Narratives are intrinsic to communication
Over the centuries, scientists and researchers have converged on a fairly consistent, well-formulated set of rules describing the scientific method, or how we should glean information in an objective way. But when it comes to the best ways of presenting and describing the information, opinions vary wildly.
This is because it is no longer about the data, but about conveying the data. This is no longer a purely logical pursuit, but equal parts logic and intuition, art and science. It is a narrative.
Narratives are intrinsic to communication. They exist in the ether of implied assumptions whenever any form of communication takes place, from mundane daily exchanges among workers to a tense conversation between lovers. Communication is the story of what we communicate, consciously or not.
This includes scientific and technical topics that researchers believe cannot be adequately explained through narratives. But the very act of explaining effectively is itself a well-constructed narrative.
A narrative creates connections through cause and effect, to provide meaning to information. We value information obtained this way because through the connections we derive meaning. This is why we remember vividly scenes from a movie seen in childhood, but struggle to reconnect facts studied in high school biology. The connections are different, and those connections determine how and why we remember. Those connections are the narrative.
No knowledge is beyond narrative. In fact, all knowledge is narrative. And the better one understands, the better one narrates. This is the essence of the Feynman Technique: learning by teaching - or, more accurately, learning through narrating.
When we teach a subject, we guide students through the knowledge, parsing information piece by piece within a logical sequence of connections, until the information becomes a story in the students’ minds. When information becomes a narrative, the learning becomes fully realized.
This is the power of narrative in academic fields requiring technical writing. Those knowledgeable in a scientific topic have already developed the connections necessary to understand it. But when they can arrange connections to convey the topic to someone less knowledgeable, their knowledge expands, because they are challenged to organize and articulate connections they have formed implicitly.
And in each telling, the connections become better organized. So the better one understands, the better one narrates, and the better one narrates, the better one learns.
Effective narrative writing in scientific topics creates a cycle of learning, by capturing the attention of the reader. The more effective the narrative, the more time a reader spends reading. This gives rise to more connections, more familiarity with the subject matter.
When we write about a scientific topic in a narrative format, we frame the connections relative to the opinions we hold. Effective writing frames the connections in a way that garners readers’ attention and wins over their opinions.
Narrative is persuasive by nature. As we follow the story we become engrossed in it, rooting for the outcome insinuated through the connections created within the narrative itself. Similarly, scientific topics presented as narrative effectively convey an author’s opinion by eloquently explaining the intuitive conclusions derived from the information. The better a story is told, the more effective it becomes.
So for scientists or technical writers seeking to persuade as much as to educate, identify how the story arc fits within the topic being written.
Do more than present and explain; create the story arc. Contextualize the information as a sequence of events to be told. The story is the information, and the plot is how we explain it.
When you look at it this way, an academic paper effectively written is a narrative. We begin with an introduction, which sets the context for the narrative. And we progress through the paper by discussing the methods and results and ending with a conclusion.
This progression is the unveiling of the story, conflict, and climax through plot structuring. Instead of simply writing the information, convey the information in vivid detail, turning it into something live the audience can grasp.
Instead of telling the reader the different flower colors that correspond with insect mating, share the journey of mating with color matching. Use anecdotes to advance the plot and to make the connections come alive.
Anecdotes are a beautiful technique to simply and effectively create connections that resonate with the reader. Anecdotes advance the plot using sensory details that people will remember. They can be used to persuade the reader, or to ensure that the reader remembers a critical piece of information.
Connections formed induce in the reader an emotional state, encouraging him or her to engage further, perpetuating the cycle of interest, familiarity, and likability. Narrative writing at its best creates connections that go beyond cause and effect learning into the realm of emotional attachment, where motivation meets memory and cognition meets persuasion.
Use the connections as a tool to create a climactic point for the reader, helping to make sense of the connections formed earlier in the story, and the connections that will form subsequent to the climax.
This helps to avoid repetition and to craft an effective scientific paper that persuades as much as educates. The best writers know how readers will respond as they are writing, because they recognize how the reader will draw connections.
Use this to your advantage when drafting a technical narrative. Parse the connections to correspond with the topic being written about, and recognize when a specific connection needs to be made – not just in when it is written, but in how it is written.