acoustic trauma effects resembling those found in vertebrates, including inducing metabolic stress in sensory cells.  This report of noise trauma in Drosophila is a foundation for studying molecular and genetic sequelae of NIHL” (Kevin W.  Christie, et al.  2013).  As we can see, the Keyhole model is handy for introducing the topic, summarizing the main idea, and help readers ease their way into the topic.

 

Nonacademic writing

Typically, a nonacademic piece starts with the researcher’s results, explains the experiment, and conclude with the researcher’s thoughts and hopes for the impact of their paper.  The first sentence of Iowa Now’s article “A Fly’s Hearing” uses a creative hook that you would usually would not find in academic paper, “If your attendance at too many rock concerts has impaired your hearing, listen up” (Gary Galluzzo, 2013).  This sets the tone of the article and signals for attention by relating to the reader’s interest and why they should read the article.  After the hook is set, a bridge is written to inform the reader about the discovery the researchers have made and why it is important in academia.  This prepares the body to explain the results in a deeper and more meaningful way.  Here is a passage after the introduction, “The effect on the molecular underpinnings of the fruit fly’s ear are the same as experienced by humans, making the tests generally applicable to people, the researchers note.” (Gary Galluzzo, 2013).  This passage highlights the purpose of the paper and summarizes the link between human hearing and fly hearing.  The reader can walk away knowing the more meaningful aspect of the study with as little confusion as possible.  In addition, the article structure allows for direct quotations from the authors of the research paper if something is too complex or important for paraphrasing.  “‘We found that fruit flies exhibit acoustic trauma effects resembling those found in vertebrates, including inducing metabolic stress in sensory cells,’ Eberl says” (Gary Galluzzo, 2013).  The article benefits from the reliability of the words from Dan Eberl, so the reader can trust the information Iowa Now writes about.  The conclusion of the article touches on what Kevin and Dan hope for after publishing this information.  By talking about the future of fly research, the article closes on a lighter note and gives the reader closure.  The structure of a nonacademic paper is more akin to an informative paper than an academic paper is.  Start with a hook and bridge your way to the body of the article where the facts of the research paper and the thoughts of the author can be expressed in any way you create it. 

Language

Academic writing

Distinguished journals such as Nature, Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences have strict requirements in order for you to be published by the journal.  One of the most daunting requirements is the word count.  A writer should get as much use out of their sentences with as few words as possible; therefore, academic articles have a plethora of technical words.  Technical words allow an entire sentence of meaning to be said in one word.  In the paper he coauthored with Kevin, Dr.  Eberl is more concise by saying “the auditory organs of flies and mammals appear morphologically unrelated” (Kevin W.  Christie and Daniel F.  Eberl, 2014) rather than saying “the auditory organs of flies and mammals appear unrelated in terms of how the organs are formed and how they work”.  In this example we see that twelve words can be replaced with one.  On the other hand, this means that readers should have a solid grasp on the material to interpret the idea.  This dilemma becomes convoluted when you are forced to eliminate words entirely.  Kevin recalled when he spent an entire day with Dr.  Eberl taking out redundant words, making compound sentences, and using even more technical words just to cut down on the word count.  How can he take out words without losing the quality of his work? There are a few points to follow: “Really reexamine your structure of your writing and see how it flows.  X implies Y which implies Z.  Then, go back and eliminate redundancy” (Kevin W. Christie, personal communication, August 24, 2018).  Once something is stated, it should not be stated again unless you have multiple points that go off on that idea.  This makes the material looks fresh informative, not wordy and confusing.  The last thing about academic writing is its odd usage of passive voice.  Passive voice is a sentence where the subject is acted on by the verb.  This affinity towards passive voice shows that science is open to new ways of thinking if it is supported with empirical evidence.  Nothing is absolute and our understanding of the world changes with each new paper.  For example, “Drosophila hearing…, has been shown to display high temporal resolution of auditory stimuli…” (Kevin W.  Christie and Daniel F.  Eberl, 2014).  Kevin and Dan did not say that Drosophila hearing displays high resolution of auditory stimuli, only that empirical evidence shows that Drosophila hearing displays high resolution of auditory stimuli.  Perhaps in a few decades when a researcher looks into the fly’s hearing with new technology and understanding, the idea of how we think flies hear will be rejected or updated.  The writing of science should reflect the reluctance to accept a final, irrevocable answer.  When the paper talks about the methods and materials used by the researchers, then active voice is preferred to avoid unclear directions.  The language of academic papers enforces the decorum of professionalism and allows the elaboration of complex ideas in as few words as possible.  Kevin elaborated on this topic, “You are trying to convey the deep complexity of a field.  It’s not merely the facts; how you explain the facts is more important that the facts themselves.  In the end, correct statements poorly conveyed are useless” (Kevin W. Christie, personal communication, August 24, 2018).

