A reason to carry around a 12lb book?

Huether, Sue E., and Kathryn L. McCance. Pathophysiology: The Biologic Basis for Disease in Adults And Children Fifth Edition. 5 ed. St Louis, Missouri: Mosby, 2005. Print.

While firsthand experience is a key to success and true integration, the majority of acclimation to the vocabulary and writing in the sciences is left in the hands of the student through use of text books. My personal favorite text book of all time is the one that I will be using to discuss this discipline strategy. The McCance Pathophysiology text is one of the best texts written for students with little experience, within the Biological field, but in a style that creates maximum skill building and information assembly.

The text book is written specifically for science majors and is used as a component to the Anatomy and Physiology course (BIO 250 & 251). In this respect it is written with a language closer to the language used in the field than a text book written for non-science majors concerning the same course. To make a simple example, the Pathophysiology text would use the words “myocardial event”, “myocardial infarction”, and “necrosis” to describe the events involved in a heart attack. In a similar text, not intended for a person entering this field, general education requirement for example, would use the equivalent common words: “heart tissue event”, “heart attack”, and “cell death”. While all of these words are respectively equivalent their use within the field is strictly needed. Through study of the text, it becomes apparent that using the word “heart” is not a satisfactory use of language. Within the discourse it is essential to understand that heart includes: myocardium, pericardium, pericardium, semi-lunar valves, and the list can grow almost exponentially. While I am refraining from a vocabulary lesson right now, the text serves a huge function in creating this vocabulary building and learning environment. Since the text integrates actual text with images and diagrams the words can build in meaning.

While the text serves a huge function in language building for integration, its primary purpose is to educate. In this purpose, the Pathophysiology text stands alone in effectiveness. This text book is written in an integrative style that uses presentations of little bits of knowledge at a time and then integrates all of the bits together. This is ideal because of the need of a connected knowledge set within the sciences. A big part of writing and functioning within the discourse is the ability to integrate and apply knowledge for the greater good of the community. This text creates a learning environment that mimics not only they was it is essential to think in the scientific fields; but, allows the students to learn the knowledge set in much the same manner that the original research teams learned it.

The greatest advantage to this style of learning and discipline is that by forcing the student to think like a scientist and learn like a scientist they are able to carry it on and not take the knowledge presented to them with a grain of salt. A valuable tool when publishing and reviewing articles for publication. 

Is scientific writing a fraud?

Brain, Lord. "Structure of the Scientific Paper." British Medical Journal 2 (1965): 868-869. pubmed. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.

While this journal article has been around for a while, it brings to light a very important question that is still applicable to today’s scientific writing. The question that needs to be answered is: why are scientific journal articles so rigidly structured? Dr. Brain tackles the question in the first few sentences, of the article, by asking “Is the scientific paper a fraud?” due to its inability to follow a logic process.  

As it was discussed in my last blog entry Dr. Brain touches on the main structure that is essential to a published journal.  He explains that this tradition was originally sought out by the journal editors as a way to present ideas in a uniform fashion and make publications easier to produce.  The philosophy behind this kind of composition, within the field, is to try to induce a naivety within the scientist's work to allow for unbiased observations and therefore greater truths.  However, this philosophy developed some time after the editor mandates entered the scene.

Today (and in 1965), it is highly apparent that the structure is simply a tradition that allows for convenient peer review. If all journal articles are forced to conform to a boiler plate format, there is no room for negotiation or misinterpretation. It is what it is. Without stylistic embellishment a paper is able to present the hypothetic-deductive principles that are used to logically manifest a single idea.

When looking at more specific papers, the simplicity of published articles also allows for a broader audience. Dr. Brain discusses the great importance of structure in the pharmaceutical industry. By including all observations innocently and postponing conclusions it allows for a less informed audience to follow the deductive logic as well as familiarize themselves with the risks of a particular drug. The clearest of these examples is the original discovery of penicillin. Publication of the observations made by Fleming allowed for the public and other scientists to develop and understand antibiotics. All that Fleming noted was a tendency for staphylococcal colonies to undergo dissolution in close proximity to well established mold colonies. Today we could snicker in the fact that this was probably an observation made while attempting to remove contamination (mold).

In the end, the audience this journal is intended for is minimal. Dr. Brain composed this document in association with the 29^th annual General Assembly of the World Medical Association for a special session devoted to medical journal editors. His overall point is that it is essential to have a”clear (line of) thinking” on a point. By reporting all findings in a simple and coherent fashion, it allows for an equal ability to asses significance of findings. Further, someone within the field should not forget the true nature and much greater complexity that goes into creating the ideas that are presented within the medical journals.  Simply put, it is crucial to have a balance between simplicity/structure and deductive logic to make progress. The scientific journal is the only means of doing so in an efficient way that many people can learn from. 

A look at Article Structure

Gauthier ET AL. "Quantitative PCR Assay for Mycobacterium pseudoshottsii and Mycobacterium shottsii and Application to Environmental Samples and Fishes from the Chesapeake Bay." Applied and Enviormental Microbiology 76.18 (2010): 6171-6179. Print.

Research articles are the main method of knowledge sharing within the hard sciences. They are the foundations of every written scientific text. Nothing is ever written without a previous journal article to support cause. As such, structure is highly important; structure of these documents allows for fast interpretation of ideas the ideas presented.

The purpose of this specific article is to examine the applications of PCR assay when researching specific species of bacteria. This is a very good look at how important and structured an article must be due to the fact that this article serves to validate a laboratory technique. Without validation of a laboratory technique it is unable to be used to discover new ideas. Simply, you cannot prove something exists before you prove the way you found it. This article was published very recently to validate the research being done in my lab right now.

