Saturday, January 28, 2012

What scientists say in research papers vs. What they actually mean

http://io9.com/5880128/what-scientists-say-in-research-papers-vs-what-they-actually-mean

There's a secret code hiding in many a scientific research paper, but it's not the key to immortality or a way to turn maple syrup into rocket fuel. No, it's the code that tells you precisely what was going through the researcher's head as he or she was writing the paper. Fair warning: once you've seen what thoughts lurk behind these seemingly innocuous phrases, they cannot be unseen.

While I suspect that whoever is behind these good-natured jabs has written a lot of scientific papers themselves, I'd love to see them take on other academic disciplines and their best crutch phrases.

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