Discoveries about a Written Discovery
As time has progressed the science field continues to expand every single day, we read about new discoveries that progress us towards a better and more advanced future. Just like the multiple discoveries we read about each that lies one that is introduced in the article, “Mimicking Nature to Provide Long-Lasting Local Anesthesia”. This article goes into depth explaining a new discovery and is a great article we can break down to learn each aspect of what the author is trying to convey to us.
Now that I have mentioned author why don’t we begin with who actually wrote this article. The author of this article is Bethany Tripp who is a representative of the Boston children’s Hospital. According to linkedin she currently holds the position of media relations manager at the hospital. It is very important to also notice that as stated in the article, “The findings will appear in Nature Biomedical Engineering”. (Tripp pg.11) This can make us as reader wonder what type of article this really is and whether there is a combined team working on a bigger picture that Tripp only shares a piece of.
This is when we can start to think about the genre of this article. Now each piece of writing can be perceived to be various genres but if not supported by actual findings in the reading itself does it really hold up to those standards. In this case I believe this writing to be a public relations article. The article has been written to promote/ bring forth the work being done at the children hospital. The article gives a brief break down of the new discovery of the “slow-release system for site 1 sodium channel blocker” (Tripp, pg.1) and brings reliability to what is being stated because it is very close the actual scholarly source. Like mentioned before the article clearly states, “The findings will appear in Nature Biomedical Engineering” (Tripp pg.11), implying that there is a bigger version of this available and this is just a glimpse at a bigger experiment.
The purpose of this article is very closely tied to the genre of this article. Since this article is a public relation article the main purpose for Tripp as the author is to showcase/inform the audience of what is coming out the doors of the hospital. She wants to bring eyes to the discovery and the team behind it but also at the same time bring the spotlight to the hospital. Tripp’s purpose is a success if she can publicize the research of the doctors of the hospital.
Now we might have understood Tripp’s purpose of writing this article but who is her intended audience. Through her choice of words, you can clearly notice that her audience is the science community. When explaining the discovery and how it came to be she does tend to use a lot of science terminology. For example, as stated in the text, “The team then put the tetrodotoxin-bearing nanostructures to the test, injecting them near the sciatic nerves of live rats.” This clearly goes to showcase how Tripp uses words such as sciatic nerves and nanostructure to attract eyes of people that would understand such terminology.
To attract her audience Tripp uses a very professional tone. Throughout she uses words that are related to a professional setting and in this case that setting would be the science field. As stated in the article, “This caused the resulting molecules to assemble themselves into nanostructures with the two peptides positioned together, mimicking the way they’re positioned on the sodium channel.” (Tripp, pg.4) As you can see in this sentence there are many words such as molecules and nanostructures which are words that you would use when speaking professionally about a science topic. These word choices throughout the article set the tone to be very professional and informative.
Throughout this article Tripp’s stance has been very promotional and to market the hospital success. We must remember that her whole purpose throughout this article is to publicize the research of the doctors at the Children hospital therefore she must have a very encouraging and welcoming tone while promoting this promotional stance. Through this writing she is able to showcase that the team of doctors have done a splendid job and continues to bring change to the overall science community. Even though she might not have clearly stated it but her various quotes that showcase the change this research will have point towards this. For example, “In theory, it could be applied to different drugs and other receptor–drug interactions…”(Tripp, Pg.14) This clearly goes to showcase one quote she uses to tell readers that what these doctors have done will not only be used in one part of the medical field but can be transferred to others as well.
The language a writer uses is a very important to conveying an overall message. However, for this article I feel that the medium influences the language a bit also. Since the medium of this article can be best described as an online public relation article posted on a science website Tripp uses a lot of scientific term to catch the readers eyes. At many points she uses terminology that maybe only people that have some sort of interest or know something about the science would know about. For example, as stated in the text, “When this structure is injected near the target nerve, the tetrodotoxin slowly releases itself by diffusion and other processes, and binds to P1 and P2 on the nerve itself.” (Tripp pg.10) In this sentence it is important for us to notice words such as diffusion and tetrodotoxin and even simple words like bind which have a deeper meaning. Now if a science student or even if a scientist were to read this it would be very unlikely for them to not understand this terminology as opposed to an average human being not really interest in the topic.
In conclusion all these rhetorical terms have worked together to emphasize Tripp’s point of view as an author of this article. With the use of these terms, she can cover each aspect required in a good piece of writing. As all of these terms come together her structure of her writing builds like a staircase. With the terms connecting with one another to emphasis importance and her point of view she wouldn’t be able to share her directions to solving her “puzzle” with us. Whether you’re the best writer or whether you’re the worst these terms will be the roots to your tree as a writer.
Work Cited
- FeaturedNeurologyNeuroscience·September 13, 2021, et al. “Mimicking Nature to Provide Long-Lasting Local Anesthesia.”Neuroscience News, 13 Sept. 2021, neurosciencenews.com/sodium-channel-blocker-anesthesia-19311/.
