Metacognitive Reflection of Genre Translation: From Scientific Research Paper to Newspaper

Article

Sarah He

Writing 2: Professor Bocchino

March 6th, 2024

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The topic of social media has rapidly become a common topic in our society. While some

people purely use it for enjoyment purposes, others have become completely dependent on social

media and view it as a necessity. Intrigued by its impact on daily life, I explored research on its

drawbacks, particularly its effects on one’s mental well-being. The article, Sleeplessness Due to

Social Media, appealed to me as it approached the drawbacks of social media on a research level,

validating their findings and giving insight into the influence of social media. However, scientific

research papers are rather dense and complex, making their primary intended audience the

scientific community with the acquired skills of comprehending complex data and academic

language. Recognizing the need to share this knowledge with the public, I chose to translate the

complex research into a newspaper article, aiming to make the information more accessible to

the general public. Through changes in writing conventions such as tone, audience, headings,

and the inclusion of visual elements, the message was effectively conveyed to a wider audience

in the form of a new genre, fostering awareness of social media's impact on mental health.

The scientific research genre involves many complex elements of writing conventions,

including the structuring of the articles, maintaining a formal tone, and presenting data to explain

the research process and discoveries. The authors structured the article using headings such as

"Introduction," "Research background," "Theory and Hypothesis Development," "Materials and

Methods," "Discussion," and "Conclusions" to guide the audience through the experiment.1 The

tone throughout the article remains academic and incorporates data as the authors explain their

research process and findings, stating, "The study B model predicted a 25.1% variance for

problematic sleep in working professionals.”2 The article follows the writing conventions of a

1
Anushree Tandon, et. al, “Sleepless Due to Social Media? Investigating Problematic Sleep Due
to Social Media and Social Media Sleep Hygiene,” Computers in human behavior 113, (2020): 1,
2, 5, 6, 8.
2
Tandon, et al, “Sleepless Due to Social Media,” 5.
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scientific research article to prove the validity of the study, allowing the intended audience to

follow the experiment from start to finish. The elements comprising the scientific research genre

of the article elucidate the characteristics of the respective discourse community, including the

use of specialized language, and evidence-based argumentation. Scientists primarily

communicate within their discourse community, relying heavily on specialized language,

statistical knowledge, and specific terminology. In the research article, the authors state “IBM

SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 25.0 were used for statistical analyses” facilitating clear and efficient

communication and reflecting the precision and complexity of scientific research.3 The scientific

research genre employs structured formats, a formal tone, and data-driven explanations to

validate the studies and advance comprehension. Through specialized language and

evidence-based argumentation, scientists communicate with precision and clarity, reflecting the

distinct characteristics of their discourse community.

Newspaper articles serve the purpose of compressing dense information into short and

intriguing paragraphs for the general public to enjoy. The newspaper article genre has many

conventions, including large headings, a ledge, an objective tone with less academic diction, and

visual elements, making it attractive to the public to read and comprehend. During my research

process of genre conventions of newspaper articles, I discovered a newspaper article about

women’s mental health where the title “Women and Depression: Discovering Hope” is bolded in

large letters on the top of the page, attracting the attention of readers who might be interested in

the topic.4 Furthermore, subheadings such as “what are the different forms of depression” and

“chemicals and hormones” are used to effectively separate the articles into smaller sections,

making it easier for the reader to follow along. In a different newspaper article on the topic of the

3
Tandon, et al, “Sleepless Due to Social Media,” 5.
4
“Women’s Issue in Mental Health,” Mental Health News, 2011
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bombing of Pearl Harbor, the article’s tone was solely objective and informative, conveying the

message that “the army has ordered all civilians to stay off the streets and highways and not use

telephones.”5 The diction chosen was rather informal, allowing the audience to easily understand

the context of the article to the full extent. Both newspaper articles begin with a ledge that

introduces the article's topic briefly, providing a summary of the information discussed in the

writing without delving into specifics. Furthermore, pictures and visual arrangement exist in both

examples of newspaper articles to make the page more visually attractive at first glance.

Newspaper articles effectively condense complex information into digestible formats for the

general public, employing various conventions such as bold headings, an objective tone, a ledge,

and visual arrangement to enhance readability and comprehension.

