Communicating with scientific communities

  Exercise 1.In pairs, read the following statements and say which form(s) of communication the speakers should use to find the information they want.

 

- an academic journal                        

- a conference                                    

- an online forum or science blog        

- a popular science magazine

- a popular science book

- a newspaper

- other people in their field

- people in their specialism

- people in other fields of science

 

1. I’m trying to learn more about the Hadron collider because it’s big news, but it’s not even close to my area so I’m finding the papers on it heavy-going.

2. At my university, I don’t meet enough people in my field – I really need to network and build some connections with people working around the world.

3. I’m having a problem with one of my protocols. I’ve tried a few different things, but with no luck – I could do with some suggestions from other people of what to try next.

 

Exercise 4.Read the following five extracts and then say which form (or forms) of communication from Exercise 1 each one comes from. Which form(s) of communication are not included in these extracts?

 

A … more people were pain-free when using the handheld device than those who had used an identical dummy device. Although the study by Lipton et al.(2010) has reliable results, there are some points to consider when putting these findings into context. Importantly, the results will need to be verified in larger trials that directly compare …

 

B Tea and coffee drinkers have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a large body of evidence shows. And the protection may not be down to caffeine since decaf coffee has the greatest effect, say researchers in Archives of Internal Medicine. They looked at …

 

C … can be rapidly generated by lentivirus-mediated transgenesis. RNA also holds great promise as a novel therapeutic approach. This report provides an insight into the current gene silencing techniques in mammalian systems.

 

D Hi! Has anyone had any experiences with nanoparticles sticking to glassware:–(? If so, does anyone know if there’s a suitable silylation protocol to pre-treat the glassware to do something about this annoying non-specific adsorption? Thanks!

 

E Animal and in vitrostudies suggest that aspirin may inhibit breast cancer metastasis. We studied whether aspirin use among women with breast cancer decreased their risk of death from breast cancer. This was a prospective observational study based on …

 

Exercise 5.The language we use changes according to why we are writing (the purpose) and who we are writing for (the reader). It is important to notice the different styles of language used in English. Complete the second column of the table below, carefully reading the appropriate extract (A–E).

Feature	Examples	Extract
1 Asks the reader questions	Has anyone had …? _________________	D D
2 Uses multi-word verbs (a verb with an adverb or a preposition)	____________________ do something about	B D
3 Uses exclamation marks and emoticons	Hi! _________________	D D
4 Uses non-specific references to the work of other researchers	____________________	B
5 Uses specific references to the work of other researchers	___________________	A
6 Uses impersonal phrases to avoid saying ‘You’ or ‘We’	there are some points to consider ____________________	A E
7 Uses passive verbs to avoid saying who carries out a process	____________________ can be rapidly generated	A C
8 Uses Latin language expressions	et al. ____________________	A E

Exercise 6.Which of the features in the table (1–8) are appropriate for formal scientific research papers? Which are appropriate for personal communication (such as email)?

  Exercise 7. In pairs, discuss the following questions.

1 When you have a problem at work, who do you usually ask for help?

2 Have you ever asked a question on a science internet forum? If so, was your question answered?

 

Exercise 8.Read three recent posts from an online forum (A–C) below. Imagine you belong to the forum where these questions are asked. Which questions could you answer? Which answers could you guess?

 

A

Subject: Filovirus Host Range?

(1)Does anybody know what the host range is for filoviruses (i.e. Ebola and Marburg)? (2)I know that they can infect most (all?) types of mammals and several species of birds, but I can’t find the

actual host range anywhere. (3)Any help here would be appreciated.

B

Subject: materials which x-rays can’t pass through?

(1)I’ve been looking for a while now, but I can’t find anything telling me what the radiopaque materials are. (2)In other words, which materials can’t x-rays pass through? (3)Thanks in advance.

C

Subject: Quality of scientific writing considered in peer review?

(1) I was wondering how important the quality of the writing of a submitted paper is in the peer review process. (2)I don’t mean the quality of the data, but the actual writing. (3)In other words, will a nicely written paper with the same data be more likely to be accepted?

 

Exercise 9.Read the posts again. For each post, say which sentence or sentences (1–3) in each one the writer uses to:

 - ask the question

 - say what the problem is

 - thank the reader

Exercise 10.Think of a question related to your own research. Then write a three-sentence post for an online forum in an appropriate style using the phrases in the box to help you.

- Does anybody know what … is …?

- I know that …, but I can’t find / don’t know …

- I was wondering how / what / why …

- I don’t mean …, but …

- In other words, …

- Any help here would be appreciated.

- Thanks in advance.

 

Making a presentation

Exercise 1. Read the sentences concerning “Introducing the presenter” and “Getting started” and fill in the missing words in these introductions to presentations.

Introducing the presenter

 - Let's welcome Carmen Grcgori, who's going to talk to us today on the subject of 'Healthcare in Paraguay'

 - Now I'd like to call on Mieko to make/give her presentation. Mieko, thank you.

 - OK, thank you everybody. Now, Dr Ulla Fensel is going to present her research to us.

 - I I'd like to introduce Dr Li Meiju, who's going to address (speak to / talk about) the topic of 'Preventive medicine'.

Getting started

 -'In this presentation I'd like to focus on recent developments in biomass fuels. I'll speak for about 45 minutes, to allow time for questions and comments. Feel free to (informal way of giving permission) interrupt if you have any questions or want to make a comment. '

 - 'First I'll give a brief overview of the current situation with regard to intellectual property rights, then I'd like to raise a few issues concerning the internet. I'll try to leave (less formal than allow) time for questions at the end.'

 - ' I'd like to begin by looking at some previous studies of ocean temperatures. There's a handout going round (which is being distributed), and there are some spare (extra) copies here if you want them.'

 - 'In this talk I'll present the results of a study I did (more formal carried out / conducted) for my dissertation. I'll try not to go over time and keep to 20 minutes.'

 

1. Dr Anwar Musat will now____________ his research on soil erosion in Malaysian forests.

2. I'd now like to____________on our next speaker, Eva Karlsson, to ____________ (give two answers) her presentation.

3. Ladies and gentlemen, let's ____________our next speaker, Professor Prodromou from the University of Athens.

4.Thanks, everybody. So, Masanori is going to talk to us now ____________ ____________ subject ____________'Mental health issues in Japan'.

5. I'd like to ____________today's speaker, Dr Krishnan Guptar, who is going to ____________ the topic of metal fatigue in rail tracks.