Writing
in Human Physiology
Mrinalini
Manektala
The
University of Iowa
Writing
in Human Physiology
When most people think of human physiology, or any
science major for that matter, writing is not the first thing that comes to
mind. Usually, what comes to mind is a lot of math or science, which is heavily
involved, but according to Austin Gessell, he spends quite a lot of his time
writing in his profession. I interviewed Gessell, who is a first year graduate
student at the University of Iowa, to find out more about the types of writing
used in his profession where he is a teaching assistant in freshmen chemistry classes.
Chemistry is a huge part of school when taking the path of a human physiology
major, so I thought he would know a lot about what writing would be like in the
science field since he recently graduated from undergraduate school as a
chemistry major. I also analyzed six different articles, three academic and
three non-academic, to better understand what affect the different types of
writing have on information presented about human physiology.
One
type of writing used in human physiology is non-academic. Non-academic writing
is something that is used every single day and includes a wide variety of types
of writing including taking notes, writing email, submitting magazine articles,
and everything in between. What makes non-academic writing different from
academic writing is that it is not as formal and usually in a more casual
setting, like a magazine article. Though it can include factual information like
in academic writing, the structure and formality is on a lower, less intense
level. For example, you can see in the following magazine article that the
writing used is causal. “The following improvements have been made over the
Stolwijk model:
•Increase
in number of body segments from six to unlimited.
•Addition
of a clothing node to model both heat and moisture capacitance.
•Addition
of heat transfer by conduction to surfaces in contact with the body.
•Improved
convection and radiation heat transfer coefficients.
•Explicit
radiation heat transfer calculation using angle factors.
•Addition
of a radiation heat flux model (e.g. sunlight striking the body)”
(Huizenga,
Hui, and Arens, 2001). As you can see from this example given from this
magazine article, it is a lot more casual since this information is given in
bullet points. In academic writing, it would be written in formal sentences. Another
thing that makes non-academic writing more casual than academic writing is
including pictures, diagrams, and graphs. In all three of my non-academic
sources there are either pictures, diagrams, or graphs included and they all
have little sub notes describing what the picture is. For example, in one of my
articles about the effects on human physiology during space flight, they have
inserted a picture in the article when talking about the International Space
Station outside in space with a sub note reading “An astronaut is tethered to
the Canadarm2 outside the International Space Station during mission STS-114.
Image courtesy of NASA” (Williams, Kuipers, Mukai, Thirsk, 2009). Again, the
writing is very informal and casual, but is still informative. It can also be a
little more creative and include sketches that people have drawn instead of
pictures like in the magazine article “Chaos and Fractals in Human Physiology”
(Goldberger, Rigney, West, 1990). A lot of the time non-academic writing can be
creative, but what I have found is that it is creative in the parts that there
are pictures included and it is not creative in the actual writing. “Creative
writing in English classes was something I was not the best at, I was always
better at writing in science academia, things like journal entries and lab
reports”(Gessell, personal communication, 2016). I included this quote from
Gessell because it justifies that creative writing in a scientific field is
usually not common because academic writing is something that the people who
are in this field are much better at. Overall, I would say that non-academic
writing in human physiology mostly consists of magazine articles that are
informative, yet casual.
Another
type of writing that is used in human physiology is academic writing. This is
the type of writing most used in human physiology and in the science field.
According to Gessell, it is the type of writing he uses most (Gessell, personal
communication, 2016). Academic writing usually consists of formal, scholarly
essays and textbooks or some kind of educational book. The three academic
sources I have analyzed were all some type of academic textbook or book used in
human physiology. Academic writing is usually informative and can be just as
informative as non-academic writing, but uses more formal language and usually
a less personal tone when writing out the information. An example of this type
of writing can be seen in a book about mathematical models in human physiology.
“For example, when a vein is occluded during surgery, the resistance to the
blood flow is increased, and as a result a fall in cardiac output is usually
observed” (Ottesen, Olufsen, Larsen, 2004). This was written in a very formal
and professional language, and if it had been non-academic most likely the
wording would have been simpler and it would have been a shorter explanation. A
lot of the time, academic writing is used to be informative and uses factual
information to teach people information so definitions are used a lot in
academic writing. Whether it be a research paper or journal entry, definitions
need to be used so that the readers can easily understand what information is
being told without having to ask questions or look something up on the
internet. “Defined as an association of species and its environment between
which energy and information are regularly cycled, the ecosystem in lower forms
of life, and in human populations exhibits significant differences and some
striking parallels” (Hawley, 1986). This
example shows a clear definition of the word ecosystems and it also shows how
it is used to provide factual information in academic writing when writing
about human physiology. Academic writing is not only limited to definitions,
iota so includes just general information about the topic and often includes
many things that are not common knowledge about the topic. In human physiology,
this can include information about the body that people may not know about or
it goes into further, specific details about things that people may know some
general information about, but not a lot. This can be seen in one of the
sources I analyzed for this report in an informational textbook. “Action potentials
can be initiated only in portions of the membrane with abundant voltage-gated
Na+ channels that can be triggered to open by a depolarizing event” (Sherwood,
2014). This shows that academic writing goes more into depth than non-academic
writing. People may know what action potentials are, but maybe were not
informed on how they were initiated. This is mostly what academic writing
consists of, and is what is most commonly used in human physiology.
From
analyzing six different sources, three non-academic and three academic, and
from an interview with a graduate student about writing in the scientific
field, it is easily seen that academic writing is the type of writing used most
in the field. Although non-academic writing can be used every day like in email,
academic writing is still what students, professors, and researchers mostly use
since the information used needs to be presented in a formal and professional
fashion. I have learned a lot about what types of writing are used in human
physiology, and I can definitely see a lot of academic writing in my future.
Sources
1. Goldberger,
Ary L., David R. Rigney, and Bruce J. West. Chaos and Fractals in Human
Physiology (1990): 43-49. Researchgate.net. Feb. 1990.
Web. 6 Feb. 2016.
2. Hawley,
Amos H. "Human Ecology." Google Books. N.p., 1986. Web. 6
Feb. 2016.
3. Huizenga,
Charlie, Zhang Hui, and Edward Arens. "A Model of Human Physiology and
Comfort for Assessing Complex Thermal Environments." A Model of
Human Physiology and Comfort for Assessing Complex Thermal Environments.
ScienceDirect, 23 May 2001. Web. 6 Feb. 2016.
4. Ottesen,
Johnny T., Mette S. Olufsen, and Jesper K. Larsen. "Applied Mathematical
Models in Human Physiology." Google Books. SIAM, 200. Web. 6
Feb. 2016.
5. Sherwood,
Lauralee. "Human Physiology: From Cells to Systems." Google
Books. N.p., 2014. Web. 6 Feb. 2016.
6. Williams,
David, Andre Kuipers, Chiaki Mukai, and Robert Thirsk. "Acclimation during
Space Flight: Effects on Human Physiology." CMAJ. N.p., 9 June
2009. Web. 6 Feb. 2016.
