Scientific and Technical Communication: Theory, Practice and Policy

Introduction

The terms audience and reader are sometimes used interchangeably. To avoid confusion, we can define audience as a group of people representing the collective interests and character of an institution, like science. In referring to a reader or readers we point to the roles and background of people (usually not specific individuals) who will read the document. Only certain members of an audience may actually read the document. If you know the reader personally, you have first-hand knowledge of their reasons for reading. Since we cannot, in most instances, know the personality, capabilities and desires of individual readers, we must define their general attitude and motivation and aspects the audience in which they participate. By examining the characteristics of, and organizational roles in, professional fields, you can determine the needs of an audience or reader and ways to persuade them.

Rhetorical Purpose and Audience Needs

Our first impulse in writing is to get something on the page. We enter the writing process desperately seeking a subject. Upon finding it we wrestle with what to say and ways to say it. In essence we are trying try to find a solution for a problem we have yet to define. For students, determining what to write about is often the most difficult step in the writing process. Questions about the purpose and audience for your writing are already answered. Instructors give you a purpose and are a captive audience. When writing in business and industry, however, you will write to different, less defined audiences with a variety of experiences and many levels of education. Consequently, your initial focus as scientific and technical writers will be on your rhetorical purpose, and the audience's needs.

The rhetorical purpose of scientific and technical writing requires considering the persuasive affect of conveying information to a specific audience. Typically, the purpose of technical writing is to convey information, in as straightforward a manner as possible, for the reader's use. But no writing is strictly informative in the sense that a writer sends a perfectly understood message on which the audience bases its action. Regarding the purpose of scientific and technical writing as purely informative ignores the actual constraints and elements of the writing process. As a writer you want the audience to care about the subject of your writing the same way you do, and to see its connection to other knowledge they have. In so doing, you need to take seriously the affect conveying information can have in persuading the audience to think and act.

In order to determine the audience's needs, you need to assume the role of the reader. Taking into account the profile you have of the audience, their roles, experience, education level, attitude, pinpoint their tasks by asking and answering several questions:

What role am I (by representing the audience) playing when I read this document?

What do I (as the reader) already know, and what do I want to learn?

How am I predisposed to act without any new ideas, facts and information?

What ideas, facts and information do I need to know in order to act?

What ideas, facts and information will persuade me to act in a certain way?

What do I want to accomplish?

Of course, no audience is completely homogenous, and individuals have several reasons for reading a document. But once you have a clear notion of how you want to persuade the reader, and what the reader wants to accomplish, you can tailor the document to their needs.

Characterizing and Participating in Professional Fields

You can begin to develop an audience profile by examining the characteristics of professional fields. Each field defines itself and the place of its practitioners by setting requirements for what counts as good practice. These requirements are reflected in the organization of the field and influence, and are influenced by, societal demands. Generally, the greater the perceived importance of a profession, the more difficult it is for people to become practitioners. The more difficult it is to become a practitioner, the greater the influence of the profession. For example, professions that exercise power in our society such as law, medicine and science require practitioners to go through long apprenticeships as graduate students and, in most cases, to be licensed or certified by national, state and/or professional governing boards. While many of the professionals in the art field such as writers, musicians, poets and non-commercial artists go through apprenticeships, entry into these fields is not strictly controlled. Loosely controlled fields tend to attract practitioners with diverse backgrounds. A diverse set of practitioners usually encourages diverse techniques for, and approaches to, problem solving. Tightly controlled professions tend to be homogeneous. Practitioners with similar backgrounds and training frequently take similar approaches to problem solving.

Science is different from other professions at the level that professional conduct organizes work. Professional conduct refers to the attitudes and fundamental beliefs held by a community. For example, in science the "search for truth" or "quest for knowledge" is cast as the primary goal of research. To achieve that end individual scientists must put aside personal desires for the collective good. Like other professionals, scientists do make decisions to further their careers and achieve personal gain. Disputes erupt among researchers concerning who "got there first" in making a discovery or innovation. But scientists do see themselves as closely identified with community in which they work.

In the seventeenth century "gentlemen amateurs", wealthy, educated lay researchers roaming the countryside making observations and setting up in-home laboratories, populated early modern science. Physics, for example, was an informal pursuit; uncertainty existed regarding the methods one should follow. The tasks comprising "good" or "sound" scientific research were not yet identified. Communication about science and technology was also less formal and more "conversational." Scientific and technical subjects often received book-length treatments that included an author's commentary. Investigators openly debated the "facts" describing how certain phenomena occurred. As a result early modern science lacked the kind of formal organization with which it is now associated.

