Andrew Bratcher
Hem Paudel
English 102
1 February 2015
IR
First Draft
Biology is a very interesting and broad topic in which I
chosen as my field of study. Writing in
biology can come from writing lab reports to simply writing out a patient’s
diagnosis and how to care for them. My
assumption of writing in biology comes from what I have really had to do in the
past based on writings in my biology classes.
With my experience, I have had to write reports based on the research
that I have found through experimentation and comparison through other
scientists or students work, which you current students have probably had much
experience in. Also, the writing mainly
seems formal and professional. I have
found great sources that both accept and challenge my assumptions, as well as
two interviewees, one being a biology teacher, the other a current grad student
going into medical school. The
information from both of the interviews and sources can help me explain the
nature of writing in this field of study and compare my assumptions to be
either correct or not.
To begin, as I have stated before, my assumptions were
that writing in biology are mainly just lab reports based on research. My first interviewee, Nathan Deasy, mentions
that “most of the writing I have had to do is based on research. Science is all about research through
experimentation. Its how we find the
answers to the scientific questions we have.”(Deasy) What I took from him
saying this was not only that my assumption was very accurate but that a lot of
the writing would be extremely formal.
Experimentation is not something to take very lightly if you want to be
able to find promising results. Of
course the informal nature of scientific writing could be the notes you write
down in a lab. They are for your eyes
not for a committee or group of scholars which I learned is different from my
assumption. I enjoy how one of my
sources states to “clearly distinguish results from discussion.” (Scientific
Writing 101) Basically, what I got from
this is that you should keep formal and informal pieces apart in this type of
writing. Which I believe is an important
part in the nature of writing in biology.
Now, my second interviewee is an old biology teacher from
high school, Kathi Heggs. When talking to
her, she reminded me that “writing in class was nothing short of just finding
out information, and expressing that information in a professional way.”(Heggs) We had to write many reports on notes we had
taken in class on the different experiments we had done. This report would then be reported to the
class in a presentation. Each writing
had to be set up in the same basic style in a report form. Using clear, precise wording was mandatory
and it is as you continue to write in this field of study. Also it is important to use past tense
because when writing either a report or research paper it reflects work that
has been completed (Bates University)
These two points are very important aspects especially on the professional
aspect of the pieces in biology or scientific writing.
When it comes to the less formal pieces in scientific
writing, things that could be examples would be like a pamphlet for a science
museum. It is informal because it isn’t
written for scholars in any way but more towards a casual audience. Facts and reason are still included in these
pieces, but because of the more creative and less serious tone of these
writings, they are informal. There are
different goals when it comes to an informal piece in writing in biology. Research isn’t really required because if it
is for a museum per say, then it would be more of writing down and listing
facts that have already been researched or discovered. It is non academic writing. This style of writing is extremely relaxed in
a casual manner.
UNFINISHED DRAFT
Need help with non academic sources and revisions on
academic sources.
Works
Cited
"How
to Write Guide: Introduction to Journal-Style Scientific Writing." How to
Write Guide: Introduction to Journal-Style Scientific Writing. Web. 3 Feb.
2015.
<http://abacus.bates.edu/~ganderso/biology/resources/writing/HTWgeneral.html>.
"Scientific
Writing 101." Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group. Web. 3 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.nature.com/nsmb/journal/v17/n2/full/nsmb0210-139.html#close>.
This is a well-organized paper and the writer takes the journey, to figure out what style of writing will be most used in the major, with the student. The writer thinks he knows how the writing in the major will look but he wants to carry the reader through the process of his discovery. He begins by examining the statement of a Grad student within the major. He expands on what he is told and couples the statement with a reference from a written source to drive the point home that writing in his field is based on results of evidence. I’d note that the writer cites his sources correctly and uses them effectively to push the paper along. The writer then expands on this idea and discusses how the writing in this field is very formal and precise in what it’s trying to say.
ReplyDeleteEach paragraph seems to have a main idea based around either an interview or a writing style so each one talks about a main point and each point compounds on the previous points. The paper is well-organized as I’ve said, and the thesis is stated clearly at the beginning of the paper.
There could be an analysis on a specific paper to really show how most of the writing in the major will look. This will help the reader see exactly what they can expect to write when they begin to take classes in the major.
The writer explains non-academic writing and I believe that he discussed this section of the report correctly but I would also like more explanation as to what the non-academic sources are to provide to the paper.