There were only two genres discussed by my interviewees. Dr. Pagel discussed scientific reports and Dr. Latt discussed experimental reports. However, with further research, I also found that Dr. Latt preforms presentations using PowerPoint. Although this was not indicated by him in the interview, there is a video of him giving a presentation on UA's website.
Let us begin with scientific reports. Their main purpose is to inform. They are there to inform the audience of their experimental findings. These publications are often extremely lengthy and follow a very strict format. It begins with an abstract, then goes to an introduction, then to methods, results, discussion, and conclusion.
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| Hurst, Matthew. "Interview Questions" 09/29/2010 via flickr Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic |
They are also very syntactically structured. According to Dr. Pagel, they will begin with the main noun and verb so that the sentence gets right to the point. Scientific reports are also very professional in their word choice. They don't contain many adjectives as most of the writing is to the point.
The context for something like a scientific report gives it validity. The publications are written by doctors and professionals in the field and are often times published on government or medical websites. This gives a sense of professionalism to the work.
From Dr. Pagel's perspective, the most difficult thing to do when constructing a scientific report is to write to an external audience. This is because the authors then have to figure out a way to explain the information while still keeping the technical format of the report.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about writing in these genres (that I concluded) is that it provides a concise and exact way to convey information. I'm not sure I would call it exciting, but I would certainly say that the easiest part of a scientific report is that it is so formulaic.
Scientific reports can really only be found in academic settings. These would be published on government and health sites.
Now, experimental reports. These are very formulaic just like scientific reports are. The main difference between the two is the length, the categories, and the graph usage.
The reports are often geared towards individuals within the field, although they are easier for exterior audienes to understand. They have the same purpose and context as scientific reports do.
Experimental reports contain the basic abstract, method, results, and conclusion, but add a few other categories on to those. They also describe the participants, the settings, and any interventions.
They lack any graphs, images, or hyperlinks to aid them in their discussion. They are often short and concise. They have similar syntax and word usage to scientific reports. The only difference is that the experiment is using people (instead of enzymes) to conduct their experiment. Thus, the publication describes the subjects and the qualifications for them.
The most difficult thing about writing in this genre is that there aren't any graphs or images to help explain the experiment/results. Thus, the author has to explain all of the results in writing, which can sometimes be confusing.
The most rewarding thing about writing an experimental report is that it is often easier for outside groups to understand the information because the experiment uses humans as test subjects. This makes it easier to understand what is being conducted/measured.
This can be found in an academic setting in government and health websites.
The last genre is the presentation. This is entirely different than the two genres discussed earlier. For one, they use a bunch of images to help keep the interest of the audience. The content is similar to the other two genres, but the way it is presented is different. It is often discussed much more simply so that everyone in the audience can understand what is going on. With that being said, the overall goal of the presentation is merely to inform. Presentations can be professional and they can also be very informal. This depends on the presenter.
The audience of presentations can range, so the explanation must be more simple. The message is to explain some phenomenon (in this case, to introduce biomedical engineering). Their is not often too much context to the presentation (speaking in terms of scientific presentations), although it can certainly seem to be more accredited if the individual has a higher education. As for any presentation, their can be multiple historic events and or outside influences that add to the context of the situation.
Although Dr. Latt never mentioned presentations, the most challenging aspect should be how to convey the information. Since the audience can only hear the presentation once, the presenter must convey the information in a way that makes sense to the audience. They also must make sure that they cover all of all of the content. Conveying and covering content are often in opposition to each other, so the speaker must find some balance.
Presentations can be rewarding because you get almost immediate feedback from the audience. You also don't have a format to follow, so you can fit it to your liking.
Presentations can be found in academic and social settings. They can be found on Facebook and in many formal/professional settings.
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