Here are some factors to consider in defining the general characteristics of a professional field and of practitioners in that field.

Resource concentration: What resources, laboratories, computers, warehouse space, materials, does it take for a professionals to do their work effectively and where are these resources located? The audiences with whom you will communicate rely on specific resources for professional production. Knowledge of these resources and how practitioners interact with them will allow you to see the importance placed on certain aspects of communication. For example, laboratory equipment is housed in a central location. By necessity research communities come together in a laboratory to work. Accordingly, there is greater dependence and emphasis on collaborative communication. Within communities, collaborative practices can lead to particular ways of communicating such as specialist jargon. Additionally, scientists rely on resource networks to support their products. For professional writers and poets, their primary product is a written text. Supporting the text is (usually) a single author's experience. For scientists, the product is also a written text, but supporting the text is a laboratory, with many machines and many collaborators. By determining the resources a profession has, and how they are positioned, you can position the resources of your text.

Requirements for practice: What requirements must practitioners fulfill to enter a field? The tighter the restrictions are in order to practice a particular profession, years of schooling, credentials, certification, the tighter control the practitioners have over their own field: the fewer restrictions the more impact the lay public has on a field. In the retail industry, for example, the customer is "always right" and so exercises direct influence on the practices and products of retail professionals. On the other hand, in science scientists exercise almost exclusive control over their profession. Research scientists do not answer to patients, clients or stockholders as do doctors, lawyers or business executives. By identifying the strength of boundaries surrounding a profession, you get an idea of the practitioners' level of education and how they perceive and appeal to people affected by their work.

Organizational control: How is the profession organized? Who controls the profession? These questions address the boundaries that surround profession. Science is controlled by scientists. Organizational control is internal. Research is organized around collaboration. While differences in the authority of scientists exists, work is controlled through negotiations among peers. Peers constantly review laboratory procedures, attend conferences and referee journal publications. Constant peer review, and constant revision of ideas and outcomes to meet community expectations, leads to greater uniformity in the way practitioners act, think and express themselves. Other scientists decide whether or not some one is doing good work. By using each other's work as the basis for their own, scientists produce facts. Compared to other professions, scientists are relatively unaffected by public concerns. Most other professions, in the social sciences and humanities for example, lack this degree of internal control. Professional writers, for instance, can exist outside of a formal institution like a university. While publishing is controlled by organizations such as journals and commercial presses, individual expression is highly valued and preserved. What counts a good literary work is more often a matter of taste than community acceptance.

Workstyle: Are practitioners encouraged to take their own initiative, collaborate or perform as an organization demands? The style of work reflects the organization of the profession. In both science and professional writing, successful risk-takers are celebrated and have prestige. Modern science is highly specialized and highly innovative. Specialized fields maintain strict entry requirements and organizational control by licensing and requiring certification of practitioners, and by setting educational standards. Beyond meeting these standards, practitioners must work closely together in coordinating their work. As scientific work is highly uncertain, there can be extraordinarily rapid changes in areas of research, science is less centralized (or bureaucratic) than other professions. In work that is more directly supervised or controlled, working in an automobile manufacturing plant for example, laborers exercise less discretion over their work. The tasks of an assembly line worker are certain and instantly judged. Mass production requires a well-defined, hierarchical management structure. In science, and other professions such as medicine and law, practitioners learn codes of behavior and systems of belief in lengthy graduate school apprenticeships. These systems of belief are transformed into the professional rituals witnessed in laboratories, court rooms and operating rooms. The almost mystical aura that surrounds science allows scientists to maintain a distance from the laypersons affected by their work. 1

In considering the professional contexts in which you write and write to others, keep in mind that professions do change. Science and technology, for example, continue growing and affecting audiences which seem far removed from the research process. Many of you will become involved in projects funded by the government, and will have to answer to a tax paying public. Others of you will become involved in projects funded by corporations, and you will have to answer to the stockholders. Practitioners in diverse disciplines and professions realize the benefits seeking various perspectives on a common problem. Increasingly, you will be asked to mediate among them.

