Jonathan Huaracha 1

Allison Bocchino

Writing 2

March 15, 2021

Exploring the Difficulty of Genre Translation Through the Genres of

Academic Journal Article to Newspaper Article

Academic journal articles are oftentimes wordy, specialized, and jargon-ridden to the

point where anyone outside of the articles’ specific discourse community is not fully able to

comprehend the complexities of what they are reading. This led to my translation of Ibrahim

Dincer’s, “Green methods for hydrogen production.,” into a newspaper article, which is

specifically meant as a form of spreading information to the masses unhindered from such

limitations used in academic articles. Think about it, whenever the image of someone in the

media is seen getting ready to start their day, often at the dining table enjoying a cup of coffee in

the morning, they are often seen reading a newspaper too. This image conveys the accessibility

and titillating tidbits of news and information that can only be offered with the brief writing used

in a newspaper understood and enjoyed by the average person. A newspaper article offers the

highlights of the information from the academic article in a manner that can be understood by the

general public. Translating the academic article into a newspaper article helped shed some of the

specialized jargon used in the academic article and go outside of its designated discourse

community. This shedding of information did prove to be quite challenging as did the

simplification of terms and words used in academic journals, but sticking to the main idea of

Dincer’s research and thinking of the writing conventions of a newspaper article I was able to do

it to the best of my ability.

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As seen in my primary text “Green methods for hydrogen production,” it contains many

writing conventions that specify it as an academic journal article that is a part of the

environmental science discourse community. One writing convention used is the organization of

the academic journal article which presents its research through an abstract, introduction, the

actual research with its methods and data, and a conclusion. This convention is seen in this

academic article and presents the research done by Dincer by detailing his niche research of the

various green methods of hydrogen production. The writing conventions of the piece are

academic and scientific with many methodologies being explained with great chemical and

engineering specificity, which makes use of environmental science jargon. Another writing

convention used is jargon specific to the environmental science discipline and community, that if

unfamiliar with it can not be fully understood as seen when with phrases such as “green

hydrogen production methods based on water electrolysis”1 which shows that the audience needs

to have familiarity with the material presented in the research article. This academic article is

written using these conventions to share information meant to progress “a broadly agreed upon

set of common public goals,” which in the environmental science discourse community is the

development of solutions that can resolve environmental issues.2

Newspaper articles use different writing conventions to achieve their purpose, which is

the sharing of information and news to the public as swiftly and effectively as possible. This

already shows a clear distinction between an academic article and a newspaper article. To

achieve this goal, a newspaper article must use brief and concise writing so that it conveys the

1 Dincer, Ibrahim. “Green Methods for Hydrogen Production.” International Journal of

Hydrogen Energy. Pergamon, September 23, 2011. https://www-sciencedirect-
com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/science/article/pii/S0360319911019823?via%3Dihub#tbl1.
1955.
2 Dan Melzer, “Understanding Discourse Communities,” in Writing Spaces: Readings on
Writing, vol. 3 ( Anderson, South Carolina: Parlor Press LLC, 2020), 102.
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main highlights of the information that they deem relevant and prudent for the general public.

Looking at three examples from this non-academic genre of a newspaper article I was able to see

what writing conventions were commonplace, those examples being; “Ozone layer 'rescued”

from CFC damage,”3 from the BBC “In the Oceans, the Volume Is Rising as Never BeforeI,”4

and “China’s Emissions of Ozone-Harming Gas Are Declining, Studies Find”5 both from the

New York Times. I used newspaper articles related to environmental science, as the academic

article by Dincer is a part of the environmental science discipline, so seeing how these three

examples use their writing conventions detailing environmental topics was helpful. One

universal convention seen in the examples is the use of images to share information. In all three

examples visuals that give context to what is being discussed are used. Another convention used

is the heavy use of quotes, which gives further context to quotes through summarization of

information. A main convention used in the genre of newspaper articles is the briefness of each,

while most research articles can span from tens to dozens of pages full of data and information,

newspaper articles span only a couple of pages. Through the use of all these conventions in

newspaper articles, they are able to achieve their goal of sharing information to the masses.

Being able to share information in a brief and easy to understand manner that when juxtaposed

with academic articles really show just how different the two genres are.

