Table Of ContentCommunicating with
Data
Communicating with
Data
The Art of Writing
for Data Science
deborah nolan
sara stoudt
1
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP,
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ToOurDads–BillandGary
Preface
C
ommunicationiscriticalyetoftenoverlookedinthedata-sciencepipeline.This
bookaimstohelpstudentsandresearcherswriteabouttheirdatainsightsinaway
thatisbothcompellingandfaithfultothedata.Weaddresswritingchallengesspecificto
scientificinvestigationsofdata,suchashowtodescribedatasuccinctly,createeffective
visualizations,writecleancode,andaccuratelysummarizestatisticalfindings.Wealso
providemoregeneraladviceonsciencewriting,includinghowtodistillfindingsintoa
storyandorganizeandrevisethestory,andhowtowriteclearly,concisely,andprecisely.
Objective Inourexperience,universitytraininginwritingrarelyaddressesthechal-
lenges associated with technical writing. Our students lack opportunities to practice
writingabouttheirdata-analyticprocessesandtolearnfromexamplesofgood,domain-
specific writing. To compound this problem, instructors of science courses typically
havelittleexperienceinteachingtechnicalwriting.Manyofusfinditdifficulttogive
studentsadvicewhenwehaveonlyourpersonalexperiencewithwritingtodrawfrom.
Inthisbook,weattempttoaddressboththeteachingandlearningchallengesrelevant
tocommunicatingthestorybehindadataanalysis.
Audience We aim for this book to be a resource for students who want to learn
howtowriteaboutscientificfindingswherethefocusisonpresentingtheresultsof
adataanalysis.Instructorsteachingacourseinsciencecommunicationcanuseitasa
textbook,andothersteachingasciencecoursethathasawritingcomponentcanuse
thebookasasupplement.Inaddition,aresearcherwhoislookingforhelpwritingcan
usethisbooktoself-train.Practicingstatisticians,datascientists,orscientistswhoneed
assistancewithwritingabouttheirdataanalysisfindingswillhopefullyfindguidance
theycanusetopracticetheircommunicationskillsinthecontextoftheirownwork.
The only prerequisite is a knowledge of statistics at the introductory level. While
we expect the reader to have at least a rudimentary understanding of statistics, the
principlesofcommunicationfoundonthesepagescarryovertowritingaboutmore
complexdataanalyses.
Examples and Activities Each chapter includes many examples and concludes
withacollectionofactivitiesforpracticewriting.Theseexamplesandactivitiescome
fromseveralscientificfieldsandabroadvarietyofpublications.Themainsourcesare
viii | Preface
scientificjournals,buttheadviceisequallyrelevanttowritingareportforasupervisor,
apaperforaninstructor,oranarticleforapopularmagazine.Tothispoint,weuse
the terms article, paper, and report interchangeably throughout. Additionally, many
oftheactivitiesattheendofchaptersgivepracticeforthosewhowanttowritefora
broaderaudience,suchasablogpostorpressrelease.Wehavehonedtheexamplesand
activitiesinthisbooktofocusontheessentialsofwritingaboutdataand,atthesame
time,wehaveattemptedtocreatescenariosthatallowforindividualcreativity.Also,
weusesamplesfromourownwritingandanonymizedstudentworkforexamplesof
whatnottodo.
Organization The book consists of five parts. Part I aims to help the novice learn
how to write by reading the work of others. We identify the main components of a
data analysis, examine the argument, and point out how components of an analysis
are organized into a story and written for a technical article. In addition, we read
and examine material written for broader audiences, e.g., press releases and blog
posts. Part II delves into the specifics of how to describe data at a level appropriate
forpublication,createinformativeandeffectivevisualizationsthatsupportthemain
findings, and communicate an analysis pipeline through well-written, reproducible
code.PartIIIdemonstrateshowtodistilladataanalysisintoacompellingstoryand
organizeandwritethefirstdraftofatechnicalpaper.PartIVaddressesrevision;this
includesadviceonwritingaboutstatisticalfindingsinaclearandaccurateway,general
writingadvice,andstrategiesforproof-readingandrevising.PartVgivesadviceabout
communication strategies beyond the page, which includes giving talks, building a
professionalnetwork,andparticipatinginonlinecommunities.Thispartalsoprovides
overtwentyportfolioassignmentsthatareaimedatbuildingupontheguidanceand
examplesintheearlierpartsofthebookandcontinuedwritingpractice.
We have provided online at http://communicating-with-data.github.io additional
materials to use in a course. These include a detailed week-by-week syllabus that
describes the topics covered, in-class activities, assignments, and additional reading.
Along with the syllabus, we providepointerstoavoidpotential problemswith some
classroomactivitiesandideasforgradingwrittenwork.Wealsogiveideasforhowto
usethisbookasasupplementaltextinasciencecourseorasthemaintextforalarge
courseintechnicalwritingwherethestudentworkismorelimitedinscope.
Acknowledgements Thisbookgrewoutofacourseontechnicalwritingthatwe
developed and first taught in the fall of 2017. Chapters 6 and 11 as well as portions
ofeachoftheChapters1–11makeuppartofSaraStoudt’sPhDdissertation.Weare
gratefultotheArtofWritingProgramatUCBerkeleyforprovidingagrantthatenabled
ustodesignandco-teachthecourse.Wealsooweadebtofgratitudetoourstudentswho
willinglyworkedwithusasweclass-testedanddevelopedtheactivities,assignments,
andcoursematerials.Theirrespectforeachother,goodhumor,anddiligencemadethe
coursearewardingexperienceforallofus.Thanksalsogotothosewhoreadearlier
versionsofthismanuscriptandtrieditoutwiththeirstudents.Inparticular,wethank
Preface | ix
BenBaumer,BethChance,KellyMcConville,AmeliaMcNamara,PamelaMatheson,
andSusanWang.
TheArtofWritingProgramalsosupportedourcreationofthisbookbyorganizing
a workshop where participants read and commented on all aspects of the book. We
are much indebted to the workshop participants: Andrew Bray, Kathleen Donegan,
NicholasHorton,RamonaNaddaff,andEvanVariano,fortheirthoughtfulandcon-
structivecommentsthatledtoamuch-improvedmanuscript.
Finally,thankyoutoallofthewriterswhoagreedtoletususetheirworkasexamples
throughoutthisbook.Weappreciateyourwillingnesstohaveotherslearnfromyouand
yourwriting.
DeborahNolanandSaraStoudt
July2020
