ACARA v9 CONTENT DESCRIPTION “write and create texts to communicate ideas, findings and arguments for specific purposes and audiences, including selection of appropriate language and text features, using digital tools as appropriate”
Builds on communicating findings clearly. Now the same investigation must reach more than one audience and carry an argument, not just a result. The text type, the language register and the features you add all change with the purpose and the reader you are writing for.
One investigation, many possible texts
Suppose your class set up seismometers at five towns at increasing distance from an active plate boundary and counted the earthquakes recorded at each over a year. You now have a finding and an argument: that quakes grow rarer the further a town sits from the boundary, which supports the idea that the boundary is where the plates grind. That same result can become a formal lab report, a public infographic or a labelled cross-section diagram, and the three are not interchangeable. Each suits a different purpose and audience, and each calls for different language and text features. Choosing well is part of the science, not a decoration added at the end.
Show the trend that carries the argument
Your stations recorded the number of earthquakes over a year at five towns, ordered from nearest the plate boundary to furthest away. Switch between the table, the bar chart and the line graph and decide which form makes the argument easiest to see.
Distance from the boundary is a continuous scale that the quake count falls along, so the line graph carries the argument best: the steady downward slope shows at once that quakes thin out the further you go from the boundary. A reader grasps the relationship from the shape of the line, which is exactly the idea the report is arguing for.
The audience and purpose decide the text type
There is no single best way to share this finding. A form that satisfies a marking teacher may overwhelm a passer-by at a science fair, and a form that fits a poster may be too thin for a formal record. Each text type gains something for one audience and gives something up for another. Pick a way to present the earthquake findings, name its audience, and weigh what that choice wins against what it costs.
Choose the text type, and name its audience
You must share the earthquake-and-distance findings. Each text type suits a particular audience and purpose. Choose one and weigh the gain against the cost.
Communicating is a chain of choices, not one right answer. The strongest text type depends on who the reader is and what they need to do with it.
Choose a response to see what is gained and what is given up.
Within a text, every feature is a choice
Once the text type is set, the language register and the text features still have to fit the purpose. Headings, captions, a data table, a labelled diagram and a cited source can each sharpen an argument or blur it, depending on how they are used. Below is a draft lab report on the earthquake investigation, written for a science teacher. Sort the design choices that strengthen it from the ones that work against it.
Which choices fit the report\u2019s purpose?
A student is drafting a formal lab report on how earthquake frequency fell with distance from the plate boundary, written for a science teacher to assess. Sort each choice as one that fits the purpose and audience, or one that misfits.
Claim: The lab report communicates the earthquake findings and argument soundly to its audience.
The graph is titled "Earthquakes per year against distance from the plate boundary" and both axes are labelled with their units.
A line graph is used, because distance from the boundary is a continuous scale that the quake count changes along.
The data source and the method are cited so the teacher can check and repeat the investigation.
Slang and casual asides written for friends replace the precise wording a formal report needs.
A bright untitled picture with no axis labels is added so readers must guess what it shows.
Decide whether each statement is evidence for the claim, or not.
An argument can be revised as it is communicated
Communicating a finding is also where an argument gets tested. As you draft, a reader or a new measurement can expose a gap, and a careful communicator updates the claim rather than defending the first version. Step through how the earthquake argument tightened as each response came in.
How the argument was refined as it was shared
Step through the responses the draft argument received and watch the claim sharpen each time.
New evidence (1 of 3)
The first draft simply states that towns further from the boundary had fewer quakes.
Accepted model: Quakes are fewer further from the boundary.
Add the next piece of evidence and watch whether the accepted model holds or has to change.
Why this matters
A finding that no one can act on changes nothing. Geologists warning a city, engineers siting a building and reporters explaining a hazard all depend on shaping the same evidence for very different readers. Choosing the right text type, the right register and the right features, and using digital tools to build them, turns your results into an argument others can understand, trust and use.
Quick self-check
1. Your class measured how the number of earthquakes per year changes with distance from a plate boundary, and wants to report it to a science teacher. Which text type fits that purpose best?
2. You are turning the same findings into a poster for the general public at a science fair. Which language choice best fits that audience?
3. Which text feature would most help a reader understand how the recording stations were arranged across the fault?
4. When you choose between a lab report, an infographic and a spoken talk, what should decide the choice?
5. Why is citing the data source and method in a report a sound communication choice for a scientific audience?