Authenticity of scientific literature – Analyzing the usage of hedging in adapted scientific literature

Authenticity of scientific literature – Analyzing the usage of hedging in adapted scientific literature | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Authenticity of scientific literature – Analyzing the usage of hedging in adapted scientific literature Hilko Aljets, Thomas Waitz This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9266058/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Adapted scientific literature (ASL) is increasingly used in educational contexts to make authentic science texts accessible to students. One hallmark of scientific writing is the use of hedging—linguistic means to express uncertainty or tentativeness. This study investigates whether ASL maintains this characteristic feature, and to what extent its usage of hedging aligns with original scientific articles. Using a machine learning approach, we trained classifiers on the BioScope corpus to automatically detect hedging in English and German texts. We then analyzed corpora consisting of original research articles, their adapted counterparts, and textbook excerpts. Our results show that ASL retains the typical distributional pattern of hedging—particularly its increased frequency in the introduction and discussion sections—but the overall proportion of hedging expressions is reduced compared to the original texts. In contrast, textbook texts contain very little hedging and present scientific knowledge as more certain. These findings suggest that ASL offers a linguistically authentic alternative to original scientific literature and may help learners engage with the epistemic practices of science more realistically. While some reduction in hedging occurs during the adaptation process, ASL preserves essential rhetorical features of scientific discourse and can thus serve as a valuable resource in science education. natural language processing hedging adapted scientific literature scientific literature naive bayes support vector Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9266058","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":626425872,"identity":"b4c55e53-563b-462e-a1cd-2824cc666d4a","order_by":0,"name":"Hilko Aljets","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Göttingen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hilko","middleName":"","lastName":"Aljets","suffix":""},{"id":626425880,"identity":"748f4d4a-5f5b-4c90-ac6d-beaaa317f155","order_by":1,"name":"Thomas Waitz","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAvUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYJCCAwwMNkAqgYGBhxjlIEUHDjCkkagFaM1hErTYSyQ/PPzhz3m7DcfTLzC8qSDGFok0gwMHeG4nbzjzpoBxzhlitEgnALVI3E42u5GTwMzbRpSW9A8HDhicg2r5R5SWHKAtCQfszG6kH2DmbSBGy/03BQfOHEhOsD/zhuHgnGNEaGHvOb75Q8UfO3vJ9vSHD97UEKEFBhIbGHgMDpCgARg/QAsfkKRjFIyCUTAKRg4AAFS4QCt59agjAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Göttingen","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Thomas","middleName":"","lastName":"Waitz","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-30 11:28:58","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9266058/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9266058/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":109208469,"identity":"2fb34501-3c72-45db-8ec3-98d6ad593f8e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-13 15:25:04","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":650838,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9266058/v1_covered_391e95fb-742a-4df0-9060-4657e00e2fd0.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Authenticity of scientific literature – Analyzing the usage of hedging in adapted scientific literature","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"natural language processing, hedging, adapted scientific literature, scientific literature, naive bayes, support vector","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9266058/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9266058/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eAdapted scientific literature (ASL) is increasingly used in educational contexts to make authentic science texts accessible to students. One hallmark of scientific writing is the use of hedging\u0026mdash;linguistic means to express uncertainty or tentativeness. This study investigates whether ASL maintains this characteristic feature, and to what extent its usage of hedging aligns with original scientific articles. Using a machine learning approach, we trained classifiers on the BioScope corpus to automatically detect hedging in English and German texts. We then analyzed corpora consisting of original research articles, their adapted counterparts, and textbook excerpts. Our results show that ASL retains the typical distributional pattern of hedging\u0026mdash;particularly its increased frequency in the introduction and discussion sections\u0026mdash;but the overall proportion of hedging expressions is reduced compared to the original texts. In contrast, textbook texts contain very little hedging and present scientific knowledge as more certain. 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