Categories of Readers

Scientific and technical writing has an primary reader. A grant proposal to the National Science Foundation is intended for a group of people who will decide whether to fund the project. Technical documents are meant for a specific task. As a result, they should be clear and free of ambiguous terms or fancy language. Intended readers and audiences for scientific and technical writing are well-defined; as such writers often make legitimate assumptions about their needs. However, the strict borders surrounding readers and audiences and repeatedly unexamined assumptions can lead to inefficient action and perpetuation of false images. In writing to a primary reader there are occasions where instead of assuming that readers agrees on a particular concept or course of action, you should define what you mean, or what you think the general audience means in a given instance.

The primary reader makes decisions to act; the secondary reader is affected by the decision takes the action. If you write a sales proposal, for example, the primary audience may agree to buy the computer system you are selling, but the secondary audience will want to know what is being planned, when the system will be implemented, and its likely uses.

Immediate readers are persons who distribute documents through an organization. These people are usually managers at some level of the organization who act as administrative gatekeepers by assuring the right information gets to the right people. The role of immediate readers is often one of enforcing protocol, making sure the distribution of information corresponds with organizational responsibilities. Audiences on the receiving end of information pipelines are often nominal audiences. Nominal audiences receive documents, but usually do not read them. These document are sent to and filed by these audiences often for purposes of record-keeping and reference.

External readers are people outside the immediate organization to which you write. A lawyer, for example, can be retained as an external reader for a manufacturer in order to see if a set of instructions absolve the company of liability.

Categories of readers are located on a sliding scale from expert to layperson. These classifications are based of the audience's knowledge of the subject, and their social role in a specific organization or larger society. As pointed out previously in this book, these categories are constantly shifting. Given the rapid advancement and specialization of science and technology, and number of new journals and electronic networks experts can quickly become lay persons regarding a range of issues.

Generally, readers can be classified into the following way:

Experts Technicians Operators Managers Professional Nonexperts Laypersons, including
general readers
students
children

The knowledge of readers on most topics is varied. A general reader obsessed with the federal budget may possess a knowledge equal to or greater than financial experts on Capital Hill. As the general reader does not have the formal credentials of the expert, she lacks the social status, authority and influence of the expert. A reader's knowledge of readers needs to be understood in context to their ability to act on your ideas. Further, if you want to facilitate the involvement of audience not having standard credentials (like the general reader above) then you need to provide a means through which they can act. You must educate diverse audience concerning forums for action.

Experts

Experts are characterized by their theoretical and practical knowledge of a field. Experts have a knowledge of a field or discipline including its terminology, concepts, methods and leading areas of research. Most experts in scientific and technical fields carry out, or have carried out, basic and applied research in a certain area. As research traditions, practices and funding shift, expertise also changes. Typically in the sciences cutting-edge, or breakthrough discoveries are made by researchers just out of graduate school. As the field advances, the skills and techniques of the research become "less expert." Generally speaking, however, experts are often classified by having postgraduate degrees, or equivalent experience in a particular area. As a writer, you can assume that someone who has a Ph.D., for example, is considered an expert in the field. When writing to experts you can use technical jargon and formulas. You can assume as well that experts have less difficulty understanding longer sentences and prose descriptions. But you should not confuse an expert's knowledge with the ability to decipher bad prose. Although some writers use graphics to substitute for prose, you can assume an expert can understand sophisticated graphics.

Technicians

Technicians read scientific and technical writing in performing hands-on jobs and completing a process involving the use of equipment. Technicians can build, operate or maintain machinery and are vital (although their roles are under appreciated) for the advancement of science and technology. Like experts, technicians often have narrowly defined areas of skill. Computer technicians are well-versed in some aspect of computer hardware, but are usually unfamiliar with how to fix copying machines. Technicians are usually hourly wage employees with an associates degree, undergraduate degree or on-the-job training. Technicians are distinguished, in most cases, from experts by their respective lack of theoretical knowledge. Consequently documents written for technicians, instructions, functional descriptions, physical descriptions, focus on safely and efficiently completing a defined task. Documents written for technicians include diagrams and illustrations, part lists, and lists of commands in the imperative voice. Sentences are short. A common vocabulary is used. A common format lets the reader know where information is, and where to return. Graphic aids reinforce the instructions, or serve as substitute instructions. As such they must be detailed, readable and clearly labeled.

