Science journalist Cristine Russell talks about the, er, breakthrough moment when she learned to avoid a certain science writing cliché. Russell is an adjunct professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and former president of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.
Science journalist Charles Choi shares the writing concept that is “God.” Choi is a longtime freelance science journalist who has reported for Scientific American, The New York Times, Science, Nature, and many others.
Robin Lloyd, online news editor at Scientific American, wasn’t always so confident. Here, she shares a career turning point.
After many years of freelancing for publications such as Science, Reader’s Digest, HHMI Bulletin, and others, longtime science journalist and author Dan Ferber talks about the detective skills needed to spin a good science yarn. Ferber is co-author of Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens our Health and What We Can Do About It.
Science journalist and author Seth Mnookin shares a singular bit of advice about making time for creative work. Mnookin is codirector of the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing and author of The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy.
Today we continue our series Single Best, where we ask top science writers and editors to give us their single best piece of advice, given or taken; or their single best idea, reporting trip or […]
Paul Raeburn shares the ideal he always has in mind for the perfect story. Raeburn is a journalist and blogger, and the author of Do Fathers Matter? The New Science of Fatherhood, to be published for Father’s Day, 2014 by Scientific American/FSG. He is also the chief media critic for the Knight Science Journalism Tracker at MIT.
Science journalist David Dobbs explains how he found an ending to his #1 Kindle-Single bestselling e-book, My Mother’s Lover, published by The Atavist. Dobbs is an author and journalist who writes about science and culture for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Wired, National Geographic, and other magazines.
Maryn McKenna shares a lesson she learned while reporting on a tsunami. McKenna is a columnist for Scientific American, a blogger for Wired, and the author of Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA and Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service.
Laura Helmuth shares a bit of wisdom she learned from Molly Ivins. Helmuth is the science and health editor at Slate and a member of the National Association of Science Writers executive board.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Deborah Blum is the author of five books, most recently the best-selling The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. Blum is a science blogger for Wired and is currently working on a book about poisonous food.
Including diverse voices in science stories ensures more accurate and complete stories that more fully reflect and inform readers, and is the equitable thing to do. On this page, we compile detailed and specific resources and strategies for making that goal a reality.
The articles in this collection from The Open Notebook—on topics such as covering preprint manuscripts, interviewing people who have experienced trauma, spotting shady statistics, avoiding spreading misinformation, and more—are especially relevant for anyone covering the coronavirus pandemic.
Good Transitions: A Guide to Cementing Stories Together
COVID-19 Reporting Diaries: March 25–31, 2020
How to Talk to Your Facebook Friends about Fake News
Journalists as Characters: Using First-Person Narration to Drive Stories
Making Your Writing and Reporting Transgender-Inclusive
Data Journalists’ Roundtable: Visualizing the Pandemic
Writing When on the Autism Spectrum
There’s No One Path to Becoming an Editor
Interrogating Data: A Science Writer’s Guide to Data Journalism
Good Endings: How to Write a Kicker Your Editor—and Your Readers—Will Love
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