Abstract:

Scientific discourse is no longer a unitary phenomenon but “a terrain of competing discourses and practices” (Myers, 2003), blurring the boundaries between the public and the professional spheres of communication. Expanding the boundaries of possibility in written scientific communication by recontextualizing scientific discourse into a popular domain can encourage postgraduate students and early-career researchers to take their first steps on the publishing path. Practicing popular science writing as a genre will benefit interlocutors who are forced to be able to work in their specific discipline while making connections with other disciplines and, what is more important with the general public and applying their skills to various contexts.

The topicality stems from the fact that many science communication projects fail to connect with diverse audiences due to the inability to maintain relevance falling outside of an audience’s interests or traditions and practicing popular science writing is a perfect tool for the dissemination of science to the lay public.

The paper introduces and reviews popular science as a genre both as a field of research and as a pedagogical tool in comparison with an empirical research article. It provides an algorithm of teaching peculiarities using comparative exercises aimed at identifying differences and present the strategies on smooth transition between discourses so that a non-specialist audience can understand it.

The strategies involve:
a) those aiming at transforming information to the assumed knowledge of potential readers, comparing two articles in different genres on the same topic derived from popular sources, and rendering sentences from popular science into scientific;
b) strategies to engage the readers, by arousing their interest by interaction, and by emotional evaluating scientific content.

The paper also includes the challenges and limitations arising while teaching popular article writing and suggest the ways to overcome them.

Keywords:

Popular science writing, postgraduate students, teaching strategies, genre.