Operators

Operators use equipment exclusively. They are primarily concerned with clear procedures and instructions, and less with background and rationale. Workers on an assembly line would require a clear explanation of what they are expected to do. But as experiences during the 1980's indicate, management should not neglect explaining to operators how they fit into the process of production. Usually this information is related orally in group meetings but not in sets of procedures. Most operators are hourly-wage employees and do not have a college degree, rather on-the-job training. Procedures and instructions are written in concise sentences and need not include discussions of related topics or theory.

Managers

The role of the manager is to know the specific duties of employees and to organize their efforts. The manager of a restaurant, for example, has probably trained or worked each position within the restaurant. Mangers of engineering firms ordinarily begin as work-bench engineers, helping to design and build the firm's products. Laboratory heads are managers in that they keep a lab running by writing grant proposals, helping design experiments and assigning tasks to other lab members. Managers help coordinate and oversee the daily activities of an organization.

Management tasks are varied and determined on a local basis with regard to specific tasks. Generally, however, manager are salaried employees, with at least a college education. Management and management science are academic disciplines in which topics such as management/labor relations, collective bargaining and systems theory are studied. Within certain organizations, employees rise to the position of manager by staying with an organization for some time, learning different duties and accepting a range of responsibilities. In order to "manage" other people, individual managers must be able to relate to and communicate effectively with, employees. Frequently, the basis for this relationship is shared experience and sense of purpose. In writing to managers, determine their technical background and appeal to the practical. Managers are trained to regard the schedule of production and the "bottom line" (profit and loss) over most other issues. Consequently, there is little concern for economic or labor theory. Managers look for ways to keep a number of balls in the air, money, schedules, organizational policies, while overseeing many individuals. In describing a technology, for instance, don't talk about how it works, rather how valuable it is on the market.

Professional Nonexperts

Geneticists read papers published by statisticians. Accountants read marketing textbooks. Medical doctors read journals written for anthropologists. Professional nonexperts are people who read material outside their specialty or home discipline. Normally some connection exists between theses readers' backgrounds and the technical material they read. Consumers who want in-depth information on electronics equipment may consult electronics journals regarding circuits. Biologists doing research on mycobacteria may read journal article on AIDS research, a related field outside their specialty. Increasing specialization will make many of us professional nonexperts. These readers can be characterized as having a basic understanding of theory and concepts, enough to follow the discussion, but not an experts' level of knowledge. Professional nonexperts are decision makers in other fields examining how other professional do the job. As writers it is difficult to anticipate who will read your document from this perspective, but you need to be aware that interdisciplinary audiences are increasing and the information you present may be used in ways you did not imagine.

Laypersons

Laypersons is a broad category referring to the audience's lack of technical expertise. Laypersons represent the most misunderstood group with respect to scientific and technical communication. Scientists and technologists often fail to see the need for laypersons to participate in any decisions regarding their specialties. In writing to laypersons, offer relevant background, use short sentences, use active voice and informal tone, translate technical jargon, by using metaphors and similes rooted in common experience, and legitimate your position and interest with respect to public concerns. In short, you must build a context for your subject within the audience's experience. To get a sense of who occupies the category of layperson, let's examine three distinctions.

General readers are people who read popular science books, newspapers and magazines from which they get information about science and technology. Science writing of this type is aimed at making scientific and technical information understandable, without offering a critical context. Newspaper reporters who cover science are generally uncritical of the science news they report; sometimes taking scientists' press releases and translating them for general consumption. Popular science topic in which laypersons are interested involve health and diet, exercise and cutting-edge research. Popular science accounts offer eye catching headlines that hook readers and narratives about how the affect science and technology will have on people's personal lives. General readers come from all different educational and social backgrounds and represent a variety of interests. Many newspapers aim at a eighth to tenth grade reading level.

Students read technical material in the context of their study. People who have had high school and college courses involving science and technology have some familiarity with scientific concepts. In writing to students be careful not to under- or overestimate their level of knowledge.

Children are often fascinated by science and technology. Videos showing construction and road building have a particular fascination. The capacity for children to understand mathematics, computers and fundamental science concepts is well-document. Many practicing scientists and engineers acquire the passion for their work initially through science fiction. Basic (although hard to answer) questions about the color of the sky, why it rains, and the behavior of pets attest to children's curiosity and abilities as readers of scientific and technical writing.