The audience is limited, but can be considered the broadest audience written for within the sciences. It is the only writing that is designed to reach an audience outside a specific topic.

When writing these documents outlines are superfluous because variation is nonexistent.

I.                    Abstract

II.                  Introduction

III.                Methods

IV.                Results

V.                  Discussion

VI.                Acknowledgments

VII.              References

That is the only possible outline for a scientific journal article and any form of variation will result in an inability to publish your finding(s). However, let’s take a look at what those word mean.

The abstract is the primary text you see but must be the last text written. It covers a brief overview of the introduction, methods, and discussion. The idea is to state the all finding, how, and why for a project in less than 200 words.

The introduction is often the last text written of the body; due to the fact that an introduction must give cause for the investigation. These components may not always be apparent at the beginning. Validation is also mandated to be brief generally around 200-300 words.

Methods are by far the easiest to write component of a scientific article. All one must do to write out their methods is to summarize their lab notebook. Thus, as mentioned before a good lab notebook is essential.

Results and Discussion are best always kept together. Many persons not yet well disciplined in the study are unaware of a distinction. Results are the raw data, charts, and figures that allow for interpretations. Discussion is the meaning and interpretations of the data collected. The discussion will also contain a conclusion paragraph or couplet to finalize the overall argument.

Acknowledgments and References are again always coupled.  The acknowledgements are a listing of all the people who helped in brain storming and developing the paper but not significantly involved in the composition of the article. References are always other journal articles used in supporting methods and cause for the study.

Once structure is mastered it is then possible to start learning the argumentative nature and fine points of a journal article.

Scientists depend on Lab Notebooks

I'm not very sure if i need to cite my document since it is my own document, but I have done so anyway.

Grossman, Heather. Student Notebook: Chem 212. Norfolk, VA: Dartmouth College, 2008. Print.

The keystone document in scientific writing is the Lab Notebook. It is the most stringently composed document; however, it is the most common and only hand written text within scientific writing. Being able to keep a high quality Lab Notebook is the most important skill to have within the Sciences, all other skills are easier to teach.

A Lab Notebook serves many purposes. Most would assume that a Lab Notebook is used for the purpose of recording the completed tasks alone. This is highly inaccurate. A Lab Notebook creates: a record of work done, raw data, data analysis, and evidence of personal work in a project. The most important role of a Lab Notebook though is ethical. Without a Lab Notebook that follows the standard protocol, you are unable to validate publication or to prove intellectual property.

The text of a Lab Notebook is intended for a very limited audience. In a traditional Lab Notebook the contents are intended only for the author, principle investigator, and collaborators. As a result, most notes are written in a standard language specific for the principle investigator's team. Sometimes issues may arise and a secondary audience is involved: the peers of the principle investigator. While falling across the text on accident will never happen (research  Lab Notebooks are kept under lock and key), these peers are anonymously and randomly chosen to review Lab Notebooks in ethical disputes. The Lab Notebook cited for this purpose is not an "authentic" Lab Notebook in that it does not include information specific to a personal project. It was constructed to learn proper protocol as part of a course curriculum.

Lab Notebooks are highly organized. The first page of text is a table of contents to diagram out each project discussed within the entire text. Every project outline must be written in a specific order: purpose/objective, pertinent background information, protocol, relevant calculations/statistics, Observations, Notes/Conclusions. All contents of the Lab Notebook must be hand printed in blue or black ink, dated, and signed. If there is a mistake the correction must be made by drawing a single line through the words or numbers. No pages may be removed from the book. Any failure to comply with the rules gives grounds for an integrity trial.

Overall the Lab Notebook is written in a very casual way. While a specific language and group of acronyms is used, there is no pressure for correct spelling, grammar, or even sentences. Most Lab Notebooks are compilations of phrases, diagrams, and doodles that convey the needed knowledge efficiently. The Lab Notebook is the most beautiful component of scientific writing because of its fusion between rigidity and creativity.

Fig 1: This is an image of my personal Lab Notebook. This is an "authentic" Lab Notebook in that it is top secret, and a lot more expensively constructed than the ones that are used to teach with. Sorry I can't let you peek inside :-) 

 Fig 2: This is an image from one of my learning Lab Notebooks. You can see all of the formatting creations I mentioned on this one page. There is a signature at the bottom that cannot be seen. This page shows copious liberal interpretations of the English language as well as the informal nature and appearance of this writing.

Scientists LOVE Qiagen

The first work place document I would like to share is a Qiagen Lab Manual. While this is not a document that must be written by very many people it is a huge part of everyday lab work. Being able to have the literacy and competency to read these manuals is essential to every day functioning in a lab setting. Almost every process in the hard sciences today depends on a Qiagen kit. These kits come with very extensive manuals and full understanding of the presenting information makes the differance between being a scientist and being a spectator. 

Every manual has an extensive introduction to validate the scientific knowledge behind the chemical reactions. The main argument of the document is that it will work according to the previous science that is supported by previous peer reviewed articles and expieramentation. They are heavy in diagrams and sources to allow the reader to interpret the information and essentially make their own argument. In essence the Qiagen Lab Manual is stated as "facts" supported by other "facts" and it is assumed that the reader will be able to read the information, link it and make their own conclusions. 

These texts are highly effective and as a result have become a pretty heavy monopoly. The kits and their manuals have become so wide spread that they are now referanced in some text books. They are highly specialised to give great quantities of information as fast and with as few words as possible. What is most interesting in these documents is there pressure for normalization. If someone working with the manual is not already a member of the community or placed with someone who is they are almost impossible to decipher. It is their effectivness and exclusivity that make them such a facinating example of workplace writing.

Strata Clone Blunt PCR Cloning Kit: Lab Manual. #046002 ed. La Jolla, CA: Stratagene, 2006. Print.