O science dissemination text it is a more elaborate type of expository and argumentative text. They are produced through research, theoretical insights and results of investigations on a particular topic.
They have the main purpose of “popularizing science”, that is, spreading scientific knowledge, thus transmitting various information of indisputable value.
Features
This type of textual modality is widely used in the academic world, whether in the production of master's dissertations, doctoral theses, scientific articles, reviews, among others.
They are presented in clear, objective and impersonal language (devoid of personal marks with third person verbs) in accordance with the language norms.
For this reason, popular expressions, colloquial language, slang and figures of speech such as redundancy and ambiguity are avoided.
It is notorious the presence of technical terms in the area, essential to the scientific language and also verbs predominantly in the present tense.
They are written by researchers and subject matter experts dedicated to the field of science using scientific methods.
These texts have a primary function for the development of society, as diverse knowledge based on experiments, case studies, among others are disseminated.
The most used supports for the dissemination of this type of text are scientific magazines and journals, books, scientific dissemination platforms, television, internet.
To complete the course at a University in Brazil, most of them require a final work from the student (Monograph or Course Conclusion Paper-TCC).
It is intended to prepare you in the world of research as well as to test your knowledge and ability to relate several authors who were explored during the course.
In the monographic work (of scientific content), the student delimits a research area, in order to make a cut of the theme that will be explored.
Once this is done, and with the help of a guiding professor, the student researches, gathers data and bibliographic references to build his work.
textual structure
In addition to the basic structural pattern of dissertation texts (introduction, development and conclusion), scientific popularization texts do not have a rigid form.
They depend on the topic addressed, the issuer (author of the text), the audience it is intended for (receivers) and the support that will be disseminated (newspaper, magazine, television, internet).
However, some of them, such as monographs, dissertations and theses, follow some production rules, namely:
- Cover: on the cover of the scientific text there is basic information regarding the work developed, such as the title, name of the writer or group and of the institution.
- summary: in the summary, the titles of each chapter of the text and on which page each one is located will be presented.
- Dedication and Acknowledgments: some works have a specific page for the dedication and another for the acknowledgments, hence the researcher presents the people and/or institutions that were essential for the development of research.
- Summary: in some scientific papers abstracts are requested (abstracts in English), that is, a brief presentation (usually with a word limit) in which the researcher will expose the central idea of his research. Depending on the work, they may present a summary in their mother tongue and another in a foreign language.
- Key words: usually below the abstract, some keywords are included, that is, essential and specific terms for the development of the research.
- Title: in scientific works it is common to find an epigraph, that is, a sentence or paragraph that has some relation to what will be discussed in the text.
- Introduction: extremely important part of the work where the main ideas (thesis) and concepts that will be developed in the text should appear.
- Development: also called "antithesis", this part will cover all concepts and possible authors and references used. It has a strong presence of argumentation and counter-argumentation with the presence of comparisons, author citations, statistical data.
- Conclusion: In conclusion, there is an end to everything that was exposed, and a new idea is usually pointed out referring to what was presented in the work. For this reason, this part is also called the “new thesis”.
- Bibliography: brings together the bibliographical references and webgraphy used for the development of the research. This part must comply with the standards of the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT). Along with the references, there is the glossary, appendices and appendices with tables, graphs, charts, illustrations, list of symbols, abbreviations and acronyms that were used in the text.
To complement your research see also the articles:
- Research project: how to do it?
- Scientific article: types of articles and structure in ABNT standards
- ABNT standards: formatting rules for academic papers
- Opinion article
- ABNT cover sheet