Characteristics of Readers

Upon classifying readers generally, you can determine their characteristics by answering a questions that apply to the readers' background. Classifying readers is an imprecise process because, for the most part, you won't know who will ultimately read your document. A memo by the president of a corporation is written specifically to a department heads. But the department head may find the information important to employees, make photocopies and distribute more widely than originally intended. Nevertheless readers share certain characteristics and concerns which you must try to pinpoint. To refine the analysis here are question you need to ask about the persons you know will read the document. Knowledge of your readers is gained by talking to people in the organization (also known as networking), your familiarity its ethos and reputation, and inference from personal experience.

What is the reader's name and title?

In writing cover letters for résumés, the job advertisement will sometimes ask you to address the letter to the "director of personnel," or a copies of a preliminary report will forwarded to "all branch managers." Knowing the job title of people within an organization will give you a clear idea of the tone you should take, the information you will include and how it will be organized. The purpose of most scientific and technical communication is to enable a person to do their job. But addressing a person's title, without indicating you care about their personal needs, especially in a job search, leaves you at the organizational door without allowing you to enter. Try to find out the names of the people to whom you will be writing. Although personal appeals should be used with great care, providing a personal context for information (how this policy will affect you) establishes good will and the basis for an on-going dialogue among interested parties.

What is the reader's role in the organization?

Determine the reader's job responsibilities and range of actions. In writing a feasibility study on performing a new type of enzyme assay for a chemical manufacturing company, the manger of the plant will want to know what methods you use, and the possibilities for cost-effect alternatives. If the manager can simply mandate changes, you can offer a straightforward cost/ benefit analysis. However, the wider distribution the feasibility study receives, to accountants and laboratory technicians, the wider range of concerns and actions you must address. A cost/benefit analysis helps little in actually performing the assay.

What is the reader's educational background?

Knowing the reader's intellectual pedigree does allow you to place them in general categories, as discussed earlier. But you need more detail than knowing the reader has a B.S., M.S., and/or Ph.D. The answers to the following questions will likely not be readily available at the outset, but are important to consider and determine when possible:

In what discipline did the reader receive their degree?
From what institution?
What is the reputation of the institution?
Did they write a senior project, thesis and/or dissertation?
If so, who was the supervisor or major professor?
When did they receive the degree?
What did their program of study entail?

Many companies and institutions feel that education is important stepping stone to on-the-job-education. What you learn in this book about scientific and technical communication, for instance, will undoubtedly be approach and taught to you in a different way on the job. Industries sped a great deal of time on educating their workers on the way they do things. Try to determine the type of in-house education, seminars, training sessions, workshops, your reader received.

Knowing the educational background of the reader will allow you to determine what assumptions you can make, the background you need to provide, your rhetorical relationship to the reader (are they an authority, is your background more extensive), and the tone and vocabulary used in the document.

What is the reader's professional background?

Most readers have enjoyed a variety of professional and work experiences to which technical writers can appeal. The longer a person is in the workforce, the more likely they will have worked a number of jobs, sometimes within the same general area, but frequently in related areas. After extraordinary corporate expansion during the 1980's, the shifting economy required many corporations to reorganize and become "leaner." As a result, many executive and managers were forced to find jobs in related professions. During the early 1990's, the downsizing of the military forced a number of engineers to go into other professions involving computer programming, hardware and software design. While scientists tend to remain in their fields, there is a general movement from intensive research early in their careers, to management-oriented duties. As a writer, you can appeal to common work experiences between yourself and your reader by acknowledging the changing nature and demands of the workplace. By being aware of the readers' professional path and possible career trajectory, you can gauge the content and style of your document.

To what professional organizations does the reader belong?

Many of your readers are members of professional organizations, the American Medical Association, the American Society for Chemical Engineers, Teachers for a Democratic Culture, and local unions. For each profession, there is at least one, and sometimes several, professional organization representing the interest of their dues paying members. These groups are organized around ideological and professional concerns. Professional organizations sponsor seminars and presentations, provide forums (newsletters and journals) in which members can publish their research and personal views, and take action to secure worker rights and compensation. Professionals join these organizations to ensure their voice is heard at their job and within the larger community. By looking at mainstream professional publications, you can get a sense of your reader's beliefs, topics of concern and the standards of the field. Although individual readers may not wholeheartedly share these beliefs and values, you can draw a better portrait of a field and its members with which you are not familiar.

How will the reader read the document?

