From technical reporter to personal guide

Abstract

Plain language summaries increasingly serve as a strategy to make scientific research accessible to wide audiences. However, authors often know little about plain language audiences or their goals, so the rhetorical situation of this emerging genre remains unstable and guidance for authors remains fraught. To better understand these summaries, this chapter uses a DocuScope analysis coupled with close reading to compare a corpus of 150 AGU/Wiley Earth and Space journal abstracts with their plain language counterparts. The study yields six areas of significant difference, including less detailed information and more metadiscourse, first-person references, and language of inquiry. These differences collectively reveal the way authors rhetorically shift from the role of technical reporter to personal guide to readers. The chapter concludes with two recommendations for crafting and conceptualizing plain language summaries.