October 1, 2005

Every discovery in science is based to some extent on previous discoveries, and each new piece of information constitutes but one further stage in an endless journey. Results and conclusions emerge from a laboratory, or from the scientists’ imagination, and they contribute to other investigations elsewhere, subsequently producing their own results and conclusions. This is what in the aggregate is called “scientific progress”.

If the creative process is to unfold smoothly and efficiently, it is obviously essential that new insights should be communicated to the public. That is, the latest finding should be readily accessible to others, whose own future accomplishments might be heavily influenced by the findings.

The word “communication” has several meanings. From a linguist’s perspective, communication “suggests a direct, substantive exchange, either oral or written, involving two or more distinct parties.”

In information technology, communication implies that two or more parties have mutual access to a common information resource. Oral communication relies on speech and the spoken word and takes many forms, like dialogues, oration and debate. The same diversity applies to written communication.

So far so good. It is a simple matter to establish the fact that communication plays a fundamental role in the development of sciences, but what form or forms should this communication take?

The spoken word has under most circumstances been mankind’s preferred medium for information transfer. But the spoken word is a fleeting thing. And even if it was not, it would rarely provide the precision and depth essential for official announcement of scientific observation or deduction.

Written communication, in comparison, has the unique capacity to convey complex information in the easiest manner. Illustrative verbal arguments and pictorial representation of data is what makes written communication the best mode of influence.

Written communication also has the advantage that it can be propagated with ease, and is accessible to anyone who has the slightest interest in science.

In recent years the process or the art of scientific writing has undergone a remarkable transformation which has turned it into a vastly different activity from what it originally was.

Once writing was associated with pens, pencils and typewriters. But now, printing in the modern world centres around computers, modems, keyboards, scanners and printers. With these facilities, an average scientific professional is able to prepare his own elaborately formatted documents so that the finished product is often superior in quality. Moreover, the same technical masterpiece can be transmitted worldwide within a matter of seconds via the internet.

The role of written documentation in science extends well beyond communication. Inform- ation in written form, unlike speech, is distinctive in that the medium supports intense critical evaluation.

In the early days of modern scientific publication — towards the middle of the 19th century — it was widely recognized that scientific controversies could be highly emotional affairs, and virulent arguments often played themselves out publicly in the pages of technical journals. The language used in these debates was incredibly bitter and personal.

The ferocity of these encounters may seem quite amusing now, but for the participants such intellectual duels were of serious nature . This put a lot of emphasis on the precision, accuracy and quality of information used in scientific writing.

Times changed and criticism and controversy today tend to be healthy and beneficial. The scientist as a writer is now in a much better position than he was years ago.

All this is quite logical, but the real question is how to master the ‘art’ of scientific writing?

Many of the skills and much of the insight required for composing effective scientific prose can in fact be acquired, and extra attention paid to this objective can pay rich dividends.

For example, the research papers being published today in journals like Nature, OUP and Springer provide a professional view of what actually is scientific literature. And by perusing through them on regular basis, we can actually pick up a few points that will improve our writing style. Plus, evaluation and analysis of these journals is the key to mastering the art of scientific prose. There are books specifically available on the subject.

Unfortunately, the problem here in Pakistan is a little awkward to describe. Here we have only a few journals available in the libraries and they are either written by Pakistani professionals (who have yet to grasp the concept of scientific writing) or they are outdated.

The art cannot be mastered by reading through only a few handful of hiccuping statistics and data we so often see in Pakistani journals. Moreover, the monotonous style is bound to make the learning process difficult.

The question of outmoded journals is also common. In these modern times how can science students look forward to reading and analysing the information that he already knows is archaic? So, the only method that remains is through rigorous treatment of the ‘subject’ at the universities and colleges.

As straightforward and innocuous these sentiments may seem, some of the corollaries appear not to be widely appreciated. Why is it that the universities so blatantly avoid training students in the skills and habits essential for effective scientific communication? How can the academia possibly justify its almost total neglect of the emerging generation of scholars and researchers? Perhaps one factor contributing to the crises is arrogance on the part of our educators.

There may be some truth in the notion that language skills are a gift from above, and that linguistic skill is ‘teachable’ only to a limited extent. It could also be that the “stylist feel” is to some degree inherited or transferable only at a very early age. Nevertheless, much of the secret of communication lies in clear systematic analysis of the specific ideas one wishes to convey.

The Higher Education Commission addressed this problem very effectively. Its digital library programme which was launched quite a while ago was a groundbreaking step towards making the youth well-versed in scientific literature. Access to the publications is free of cost and the greater trend of PCs at home around Pakistan makes it easy to read and evaluate world-class journals.

Through round-the-clock access and innovation, young scientists can now face the challenges unassisted.

The writer abbasraza1 @gmail.com is a student of biochemistry at the Punjab University

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