There are a number of ways to read a technical document. In most instances you can assume the reader does not have time to thoroughly read the report. You can also assume readers of your document have varying levels of interest and knowledge of the situation about which you write. The amount of time, interest and knowledge the reader possesses will shape how your document is read. The reader may simply file the document, skim it, closely read certain sections, or closely read the entire content. In organizing and designing the document appeal to different types of reading. For example, the generous use and concise wording of subheadings allows someone skimming the document to get a overall sense of its content. Anticipate which sections the primary reader needs, the methods section of a journal article, the cost breakdown of a proposal, and concentrate on the details in those sections. Try to get as much feedback as possible about the needs of the reader to encourage ways of reading the document.

What responses can I expect from the reader?

By examining the rhetorical purpose of the document, you can get a feel for how the reader will react. If, for example, you discover in the process of writing a progress report that the project you planned is impossible to complete by the proposed deadline, you can expect disappointment from your boss. You cannot, however, simply state: "This project is impossible." You must offer alternative plans of action and deadlines. While you can anticipate reader reaction in such clear cases, you cannot anticipate all reader bias and preferences. Even readers within the sciences are predisposed to consider certain research topics worthy, others worthless. When possible, look at documents written by your readers to learn their preferences. Does the reader have a bias for or against certain topics? Does reader prefer certain presentational formats? In accounting for the biases of the reader do not forget your own principles and beliefs. Educate the reader to see what you see.

Under what conditions will the document be read?

Scientific and technical documents are used in workplace settings, on the lab bench, in a boiler room, near a computer terminal, aboard a ship or plane. In designing documents, consider how they are used as artifacts. Do you want the reader, for instance, to add on to the sets o instruction you provide? If so, the instructions should be produced in a ring binder, glued to a spine. Will the reader need to quickly flip back and forth among sections of the document? You may want to add coded color sections. Will the document be used outside in different weather conditions. Depending on your conclusion, you may want to use bond paper which does not easily fade, or have the pages laminated.

A Word About Readability Indexes

Readability indexes are a set of principles and mathematical formulas used to determine how difficult a text is to read and comprehend. The premise governing readability indexes is that short sentences composed of "simple" words are easier to comprehend than long sentences with "difficult" words. By one estimate over one hundred readability formulas exist. And the word processing program you use likely has a style or grammar checking feature that calculates readability. Many agencies, firms and research institutions use readability indexes to set guidelines for drafting and revising documents. As your professional writing may be evaluated according to readability standards, you need to know the components and problems of indexes.

In one way it is appealing to think that writing and its comprehension could be determined by a formula. Many of the difficult aspects of technical writing could be eliminated by simply plugging in a text, testing the result, making revisions and distributing the finished product. But readability formulas fail to take into account that reading is a complex individual, social and historical processes. Let's look at an example.

Components of Readability Formulas

While several techniques exist for determining readability, including the Flesch Check System, and the Dale-Chall Formula, Robert Gunning's "Fog Index" is the most familiar because of its wide use. The following "Ten Principles of Clear Writing" form the basis of the index and serve as a list of goals against which a sentence or passage can be compared:

1. Write to express, not impress.
2. Make full use of variety.
3. Keep sentences short.
4. Use the familiar word.
5. Prefer the simple to the complex.
6. Avoid unnecessary words.
7. Put action in your verbs.
8. Write the way you talk.
9. Use terms the reader can picture.
10. Tie in with your reader's experience.

In examining these principles you should note, for instance, that the complexity of tying in with "your reader's experience" is that each reader's understanding of their experience and needs is often significantly different. Also, there are occasional rhetorical advantages gained by writing to impress, and not to express.

The Flesch Check System serves as basis for "grammar checkers" found in the word processing programs many of you use. In order "to find how easy your writing reads" according to Flesch's system, do the following:

1. Take a sample of 100 words.
2. Divide the number of sentences in the sample into 100 to get the average sentence length. On Flesch's scale 5 words per sentence rates very easy, 35 words per sentence rates very difficult.
3. Count the number of syllables in the 100 word sample. On Flesch's scale 120 syllables per 100 words rates very easy, 200 syllables per 100 words rates very difficult.
4. "Reading ease score" is determined by comparing the number of words per sentence and syllables per 100 words.