The translation from a scientific article to a newspaper article required focusing on one

part of the research paper and effectively conveying the message using an alternate format and

tone. I began the translation process by creating a ledge to hook the reader to my article while

summarizing the content of my writing before diving into the details. Subsequently, I decided to

focus on the explanation of their findings of the positive association between compulsive use of

social media (CSMU) and psychological traits and sleep hygiene. In the original article, the

authors state, “CSMU and PS were measured with two items… both measures possess sufficient

Spearman-Brown reliability value.”6 This explanation of their data illustrates the positive

correlation between CSMU and problematic sleep but is targeted at the scientific community and

requires scientific and statistical knowledge to understand. In an attempt to translate this

information into a newspaper article, I excluded unnecessary information such as the

“Spearman-Brown reliability value,” as the general public would not comprehend its meaning,

5
“War! Oahu Bombed By Japanese Planes,” United Press, December 7, 1941.
6
Tandon, et al, “Sleepless Due to Social Media,” 5.
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and simplified the diction, conveying the message by saying, “CSMU also undermines one’s

sleep quality.”7 As for the structure of my newspaper article, I decided to divide my writing into

three subheadings, “Psychological Impacts,” “Sleep Hygiene,” and “Problematic Sleep,”

reflecting the primary themes explored in the original piece. Utilizing a newspaper article

template as a guide, I integrated pictures alongside each section to enhance visual appeal and

adherence to the genre's conventions. During my translation, I intentionally used the “inner

detective” technique from our class reading, Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking), while translating

the texts. This involved constantly asking myself, “What types of details did you find yourself

adding and why,” allowing myself to reflect on what details I could include to make the

newspaper article more informative.8 Upon reflection, I chose to include the parts of the original

article that introduce previous studies that further elaborate on the positive correlation between

CSMU and problematic sleep, explaining that “social media often overrides their commitment to

regular sleep schedules, mediating the correlation between CSMU and cognitive sleep failures in

one’s daily life, leading to a notable decline in the students’ sleep quality.” Another skill I used to

adapt to the genre conventions while translating my text was focusing on the title of my

newspaper article as Rosenburg states in Reading Games, “the title can convey a lot of

information that can help you figure out how to read the rest of the article more efficiently.”9

Taking this into consideration, the title of the newspaper article was arguably the most important

part of the article, serving the purpose of attracting readers' attention and summarizing the

information in the article. I focused my efforts on creating a title that was appealing but also

comprehensive, summarizing the articles’ content. In the process of translation, I was concerned
7
Tandon, et al, “Sleepless Due to Social Media,” 5.
8
Janet Boyd, “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking),” in Writing Spaces, vol. 2, ed. Charley Lowe and
Pavel Zemliansky, (Parlor Press, 2011), 2.
9
Karen Rosenburg, “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources,” in Writing
Spaces, vol. 2, ed. Charley Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, (Parlor Press, 2011), 6.
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about omitting the academic details of the research paper and not being able to validate my

argument. However, I was able to effectively summarize the findings and include previously

conducted studies to solidify the information in my newspaper article. Overall, the process of my

translation required adding elements of the newspaper article’s genre conventions and excluding

the academic details of the research article to successfully create a new text serving the purpose

of conveying the message to the general public.

The translation process from a scientific research article to a newspaper article required a

focused approach, emphasizing key findings, changing to a more informal tone for a broader

audience, and including newspaper article genre conventions such as a ledge. By simplifying

language and highlighting significant points, such as the positive association between social

media use and mental health issues, the message was effectively conveyed in the newspaper

article. Incorporating techniques like the "inner detective" method and strategic title selection

helped enhance the article's readability and appeal.10 Including visual elements and relevant

information from the original research ensured the quality of the article. Ultimately, the

translation process successfully transformed complex scientific content into an accessible format

of a newspaper article, fulfilling the goal of spreading awareness and understanding among the

general public on social media and mental well-being.

10
Boyd, “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking),” 2.
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Bibliography

Janet Boyd. “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking).” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Vol. 2.

edited by Charley Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. (Parlor Press, 2011).

Karen Rosenburg. “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources,” Writing Spaces:

Readings on Writing, Vol. 2. edited by Charley Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. (Parlor

Press, 2011).

Anushree Tandon, Anushree, Puneet Kaur, Matti Mantym, and Amandeep Dhir. “Sleepless Due

to Social Media? Investigating Problematic Sleep Due to Social Media and Social Media

Sleep Hygiene.” Computers in human behavior, Vol. 113, 2020, p.106487