Nonacademic writing

If reading ten sheets of technically thick paper is not favorable, nonacademic writing offers the results of a paper with a condense and straight-forward explanation of the research.  The language of nonacademic articles contains little technical jargon that is used among professionals.  This way, people outside the scientific discipline can understand the topic and learn something new.  My example talks about scientists at Michigan State University developing a statistical tool that analyzes patterns of genetic variation in large data sets that vary by geographical location.  I have a grasp on genetics, but population genetics is an unfamiliar topic to me.  But, I can understand one idea about population genetics because the paper contains words that I can imagine in my head and pronounce easily, “Different species of poplar can be found near each other, and, where they overlap, they frequently hybridize” (Michigan State University 2018).  Typically, the words are familiar to people who are not population geneticists.  If a word is new to the reader, they are still able to look up the meaning easily.  Another characteristic of nonacademic writing is the use of quotes from the original authors with the article’s own interpretation of the paper.  Here, the writer puts the researcher’s explanation first then a concurrent comment made by the writer:

‘What often determines relatedness is geography.  If you sample two organisms separated by a large distance, you often have to go farther back into the history of their pedigrees to find a shared ancestor.’ This leads to isolation by distance, a pattern that creates statistical challenges for anyone interested in cleanly describing variation within and between groups in their own study system, he added (Michigan State University 2018).

This passage maintains the article’s reliability of providing correct information and puts the researcher’s information in a way that can be understood in two ways.  The paper also shows its knowledge of the topic by paraphrasing the technical aspects of the paper.  They describe the hybridization process of two poplar tree species and accurately describe the results of that topic is simple language, “[Bradburd] determine whether the only significant population boundary fell along the species boundary, and if there was substructuring within the species” (Michigan State University, 2018).  Even when you have experience reading academic papers, it is easier to read something and automatically understand what the words are saying.  However, this can be a downfall.  A reader might not be able to understand why this statistical tool can help with conservation efforts.  Only one sentence is dedicated to that message.  We may not know the full power of conStruct without the deep explanation of this point.  Nonacademic articles are quite useful for learning about a discovery, especially if the topic is outside your field of expertise.  The simpler language demystifies the message of an academic paper and summarizes the main points conveniently.  But, it may still be necessary to learn how researchers found their findings to create a more meaningful picture.

References

Academic writing

            We truly stand on the shoulders of giants.  All the knowledge we have was accumulated throughout all human history.  The three academic papers I use here have about fifty references in APA format and paraphrased to APA academic writing standards.  These references help backup any claims or assertions brought up in the paper, such as in Kevin’s frog paper where he and his colleagues try to set up recordings in a frog habitat.  He points out that recording frogs in a acoustically dynamic environment that even unique sounds can be masked by sounds of the similar frequency or duration.  “Masking by signals of conspecifics is particularly problematic because they share many of the frequency and temporal characteristics with a signal of interest (Jouventin et al.  1999; Aubin and Jouventin 2002)” (Kevin, et al 2010).  Referring to what was said in Language, academic writing is technical.  This reference proves Kevin’s idea that the background noise may cause a negative skew, or hinder, on his results.  He goes on to say that the detection of auditory signals is hampered from the nature of the atmosphere, distance, the sensitivity of the microphone, and soundwaves bouncing off of objects. This too is followed by an in-text citation.  Even as so far to state the behavior of the male and female frogs during reproduction season, Kevin must include a reference.  I initially thought this was a hindrance on the researcher, but I learned that this is a failsafe to discredit papers that create data, make up assertions and excuses, and morph the reliability of their field by not showing enough references.  One way to look at this is knowing how to apply other scientific studies into your paper. This shows how fluent the researcher is on different aspects of the subject, not just in what specific area they are researching.  Kevin, as an instructor for undergrads fresh out of high school, said that scientific writing is more than copying and pasting scientific terms on a paper, you must know how to use that material well and eference where it came from. By doing this, you intuitively understand the passage (Kevin W. Christie, personal communication, August 24, 2018).

