Rachael Natoli                                                                                                  10/15/16

INTD 105-19: Scientific Writing                                         About 230 Words

“Why a Goat May Stare at You With Puppy Dog Eyes” by Nsikan Akpan is a very good example of public facing science writing. It explains the topic clearly and simply to a an audience who possibly would not understand and or is not interested in hearing every piece of evidence about the subject that was studied. Including a lot of data can bog down an article making it an arduous task to read and difficult comprehend to the general public, even if the topic in general interests them. A good piece of public facing writing must teach the reader about the research generally and compellingly while also explaining why the experiment or finding is important to the reader and how it may affect them in the future. In this article specifically, enough but not too much complex information is included about an experiment in which goats are trained to do a task and then when the same task is made more difficult the goat would look into the eyes of the human in the room. The researchers seem to believe this eye contact is a form of animal to human communication. The article then goes on to explain why this response of eye contact is unique and important because it is rarely seen in undomesticated animals; they wonder if the animal is requesting help from the humans. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/why-a-goat-may-stare-at-you-with-puppy-dog-eyes/