Teacher's Pet

This semester, I'm taking a class titled Writing in the Sciences. It's a 300-level general education requirement designed to expose and prepare older college students in the theoretical sciences (i.e. zoology, my major) for preparing research documents and other science related materials. Currently we are studying popular science articles as a means of communication to the public. For one of the assignments, we were asked to read the article For Delphic Oracle, Fumes and Visions and write a short 400-word analysis of it. This morning we received an email from our professor detailing what he thought after reviewing each piece. He specifically mentioned me by name and requested that the class look at my submission as an example of how to write future assignments. What can I say? I guess I was lucky to be raised by parents with journalism degrees.


An Appeals Analysis of For Delphic Oracle, Fumes and Visions

For many people, science writings are cryptic and incomprehensible. However, thanks to popular science writings of the last few decades, scientific research has become increasingly available to the American public. And as the number of average Americans interested in scientific research increases, scientists must learn to respond to these individuals by producing content appealing to them. By looking at what makes popular science articles appealing to the public, we, the students of NDSU, can better determine how to apply this to our own writings, both for English 324 and for any future writings we are asked to do throughout our careers.

According to Ann Penrose and Steven Katz in their book Writing in the Sciences: Exploring Conventions of Scientific Discourse, there are two important appeals that must be made when addressing a public audience. The first they mention is the appeal to a person's sense of wonder (Penrose, 207). The second is to appeal to a person's need for the application of the scientific findings written about (Penrose, 208). We can find examples of both of these appeals being used by William Broad in his article entitled For Delphic Oracle, Fumes and Visions. “For at least 12 centuries, the oracle at Delphi spoke on behalf of the gods,” says Broad, immediately pulling his readers into a culture that is foreign and mystical (Penrose, 340). He later appeals again to the reader's wonder of how science can validate the ancient belief that Delphi had unique characteristic when he states that, “a geologist, an archaeologist, a chemist and a toxicologist have teamed up to produce a wealth of evidence suggesting the ancients had it exactly right.” (Penrose, 340) Having given his readers a taste of amazement, he continues his narrative to explain what these scientists stumbled upon.

But it is in his application appeal that Broad truly shines. In writing about an ancient culture, he links the affects of the gaseous form of ethylene to modern times, saying, “Modern teenagers know of such intoxicants, including ones that in overdoses can kill.” (Penrose, 343) Because of the number of prophecies recorded at Delphi, it is possible for modern scientist to better understand what the total affects of drugs like ethylene are on the human body and psyche. It is also possible for historians to get a better idea of how Grecian culture, and therefore western culture as a whole, was influenced by someone who was both highly influential and, so to speak, high as a kite.

Penrose, A., & Katz, S. (2010). Writing in the sciences: Exploring conventions of scientific discourse (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Longman.