Professional Associations
Science Communication Specific
- American Medical Writers Association (AMWA)
- National Association of Science Writers (NASW)
- Society for Technical Communication (STC)
- Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW)
Journalism Associations
- National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)
- Association of LGBTQ Journalists (NLGJA)
- Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA)
- South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA)
- Native American Journalists Association (NAJA)
- Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA)
- National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ)
Fellowships/Scholarships/Workshops/Conferences:
- AAAS Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellows Program
- AMWA Conference Student Scholarship
- The Open Notebook Early Career Fellowship Program
- Science Communication Online Programme SCOPE
- Diversity in STEM Conference SACNAS
- Inclusive SciComm: Symposium
- Boston University College of Communication SciCommers Network
- National Association of Science Writers David Perlman Virtual Mentoring Program
- Communicating Science Conference (ComSciCon, ComSciCon-SciWrite, & ComSciCon-Michigan)
About Science Writing & Communication:
- Pitch, Publish, Prosper
- The Open Notebook – includes a superb pitch database with accepted pitches from MSW alumni!
- A personal story on how Carl Zimmer got into science writing
- Why academic writing stinks and how to fix it from Steven Pinker
- De-jargonizers: http://scienceandpublic.com/ and http://splasho.com/upgoer5/
- Problem of Metaphor in Science Communication: Taylor, 2018
- Communicating science: PNAS
- Science Writing News Roundup
- NIH NIAID Careers in Science Communication Event Recap & Resources
Science Blogs by Local/Alumni Authors:
- Ken Garber is an Ann Arbor local reporting on biology and medicine.
- Membrane Penetration, written by a cell and molecular biology alum, is scicomm with a viral flavor.
- Annotated Science discusses concepts and discoveries in biochemical science, along with open access advancements. Written by an EIC alumnus.
- Thought and Awe is written by young diverse scientists.
- Starting as an experiment in science communication by Jimmy Brancho, Tree Town Chem invites students to try writing about chemistry.
- Chic, Geek, and Chemistry Freak: A blog about science, education, and feminism from an EIC alumnus.
- A blog about post-PhD in biomedical research: Ph.D. Overeasy
- Archive of a 10-week science writing course at UM: Mind the Science Gap
Other UM-related Publications:
- Michigan Journal of Medicine – peer-review, student-run journal that publishes scientific research from UM
- Auxocardia – creative arts journal founded by healthcare trainees at UM
- cataLIST – blog run by Ladies in Science and Technology at UM
Similar to Michigan Science Writers:
- The Pipettepen – student-run blog affiliated with UNC Chapel Hill
Inclusive journalism resources:
- Guidelines for Inclusive Journalism: TONS of references
- Finding sources: database
- How Implicit Bias Works in Journalism: Nieman Reports
- Implicit Bias: PBS
- Bias test: Harvard
Starting a Blog:
- Hosting a web domain with Bluehost
Slides and Videos of Talks and Workshops
- Rob Irion’s Science Writing for the Public Slides (2022)
- Dr. Paige Jarreau’s SciComm Slides (2019)
- Dr. Scott Barolo’s Editing Workshop Slides (2018)
Books:
- The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. Steven Pinker. New York: Viking Penguin 2014
- Guide to Nontraditional Careers in Science (Chapter 3 – Outreach & Education; Chapter 5 – Science Writing) Karen Young Kreeger. Philadelphia: Taylor and Francis 1999
- Alternative Careers in Science: Leaving the Ivory Tower (Chapters 2, 3, 4) Cynthia Robbins-Roth. San Diego: Academic Press 1993
- Explaining Research (Chapter 17) Dennis Meredith. New York: Oxford University Press 2010
- The Science Writers Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Pitch, Publish, and Prosper in the Digital Age. Writers of SciLance. Da Capo Lifelong Books 2013.
- A Field Guide for Science Writers: The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers. 2nd Ed. Deborah Blum, Mary Knudson, Robin Marantz Henig. Oxford University Press 2005.
- Science Blogging: The Essential Guide. Christie Wilcox, Bethany Brookshire, Jason G. Goldman. Yale University Press 2016.
Ways to Get Writing Practice:
- Opportunity to write lay summaries for scientific publications through Elsevier.
- JSTOR daily accepts short- and long-form pieces
- American Society for Microbiology’s Small Things Considered Blog
- Consider pitching for the ‘Bites’ series:
- Join the Massive Consortium – say you’re a part of MSW and get the $15 fee waived!
- Join Friends of Joe’s Big Idea (FOJBIs)
- CRIS Bits
- GotScience Magazine
- If you’re also interested in history, this blog focuses on the education of history and they’re eager to work with people to write about science in the context of historical events.
misciwriters.com 