How physicists write academically in their

discipline.
L. Chenjia
Abstract
As a discipline to discover the nature of the world and provide a theoretical basis for
other disciplines, physics has unique literacy practice. By studying and analyzing three peer-
reviewed articles, it is found that physics paper is designed to be pellucid and concise.
Specifically, when describing the background and theory, writers only mention what are
necessary. The content is formatted in single-spaced to avoid wasting length; Jargon is used to
reduce redundancy, and the formula is clearly labeled within the content to show the necessary
calculation. In the case of reuse, the citations are formatted in the easiest way.
Introduction Method
Physics is one of the most significant Three peer-reviewed articles are
disciplines that explains why the world is analyzed based on their writing style,
the way it is. The origin of physics can be language, word choice, format, grammar,
traced to around 340 BC when Aristotle and reference to find the similarity to study
used ta physika(Greek) as the title of his how people write in physics. Even though
book that explains the science of nature. In the content partially determines the potential
1715, it gained a more specific definition: audience and the degree of background
science treating of properties of matter and knowledge that is required to understand the
energy[1]. Nowadays, physics has become paper, the actual material of three articles is
more concentrated on specific areas of not considered by this paper as they are
studies such as astronomy and application written for experts.
physics. What's more, physics is strongly
related to other disciplines as it is the Observation and evidence
foundation of many subjects. The discovery In this section, the properties and
in physics is commonly associated with the feathers of three articles, including their
development of cutting-edge technology and format, structure and use of language will be
the breakthrough of different disciplines. explicitly explained.
Therefore, since physics is very crucial for
the development of human culture and tied From the beginning, like all the
to daily life in some way, how experts research papers, the first section is a title
communicate and write efficiently in this with publisher and publishing data. Among
unique discipline is studied in this paper. the three peer-reviewed articles that have
Generally, a standard research paper for been studied, the title of 2 articles is bold.
physics includes many theories and jargon to After that, the abstract is isolated from the
explain the background and observation, and main structure of the paper as an
calculations with various formulas are used independent section. The abstract is very
to compare the data and observation to draw brief and short in content but all cover
a valid conclusion, which requires at least an background, significance, and the research
undergraduate level of physics to subjects. To be specific, in Refraction of a
understand. Cylindrical Laser Beam in a Boundary
Temperature Layer, the words "theoretically
and experimentally" are used[4]. In the
abstract of the Internal conical refraction of
coherent light beams, the author states,
"Asymptotic values have been obtained for
structural parameters of a coherent light
beam after experiencing conical."[3]
Underneath the abstract is the DOI
number, which could be seen in much other
scientific research. But they also have a
series of the number of "PACS numbers:
42.25.Gy" and "PACS: 42.25.Gy; 42.25.Lc"
that is not commonly seen in other
disciplines.
After that, other although one article
does not have a subtitle for the context, two
of three articles clearly indicate the
introduction part. In the introduction part,
the purpose and some background
information are stated and explained, which
involves the use of jargon and abbreviation
followed by full names, such as "Structured
laser radiation (SLR)" [4]. Some jargon,
such as "refractogram" and "geometric-
optics model"[4], is commonly used to
describe the phenomenon and the setup in
the research process. The pertinent previous
studies and experiments are briefly
introduced as well.
Figures and graphs are used in all
three papers to show the setup, explain the
theory, and demonstrate the result of the
experiment. However, a table with detailed
data or raw data is not typical since they
might be included as a graph to show the
final result. All the figures are clearly
labeled with the number following by a
specific explanation about the figure.
Moreover, they generally spend about half a
page on each figure.
The overall citation style is APA but
could vary in detail. The most important
common feature they have is the number in
front of each reference. A number with a
square bracket(the numbers are not
necessarily set at the end of a sentence) is
used to indicate the source of reference or
something that is not original, and is able to
be traced to the reference section at the very
end. The similar strategy is also applied
when discussing the data and calculation.
The formula is put into a separate line
following by a number with small brackets.
The space and margin between the context
and formula are larger than regular.
However, each paper practices some
uniqueness of the citation due to the
personal reference without the coherence
being damaged. For example, Italics are
used in Bentsen's reference section but not
Belsky's.
The ending of each article varies in detail.
For instance, since Raskovskaya's article is
originally written in Russian, it has a
translator's name at the very end. Belsky's
paper has additional references, and
Bentsen's paper has an acknowledgment
section.
Discussion
The abstract in this discipline is
relatively short because the experimental
result and validness of hypothesis are
displayed explicitly, which can be conveyed
concisely in one or two sentences; being
isolated from the main structurer of the
context makes this section conspicuous from
other part, which allows the audience to
catch the key point of the paper. To be
specific, the words "theoretically and
experimentally" clearly show that the entire
project is tested in 2 conditions. For
Raskovskaya's article, even there is much
jargon, it's still not hard to understand the
result that the experimental outcome
matches the theoretical model without
knowing any of them. Making these kinds of
conclusion is important because physicists
want to find relevant work as quick as
possible when they are doing experiment
and research. This purpose is commonly
achieved by going through the abstract of an
article. Therefore, it’s necessary for abstract
to be succinct and clear.
