Jane McClenathan wrote the essay, “Serotonin Keeps You Sad and Sleepy” for her final paper for the WR 150 seminar “Science Writing for the Public” in the Spring 2013 semester. As a class, we explored what writing about science for the public means. We returned frequently to the definition we constructed as a class and the definition each student constructed for himself or herself. This paper was the final assignment for a six-week long research process. Students explored the literature on a topic of interest, chose a research question, made interpretations about the primary literature, and were asked to write a paper in the style of a Scientific American article.
McClenathan started her process with a rough idea of what she wanted to investigate. She did a great deal of research of the literature and reported her findings with ease; however, she made an important transition that many students were not able to achieve: she defined and interpreted the literature from her stance and attempted to make her own contribution to the field. In writing her paper, McClenathan explored the tension between simplification and “dumbing things down” for her audience. Eventually, she was able to strike a balance between presenting complex ideas that require a great deal of background for full understanding and offering the general public something palatable, interesting, and informative.
— CYNTHIA & GEOFFREY HILL
WR 150: Science Writing for the Public