Earth & Environmental Sciences

The Earth & Environmental Sciences faculty generated the following description in response to the question, “What characterizes academic and professional communication in this discipline?”

The Earth sciences are unique in that they require researchers to understand the historical background of a system in order to understand its current configuration and behavior and to predict its future behavior. The time dependence of many of the physical, chemical, and biological processes is such that even some modern processes can only be studied completely by including consideration of the geological record. Moreover, the configuration and behavior of the Earth and its biota as an integrated system of physical, chemical, and biological processes have evolved over 4.5 billion years, so even purely theoretical or experimental studies must often consider the temporal dimension. As writers, Earth scientists synthesize the geological history of a topic and place their own scientific examination within the context of this setting, whether the writing is in an academic mode or in the context of clients or stakeholders in the private or state sectors. In any particular instance of writing, Earth scientists commonly draw on concepts not only from many sub-disciplines of the field, but also from disparate other disciplines (e.g., physics, chemistry, mathematics, statistics, evolutionary biology, ecology, computer science).

Consequently, writing in Earth sciences is frequently highly integrative. Beyond this, writing in the Earth sciences is generally similar to writing in any other branch of the physical and life sciences in terms of the typical attributes of the different types of writing. These include:

• A logical structure that links questions, hypotheses, and/or models to data and/or observations and reflects
• the scientific reasoning from observations to conclusions
• Concise, clear, and logical statement of the problem(s) under investigation or hypothesis being tested, including discussion of the motivation for the observations or tests
• Appropriately comprehensive summary of the current state of knowledge of the system
• Synthesis of ideas and data from disparate sources and often scientific disciplines outside of Earth sciences proper
• Concise descriptions of observational settings; field, analytical, and/or experimental methods; and results in an organized fashion using clear and precise language
• Precise, complete, and explicit description and discussion of concepts, data, relationships between patterns and processes, and interpretations
• Use of informative graphics and appropriate quantitative concepts to present and describe the questions, hypotheses, and/or models under consideration and to present and describe data and results in support of interpretations and conclusions
• Summarize contributions of a particular study and lay out future work on the problem.

During its Legacy meetings, the Earth & Environmental Sciences faculty expanded its list of writing abilities in response to the question, “With which writing abilities should students in this unit’s major(s) graduate?”

Synthesis and summarization:

1. Synthesize information and ideas from multiple and/or disparate sources to gain information about the world around us and explain this understanding to readers.
2. Combine ideas into a novel combination to describe the evolution of a system in
   geological time.
3. Answer a question or test a hypothesis or model rather than simply list individual ideas from various sources

Addressing the target audience:

4. Communicate Earth Science concepts and information to diverse audiences, including other scientists, general public, government officials, and various stakeholders in a given issue involving Earth Science.
5. Write explicitly, precisely, and intentionally to the potential reader(s) so as to minimize alternative or ambiguous meanings or readings (except as intended).
6. Communicate clearly in writing what they did and observed (in the field and/or lab), read (in an article, book, and/or website), or heard (in class, lab, and/or the field) so that the observations are understandable to someone who was not present.

Figures, captions, equations:

7. Explain in words the meaning of data and figures so that they are understandable to a reader who does not have the data or figures.
8. Explain in words the meaning of complex equations that describe processes or concepts beyond simply stating the identity of each variable or component of an equation.

Clarity and organization:

9. Utilize constructive writing processes, like analytical reading, note-taking, outlining, drafting, and revising.
10. Construct a logical argument based on observations, data analysis, and synthesis of multiple
    sources.

Artificial intelligence literacy:

11. Adopt ethically sound, critical, and transparent approaches to AI use that support cognitive development rather than undermining learning.

Reader engagement:

12. Communicate to audiences in ways that are engaging through the use of narrative strategies, performative qualities, and compelling explanations.
13. Effectively use video, graphics, photos, presentations, and clear language to communicate complex ideas in ways that spark interest and excitement in the field.

Synthesis and summarization:

1. Includes multiple/disparate sources and is not overly narrow in scope
2. Combines multiple/disparate sources within a paragraph or section that is organized by a topic sentence and conclusion that is based on the synthesis of evidence
3. Includes original thought and analysis, goes beyond simple agglomeration of facts
4. Uses appropriate economy of language

Addressing the target audience:

5. Consistently uses language, content, and formats appropriate for the target audience
6. Demonstrates technical competence and follows professional guidelines when writing for scientific audiences
7. Effectively distills complex information into accessible content without the use of jargon
8. Technical details are simplified and condensed without sacrificing meaning or accuracy 

Figures, captions, equations:

9. Figures are connected to datasets, referred to in the text, and have informative captions
10. Data visualizations are presented effectively to communicate logical arguments

Clarity and organization:

11. Includes evidence of the writing process, such as notes, drafts, and revision memos
12. Responds to feedback from peers and instructors in the form of reflective writing or revision cover letters that mirror the peer review process
13. Draws informed conclusions from observational data, identifies the significance of those conclusions, and synthesizes new observations with previous research
14. Presents observational evidence such that credibility is clear with documentation of methods
15. Integrates visualizations into the data analysis and synthesizes it into the text
16. Demonstrates a clear linear thread with transitions between ideas and evidence that ultimately leads to a conclusion

Artificial Intelligence literacy:

17. Discloses AI use in projects by providing prompts and platforms used, and documents how AI results were used in the writing
18. Demonstrates an understanding of AI’s strengths and weaknesses and takes responsibility for the accuracy of the work
19. Demonstrates ethical use of AI by using AI tools with appropriate AI protections (i.e., walled garden platforms like UMN’s Gemini subscription)

Reader engagement:

22. Uses visualizations to communicate effectively to the target audience
23. Uses narrative strategies to connect ideas, rather than listing them
24. Uses figures or visualizations to accomplish a specific purpose

In April 2026, the Campus Writing Board approved Earth & Environmental Sciences’ Legacy Writing Plan. With significant input from new faculty who have joined the department in the past few years, the Legacy Plan includes a revised and expanded list of writing abilities and criteria that address seismic changes in the writing landscape due to Generative AI.

For its Legacy plan, Earth & Environmental Sciences will focus on building its culture of teaching support through the development of a Canvas-based resource for faculty and graduate instructors. Materials curated on the Canvas site will also be developed and shared through a series of Lunch and Learn sessions over the next two years.

Earth & Environmental Sciences will also use its Legacy plan to increase support for students navigating the two undergraduate majors in the department. Working with the Writing Across the Curriculum program and a graduate RA, the department will redesign a current 2000-level course, “Earth Surface Dynamics," into a writing-intensive gateway course and develop writing-based activities for a new capstone-level field methods course that will launch in the summer and fall of 2027.