> Research papers, to be maximally reusable and future-proof, should prefer to present information in as plain English as possible and commonly-used mathematic terminology and symbols rather than obscure forms where possible. Using big words (or Latin) doesn't add profoundness, but they can add artistic flair in other contexts where elucidation isn't the goal. ;-)
As someone with a background in academia, I have to disagree with the assertion that papers should be written in "plain English" and some lowest-common-denominator of symbolism.
It doesn't make me happy to argue against that, but the truth is that scientific papers MUST build on previous knowledge. No leading gene editing research paper is coming out with long-winded prose explaining what DNA and RNA are. No particle physics paper coming out of CERN is going to avoid quantum field theory jargon and terminology in the hopes that a lay person with a pre-calculus level of math education is going to be able to study the results and understand it. How many times longer would these papers be if they did try to do that? My calculus book from undergrad was some 600 pages long (it covered three semesters, to be fair)--now imagine that the people writing these papers read that 600 page book in their first one or two years of undergrad, and then proceeded to study their subject for AT LEAST another 6 years (closer to 8 for physics) before getting "Dr" in front of their name. How many pages would a research paper need to be for a lay person to understand? Probably pretty long.
The truth is that there sometimes IS NOT a "plain English" way to explain something. Yes, you can use inaccurate metaphors and analogies about cats in boxes, but that doesn't lead to someone actually understanding the Schrodinger equation and Hilbert spaces. Believe it or not, scientists are not sitting around all day figuring out which Latin words will sound the most "profound" in their prose. Those are just the words they really actually use. Because words have meaning and some ideas are so common that they deserve to be condensed into a word, or an equation, or a symbol...
At the end of the day, these papers are written to advance the respective field of study. The best way to do that is to write papers that are going to be relevant to people who might actually build on the results. The people who might actually build on the results are going to be people who understand the requisite background information. If Joe Schmoe wants to read a particle physics paper, then he better pull out his high school math books and work his way up to at least a masters degree level understanding of physics and mathematics.
I would never go into the kitchen of a professional chef and tell her to stop referring to a "paring knife" or a "fillet knife" because I'm not familiar with cooking jargon. I wouldn't tell her that she has to re-explain what shape those knives have every time she explains a new recipe or technique. I would just have to learn the jargon if I actually cared enough.
As someone with a background in academia, I have to disagree with the assertion that papers should be written in "plain English" and some lowest-common-denominator of symbolism.
It doesn't make me happy to argue against that, but the truth is that scientific papers MUST build on previous knowledge. No leading gene editing research paper is coming out with long-winded prose explaining what DNA and RNA are. No particle physics paper coming out of CERN is going to avoid quantum field theory jargon and terminology in the hopes that a lay person with a pre-calculus level of math education is going to be able to study the results and understand it. How many times longer would these papers be if they did try to do that? My calculus book from undergrad was some 600 pages long (it covered three semesters, to be fair)--now imagine that the people writing these papers read that 600 page book in their first one or two years of undergrad, and then proceeded to study their subject for AT LEAST another 6 years (closer to 8 for physics) before getting "Dr" in front of their name. How many pages would a research paper need to be for a lay person to understand? Probably pretty long.
The truth is that there sometimes IS NOT a "plain English" way to explain something. Yes, you can use inaccurate metaphors and analogies about cats in boxes, but that doesn't lead to someone actually understanding the Schrodinger equation and Hilbert spaces. Believe it or not, scientists are not sitting around all day figuring out which Latin words will sound the most "profound" in their prose. Those are just the words they really actually use. Because words have meaning and some ideas are so common that they deserve to be condensed into a word, or an equation, or a symbol...
At the end of the day, these papers are written to advance the respective field of study. The best way to do that is to write papers that are going to be relevant to people who might actually build on the results. The people who might actually build on the results are going to be people who understand the requisite background information. If Joe Schmoe wants to read a particle physics paper, then he better pull out his high school math books and work his way up to at least a masters degree level understanding of physics and mathematics.
I would never go into the kitchen of a professional chef and tell her to stop referring to a "paring knife" or a "fillet knife" because I'm not familiar with cooking jargon. I wouldn't tell her that she has to re-explain what shape those knives have every time she explains a new recipe or technique. I would just have to learn the jargon if I actually cared enough.