If, for instance, the passage you select contains 6 words per sentence and 163 syllables per 100 words, the "reading ease" score rates standard. The size of the sample also affects the score. Here is an example from the opening of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species using a word processing program to compile the score:

When we compare the individuals of the same variety or sub-variety of our older cultivated plants and animals, one of the first points which strikes us is, that they generally differ more from each other than do the individuals of any one species or variety in a state of nature. And if we reflect on the vast diversity of plant and animals which have been cultivated, and which have varied during all ages under the most different climates and treatment, we are driven to conclude that this great variability is due to our domestic production having been raised under conditions of life not so uniform as, and somewhat different from, those to which the parent species had been exposed under nature. There is, also, some probability in the view propounded by Andrew Knight, that this variability may be partly connected with the excess of food.

In this sample of 146 words and 3 sentences, two-thirds of the sentences are in passive voice, the Flesch "reading ease" level is 19.4%, the Flesch grade level is 17 and the Gunning-Fog Index is 24.8%. According to this readability formula, Darwin's prose is considered quite difficult to read. The length of the sentences, the use of passive voice, technical jargon and complex vocabulary lead the index to suggest the approximate grade level for the reader's level of understanding at 17, a post-graduate level of education.

Darwin's work was calculated as difficult to understand. But when Origin first appeared on November 24, 1859, the entire first edition -1,250 copies, was sold on the day of publication. Origin was close to being considered popular literature at the time, and was reviewed in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines. Wide-spread interest in Darwin's thesis and immediate popularization combined with contemporary reading habits and educational practices, influenced the public's perception of the readability of Origin. The book became a contemporary classic. What counts as a "difficult" sentence or word in the Gunning index today may have been part of common parlance one hundred years ago.

Other factors influence readability. According to one study (Huckin 1983), format and organization affect readability more than sentence length and word choice. As well, approaches to reading and reading comprehension differ among social groups and communities. Not only do members of certain professions and disciplines read differently, so do members of demographic groups. Age, level of education, socio-economic status, the reader's interest; these factors also influence reading comprehension.

Another criticism of readability formulas is that they don't live up to the scientific standards to which they aspire. Further, it is a matter of dispute whether scientific methodology is appropriate or adequate for understanding the process of writing and practice of reading.

Scientism is the belief that natural science is the most valuable part of human learning. In part, this belief rests in part on an historical assumption , that science brought humanity out of the "dark ages" by eliminating religious superstition and into the modern era by supplying the groundwork for the industrial revolution. The unparalleled success and resulting authority of modern science is posed as a reason to emulate scientific practice. Scientism proposes that it is always good for "unscientific" subjects, morals, history, politics - even writing, to be placed on scientific footing.

Communicating Across Disciplines and Cultures

The cultural institutional setting in which scientific and technical communication takes place affect how message are written and read. A great deal of technical writing takes place among people who share the same background, motivations and interests. But there are diverse and differently motivates audiences for technical writing as well. One way for you to determine the needs of your audience is to analyze the setting in which technical writing is written and read.

The Rise of Disciplines

... Expressed in the briefest way, the task of scientific knowledge appears to be: Fitting thoughts to facts and thoughts to each other. Every favorable biological process is one of self preservation, and as such is at the same time an adjustment and more economical than a process that is disadvantageous to the individual. All beneficial knowing consists of special cases or parts of biologically helpful processes ... In the knowing process one can otherwise observe the most diverse qualities; we characterize these as above all biological and economical, that is, as excluding pointless behavior.
Ernst Mach, "The Leading Thoughts of My Scientific Epistemology and Its Acceptance By Contemporaries", 1910.

Following the Franco-Prussian War until World War I (1870-1914), the European imperial powers, Britain, France and the German Reich, took strides to modernize their education systems. Educational reform proceed along two related, yet irreconcilable, conceptual fronts. On one front, democratic theorists proposed throwing open the doors to educational institutions, by calling for universal access to formal education to amend social and economic disparities among the classes. On the other front, reformers urged caution. Increased mobility among a newly educated populace would threaten the existing social order. And denying access to formal schooling might lead to civil unrest. Consequently, educational credentials, set forth by government and professional organizations within academic disciplines (and by the disciplines themselves), were introduced in order to distinguish and stratify occupations. Education reform became synonymous with both increased educational opportunity and increased academic specialization. The question of access to education quickly became question about the requirements of academic disciplines. The modern debate over intellectual specialization was born.

