Abstract
This chapter opens with a discussion on the importance of reading to science and to scientists. The claim is made that the empirical basis of science is well-canvassed in the school curriculum but that the basis of science in literacy is almost totally neglected. We explore the implications of this situation for students’ science learning and understanding. The remainder of the chapter deals in one way or another with the structure of scientific text. First, we delineate three ways in which the structure of text can be understood and illustrate these distinctions by drawing upon published scientific work. Second, we examine how the structure of scientific texts varies within and between scientific disciplines. The upshot of the analysis is that structure varies considerably both within and between disciplines and that perceived patterns likely have more to do with the overall purpose of the research and with scientists’ personal styles and communicative preferences. Third, we examine the epistemology underlying scientific texts and conclude, using examples to illustrate, that scientific writings are underlain by fallible rationality. Finally, we look at meta-scientific language that is found in scientific texts, and show how scientists use such language to, in a sense, provide the perspective of an outsider so that they can deal critically with their own work.
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Acknowledgements
Parts of this chapter draw upon the following previously published work:
Norris, S. P., & Phillips, L. M. (2008). Reading as inquiry. In R. A. Duschl & R. E. Grandy (Eds.), Teaching scientific inquiry: Recommendations for research and implementation (pp. 233–262). Rotterdam: Sense.
Norris, S. P., & Phillips. L. M. (2003). How literacy in its fundamental sense is central to scientific literacy. Science Education, 87, 224–240.
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Yarden, A., Norris, S.P., Phillips, L.M. (2015). Foundations for Conceptualizing APL. In: Adapted Primary Literature. Innovations in Science Education and Technology, vol 22. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9759-7_3
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