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 more than 350 articles and other resources aimed at helping science journalists sharpen their skills—and helping newcomers get started. This page contains a small subset of those resources, with a focus on what’s most relevant to new science writers. Dig in!
Breaking In
Finding Ideas
Pitching
Want to Be Pitch Perfect? The TON Pitch Database contains almost 200 successful news and feature pitches.
Story Planning and Reporting
Writing Accurately, Clearly, and Engagingly
Fact-Checking, Self-Editing, and Revising
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.
The Business and Economics of Freelancing
Being Part of the Science Journalism World
Looking for Inspiration?
For a deeper look at the work and working lives of some of the best science journalists working today, browse our writer interviews, reported features, annotated Storygrams, profiles, Ask TON advice column, and more. Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find.
Just One More Thing …
Our articles and other resources are freely available to anyone, anywhere in the world. But producing TON (including paying competitive rates to all our contributors) costs more than $2,500 per week, and we depend on donations from our community of readers. If you find this free resource valuable, please consider making a tax-deductive contribution to help us keep it going. Thank you for helping us support science journalism!
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