Getting Started in Science Journalism

Are you new to science writing? Or are you just thinking about getting into the field and wondering what it’s all about? The Open Notebook has published hundreds of articles and other resources aimed at helping science journalists sharpen their skills—and helping newcomers get started. This page contains a subset of those resources, with a focus on what’s most relevant to people who are getting started in science journalism. Dig in!

Breaking In

Photo of what appears to be a graduation ceremony, we can only see the typical squared hats of the graduates.

Do You Need a Science Degree to Be a Science Reporter?

Aneri Pattani

Entering Science Writing as a Child of Immigrants

Vanessa Vieites

Tip Sheet for Newcomers to Science Writing

Shira Feder

On the Origin of Science Writers

TON Editors

GIF image of Tom Hanks, text reads "T. Hanks".

Finding and Landing the Right Internship in Science Writing

Rodrigo Pérez Ortega

Ask TON: What Does a Science Writing Master’s Program Get You?

TON Editors

Trading the Pipette for the Pen: Transitioning from Science to Science Writing

Julia Rosen

Alaina Levine standing in the Biosphere 2, a research facility of the University of Arizona.

How to Use Reporting Skills from Any Beat for Science Journalism

Aneri Pattani

A close-up photo of a compass sitting on a map.

The Intern’s Survival Guide

Rachael Lallensack

A close up of a globe and a metal meridian running around it.

Why Is It So Hard for Foreign Journalists to Break into U.S. and European Outlets?

Rodrigo Pérez Ortega

Finding Ideas

Zoomed image of the story decision flowchart.

Is This a Story? How to Evaluate Your Ideas Before You Pitch

Mallory Pickett

A woman sits in front of a laptop with a small black dog sitting on her lap, its paws on the table in front of the laptop.

Freelancing in the Time of Coronavirus

Stephanie Parker

Ask TON: From Idea to Story

TON Editors

Close-up of a man's hand sharpening a knife.

Sharpening Ideas: From Topic to Story

Dan Ferber

Image of people arranged in the shape of a circle, with a white background.

Finding the Science in Any Story

Kate Morgan

Ask TON: Saving String

TON Editors

Beyond the Press-Release Rat Race: Fresh Ways to Cover Science News

Julia Rosen

Brown recycling symbol on a tan background.

Repurposing Story Ideas for Multiple Venues

Alla Katsnelson

Pitching

A baseball pitcher winding up for his pitch.

Pitching Errors: How Not to Pitch

Laura Helmuth

Ask TON: Repitching Killed Stories

TON Editors

A window with the words WHAT IS YOUR STORY written in neon blue on the glass.

Ask TON: How Do I Write a Good Pitch Letter?

TON Editors

Gender Differences in Pitching: Results from the TON Pitching Habits Survey

Jane C. Hu

Ask TON: How Soon to Repitch an Editor?

TON Editors

Ask TON: How Much Time Should I Spend Preparing a Pitch?

TON Editors

A young woman sits on a denim beanbag looking at a laptop. On the table in front is a cellphone and a plant.

Going Digital: Inside New Science Journalism Outlets

Rachel Zamzow

A glass bottle with a rolled-up message inside, wedged in the sand on a beach.

Making First Contact with Editors

Abdullahi Tsanni

Want to Be Pitch Perfect?

To tell a compelling story to readers, you first need to sell your idea to an editor. The Open Notebook’s Pitch Database contains 281 successful news and feature pitches a wide range of publications. Each one is accompanied by a link to the resulting published story. Search or browse our database and discover how other journalists have succeeded in selling their stories.

Story Planning and Reporting

Ask TON: Finding Patients

TON Editors

Nice Niche: How to Build and Keep Up with a Beat

Knvul Sheikh

An old-fashioned black telephone with a white dial.

Is Anyone Out There? Sourcing News Stories

Geoffrey Giller

Finding Diverse Sources for Science Stories

Siri Carpenter

Screenshot of a paragraph of a paper with an annotation in red.

