Writing for the Public: The Pen Can be as Powerful as the Lab

Posted by Lesley McCollum

At the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB), as in academia as a whole, the number of peer-reviewed publications is often used to measure a researcher's success. With the focus on research writing, much less consideration is given to writing for the public, but maybe it's time to re-think this practice.With scientific literacy and research funding on the decline nationally, we should all consider learning how to write for a public audience, whether it is published in a general media source, such as the New York Times, Time, or Slate, or in a science focused outlet such as ScienceNews, Popular Science, or Discover. These types of publications aren't measured with impact factors or number of citations, but from a public policy standpoint, they are just as weighty. Scientific research is often inaccessible to the general public, whether it's hidden behind a paid subscription or dense scientific detail and jargon. At UAB, scholars like Dr. James McClintock are starting to change that with articles or opinion pieces for their city newspapers, consumer magazines like Scientific American, and books for the popular press, like Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land.

My research focus is on mental health which is one area particularly in need of education for the general population, for many reasons in addition to improving public support and funding. But public awareness and support do play a strong role in research funding, and both can be improved through communicating our research through writing. Fortunately, popular journals like Psychology Today continue to bring the best science to the public. And science writers like Liza Gross, a freelance writer and senior editor at the biomedical journal PLOS Biology, are helping to change that. In a blog post for KQED Science, Gross writes memorably about a museum exhibit that shows how our concepts of mental health and definitions of "normal" have evolved over time. For today's scientist, the pen, not just the lab, is a powerful tool for supporting research. 

Tips & Tricks: Try “Writer’s Math”, Dr. Greer’s More-or-Less Formula for Better First Drafts

Posted by Jennifer L. Greer

As a writer, I was always good at language and bad at math, until I realized how much it was costing me. Early in my newspaper career, I won reporting/writing contests, but I also missed deadlines, wrote stories that were too long or off topic. Such inefficiency did not please editors and ate into my personal time. I desperately needed to get a life! Then I discovered “Writer’s Math,” a formula for setting an approximate maximum word limit and working from that goal to successfully plan, outline, and execute a writing project. Now, as a writing instructor/coach at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Graduate School, I teach Writer's Math as often as I can. Here’s how it works. A graduate student is writing a journal article (one of three) for her dissertation. From the journal’s author’s guidelines, she finds out the maximum word limit for this type of article is 3,000 words. She knows that the average WORD document page, double spaced, at 12 point type holds about 300 words (more or less), and calculates that a 3,000 word article will run about 10 typed pages (3,000/300 = 10). Next, after weighing multiple factors, she decides on strategic space priorities: Introduction (2 pages), Methods (2 pages) Results (3 pages), Discussion (3 pages). For a discussion of Writer's Math, watch the video below.

Once she has a page budget, she creates a Writing Project Plan that is SMART -- Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound -- and drives the whole process. Caveat: If the graduate student is writing a traditional dissertation (grand tome), she will have no writer’s guidelines for a maximum word limit. In this case, her chair/professor may not want to constrain her intellectual genius and may advise her to write “as long as the scholarship requires.” Genius or no genius, if taken literally, this advice suggests a boundless writing project, which is feasible only if the graduate student has boundless energy, time, and resources. Typically, she does not. She wants to get the job done well. She also wants to get a life. In this case, the writer wisely asks the chair/professor for the names of authors of 3-5 quality dissertations from their university in their field. A quick look at these dissertations online will show an average text page count that can be used as a guideline (not a straight jacket) for Writer’s Math and SMART planning. It's not instant happiness, but it's close. For SMART Writing Project Plan details and samples, see the wiki, Writinginthezone.

Tips & Tricks: Meet ReadCube, A Writer-friendly PDF/Reference Manager

Posted by Taylor Roberge

Just about everyone these days uses reference managers like Endnote (if you don’t you should seriously think about it). This software allows us to effectively and efficiently document our reading by creating a database of citations increasing the amount of time we can spend writing instead of spending hours searching for and formatting the correct citations for our papers. Further information of documenting you reading can be found here.

Readcube, a relatively new citation and PDF manager, is another tool that can help you become a successful and efficient writer. You can perform many of the same reference management functions found in Endnote, but in a much more user friendly interface. Better still, Readcube is available as a free download (Endnote can cost upwards of $250). Where Readcube really shines is elevating the experience of PDF management and reading. It allows you to add notes, inline comments, and highlight directly on the PDF; this speeds up the writing process as you refer to articles later. In addition, many publishers now attach enhancements to electronic articles that many times go unnoticed (i.e. linked references, figures, and even comments). These can be automatically downloaded and stored along with the citation and PDF increasing the utility of the articles you are reading. In all, citation and article management software can streamline the writing process by creating an organized searchable database at your fingertips.

Readcube website and download- http://www.readcube.com/