BSC100 Building Blocks for Science Students Session 2

Session 2: Reading and writing skills

Introduction
Preparation:
 Read the article “Twenty tips for interpreting scientific claims” by Sutherland WJ,
Spiegelhalter D and Burgman MA (2013) in Nature 503 335-7.
 Write notes in the Activity 1 discussion boxes (see over the page) and be prepared to
discuss them.
 Complete the Lecture Review below.

Please bring the following to class:

 This worksheet and reading (hard copy or electronic).
 Stationery you like to use to take notes.

Learning Outcomes
At the completion of this tutorial students will be able to:

 Critically analyse text and write clearly.

This tutorial will help you achieve the following unit learning outcomes:

 Learn autonomously by thinking and reading critically.

Lecture Review
Please write a 100-200 word summary of Session 1’s lecture on Note-taking Styles.

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BSC100 Building Blocks for Science Students Session 2

Activity 1: Becoming a critical reader

Introduction
Forming your own critical analysis begins with the judgments and interpretations you make
when you read. Critical reading requires that you “stand back”, look for information and for
ways of thinking about the text as directed by the author. These steps structure questions for
critical reading.

1. What is the purpose (thesis) of the article?

2. Who is it written for and in what context?
3. What are the main messages or conclusions?
4. Are there strengths, gaps, and alternate ways to consider this?

Read the article once for a general overview and then return to the beginning to read again,
this time more carefully. Compress the ideas into your own words and be prepared to make
your own evaluation of what is written. The aim of critical reading is not to find fault, but to
assess the strength of the evidence and the argument.

Discussion
What was the purpose of this article?

What are the main messages or conclusions?

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Other comments?

Activity 2: Critical Thinking

Introduction
“ Good, sustained critical thinking underlies good, clear writing: you could almost say that good writing
is critical thinking. It is critical thinking resolved and put down on paper, elegantly.”

Tredinnick M (2008), The Little Red Writing Book, UNSW Press.

Read the excerpt of the article about the hope and hype for stem cell therapies. Critically
discuss the issues it raises.

Hope, Hype and Help: Ethically Assessing the Growing Market in Stem Cell
Therapies Caplan A, Levine B (2010). The American Journal of Bioethics, 10 (5) 24-49
(http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15265161.2010.481980#.VPVMaEsb5tU)

Medical tourism on the part of those seeking therapies for terminal diseases has a long and
inglorious tradition. For many decades, those diagnosed with terminal cancer have sought care at
all manner of clinics, institutes, and hospitals in nations all over the world (Porter 2001)…

…Mainstream medicine has been less certain than it should have been in trying to respond the
explosion of quackery that has characterized what is offered to those afflicted with incurable and
chronically disabling disorders who are willing to travel. In some cases nations have consciously
tried to profit from the flow of patients to doctors and clinics within their borders who are willing to
spend large sums of money on anything that might offer hope. In other cases mainstream
medicine in the United States and other medically advanced nations has attempted to work with
patients who wish to pursue alternative and complementary medicine either not wanting to lose
patients or out of the belief that what is not obviously harmful can be accommodated. 2

Stem cell therapy, as Murdoch and Scott (2010) convincingly argue, is well down the path so well
trodden by frauds, kooks, apostates and those willing to do whatever it takes to earn large sums
of money from the desperate. They point out the dueling frames of reference; for the patient of
hope, and for the physician of reason, occasionally seasoned with paternalism. The question is,
what ought the mainstream stem cell research community do in response to the proliferation of
offers of stem cell therapy for almost every imaginable ailment and woe?

Americans do not like to be told what they can and cannot do by anyone. There is a long tradition
in American culture of anti-authoritarianism that spills over into a good deal of ambivalence about
claims of elite expertise by anyone about nearly anything (Hofstader 1963).

Some in the mainstream stem cell research community may respond to the proliferation of stem
cell ‘cures’ all over the internet with the need to warm prospective clients of the simple maxim of
‘caveat emptor’ –buyer beware and let their ethical duty go at that. But, warning people that they
need to head toward Barbados, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, the Dominican Republic or
Mexico with their eyes open is not ethically adequate. Those who are drawn to stem cell therapies
are often confused about the innovative status of these interventions, overly reliant on
unsubstantiated claims about the quality of biological material being administered, or unable to

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readily locate balanced assessments of what medical tourism may have to offer for their particular
problem…

Scientists and clinicians have rarely made effective forays into communicating science and medical
options to the public, relying on arguments from the data in peer reviewed publications. Or, to
paraphrase the view of many patients, “Enough about your ‘p values’ and ‘pivotal trials’, I'm dyin'
here!” In the American climate of distrust of the authority or motivations of professional elites,
patient advocacy organizations through their outreach, webpages, and blogs offer a bridge to
communication on a more personal and comfortable level. We believe that this complements the
reasoned and professional approach outlined above, by making a personalized and empathetic
connection to patients who are searching for support through advocacy organizations. A bit of
highlighting cell therapy medical tourism gone bad and emphasizing the medical risk in cell
therapy scam artists placed in the context of trusted patient advocacy organizations would add
another needed dimension to the overall message.

Murdoch and Scott advocate not treading needlessly on hope. They urge that those in the stem
cell domain “keep hope alive.” It is certainly true that hope and the survival instinct are the most
ancient and powerful of forces motivating human beings. The web, social networking sites, and
patients' blogs are the newest communication technologies and must be better utilized by trusted
and reputable peer patient support groups in fostering hope by advising patients searching for
experimental cellular therapy treatment as to their best and worst options.

It is past time then, to take a principled stand against the manipulation of hope by fraudulent,
deceitful and inept practitioners of counterfeit and sham cellular therapies (Qiu 2009; MacReady
2009). Patient advocacy organizations, cellular therapy professionals and clinicians, professional
societies, and international regulatory bodies must act in a concerted, responsive, and responsible
manner if patients are to be made capable of distinguishing hope from hype.

Discussion
What are the main issues in this article? What are the problems for scientists and for
the public?

Ideas

Activity 3: Writing in Science

Writing for science should be logically structured, paragraphs contain one main idea with
sentences that flow from one to another and end with the conclusion.

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Writing Task
Consider this figure and in words only describe the information it conveys. Next consider a
situation or context where this type of information about the Australian population is used.

Interpretation of graph - write here

Discussion
Share your explanation with someone else and read it before the discussion with the whole
tutorial group. Talk about the translation of a figure into text and its interpretation by the
writer for the reader. What are the challenges?

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