From 1908 to 1913 a series of lectures concerning science education took place in Germany. The participants in this highly charged debate were none other than the Austrian physicist Ernst Mach (1838-1916), famous for his work in mechanics (the Mach Number) and profound philosophical influence on Albert Einstein and the Vienna Circle philosophers, and the German physicist Max Planck (1858-1947), originator of quantum theory (Planck's constant). Both Mach and Planck agreed that the natural sciences should be taught in secondary schools. But given educational reforms how should science be taught and for what purpose? How should one present the content of science and technology to students who will not become practicing scientists and engineers?

Mach contended that the value of science was in "economizing thought." Science provided mathematical equations and formulas making complex phenomena easier to describe and manipulate. Economy of thought was part of a "biologically helpful" process (a phrase reflecting Charles Darwin's influence on Mach) for human self-preservation. Put broadly, Mach held that science was necessary for human survival, but it was not an especially ennobling process. In fact, he derided the practice of scientists who dignified research into odd and anomalous phenomena under the guise of "scientific curiosity."

To teach science, Mach claimed, one must draw a relationship between concrete, daily experience and the phenomena discussed. For example, one might introduce the concept of force by referring to muscular effort. Mach championed examining the philosophical questions inspiring scientific inquiry as well as addressing science within its historical contexts. In teaching science, one should also teach about science, how ideas and theories are developed, applied, revised and learned over time. Mach emphasized that science enabled people to have a direct, comprehensible relationship to nature. But the time for abstract scientific thinking was, metaphorically speaking, at dusk. 2

Planck attacked Mach by claiming that no great discoveries in physics took place by "fitting thoughts to facts and thoughts to each other" in the most economical fashion. He countered that the distinctiveness of science was its ability to support a single, unified theory accounting for all observations. Such a theory would deliver the same results to any inquirer located anywhere. For Planck, the invariant nature of scientific truth, available to all people (even "Mars dwellers") at all times, was the essence of science. Mach worried about the all-consuming authority of this view of science and countered: "If belief in the reality of atoms is so essential to you, then I will have nothing to do with physical ways of thinking; I will no longer be a genuine physicist ... In short thank you so much for your community of believers, but for me freedom of thought is more precious."

In part, Mach was responding to current developments in physics. Planck and his colleagues were busy pursuing the "atomic hypothesis" concerning the nature of atoms. Mach questioned whether this, or any, disputed scientific theory should be introduced in the classroom. If the theory turned out to be true, why not wait to teach it once the equations and applications were established? If false, then teaching the theory would give it an undeserved legitimacy. Mach's emphasis on the utility of science and technology and Planck's embrace of the authority of science provide a framework for use to consider the purpose of scientific and technical communication.

Ultimately, Planck's vision of science triumphed over Mach's. Scientists and lay persons share the notion that science is an institution unaffected by society. Scientific knowledge is distinguished from other forms of knowledge by preserving its content within various historical and social contexts. Scientific experiments, we believe, give us truths about nature; the knowledge of which gives us increasing control of our lives and our future. But perhaps we are too quick in abandoning Mach's views. For in accepting Planck's view of science, we face an interesting paradox, a paradox that embodies the significance and challenge of scientific and technical communication.

Scientific and technical knowledge exists only as it is expressed in language and other social practices, oral and visual communication for example. Accepting Planck's view, we would all agree that the truths about the world do not change. But communication those truths is a different story. Language is tricky. Words and symbols require interpretation; often by various audiences possessing different levels of knowledge and understanding. Words have multiple meanings that change over time. The paradox is this. Given the unreliability of language, how is it that scientific truths remain "in tact" over centuries in different cultures using different languages? One answer lies in the narrow range of communicative options (such as disciplinary jargons and writing formats) scientists and engineers have. Together, we take a look at how scientific and technical communication shapes, and is shaped by, our understanding of science and technology. From an interdisciplinary perspective, found in the readings for this course, we will develop critical appreciation of the practices of science and technology. Out of these contexts, we will construct ways of communicating about science and technology not only to similarly trained experts, but also to laypersons.

Understanding Audiences
Chapter 5: Part 1

James H. Collier with David M. Toomey

Book Contents

Chapter 5: Part 1

Understanding Audiences Chapter 5: Part 1

James H. Collier with David M. Toomey

Book Contents

Chapter 5: Part 1

Understanding Audiences
Chapter 5: Part 1