General Meeting Recap: The "magic" of science writing

by Ted Edwins, Quill Contributor

Several hardy souls made the harrowing trek down Highway 7 to join a sizable contingent of students and other interested spectators for the chapter's November general meeting held at the University of Guelph. The presenter at the meeting was Owen Roberts, the university's director of research communications. Fifteen years ago, Owen started the widely recognized SPARK (Students Promoting Awareness of Research Knowledge) program where students write articles to publicize research being done at the university. He also writes the Urban Cowboy column for the Guelph Mercury.

Journalistic Principles

In a presentation titled "Science Writing: Making the Complex Understandable", Owen outlined how journalistic principles could be applied to writing articles about complex scientific research for a general audience. He said that the principles could also be easily applied to stories with a "technical" subject. The keys to a good story are to know what topics are of importance to the readership and to have a solid knowledge of the background information.

"The two most important questions a journalist must ask," said Owen "is 'Who cares?' and 'So what?'." Asking "Who cares?" identifies the audience of the article. Asking "So what?" establishes a link between pieces of information to lead the reader to the point of interest.

Formula for Writing Articles

Here's how it works. Owen illustrated the "Journalist's Formula for Writing Articles" with the inverted pyramid familiar to high school essay writers. The topmost and broadest part of the pyramid contains the most important information. The bottom-most or narrowest part of the pyramid contains the least important information. Sections of the pyramid represented individual paragraphs. A good article should be less than 500 words.

The lead paragraph contains the conclusion and should be less than 30 words.

The second or "nut" paragraph tightens the story. The nut tells "who" and "what" and supports the story angle.

The third paragraph should contain a quotation that illustrates the importance of the project or event. The quotation should be conversational but not contain any new information.

The "magic" paragraph should occur somewhere between the fourth and sixth paragraphs. It explains the science of the article using simple language. The paragraph's purpose is to demystify the concepts discussed by saying, "here's how it works". The magic paragraph contains the missing piece of the puzzle for those who stray past the headline. The information in the magic paragraph can also be placed in a sidebar. A sidebar is usually a small chunk of text that is highlighted by a box or shading that draws the reader's attention.

Prizes Received and Presented

Owen concluded the presentation with several examples of award-winning writing by the students. The students represented a wide variety of disciplines in the university from biochemistry to agriculture.

Two door prize draws were held at the end of the meeting. Tim McCormick, a University of Guelph student, won an STC membership donated by the chapter. John Morland, an STC member, won a candy-filled University of Guelph coffee mug donated by the university’s Bachelor of Arts and Science Student Association.

About Ted Edwins

Ted is an independent consultant specializing in software documentation. He is a Past-President of the chapter. In his spare time he continues his futile quest to lower his golf handicap.