Chapter Five: “Writing the Research Article, Part I: Abstract, Introduction, and Methods and Materials”

Bazerman, C. (1988). Shaping written knowledge: the genre and activity of the experimental article in science. University of Wisconsin Press.

Also referred to under Introduction resources. This book is particularly valuable for its historical analysis of the evolution of the experimental article—which evolution continues—as rhetorical needs and practices evolve.

See the Jellison et al. article, listed above for Chapter Four, as example of “audience splitting.”

Lemieux, Jacob, et al. (2020) Phylogenetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in the Boston area highlights the role of recurrent importation and superspreading events. Pre-publication preprint, http://medrxiv.org , June 4, 2020.

This study of “772 complete genomes from the region” is the basis of the following from the Washington Post by journalists Sarah Kaplan and Chris Mooney. (Also cited under Chapter 8.):

Kaplan, Sarah, and Chris Mooney (2020). Genetic analysis sheds light on Boston superspreading event. Washington Post, Aug. 25, 2020.

Note how the authors of the Post article move from description of the study to a broader-based analysis and interviews with other key researchers and public policy analysts. For a related article, also see https://virological.org/t/introduction-and-spread-of-sars-cov-2-in-the-greater-boston-area/503 June 4, 2020

Zimmer, Carl (2020). How You Should Read Coronavirus Studies, or Any Science Paper. New York Times, June 1, 2020.  https://www.nytimes.com/article/how-to-read-a-science-study-coronavirus.html

Concise advice by noted science writer, corroborating the emphasis in Ch. 5 on how non-specialists and popular science readers are reading more and more peer-reviewed papers.