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wp2 Huaracha Jonathan
wp2 Huaracha Jonathan
Allison Bocchino
Writing 2
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
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
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
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
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
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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com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/science/article/pii/S0360319911019823?via%3Dihub#tbl1.
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
4. Sabrina Imbler, “In the Oceans, the Volume Is Rising as Never Before,” The New York
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
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/climate/ozone-layer-china-cfcs.html.
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