The Science Of Scientific Writing Set 6 Set 6-Basis boxes • Second page • Third page • Example • Exercise 1 • Exercise 2 • Exercise 3 • Exercise 4-Quiz 1 • Fourth page • Exercise 5-Quiz 2 • Writing about Evidence • Exercise 6 • Arguments and Explanations • Final page Set 6.
OVERVIEW: The way to well-written science
PART I: Paragraphs and Sentences
SET A: Paragraphs: The Maps Behind Them
SET B: Paragraphs: Using Maps to Meet Readers' Expectations
SET C: Paragraphs with Something Extra: Points and Tails
SET D: The Generic Section: Expectations and Maps as Blueprints
SET E: Scientific Sections: The Methods and Results
SET F: Scientific Sections: The Discussion
SET G : Scientific Sections: The Introduction
SET H : Sentences
SET I : The Paper as a Whole
PART II: The Paper and its Sections
SET 1: Argument Parts
SET 2: Indicator Words
SET 4: Locating Arguments in Prose
SET 5: Rationale's Essay Planner
SET 6: Evidence in Arguments: Basis Boxes
Synthesis 1: Position-Early Paragraphs
Synthesis 2: Position-Final Paragraphs
Synthesis 3: Writing a Discussion I
Synthesis 4: Writing a Discussion II
Writing about evidence
In science, evidence rules. As such, when writing up a paper, evidence is typically accorded its due respect by offering it a prime location in the text, where readers are likely to notice it. By following this tradition, you will signal to the scientific community that you are a careful, cautious researcher who is more concerned with hard facts than beautiful theories. But, interestingly, on the other hand, you cannot afford to be even-handed in your handling of all the evidence: when writing a paper what matters most is your evidence.
What sort of "prime"
position can we give to your evidence? Imagine that we are writing up a paragraph
length argument based on the map below.
Let's pretend you are Dr Eddy, back in 1927 America, and you have just completed your study on the mineral content of the banana. How could we write this up? (A bit of background: in early twentieth century America the banana, surprisingly, did not have the good reputation it has today).
The most dramatic,
somewhat artificial, is to transform the argument such that your evidence actually
becomes the position of a position-final paragraph:
"The American public has long entertained suspicions about possible deleterious compounds in the banana, but these beliefs are unfounded and are at odds with the unproblematic use of bananas as a dietary staple in many other countries. Nutritionists have therefore begun scrutitining the nutritional composition of the banana, with regard to its dietary potential, and have recently identified that bananas contain high amounts of carbohydrate and vitamins A and C (McWharf, 1919; Reynolds, 1927). These findings provide strong indications of the banana's dietary benefits, but in the current study we were were motivated by the belief that a convincing recommendation demanded a proper assessment of this fruit's potential to provide adequate amounts of at least some essential dietary minerals. We report herein that it does: bananas contains phosphorus, calcium and potassium at 0.401, 0.009 and 0.031%, w/w, respectively."
This is a point-final paragraph, with an Issue sentence (S3) setting up an implied question answered in the final sentence. It therefore conforms to all the structural recommendations of the Reader Expectation Group.
It is more natural however, for the point statement to declare the most global claim of an argument, which in this case is: "The banana is a useful addition to the American public's diet".
If this is to be the position statement of our text version, then it can be located position-early or position-final. But as we will see, the two formats differ in how much prominence they give to the evidence. Compare the two versions below:
Position-early
In this paper we argue that there is now sufficient evidence to safely recommend the banana as a useful addition to the American public's diet. The American public has long entertained suspicions about possible deleterious compounds in the banana, but these beliefs are unfounded and are at odds with the unproblematic use of bananas as a dietary staple in many other countries. On the other hand, recent studies on the banana's nutritional composition show that it contains a wide variety of components essential for human growth and development. For example, they have been found to contain high amounts of carbohydrate and vitamins A and C (McWharf, 1919; Reynolds, 1927). No work has however been done on the mineral composition of this fruit. In the work reported in this paper, we show for the first time that bananas also contain high amounts of the essential minerals, phosphorus, calcium and potassium (0.401, 0.009 and 0.031%, w/w, respectively).
Position-final
Recently, the banana has come under the scrutiny of nutritionists interested in its dietary potential for the American public. No work has however been done on the mineral composition of this fruit. In this study we show for the first time that bananas contain high amounts of the essential minerals, phosphorus, calcium and potassium (0.401, 0.009 and 0.031%, w/w, respectively). As such this supports the emerging idea that bananas contain a wide variety of components essential for human growth and development. Other recent studies have reported that bananas contain high amounts of carbohydrate and vitamins A and C (McWharf, 1919; Reynolds, 1927). While the American public entertains suspicions about possible deleterious compounds in this fruit, these beliefs are unfounded and are at odds with the unproblematic use of bananas as a dietary staple in many other countries. Further work in this field will obviously be of benefit, but we feel there is already sufficient evidence to safely recommend the banana as a useful addition to the American public's diet.
In the first version, the author's own work feels almost like a postscript to the paragraph. All the energy of the paragraph is located in its first three sentences. In the second version, while the author's evidence operates neither as the paragraph's issue (that is sentence 1) nor its position (the final sentence) it nevertheless somehow feels like it must be taken into greater account.
Why? This occurs because, in the position-final format, ALL of the body of an argument (i.e. excluding the position statement) assumes greater importance than it does in the position-early format.
Summing up: While it is not natural to put your evidence in the most-noticed location in a paragraph (the position), it will still get considerable attention withing the body of the paragraph if the paragraph is written in the position-final format.
Exercise
Below is a slight variation of the position-final version above.
Create a yellow note on the workspace and answer the following questions:
- Which of these two variations do you think gives the authors' own evidence more prominence?
- Can you explain why?
- Finally, do you agree with the claim made here that a position-final version gives more prominence to the evidence than position-early?
Position-final (alternative)
Recently, the banana has come under the scrutiny of nutritionists interested in its dietary potential for the American public. Recent studies have reported that bananas contain high amounts of carbohydrate and vitamins A and C (McWharf, 1919; Reynolds, 1927). No work has however been done on the mineral composition of this fruit. In this study we show for the first time that bananas contain high amounts of the essential minerals, phosphorus, calcium and potassium (0.401, 0.009 and 0.031%, w/w, respectively). While the American public entertains suspicions about possible deleterious compounds in this fruit, these beliefs are unfounded and are at odds with the unproblematic use of bananas as a dietary staple in many other countries. Further work in this field will obviously be of benefit, but given that the banana contains so many components essential for human growth and development available, we feel there is already sufficient evidence to safely recommend this fruit as a useful addition to the American public's diet.
Content of this page drawn in whole or part from the Austhink Rationale Exercises with permission from Austhink.