How to Read a Scientific Paper

Alexandra Witze

A group of faces made of tissue paper, with homogenous gray faces on the left transltioning to a diversity of colors on the right.

Guide to Tracking Source Diversity

TON Editors

Full frame shot of face mask placed with stethoscope and medical scrubs. All are on green background.

Reporting on Health: What 18 Journalists Wish They’d Known from the Start

Shira Feder

A large conference center with blue carpet. Rows of poster presentations fill the room and people are reading the posters.

Getting the Most out of Scientific Conferences

Rodrigo Pérez Ortega

What to Do When a Source Asks to See Your Unpublished Copy

Katherine J. Wu

Ask TON: Using PIOs to Hunt Stories

TON Editors

A bird's eye view of a table with a laptop, mechanical pencil and blue notebook with large white numbers on the front cover.

Spotting Shady Statistics

Rachel Zamzow

A man collects nuts into a large sack, his back to the camera. Four researchers talk in the background.

Who Is an Expert? Broadening the Definition Strengthens Journalism

Attabey Rodríguez Benítez

Illustration of laptop monitor with nine people in a video call.

How to Take Advantage of Online Conferences

Rachel Crowell

Colorful graffiti of the word secret in large purple letters on a lime, red, and white background.

Ask TON: Sending Embargoed Papers for Outside Comment

TON Editors

A peacock displaying to a peahen, who is looking back at the peacock with apparent interest.

Please Don’t Ignore Me: Requesting Interviews with Scientists

Karen Kwon

Writing Accurately, Clearly, and Engagingly

A stack of antique books and a few nuts sitting on top of them.

Nailing the Nut Graf

Tina Casagrand

How to Ask for Feedback from Editors

Knvul Sheikh

A spiderweb hanging between some yellow flowers. The spiderweb and a few flowers are in focus; the rest of the image is blurred.

Explaining Complexity

Carl Zimmer

Fat Chance: Writing about Probability

Grace Huckins

A rectangular yellow speech bubble containing a set of quotation marks, on a green background.

How to Find and Use Quotes in Science Stories

Abdullahi Tsanni

Good Beginnings: How to Write a Lede Your Editor—and Your Readers—Will Love

Robin Meadows

Autumn view of a bridge arching over glassy smooth water.

Good Transitions: A Guide to Cementing Stories Together

Amanda Mascarelli

Shedding Sentence Deadweight to Help Science Stories Soar

Carolyn Wilke

Good Endings: How to Write a Kicker Your Editor—and Your Readers—Will Love

Robin Meadows

An image showing a colorful open book with a pair of white hands holding it.

Diversity Style Guides for Journalists

TON Editors

A pair of black spectacles resting on an unreadable printed page of text that includes a table.

How to Do a Close Read

Siri Carpenter

Fact-Checking, Self-Editing, and Revising

Ask TON: How Much Editing to Expect?

TON Editors

A photo of a colorful pair of scissors, on a white surface.

Ask TON: Who Should Trim Long Drafts?

TON Editors

Jacqui Banaszynski’s Literary Forensics: A Diagnostic Tool to Improve Writing

Christina Selby

A balled-up piece of paper with the word TRUE typed on it repeatedly sits on a piece of paper with the word FALSE written on it over and over again.

Surviving the Grind of Fact-Checking

Heather Pringle

A guilty-looking dog looks into the camera, covered in dirt. Next to it, unerathed flowers lay on the ground surrounded by the same soil covering the dig.

How to Handle a Mistake

Shira Feder

Ask TON: Is This Draft Too Long?

TON Editors

Ask TON: How to Fact-Check

TON Editors

A hand holding a pruning shears and clipping a green shrub.

The First Critic Is You: Editing Your Own Work

Tiên Nguyễn

See What Science Journalism Instructors Say

To learn what experienced science writing instructors view as the most important skills to learn and what they’ve learned in their own careers that they most hope to convey to their students, take a look at the provides in our Office Hours series, where we’ve picked the brains of more than a dozen instructors.