The Craft of Science Writing is an indispensable guide for media professionals, scientists, and educators who want to hone their science writing craft or provide a resource for students.
Quotes serve many different functions in science stories. They can present a source’s opinion, give factual information, suggest a metaphor or analogy to explain a concept, or express why a scientific discovery matters. The number, length, and type of quotes you use will vary depending on whether you are working on a news or feature story. But one thing is constant: Quotes should always serve a purpose, and that purpose is to reinforce the main idea of your story.
The Open Notebook ha publicado más de 500 artículos y otros recursos destinados a ayudar a los periodistas de ciencia a mejorar sus habilidades. Esta página contiene traducciones al español de un conjunto creciente de esos artículos. [The Open Notebook has published more than 500 articles and other resources to help science journalists improve their skills. Our readers come from almost every country in the world and include thousands of people whose first language is Spanish. This page contains Spanish translations of a growing collection of these articles.]
Evocative writing does more than keep readers rapt. It also can help writers untangle scientific concepts or make abstract ideas more concrete. But when journalists are racing against deadlines or covering a well-worn beat, they may find their sentences falling into ruts. To write prose that propels stories, reporters can sharpen their nouns and verbs, hone their descriptions, and experiment with witty wordplay.
If you are reporting on COVID-19, you may find this collection of resources from The Open Notebook helpful—whether you are normally responsible for covering science and health or not. Articles in this collection include topics such as reporting on risk, interviewing sources who have experienced trauma, reading a scientific paper, including diverse voices in science stories, managing the emotional toll of crisis reporting, and more.
Most journalists will agree that learning how to properly report on science news takes time, but as news of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominate headlines, it’s now a job that many reporters must learn quickly. To help new science journalists, whether they’re fresh out of college, career changers, or seasoned journalists being given an unexpected assignment, The Open Notebook asked 18 science journalists for their most practical advice for covering the health and science beat. Here’s what they told us.
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