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Communicating with Data Communicating with Data The Art of Writing for Data Science deborah nolan sara stoudt 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxford,OX26DP, UnitedKingdom OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwide.Oxfordisaregisteredtrademarkof OxfordUniversityPressintheUKandincertainothercountries ©DeborahNolanandSaraStoudt2021 Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted FirstEditionpublishedin2021 Impression:1 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutthe priorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress,orasexpresslypermitted bylaw,bylicenceorundertermsagreedwiththeappropriatereprographics rightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproductionoutsidethescopeofthe aboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment,OxfordUniversityPress,atthe addressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisworkinanyotherform andyoumustimposethissameconditiononanyacquirer PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyOxfordUniversityPress 198MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016,UnitedStatesofAmerica BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2020952658 ISBN 978–0–19–886274–1(hbk.) ISBN 978–0–19–886275–8(pbk.) DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198862741.001.0001 Printedandboundby CPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CR04YY LinkstothirdpartywebsitesareprovidedbyOxfordingoodfaithand forinformationonly.Oxforddisclaimsanyresponsibilityforthematerials containedinanythirdpartywebsitereferencedinthiswork. 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