Week 13 (lucky!) reading stats writing in science papers
Good morning. I am looking at your responses to the Eli Review task. By the way, if you did not complete this task please do so now as I want to complete this task and prep for the next one.
I want to revisit a thread of discussion from last week when a student asked about the stats paragraph. I also want to say that this work will not be graded/evaluated. I just want to acquaint you with how statistics is part of the inference testing about the conclusions that scientists draw from their work. Let's look at a few short pieces by scientists about how they read journal articles:
- Grad student in biochemistry reflects in a short blog piece for the Illinois Science Council
- Craig Rehabilitation Hospital (Denver) offers a primer on stats for their patients (doctors now typically encounter patients who read the biomedical literature too)
- Open access/PMC article on the qualities of data sets that help guide statistical test choices
I think you should ask mentors in your work about how they use and interpret statistics. More on writing about stats soon. The Manchester University Academic Phrasebank is your friend. These sections are especially helpful for this thinking task.
Highlighting interesting or surprising results
Sorry for weird formatting: The links should take you to ManU AcPB
I want to talk about two types of variation in the pattern you are now ready for:
- inserting 'mini" definitions within your body paragraphs to help your reader locally, compared to the more global definitions you put in the incline of the cognitive wedge
- adding analysis paragraphs within the body of your Cool Things portion (fat center of your document shape,)
Meet you in an OHitS/AMA today, 9-12. Here is a guidance document/checklist for your article. We are getting closer to done!
Marybeth Shea
Meet you in same space: Monday's OHitS/AMA.
Let's think about the shape of the end of the document. In defense of the lemon and the way that scientists read research articled, this shape befits two writing tasks:
- Explain fully, with fidelity to detail (which means larger paragraphs), while
- Devoting this large writing/reading real estate space to what is most important AND is anchored in data.
Most of you can plan on a lemon shaped article, where we slide down the back end, with guard-rails on what this information means.
Let's think about two types of discussion+analysis information you will find in your article:
- Information about what the findings say about the field (INTERNAL or discipline specific)
- Implications for human problem solving in society. (EXTERNAL or for all of us)
Example: In an article on airborne ammonia (NH3) and particulate matter (PM), research challenges the dominant down-wind model of deposition of these two pollutants. The finding suggest that small, circular and seasonal wind turbulence might deposit NH3 and PM in patterns not expected by the dominant model. For the field, researchers want to design more experiments to better understand patterns of NH3+PM deposition. For society, both NH3 and PM pose serious human and ecosystem health risks (lung disease and toxic algal blooms), meaning that research can help target better remediation management efforts.
Friday, we will talk about pear-bottomed documents and how to use this shape for a strong finish. Hint: you have lots to talk about. See above.
Marybeth Shea
VOICE! Let's think about voice. Here is a google slide set on Active/Passive Voice in science style. Some people think that you must also use passive voice constructions in science. Not so!
We can also think about how to use first person voice in your review to make clear when YOU are analyzing the work of the researchers/authors. You can use first person voice in science but you must be deliberate and selective. Read this summary of what David Schultz (atmopheric scientist) of Eloquent Science says.
More on this, in this OHitS/AMA (same one as Monday and Wednesday). Scoll to page 4 to see this discusion/brief presentation.
And, your stats paragraph? You can leave this out, if this is stressing you too much.
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