Nontechnical professionals who frequently read scientists' reports offer the following suggestions for researchers needing to get their messages across clearly:
"Is it a progress report for a manager? If so, what will the manager do with it? Will he or she send it on to someone and how will that affect the language to be used?" asks Thornton, whose clients include scientists at Sterling Winthrop, General Electric, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and numerous small technical firms. Well-written in-house reports often start with journalism's "five Ws" - who, what, where, when, why - "so that the reader can focus on where [the paper] is headed," she says.
Care must be taken in describing scientific work to public relations professionals so as to avoid premature trumpeting of a "breakthrough." Press releases often require much back-and-forth between scientist and writer, with a go-between sometimes called in to "translate." "We ...
