(Re)presenting Science in Research Articles and Press Releases: A Contrastive Analysis of Titles and Headlines

Science communication is a powerful supplier of scientific knowledge for the public (see Harmatiy 2021; Kueffer and Larson 2014). While popularization discourse has been explored in depth (see for example, Calsamiglia and Van Dijk 2004; Garzone 2014, 2020; Gotti 2014; Luzón 2013; Myers 2003), the ways specific linguistic strategies impact content and the communication of science still need to be fully explored. The general purpose of this study is to explore how titles of scientific articles are transformed to be turned into headlines of press releases. Specifically, it aims first to identify recurring discursive patterns in the adaptation of titles in scientific discourse to headlines in science communication. Second, it investigates whether these patterns have an impact on the way scientific knowledge is presented. Two matching corpora were used: one of titles of research articles and one of headlines of research-based university press releases. The unique feature of these two corpora is that they have a bijective relation, so that each of the 210 titles of scientific papers matches one of the 210 university press release headlines. Results show that many linguistic strategies in science journalism are the mirror image of scientific discourse: three strategies were identified that contribute to two different representations of science, as an ongoing process in academic titles and a conclusive fact in press releases’ headlines: 1) the validity-endorsement strategy; 2) the V-ing construction; 3) the opposition between unspecified association vs. explicit relation.