In my experience, the academic world is replete with anecdotes. The teaching of anatomy and physiology is no exception. It may even be especially predisposed to anecdotes. Textbooks are not the place to find anecdotes; they are typically dry, factual accounts of what needs to be known. They are full enough; the inclusion of anecdotal material is unwarranted. An academic article is not the place for anecdotes. Reference to them may occur on occasion but only when strictly necessary.
I do not believe anecdotes to be entirely trivial. Although they are often lighter in tone than other forms of academic discourse, they are not necessarily devoid of serious content.
Arguably, anecdotes form the storytelling heart of academia. (Often, this takes the form of spiteful stories about one’s colleagues. These are not the type of anecdotes I mean here.) All academic disciplines have their stories and folklore. These typically take the form of anecdotes. Through their telling and retelling, anecdotes inform those new to a discipline about how it operates. Anecdotes contribute to one’s initiation into a discipline and its thought processes. As such, anecdotes can contribute to a discipline’s rites of passage.
However, of greater importance, I believe, is how anecdotes contribute to what we know - or think we know - about a discipline’s subject matter. Much does not get reported or discussed in the academic literature. Not every experimental result or finding is published. A wealth of ideas gets circulated only by word of mouth because this is the only means available. It is via anecdote that these pass from one person to another. There is much to be learned from anecdotes - even at second or third-hand.
Progression through some professions relies on some form of apprenticeship. Here, experienced senior colleagues guide juniors. One of the characteristics of that guidance is its anecdotal tone. The role of anecdotes in scientific education is more significant than is usually acknowledged. So far as I am aware, their role has yet to be recognised formally. We have all benefited from them and have, in turn, passed them on for the benefit of others.
