Interviews

Jamie Lauren Keiles Follows the Surgical and Philosophical Journey of Phalloplasty

In a piece for The New York Times Magazine, Jamie Lauren Keiles chronicles one patient’s phalloplasty, the years-long, multi-stage surgical construction of a penis. Keiles talked with Celia Ford about how they stitched together this longitudinal, subject-centered story and the importance of telling trans health stories with honesty, humor, and nuance.

Celia Ford

Reported Features

Demystifying Academic Hierarchies: Who’s Who on a Paper, and Whom Should You Interview?

Celia Ford

Reported Features

How to Report International Stories Ethically

Shi En Kim

Interviews

Ankur Paliwal Tells the Tale of a Rare Genetic Disorder and People Who Live with It

Pratik Pawar

A Day in the Life

A Day in the Life of Ferris Jabr

TON Editors

Reported Features

The Pitch as Hypothesis: How Stories Evolve through Reporting

Pedro Márquez-Zacarías

News & Announcements

Welcome to The Open Notebook‘s First Intern, Sarah Luft

TON Editors

Reported Features

Roundtable: Keeping Pace with Pandemic Coverage in the U.S.

Katherine J. Wu

Reported Features

Reporting on Retractions

Pratik Pawar

NEW Virtual Workshop Series: The Craft of Science Editing

Our interactive workshops will give emerging and established editors the skills and confidence to work with writers on selecting and sharpening story ideas, planning and carrying out reporting, anticipating and troubleshooting problems in the reporting and writing process, and crafting accurate and compelling stories.

Where to Get Started at The Open Notebook

We’ve published more than 500 articles on the craft of science journalism, and we also offer courses and other training opportunities, Spanish translations, DEI resources, a huge database of successful pitch letters, tip sheets, and more. Here are some starting points for digging in.

Topics

Learning Opportunities

SCIENCE JOURNALISM

Master Classes

Sharpen your skills with our free online courses, delivered to your inbox starting as soon as you sign up.

Mentoring

Programs

Learn about The Open Notebook‘s mentoring programs, including our longstanding early-career fellowship program.

Workshops &

Consultations

Sign up for one of our upcoming workshops, host a private webinar or workshop for your team or event, or schedule a private consultation.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources

We’ve published dozens of articles and resource guides that center diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in science journalism. Browse this page to find articles on topics such as covering Indigenous communities, reporting and writing with trans-inclusion in mind, navigating bias in newsrooms, finding diverse sources, tracking source diversity, using alt-text to make stories more accessible, freelancing on a student visa, and much, much more.

More Resources

Pitch Database

Find more than 250 successful story pitches to a wide range of publications—or share your pitches with us!

Getting Started in Science Journalism

Are you a newcomer to the field? This collection of articles focuses on what you need to know to get started.

On the Origin of Science Writers

There’s no one “right” path into science journalism. Hear from dozens of science writers about how they got started.

The Open Notebook is an incredibly generous project, a gift to the science writer community. Everyone involved—the TON creators, the interviewers, the writers who reveal their methods—is helping teach the rest of us a master class in science writing.

Writing is a lonely art. The vast majority of the process, from coming up with ideas to structuring a piece, is carried out in solitude. When you start out, you barely have a clue about what you’re doing, let alone what seasoned professionals get up to. Getting those pros to deconstruct their own methods for all to see is a massive boon to aspiring science writers.

I consider myself lucky that The Open Notebook launched right as I started to pursue a career in science writing. Its pitch database, Storygrams, interviews and in-depth articles on the craft of science writing proved invaluable as I tried to break into the field, and I continue to rely on these resources for help and encouragement.

The Open Notebook offers not only a wealth of resources, it provides community to science writers at every stage of their career. TON embodies generosity. By reading the site’s expert and timely articles, we can become better storytellers together.

I recommend The Open Notebook to every writer, not just science journalists. Their story dissections are amazing, their pitch database is a goldmine, and their profiles of other writers are the best way to score insider tips and/or feel less alone in the struggle.

The Craft of Science Writing

How do you nail a nut graf? What makes one pitch successful and another fall flat? How do you find the right experts for a science story? You’ll find answers to these questions and many more in The Open Notebook’s first book, The Craft of Science Writing. With tips, tricks, and insights from some of the most skilled science journalists working today, you’ll get the resources you need. Consider this book your guided tour to the craft.