Nonacademic writing

            Depending on the objective of the writer, they can use only the reference they are writing about or use as many references that substantially supports the topic they are talking about.   Although nonacademic papers follow MLA style citations, the writers can use quotations and paraphrased passages in conjunction.  Typically, the direct quotes of the researchers are used along with what the paper supports so the writer can be more reliable in offering correct information.  This can be useful when the writer combines two topics, like history and genetics, in the same paper.  In Andy Coghlan’s article, “Ancient invaders transformed Britain, but not its DNA”, he writes, “…the analysis enabled a genetic snapshot of Caucasian Britain prior to immigrations since then.  ‘Any one person’s genome is a random sample of DNA from all four of their grandparents, so it’s a way to look back in time,’ says Peter Donnelly…” (2015).  Articles depend on the researchers to back up the interpretations the article makes, so articles thrive on the strength of dependability the researchers offer.  This is particularly effective when the writer includes an link to the article as an in-text citation like this, “Even so, at least 60 per cent of the DNA in the cluster had survived from earlier migrants (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature14230)” (Andy Coghlan 2015).  This adds another layer of reliable information to reinforce the writer’s topic and shows that he has read the material.  In addition, he includes a diagram of England and the early migration movements of the people.  It is easier to see even with the migration of multiple people, different ethnic groups did not intermarry whether that could be from distance, xenophobia, or class differences. Some writers do not have the luxury of maps and diagrams that could be followed easily, such as Gary Galluzzo and Michigan State University.  This could be because the topic is too abstract or does not require a diagram all together.  Gary does an excellent job stating the results of the paper he was writing about and Michigan State University discussed about a program that computes how a population’s genetics changes over the course of years.  Once again, we can see that nonacademic writing has some leniency of how many references they should have compared to academic papers, but this is from design. Nonacademic writing talks about one academic paper by restating the results in a meaningful way. So, nonacademic papers typically have one paper to cite rather than fifty.

Conclusion

            We see that academic and nonacademic papers have separate ways they are used, goals, and writing style.  Academic writers require technical words, a specific and homogenized structure, and a reserve of references to create an informed and practical document to study from.  Nonacademic writers interpret these academic papers and create a document that is easier to read, includes thoughts from the researchers, and allows more eloquent writing.  Both forms of writing are used to educate others and establish the importance of the topic at hand.  The learning never stops; researchers read academic papers to gain knowledge and references, and people with an interest in learning can read about the world around us thanks to online articles.  Personally, I enjoy the opportunity to read about diverse topics from academic papers and nonacademic papers.  Despite their differences, reading articles about a new discovery shows how much we can learn from reading.

References

    

Christie, Kevin, Schul, Johannes, Feng, Albert S. (2010). Phonotaxis to male’s calls embedded within a chorus by female gray treefrogs, Hyla versicolor. Springer, 196, 569-579. doi 10.1007/s00359-010-0544-2

Christie, Kevin W., Sivan-Loukianova, Elena, Smith, Wesley C., Aldrich, Benjamin T., Schon, Michael A., Roy, Madhuparna, Lear, Bridget C., Eberl, Daniel F. (2013). Physiological, anatomical, and behavioral changes after acoustic trauma in Drosophila melanogaster, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110 (38), 1-6. doi 15449-15454

Christie, Kevin W., Eberl, Daniel F. (2014). Noise-Induced Hearing Loss: New Animal Models. Curr Opin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg., 22 (5), 374-383. doi 10.1097/MOO. 0000000000000086

Christie, Kevin W. (2018). Personal Interview

Coghlan, Andy (2015). Ancient invaders transformed Britain, but not its DNA. New Scientist, Retrieved from https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530134-300-ancient-invaders-transformed-britain-but-not-its-dna/

Galluzzo, Gary (2013). A fly’s hearing. Iowa Now, Retrieved from https://now.uiowa.edu/2013/09/flys-hearing

Michigan State University (2018). New genetics tool helps answer evolutionary questions: Answering evolutionary questions. ScienceDaily, Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180913143331.htm