Scientific writing for a non-scientific audience
There are some common misconceptions about science – that is either very boring or very difficult to understand. When presented with “the science”, those who do not have a science degree will often feel overwhelmed or zone out, not listening to the detail because they feel that they will not understand it.
It is always interesting to point out that science underpins much of our day-to-day life. Baking a cake? Chemistry. Rust on your roof? Also chemistry. The plastics that are in your home are the end result of a combination of engineering, drilling and chemical processing. People are surrounded by science every day, but they have never been taught to recognize it as such.
Writing about scientific content for a predominantly non-scientific audience therefore requires a different approach than writing a paper for a journal or conference. People who are unfamiliar with the terminology of a particular process or experiment may find the technical jargon to be anything from pretentious to completely indecipherable. Even the names of chemicals (whether using IUPAC nomenclature or the accepted scientific name) can be challenging to understand. For example, a chemist reading the words “vinegar”, “acetic acid” or “ethanoic acid” or the formula CH3COOH will understand each of these descriptors to mean the same chemical compound, while a non-scientist is likely to be familiar only with “vinegar”.
Additionally, common chemical names may vary from country to country. The chemical name N-acetyl-para-aminophenol may not be immediately recognisable to most people, but it is an over-the-counter medication. In Australia, the standard name for this compound is paracetamol, while in North
America it is known as acetaminophen.
Words that a reader may recognize as a non-scientific term may have a totally different meaning when used in a scientific content. Consider the word “significant”. A scientist may write that following a chemical spill in a river, there were no significant increase in illness or injury in the areas around the river. People who live in the river catchment may believe that there have been more illnesses since the spill, and they will object to the descriptor “significant”. “Who is the scientist to say that this increase isn’t significant? It’s significant to us.” The residents are using the term “significant” to mean “important”. The scientist, however, uses the word to explain that the data showed no statistically significant (a quantifiable measurement that can be calculated) increase in illness or injury.
When writing for a non-scientific audience, there are several points to keep in mind:
Identify your audience. Are they children, adolescents or adults? Consider why they would be reading your document – are they students, learning from a textbook or training manual, or are they sales people, learning about a product that they have to pitch to clients?
Use concise language and avoid technical jargon. If a technical term or chemical name is necessary, explain its meaning clearly the first time you use the term.
When using day-to-day words (strong and weak, concentrated and dilute) in a scientific context (describing the characteristics of an acid), include a brief explanation of the word’s scientific meaning.
Where possible, use day-to-day names for chemicals, or create a link that your audience will understand; “acetic acid, which is found in vinegar”.
Ensure supporting information such as graphs, tables and figures are clearly labelled and easy to understand. Avoid overloading a single graph or figure with too much information.
Have the document reviewed by a non-scientist to ensure clarity.
People make decisions every day that are related to how they understand scientific communication. These decisions might be related to minor things (I’m out of baking powder. What can I use instead?) to challenging and complicated issues (What can be done about climate change?) Effective scientific communication gives everyone, scientist and non-scientist alike, the opportunity to access and understand information to assist in making their decisions.