Science Writing

Lisa
Sproul Hoverman

Reinvention

“I am still making order out of chaos by reinvention”. - John Le Carre, MI6 Spy-turned-Novelist How does the topic of reinvention apply to one’s life?  Reinvention is a term that comes to mind when one thinks about taking on a new position, switching careers, or leaving a tradition...


Clement
Weinberger

How I got into freelance writing: An unintended consequence?

We've all been there. It's Sunday afternoon and the feeling of dread hits. Tomorrow is Monday and it's the start of another work week. I'd been working at a medical communications agency for about 3 years doing medical writing and publication planning. I was their one and only in-house PhD. It s...


Tony
Fox

Just Do It

Nike did indeed precede me in establishing the title phrase of this blog.  However, it is a statement that we should remind ourselves to obey.  Several ideas and goals have been known to come and go simply because they are not pursued.  What exactly does a person have to lose when ...


Clement
Weinberger

The manuscript? It can't possibly be that bad!

What's been happening with that manuscript in your pub plan? First draft written – Check; two rounds of review and revision – Check; approval by the pub steering committee – Check; formatted for the journal style – Check; submitted online as an original research article – Check; editor...


Clement
Weinberger

To postdoc - or not?

OK, I've made "postdoc" into a verb. Sorry about that, but the question remains "does one need to do one?”  The key to considering a postdoc as an optional first step rather than a logical or expected first step is in deciding what your long term goals are before you decide on a postdoc. I’...


Clement
Weinberger

Do you have a reference for that?

When was the last time someone asked you that question? I guess it's the researchers' equivalent to the otherwise common questions of "how do you know?” or “who told you that?” So what did you answer? My usual choices for a response are "yes," "no'" and "do I need one?" Context is important...


Clement
Weinberger

Get it write….

PhDs in science all spend many hours at the bench doing research to get results that will either confirm or reject their research hypothesis. They write, defend and revise a thesis. On the way, and as soon as possible afterward, they publish their research and its significance. Staying in academia h...


Clement
Weinberger

La Défense - Onward and upward

Speaking of milestones - the oral PhD defense is one of them - and regardless of your project management skills, it’s one deadline that is likely to go wooshing by you several times. Too many variables for the best of statisticians to account for and too many to construct a research protocol witho...


Clement
Weinberger

What’s in a word?

Think about the last publication manuscript that you submitted on a journal website. You entered the type of article, title, author information, abstract and the manuscript files. Then there’s the other stuff that took longer than it should to figure out. I’m talking about the “names of four p...