MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

Let's look at this recent article in PloS One about writing scientific prose. In Science, two scientists talk about how they read articles. Ruben writes with a somewhat lighthearted approach while Pain responds to his piece with her approach. Read the comments.

We will talk about what type of article you have:  research article, literature review, meta-analysis, proof, proof-of-concept, specialized application, method, opinion or memoir.

Here is the "bible" of writing (and reading) scientific prose:  Mayfield. Now, let's look at the basic parts of the IMRAD article using this guide.

By the end of class, you should know what kind of article you have AND a sense of the research question and associated hypotheses guiding the work. 

This week!  Due in peer review on Friday, with final version in hard copy due on Monday.

First, a lession on word choices, but let's review a few items from our worksheets on sentences (subject-verb is the heart of a good and clear sentence). Here is a good discussion on these ideas including active voice from Duke's Scientific Communication overview. Read this web exhibit, starting with Principles 2 and 3.  In your reading for your science classes, you may want to look for these techniques.

Principle 1 is new to you.  This focus concerns nominalizations.  Read this New York Times article, which calls nominazations "zombie nouns." Writer Helen Sword says:

Take an adjective (implacable) or a verb (calibrate) or even another noun (crony) and add a suffix like ity, tion or ism. You’ve created a new noun: implacability, calibration, cronyism. Sounds impressive, right? 

Nouns formed from other parts of speech are called nominalizations. Academics love them; so do lawyers, bureaucrats and business writers. I call them “zombie nouns” because they cannibalize active verbs, suck the lifeblood from adjectives and substitute abstract entities for human beings: 

The proliferation of nominalizations in a discursive formation may be an indication of a tendency toward pomposity and abstraction.

H.S.'s "Draft" -- a regular feature -- is a series about the art and craft of writing. 

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When you return, we start the directions/SOP/instructions assignment.  Today, we discuss a range of topics you might choose.

At the same time, we will review strategies about how to read science.  Yes. How. To. Read. Science Articles. Let's look more closely at science articles, paying attention to the IMRAD article.  You will need to select a science article from your field that fits the IMRAD format.  We will review this article as an assignment.  Hint: can be part of your final project.

And, in honor of the day, a saying from my granny:  Lord save us, Dick Davis, don't eat us for a couple of raw praties. 

First up, the Oxford Comma on Twitter no less.  What about science examples of ambiguity that can be helped with by Oxford comma use or rearrangement? Consider these examples from Sarah Lichter.  Here is one from my writing practice recently:

Conservation biologists look at two approaches to biodiversity losses, species counts in the tropics and changing distribution maps.

What about this one that the proto-doctors among us might say to a patient?:

Your cancer can be treated with chemotherapy, surgery or immunotherapy.

Remember empty subjects?

Finally, what about the use of its in this assignment? Consider the "rule of three" as shown in this example:

Pipette in the wells using the PipetteJuniorPlus.  This instrument is new, so be careful with it.

Penelope set up her PRC glass wells using a mouth pipette. Mouth pipetting is a good skill to know whn you are out of disposal tips.  Mouth pipetting, however, is dangerous because you might take in fluid.

Why did I NOT use the rule of three in the second example?

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CONCISION -- Before Friday, look for revision opportunities to trim your paragraphs.  Here is a Before/After example.  Here are some handy concision tables.

Now, the broad-strategy check list!

Grammar lesson:  apostrophe. Let's use M.I.'s guide on The Oatmeal.  His work can keep you from committing apostrophe catastrophe.  :)  Here is an infographic that you can also refer to, about apostrophe abuse.

Mighty Red Pen, a blog site by a killed editor, offers this special case of Arkansas (whihc means that Kansas lurks in the background).

Now, what about the memo?  Some additional paragraph options:

• brief paragraph on climate change (use IPCC as the citation, by referring) TBDiscussed in class.
• Brief paragraph on fate of ocean plastic (use PNAS March 2016 article)
• Compare/contrast about the above problems as resisting direct quantitative comparison (incommensurate) --- both are "wicked problems 
• New solutions paragraph:  compostable styrofoam or other innovation (ocean plastic sweeper?)
• Discussion of re-usables, with acknowledgement that ceramics, glass, metal are all energy intensive industries
• Other ideas you may have? 
• Does Herman Daly's video help you with the problem description/classification?  Think about concepts:
  • sinks -- where stuff goes (ocean and atmosphere)
  • material inputs (energy and stocks -- wood stock for paper, petroleum stock for styrofoam)
  • depletion-pollution