- Writing in Academia: An Interview with Helen Sword
Helen Sword has made a career of studying how academic writers write. You may know her from The Writer’s Diet book and online test to tell if your writing is flabby or fit. Maybe you've tried to emulate the elegant expression of ideas surveyed and analyzed in Stylish Academic W...
- Bespoke Tailoring: Why You Want to Work with a Writer/Editor
Pitching your luxury hotel to investors? Aiming for the executive suite? Moving towards partnership in an international law firm? Odds on you’ll invest in a high-end wardrobe. First impressions dominate. The out-of-pocket expense is a stepping stone to your goal. A $2000 suit...
- Avoiding a Mismatch: How To Work with a Writer or Editor
You don't have to do it all yourself! Many successful researchers engage scientific/medical writers and editors for help refining grants, manuscripts, press releases, and more. At our career development seminar, we heard from two medical writers and an early career resear...
- Recipe for Hosting a Manuscript Sprint
A manuscript sprint harnesses the power of peer accountability and review to get a manuscript from zero to out the door in 6-8 weeks. We all have competing demands that keep manuscripts on the back burner. This method forces you to make progress on your paper every week.
Ingred...
- The Write Rules
Are you committing these sins in your scientific writing? Time to repent.
Minimize jargon. If you must use it, do not assume familiarity. Provide a definition. A well-written definition will not insult knowledgeable readers. It will reassure them you are also an exper...
- “Modifying the Current Flow from Negative to Positive (Data!)”
Scientists are experts at asking questions, analyzing, and critiquing. We are also taught that while there are rules and facts in biology, exceptions to rules exist - in fact, we expect them. I’m going to talk about critiquing to the point of publishing, about negative (but impor...
- Tools for Team Manuscript Preparation When the Data are In Hand
Here’s a map to get your best work out the door efficiently. It’s never too soon to plan the journey to a completed manuscript.
Get moving.
Huddle with your lead investigator, statistician, research team members, clinical lead, and other contributors from the start t...
- Recapture Your Free Time with How to Write a Lot
Do you find your grant-writing intruding on time you’d rather spend with your family? Did revisions to that last journal article ruin your vacation? Then this book might be just the thing you need.
Author Paul Silvia wanted to call How to Write a Lot “How to Write More Prod...
- So You Want to Be On An Editorial Board? Some Protips for That.
A mere month ago, I was a humble researcher with an amazingly cool lab. But this month, things are different. I've been named a Reviewing Editor at a society journal. And that's sort of a big deal for academic folks. So let me dust off a bit of confetti from the ticker tape parad...
- Exciting AND Consistent? Verbs and Nouns in Scientific Writing
Pop quiz: Which of these sentences is more interesting?
1. We did the experiment, and it was a vivid example of the power of broccoli to make kids gag.
2. We performed the experiment, which vividly demonstrated the power of broccoli to make kids gag.
You chose the second...
