In the previous sections (3.1 and 3.2) I have discussed the importance of learning how to effectively write and speak. Another very important skill that we, as scientists, must learn is the ability to convey scientific biology information to other scientists from other disciplines as well as those outside of the scientific community. This goes all the way back to another previous section (2.1) where I listed the main steps of a good experimental design. The last thing on the list is to share research information not only within the scientific community but also outside of it in order to inform the public on important matters. I have been given the ability to practice this kind of sharing both orally and in writing in courses like Sophomore Seminar, Comprehensive Human Anatomy and Physiology I, and Immunology.
In Sophomore Seminary, we were challenged first to write a literature review, then orally present our findings to the class with a PowerPoint, and then finally convert all that science knowledge into a general audience paper. This was my literature review and general audience paper and therefore I felt lost most of the time I was writing this however I felt very passionate about my topic which was the decline of coral reefs and how humans have had an impact. I think overall the general audience paper was not that hard to write but I did think the most challenging part was trying to convince the reader to care about this issue without being preachy. Now after writing a few more kinds of general audience papers, I better understand how to appeal to and engage the general audience to engage in the topic. Below is my general audience paper that I wrote during the Spring of 2018.
In my Comprehensive Human Anatomy and Physiology I course I investigated the effects different kinds of music had on blood pressure. After the experiment was done, we needed to share our findings to the public of Farmville in a theoretical news article/blog. This type of writing required us to be able to convert scientific heavy information into general information that most people, without a degree in biology, could understand. I found that this type of short general audience writing was actually quite fun to write like I could actually help inform the public. While this is still a general audience paper, it is a very different style that I have seen many writers use, like in The New York Times, to convey important information in a relatively short excerpt. Below is my news article report for this project which I wrote in the Fall of 2019.
Blood Pressure vs. “Relaxing” Music
Another type of general audience paper that I got the ability to write was in Immunology. For this project we wanted to see if parabens, chemicals commonly found in deodorants, could mimic estrogen, a natural hormone, to alter the differentiation of specific cells that could contribute to cancer growth. After completing the experiments, we needed to then be able to write a paper that was on the level of a middle or high schooler. This meant that all terms needed to be defined, background and reasoning needed to be clear and basic, and all figures need to be as simple as possible to understand. I found this paper was actually pretty difficult to write about because I was unsure of what children knew and didn’t know. Because of that it was hard to write about complex mechanisms and ideas in simple terms, but I ended up being able to work around that by using analogies. I think my favorite part of this paper was designing the figures as cartoon characters to make the cells and chemicals more interesting to look at for the children who may read these papers. Below is my Frontiers for Young Mind paper that I wrote during the Spring of 2019.
Can your deodorant cause cancer?
Even though general audience papers seem straight forward, they can actually be pretty hard for scientists to write because we are so use to a structured research paper. I think having this kind of ability strengthens not only my written skills but also my oral skills because I can use these simple analogies to explain complex concepts to others easily.