WRT533: Notes

Evolution of the Journal Article

Note: The following passages, from Gross et al. (2002), are used in class to illustrate the evolution of journal articles and "scientific English."

Definitions

• Communicative:
  • Style: any feature of a text whose focus is the syntax of sentences or the choice of words. Preference for the passive voice and for complex noun phrases are features of syntax; a preference for a highly technical vocabulary is a feature of word choice. Evolution of scientific style, from the 17th century to the present, runs from epistolary and essayistic beginnings in proximity to everyday speech to its development as a highly specialized register designed to convey information of great cognitive complexity from expert to expert."
  • Presentation: the ways the text of the scientific article is organized and the ways in which its data are displayed. Citations and headings are features of presentation; so are tables and graphs. Development traces from early epistolary and essayistic forms meant to be read from beginning to end to a master finding system designed to promote efficient and opportunistic reading, and dependent on the "reading" of tables and figures as well as text.
• Argumentative: the actual ensemble of means scientists employ to support their claims (i.e., the actual arguments scientists make). The development has preceded from "at first natural philosophers tolerant of a wide range of verificational means, men who rely heavily on the evidence of the five senses and the trust that subsists between gentlemen; in the end we see scientists intolerant of any case that is not closely argued and founded on scrupulously produced experimental evidence, men and women who adhere to a professional code that transcends personal trust."

17^thCentury

Martin Lister, "An Account of the Nature and Differences of the Juices, more Particularly, of our English Vegetables." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1697.

Passage 1: "The 21st of April, 1665, about eight in the Morning, I bored a hole in the body of a fair and large Birch, and put a Cork with a Quill in the middle; after a Moment or two it [a sap] began to drop, but yet very softly; Some three Hours after I returned, and it had filled a Pint Glass, and then it droped exceeding fast, viz., every Pulse a Drop: This Liquour is not unpleasant to the Taste, and not thick or troubled; yet it looks as though some few drops of Milk were spilt in a Bason of Fountain Water. Vide Philos. Transact."

Passage 2: "It [the milk of Lactuca syl. costa spinosa] springs out of the Wound thick as Cream and Ropes, and is White, and yet the Milk which came out of the Wounds, made towards the top of the Plant, was plainly streaked or mixt with a purple Juice, as though one had dashed or sprinkled Cream with a few drops of Claret. And indeed, the Skin of the Plant thereabouts was purplish also, perhaps with Veins. Again, in the Shell I drew it, it turned still yellower and thicker, and by and by curdled, that is, the white and thick caseous part did separate from a thin purple Whey. So the Blood also of Animals, whilst warm remains liquid and alike, but so soon as cold, it cakes and has a Serum or Whey separated from it."

20^thCentury

Howard Goodman and Alexander Rich. "Formation of a DNA-Soluble RNA Hybrid and Its Relation to the Origin, Evolution, and Degeneracy of Soluble RNA." Proceedings of the national Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A., 1962.

"The unlabeled bacterial DNAs used in this investigation were prepared by the method of Marmur¹⁰. Calf thymus and salmon sperm DNA were obtained from Sigma Chemical Company and California Corporation for Biochemical Research, respectively. The DNAs from the bacteriophages were prepared by phenol extraction¹¹. Prior to annealing, the DNA was denatured by heating at 95-98C for 15 min in 0.015 M NaCl, 0.0015 M sodium citrate, pH 7.4, and then quickly chilled in an ice bath. Denaturation was followed by measuring the change in optical density at 260 m-micron."

Gross et al. comment, "In this passage, the facts about the material world are promoted by a syntax that favors the passive voice and emphasizes things and abstractions over people as grammatical subject and complement. This is also a prose constructed largely of complex noun phrases (often with multiple modification) that deviate noticeably from everyday speech: "The unlabeled bacterial DNAs used in this investigation," "the method of Marmur," "Calf thymus and salmon sperm DNA," "Sigma Chemical Company and California Corporation for Biochemical Research," "the DNAs from the bacteriophages," "phenol extraction," and "the change in optical density at 260 mµ." In addition, the strong verbs of Lister—"bore," "put in," drop," "return," fill," "spill"—have been largely replaced by less vivid ones describing common actions in the laboratory: "prepare," "obtain," "follow." Finally, both "calf thymus and salmon sperm DNA" and "phenol extraction" are examples of fused noun strings, a constuction entirely absent from the prose of Lister. Only specialized knowlege can help unravel the latter phrase: does it mean extracting phenol or extracting by means of phenol? The above passage also possesses other characteristics we have hypothesized for contemporary scientific style: circumstantial details and poetic metaphors are absent; technical abbreviations, noun strings, and quantification abound; there is one eponym; and two citations appear as superscripted numberals (of a total of 32 in the article)."

Gross et al. also cite the Goodman and Rich introduction, noting how it follows Swales (here) standard formula of established an intellectural territory (molecular genetic research, sentences 1-3), a niche (4-6) and new additions to that niche (7):

"[1] It has been known for a long time that transfer or soluble RNS (sRNA*) molecules play a central role in the organization of amino acides into polypeptide chains during protein synthesis. [2] Individual sRNA molecules combine with a particular amino acid to produce a complex which is active on the ribosomal particle. [3] Recent experiments¹ make it likely that a sequence of nucleotides in sRNA carry the specificity for determining the position of the amino acid in the polypeptide chain. [4] However, as yet little is known regarding the origin of sRNA. [5] These molecules could arise from DNA in a manner similar to the production of messenger RNA. [6] On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that the sRNA molecule is largely folded back upon itself with a regular system of hydrogen bonding,² and this has given rise to the suggestion that RNA may act as a template for manufacturing itself.^2,3 [7] These alternative possibilities have prompted us to carry out a series of experiments in which we look for the presence of a complementary sequence of based in the DNA molecule by the formation of spedific hybrids involving sRNA."

Gross et al. note that in this passage, the modern trait of hedging, "to fine-tune their arguments to the state of knowledge," is captured in phrases "It has been known for a long time," "recent experiments make it likely," "little is known regarding the origin of sRNA. These molecules could arise," "it has been demonstrated,' this has given rise to the suggestion," and "these alternative possibilities have prompted us to carry out a series of experiments."

Gross et al. also take pains to point out that although both authors have a centrail empirical faith in the power of observation, Goodman and Rich put more emphasis on using their data (the article if replete with numbers, tables, and graphs) into the context of arguments meant to wring out interpretations of the data, not only in the discussion but also throughout the results section.

Reference

• Gross, Alan. G., J. E. Harmon, and M. Reidy. 2002. Communicating Science: The Scientific Article from the 17th Century to the Present. Oxford. 267 p.