Journal articles in science and in technology have similar structures. This structure can serve as a basis for scanning and selecting relevant literature for both practitioners and laypersons. Before the article reaches the journal, it will most likely have been presented orally to a number of different groups, and been commented on by audiences at conferences as well as reviewers. Please note that other types of scientific and technical communication, proposals, instructions, oral presentations, follow well-defined structures. Your knowledge of the elements and derivations of these structures can serve as the basis for judgments, from the perspective of both a practitioner and a layperson, about the organization, thoroughness and complexity of different types of scientific and technical communication.
Generally, journal articles contain the following elements:
An abstract or introductory summary. Given the explosion of the amount of technical literature, many scholars suggest tongue-in-cheek that the abstract is the real article. The abstract is perhaps the most important part of the article, clearly it is the only part many people read. Abstracts may vary in length in proportion to the article's length. The reader can get a good idea of the content and technical density of an article from its abstract. Writing a clear, accessible abstract has become a necessary skill, as abstracts are used in access publications (publications which list and index abstracts) and on-line data bases. Index and abstract publications, Biological Abstracts, Chemical Abstracts and Index Medicus, and on-line systems, MEDLINE (Index Medicus), PsychINFO (Psychological Abstracts), SCISEARCH, either selectively or comprehensively collect abstracts and article titles for literature searches. Both practitioners and laypersons can get a feel a field of research by consulting abstracts in journals, access publications and on-line databases.
A list of key words and phrases. Not all journals provide a list of key words and phrases. However, journals that do either substitute key words for an abstract, or list them after the abstract. Key words are reoccurring terms selected by the author. Like the abstract, the list of key words gives an indication of the concepts and vocabulary with which you need to be familiar in order to comprehend the article. The title of the article also contains key words necessary for cross-referencing in access publications.
An introduction. The introduction of a science article lends a historical context to the research by relating it to prior studies. In numerous cases, the research presented is performed to answer specific questions, or to correct errors of previous research. Such research deals with points of contention internal to a narrowly defined field of study. Here practitioners and laypersons can determine the relevance of the research to their concerns from its historical position.
A methodology section. For the practitioner, the methods section may be the most important and substantive part of the study. The methods section presents the design of the study, the procedures followed, the means for data collection, and an evaluation of the procedure. Researchers evaluate the soundness of the methodology in determining the soundness of the results. If the methods are flawed, the data gathered will be flawed. However, a researchers' expectancy that following certain methods will lead to an anticipated results may lead to self-deception. For the layperson, common sense provides a basis for critically judging the methods and results of certain experiments.
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Many researchers have claimed that "thinking" animals, horses, dolphins, chimpanzees, apes, have the capacity learn language and respond to questioning. At the turn of the century a German schoolteacher, Wilhlem Von Osten, announced that a remarkable horse, nicknamed Clever Hans, could count by tapping out numbers with one hoof. Clever Hans would perform this feat not only for his owner, but for other audiences as well. A psychologist, Oskar Pfungst, investigated Von Osten' s claims. Pfungst determined that Von Osten's expectations, unconscious cues and the horse's ability to imitate his trainer were the actual reasons for the animal's ability to "communicate." The specter of this incident still haunts some animal researchers. Recently, for instance, the ability of apes to use sign language has been disputed on similar grounds. Of course, surveying the methods section of a scientific or technical article, it is unlikely a layperson could draw conclusions about the validity of a researcher's findings. However, healthy skepticism of a researcher's methods or procedures based on personal experience with, for example, health care, statistics or household chemicals and technologies, does have a place in critically scanning scientific and technical literature.
A results section. Presented in a narrative form, the results section offers an analysis of the researchers' findings, and contains tables, graphs, charts and photographs. Again, the information represented may be incomprehensible to you as a lay reader, but your familiarity with criteria for the presentation of visual information can be a basis for assessment. Tables and graphs which present too much information, for example, may indicate the author's confusion about the data's significance. The authors' can offer interpretations of experimental results in this section or the discussion section.
A discussion section. The discussion reviews the study and may give ideas for areas of further research. Here the authors have room for apology, speculation, promotion, and instruction (for replicating the experiment). Depending on the authors' reputation and style the discussion section allows for the authors' to "let their hair down." This section, for practitioner and lay reader, can be the most interesting rhetorically From a rhetorical point of view, it is important to keep in mind what the discussion does not say as much as what it does say. Disciplines have different attitudes toward presenting events that go on" behind the scenes" in an article. Research articles in the natural sciences, for example, give the reader an impression that the series of experiments was performed in an orderly fashion with no mistakes, interruptions or disputes among laboratory members. Articles in some social science disciplines include a more introspective, critical treatment of their methods, procedures and results, often citing limitations and failures. Lay readers can draw distinct impressions about the relation between the subject matter of the research and how results are organized and presented.
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References or a bibliography. The practitioner can determine how well the authors know the previous literature, as well as find relevant material for their research. By knowing the literature of their field, practitioners make judgments about where the authors wish to position themselves with regard to previous research. Drawing comparisons between disciplines, the lay person can see how well defined and organized a field is. For example, there tend to be fewer references in an article in the natural sciences, than in an article in a humanities discipline. Some researchers conclude that writers in highly specialized disciplines have a precise idea of what their audience knows (or should know), and need to make fewer explicit references. Writers in less specialized disciplines, or with interdisciplinary concerns, must simultaneously educate their audience while legitimating their views to researchers with varying levels of expertise. As a result, the writer must appeal to a wider range of literature. From scanning the references section of journal articles over a period of time, laypersons and practitioners can identify the leading researchers and important techniques of a field by the number and consistency of references to a particular author or work.
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