Are scientific abstracts written in poetic verse an effective representation of the underlying research?

ABSTRACT: The central purpose of science is to explain (Purtill, 1970). However, who is that explanation for, and how is this explanation communicated once it has been deduced? Scientific research is typically communicated via papers in journals, with an abstract presented as a summary of that explanation. However, in many instances they may be written in a manner which is non-communicatory to a lay reader (Halliday & Martin, 2003). This study begins to investigate if poetry could be used as an alternative form of communication, by first assessing if poetic verse is an effective form of communication to other scientists. In order to assess this suitability, a survey was conducted in which two different groups of participants were asked questions based on a scientific abstract. One group of participa

SUBMITTER: Illingworth S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5017291 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature