Science Writing: A Study in Genre

by Stephanie Krajicek

What is science writing? The answer depends on where you look. Some science writing communicates research methods and findings in the form of technical reports, lab papers, manuals, and research articles.  Some writing informs the world about scientific investigation in progress.  Because science writing takes on many different forms, it is an allusive genre to define. However, promoting writing in science classes requires a definition in order to build an understanding of all types of written scientific discourse.”  To begin, three important questions should be answered before any writing begins.

• What is the purpose?
• Who is the audience?
• How do I want to present the information?

For examples, it is helpful to take a look at different types of science writing.

Scientists
Professional scientists use writing for many purposes: they outline research methodology and findings, describe what they observe, critique and respond to their colleagues, and raise questions that encourage scientific inquiry. Their audience is limited to their colleagues.  Science writing from this perspective is specialized requiring specific guidelines and formats. There are specific guidelines and forms that are adhered to.

Journalists / Popular Science Writers
The MIT Science Writing Program contends that

Science writers address the larger public about the science and technology that shape modern life, as well as the broader social issues—nuclear power safety, for example, or bioethics, or the environment—that science so profoundly influences… [Science writing] appears in ordinary newsstand magazines and newspapers, in popular books, on the walls of museums, on television or radio programs. (“About Science Writing,” n.d.)

Science writing, in this case, looks very different, indeed.  It can take the form of newspaper and magazine articles, memoirs, books, correspondence, presentations, instructions, or blogs.  This kind of writing has different goals and intended audiences than the scientific community’s writing. Popular science writers must entertain, persuade, report, describe, and communicate clearly. Part of the difficulty that science journalists and popular science writers face is that the audience’s knowledge base is much more diverse, and perhaps limited, than that of the scientific community.  Timothy Ferris (2001), a Pulitzer Prize winning author and professor emeritus at UCLA, Berkeley writes that:

Readers come to the printed page already knowing something about crime and punishment, love and loss, triumph and tragedy – but not, necessarily, about the roles played by theory and observation in identifying a virus or tracing the curvature of intergalactic space. Hence, science writers have to keep explaining things, from the significance of scientific facts to the methods by which they are adduced, while simultaneously holding the reader’s attention and moving the story along. (p. vii)

Students and Teachers K-12
Typically, the science writing that is taught in schools is limited to non-fiction genres of research, lab reports, and observation journals. Science writers have bigger repertoires than what we currently expect from our students. Those all-important guiding questions (For whom? What about? How?) help dictate what kind of writing our students should do in science class.  Additionally, teachers must ask: Is the goal of a writing assignment to encourage and clarify learning?  Or is the goal to demonstrate learning? 

Incorporating writing into science curricula becomes much easier when these questions have been answered.  Writing to learn should offer students the opportunity to use genres of writing that aren’t usually associated with science (i.e. poetry, narrative, memoir, journals, etc.).  Art Young, a professor of English and engineering at Clemson University believes that “[w]hen people write poetically and express their ideas and values about science in nonscientific language, freedom from scientific discourse creates opportunities to make personal connections to what they are writing about” (p.475). Writing to demonstrate learning creates opportunities for writing in the disciplines (McLeod, 2000), as well as honing style and awareness of audience.

So what is science writing?  It is a tool that allows us to examine and attempt to explain our world. How we use that tool depends on who we are and what we are trying to accomplish.

Sources

(n.d.). MIT Graduate program in science writing.

Retrieved March 8, 2007, from About science writing Web site: http://web.mit.edu/sciwrite/about.html

Ferris, T. (Ed.). (2001).

The Best American science writing. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc..

McLeod, S., & Maimon, E. (2000).

WAC myths and realities. College English. 62, 573-584.
Young, A. (2003).Writing across and against the curriculum. College Composition and Communication. 54, 472-485.

Ways to incorporate science writing into English classrooms

• Study science fiction.  Write science fiction.
• Read and write op-ed pieces about scientific or technological discoveries
• Write a review of science fiction film or novel
• Practice writing instructions and descriptions for processes
• Read and write creative non-fiction
• Find out what students are studying in chemistry, physics, biology, zoology, genetics (or whatever course they are enrolled in…) and find poetry, short stories, editorials, interviews, and any kind of writing that relates to those topics to study, critique, imitate, and enjoy in class.

Ways to incorporate more writing (and more kinds of writing) into science classrooms

The following excerpt is taken from:
Hildebrand, G (1998).

Disrupting hegemonic writing practices in school science: Contesting the right way to write. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 35, 345-362.

Hybrid Imaginative Writing in Secondary School Science

Hybrid imaginative writing includes any blended genres that use scientific and/or factual genres (recounts, procedures, reports, explanations, expositions, discussions, etc.) in conjunction with imaginative or fictional genres. The genres available for writing to learn science are thus considerably expanded. The following examples open a window of possibilities:

1. Imagine you are a water molecule: Describe five changes of state that you have recently experienced. (anthropomorphic narrative)
   
2. Prepare a travel brochure advertising a trip to another planet. (advertisement)
   
3. Imagine that you are a parachutist (dancer, basketball player, etc.). Describe the forces acting on you throughout a jump (dance, game, etc.). (realistic recount)
   
4. Write a poem describing a monotreme, in the shape of that animal. (poetry).

Other forms of writing included under this rubric are:

• a range of blended narratives (horror, romance, adventure, anthropomorphic, science fiction, and comic strips)
• diaries and journals (travel and autobiography)
• letters (home, To the Editor, Dear Dorothy Dix)
• poems (ballad, ode, limerick, and cinquain)
• songs (rap, rock, and ballad)
• scripts (live production, screenplay, and radio show)
• advertisements (brochures, jingles, and posters),
• journalistic writing (news and sports reports, editorials, and obituaries).

Further examples are described by Gianello (1988), Hildebrand (1989, 1991), Liz James (1989), Lewis and Davies (1988), the McClintock Collective (1989), and Vaughan Prain and Brian Hand (1996). Many others have also advocated a diversification of writing genres used to learn science (see Paul Connolly & Teresa Vilardi, 1989; Peter Esterhuysen, 1996; Lynn Hewlett, 1996; Clive Sutton, 1996; Mike Watts & Di Bentley, 1994).

The following suggestions are taken from the National Association of Science Writers website:

• Collect articles from three different news outlets that cover the same science story. Analyze how each organization covered the story differently.
• Have student critique and discuss the weekly science section of a local and/or national newspaper or magazine.
• Select two to three media outlets and have weekly science news quizzes on articles published there.
• Invite a local "celebrity" scientist to discuss his or her interactions with media.
• Assign the students to cover a science lecture at a local university or institute.
• Assign the students to cover a scientific meeting, select a topic they feel is newsworthy, and report on it.
• Invite a scientist to class and conduct a mock press conference.
• Have the students follow a scientist all semester/quarter and write an article about his/her work for a final assignment.
• Hold weekly "reading workshops" where students critique a news or magazine article about science that you brought in the week before.

National Association of Science Writers, (2004, February 4). Class exercises. Retrieved March 8, 2007, from National Association of Science Writers Web site: http://www.nasw.org/resource/teaching/archives/000137.htm

Stephanie Krajicek

Stephanie Krajicek is a certified secondary English and French teacher who has been teaching in Indiana public schools for five years and is a facilitator for the Buddy project and a trainer for the Buddy Technology Learning Center (BTLC).

This featured article appeared in Volume 2, Number 3 issue of the Write Connections quarterly newsletter. View other archived newsletters , a topical organization of all newsletters, or sign-up to receive notification when the next newsletters are ready to download.