PACS number, a scheme developed
in 1970, is the abbreviation of the Physics
and Astronomy Classification Scheme.
"PACS is a hierarchical partitioning of the
whole spectrum of subject matter in physics,
astronomy, and related sciences.[6]"It has
been used in Physical Review since 1975 to
identify fields and sub-fields of physics. As
a peer-reviewed article, it is essential to be
accessible no matter as a reference for future
research or for redoing the experiment to
test its validity. Thus, the feathers of
improving operational efficiency while
maintaining diagnostic ability allows
physicist to come back anytime when the
relevant information is needed.
The target audience of physics paper
are mainly experts and people with general
STEM knowledge. The frequent use of
jargon and a large number of abbreviations
create a barrier for normal people from
understanding the scientific concepts; and
the theory relates to the experiment is not
thoroughly explained, which requires at least
fundamental knowledge to understand.
Thus, it's assumed that the potential
audience of these articles are mainly
physicist and expert. However, on the
website of the physics department of UCSB,
"inter-disciplinary fields" is an important
characteristic when describing physics[5]. In
this case, it’s inevitable that some people
that are specialized in other fields need the
information from the physics paper.
Therefore, based on this feature, people can
assume that physics paper has potential to be
understood not only by experts. When the
cooperation of two different disciplines is
needed, a person with undergraduate
education might be able to understand the
content with some additional help, such as
understanding the general theory, jargon,
and abbreviation, due to the straightforward
logic of physics paper.
The paper is formatted in 2 columns
and single-spaced. But the formula has a
larger margin in a separate line so that the
reader, especially the experts, can easily go
through the calculation and understand the
experiment. This is also achieved by citing
numbers after formulas because some of the
theory and the formulas are very important
and being reused many times through the
paper. If they are labeled with the author's
name, or the number after the formulas are
eliminated, it will waste more space and
cause confusion. The same factor is
considered for using the abbreviation, which
can reduce the redundancy of the paper.
The use of figures is not an unusual
way in the STEM field to demonstrate the
data. But comparing with other information,
figures take much more space than other
section. Why do physicists put so many
efforts to save space, as it was stated in
previous paragraph, but making the figures
so large? Generally, since physics are more
sensitive to data, figures and trend instead of
sentences, displaying experimental data by
using large figure helps reader quickly
identify the key point and visualize the
result. For an academic paper, details such
as background information, are needed to
follow the preciseness. But the experts,
especially those who have solid relevant
knowledge and want to dig the information
they need as fast as possible, might look at
the figures directly since they have enough
discipline-related information to understand
the meaning of figures.
In conclusion, physics paper is
designed to be understood by two groups of
audience, including experts and non-experts.
For non-experts, if an undergraduate student
who doesn’t have sufficient knowledge to
understand but want to explore this area, all
the relevant information is supplied to help [4] Raskovskaya, I. L., Rinkevichyus, B. S.,
him. However, the majority audience is Tolkachev, A. V., & Shirinskaya, E. S.
actually the expert who might use peer- (2009). Refraction of a cylindrical laser
reviewed articles as reference to do further beam in a boundary temperature layer.
study. It’s just like when searching Optics and Spectroscopy, 106(6), 904–
something on Wikipedia, all information is 909. doi: 10.1134/s0030400x09060198
provided but the key point is presented on [5] (n.d.). Retrieved from
the top of the pages. The specific detail https://physics.ucsb.edu/about
below the key point is like the condensed [6] Physics and Astronomy Classification
content of physics paper to help reader fully Scheme (PACS). (2008, January 11).
understand the concepts. But what physicist Retrieved from
really care about is the figures, equation and https://journals.aps.org/PACS
those that occupy more space, which can
directly give them the result of the articles.
All these literacy practices are important for
the reader to understand the information
quickly because physics used these papers as
their source of theoretical foundation to do
further research. When doing a research, it
would be convenient for them to get the
result they want if the paper is formatted in a
way that the important information can be
easily found by expert. Thus, although
physics paper requires a certain level of
background knowledge to understand, the
format, use of language, and references are
intended to help the reader catch the main
idea as soon as possible.
Reference
[1] physics (n.). (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.etymonline.com/word/ph
ysics
[2] Bentsen, M., Evensen, G., Drange, H., &
Jenkins, A. D. (1999). Coordinate
Transformation on a Sphere Using
Conformal Mapping*. Monthly Weather
Review, 127(12), 2733–2740. doi:
10.1175/1520-
0493(1999)127<2733:ctoasu>2.0.co;2
[3] Belsky, A., & Stepanov, M. (1999).
Internal conical refraction of coherent
light beams. Optics Communications,
167(1-6), 1–5. doi: 10.1016/s0030-
4018(99)00251-5