13. Other publications for guidance
AR Index 5
National Geographic Kids, Outside, National Wildlife, Discover, Yes
Magazine
AR Index 4
Popular Science, Cosmos, National Geographic, iD, Wired
AR Index 3
New York Times, Guardian, Financial Times features
AR Index 2
Scientific American, Wikipedia
AR Index 1
Nature, Riken Research, Science magazine
14. AR Index 5-4:
? The target readership is readers who may be interested in science, or may simply have a
vague interest in the current topic. They could also be schoolchildren interested in Earth
science. They may not have the wish or need to work too hard to understand the text, but
may respond to a strong metaphor or narrative. Our text, we hope, will spark interest in
such readers.
? We can use more descriptive language, and phrases that help to anchor the reader in the
real world, e.g. "the earth rumbling beneath your feet ... " etc. This relaxes the reader and
draws them into the story. We can also use metaphors, descriptions of the labs, stories
about the researchers’ lives and that sort of thing.
? We should not assume too much knowledge on the part of these readers.
AR Index 3:
? Target is press releases for use in newspapers and magazines for a general readership.
? We want to make things easier for a reporter to write a story appropriate for his or her
readership.
? We try to find a "hook," to spark interest in a general reader, such as an immediate
application toward solving a real-world problem, a reference to a scientific controversy or
to science fiction, and the like. Depending on the subject, we may want to include more
background information to place the story in scientific and societal context.
? A newspaper would want a punchy news-style lead paragraph, while a magazine article
would ease into the story a bit more – we could provide both. We might include personal
background of the researchers, their motivation, etc., if it is pertinent.
15. AR Index 2:
? Target is an educated popular-science reader who is interested in the current topic.
We can use more numbers (which might scare off lower level readers), as well as
scientific concepts, references to previous work and more difficult and higher level
vocabulary. We can include more discussion about methodology.
AR Index 1:
? Target is people with a technical background, such as researchers in other fields,
people with engineering background and the like. We can include equations,
citations, footnotes, discussion of methodology, etc.
?The diction and vocabulary should vary appropriately with the levels -- things like the
difficulty of the words we use, the length and complexity of sentences, etc., should differ
depending on the level. We will refine this as the program progresses.