The ABT narrative structure is actually really quite common in good science communications. Now that I know to look for it, I often see it in some of the better articles that are written about science for the general public. So, I've taken a few examples I want to show them to you so that you can see this structure in real world context. So, here's one. This is an article that was published in The Conversation. "Can low doses of chemicals affect your health? A new report weighs the evidence." So, this first paragraph is about "and" stuff, it's background. Toxicology's founding father is famous for proclaiming the dose makes the poison. The phrase represents the pillar of traditional toxicology. Essentially, chemicals are harmful only at high enough doses. All background information. Then what's the next word that leads off the next paragraph? "But". But increasing evidence suggests that even low levels of endocrine disrupting chemicals can interfere with hormonal signals. Standard toxicity tests don't always detect the effects that chemicals can have at lower levels, and even when the data do suggest such effects, scientists and policymakers may not act upon this information in a timely manner. Notice that all of what I just read our "but" statements. They're all things that are increasing the tension that we might feel, which leads directly to the "therefore" paragraph. Therefore. It doesn't say therefore but it's implied. "Recognizing these challenges, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA, has asked a committee of scientists to study the issue in detail." Notice that that makes total sense now, now that we've gone through the background, the "and" part and the "but". We've established the tension and we want to resolve that tension so it's a really good idea that somebody is going to be studying this issue. Notice also that the paragraph structure makes this easy to follow. You have an "and" paragraph, you have a couple "but" paragraphs, and then you have a "therefore" paragraph. The "but" paragraph serves as the focus. It tells us what the problems are, why we should be caring about this. Now, here's another one that presented its core ABT narrative after a couple of introductory paragraphs. So, I'm only getting down, I've a clipped out the introduction, but I'm getting down to the "but". So, here the story is, the title of the story, "Beaches are becoming safer for baby sea turtles, but threats await them in the ocean." So, the "and" paragraph has background information." Today, most coastal areas protect beaches during the nesting season. Agencies, researchers, volunteers, monitor beaches and help hatchlings make it to the water, and these measures have helped turtle populations to increase," and there's an example statistic. What comes next, "but". "But turtles face many hazards in the water including plastic pollution and accidental harm or death in encounters with commercial fishermen." Now, here they've included the "therefore" in the same paragraph. It doesn't say therefore but it is obvious. Therefore, "the future of sea turtle research depends on finding new ways to assess turtles status and trends at sea as well as on the beach." Notice the tension here is, "We're good on the beaches. We're not so good in the water." By highlighting that tension, it leads to the "therefore". "Therefore, we need to study this more. We need to find new ways to assess the turtle status and trends while they're at sea." All right. Pretty much, also notice the ABT is even in the title. "Beaches are becoming safer for baby sea turtles, but threats awaits them in the ocean." The "therefore" is unsaid in the title, which is actually good for a title because it makes you want to read more. I'm like, "Therefore, what are we going to do about this? I need to read more." All right. One last example. A bit more subtle, but still, the structures there. Here, "Ticks and mosquitoes are bringing more diseases. What can we do?" So, you've got two paragraphs at the beginning that are about disease. "Cases of vector-borne disease have more than doubled, and mosquitoes and ticks are bearing most of the blame." Second paragraph. "Mosquitoes, long spreaders of malaria and yellow fever also spread other diseases. The insects are largely responsible for making West Nile virus endemic in the continental US." So, you've got the second paragraph. It's setting you up. Mosquitoes, they're big, and then you switch. It doesn't say "but", but implies, "But ticks, which are not insects but parasitic arthropods, actually cause more disease in the US than mosquitoes do. " Notice there's a sudden tension there. Whoa, wait a second. It's not actually about just the mosquitoes. It's also about the ticks and the ticks cause more disease. Because of that "but", now the "therefore" paragraph focuses us on, "Whoa, wait a second. Why is this happening? Why the uptick in disease, and more importantly, how can we protect ourselves against these things?" So, the structure here is that tension between the vectors who we often think of spreading disease, but ticks actually cause more disease, and that's the tension that draws you into wanting to know more about what we should do about this. The point is, ABT structures are actually quite common in clear science communication. They help structure the way in which the story is told so that you want to learn more, and as a result, you should be considering using them too when you're trying to communicate about science or about health information that you want people to care about.