Using the conventions that I saw used in the newspaper article genre I was able to

implement their use into my translation of an academic article into a newspaper article. I tried to

3 Victoria Gill, “Ozone Layer 'Rescued' from CFC Damage,” BBC News (BBC, February 11,
2021), https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56014092.
4 Sabrina Imbler, “In the Oceans, the Volume Is Rising as Never Before,” The New York Times
(The New York Times, February 4, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/science/ocean-
marine-noise-pollution.html.
5 Chris Buckley and Henry Fountain, “China's Emissions of Ozone-Harming Gas Are
DECLINING, Studies Find,” February 10, 2021,
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/climate/ozone-layer-china-cfcs.html.
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use every convention I saw in the examples, but I mainly tried to use a lot of quotes that

conveyed the main points from the original source article. Another convention that I saw used

was also some personal input from the journalist or author of the new article. I think by adding

personal thoughts or questions helps humanize the material. By humanizing the academic article

by adding personal thoughts or concerns into the article it helps connect to the general public by

creating insightful discourse. I also used visuals, one being a rendering that explicitly shows the

ideas discussed in the research article so that the newspaper article audience can visual the

concepts discussed. One convention that I think can be bent is the use of a headline, all

newspaper articles have headlines, and they are meant to entice and also let the reader know

what is going to be discussed. I think the convention of a headline can be bent in the sense that

they vary from every newspaper article, some can be quotes or some can be bombastic or

anything in between yet all are meant to attract the reader and convey the topic. I do not think

there are rules that can be broken in the conventions of a newspaper article, as they are meant to

be factual and honest to appropriately share information and news. Of course there are

newspaper articles that are not honest, inaccurate whether it is due to oversight or outward lies.

The main concern I had while translating was the question for each genre was “what are

the goals of the discourse community?”6 which are different from each genre and community.

The academic journal article by Dincer that I used was part of the environmental science

discourse community, whose goals are to solve and progress on environmental issues. Whereas,

the newspaper article genre that I translated into has its own discourse community whose goal is

to share information and news that is relevant and interesting to the public. Another concern that

I had to keep in mind while translating was the use of rhetoric as “rhetorical messages always

6 Melzer, Dan. “Understanding Discourse Communities.” Essay. In Writing Spaces: Readings

on Writing 3, Vol. 3. Anderson, South Carolina: Parlor Press LLC, 2020. 111.
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occur in a specific situation or context”.7 Given that the context of the information being shared

changed from an academic audience to the general public, I had to be aware of what ways to use

rhetoric to appeal to the new audience without veering too far from the main ideas. Doing this

genre translation made it apparent that translating is much more than just changing genres. It is

the consideration of conventions used, the audience it is meant for, and the emphasis of a main

idea that cannot be lost in translation.

Notes

7 Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1.” Essay. In Writing
Spaces: Readings on Writing 1, Vol. 1. Parlor Press, 2010. 48.
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1. Dincer, Ibrahim. “Green Methods for Hydrogen Production.” International Journal of

Hydrogen Energy. Pergamon, September 23, 2011. https://www-sciencedirect-

com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/science/article/pii/S0360319911019823?via%3Dihub#tbl1.

2. Melzer, Dan. “Understanding Discourse Communities.” Essay. In Writing Spaces:

Readings on Writing 3, Vol. 3. Anderson, South Carolina: Parlor Press LLC, 2020.

3. Victoria Gill, “Ozone Layer 'Rescued' from CFC Damage,” BBC News (BBC, February

11, 2021), https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56014092.

4. Sabrina Imbler, “In the Oceans, the Volume Is Rising as Never Before,” The New York

Times (The New York Times, February 4, 2021),

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/science/ocean-marine-noise-pollution.html.

5. Chris Buckley and Henry Fountain, “China's Emissions of Ozone-Harming Gas Are

DECLINING, Studies Find,” February 10, 2021,

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/climate/ozone-layer-china-cfcs.html.

6. Melzer, Dan. “Understanding Discourse Communities.” Essay. In Writing Spaces:

Readings on Writing 3, Vol. 3. Anderson, South Carolina: Parlor Press LLC, 2020.

7. Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1.” Essay. In

Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing 1, Vol. 1. Parlor Press, 2010.