Don't Be Such a Scientist by
"You think too much! You mother F@$#%&* think too much! You're nothing but an arrogant, pointy-headed intellectual -- I want you out of my classroom and off the premises in five minutes or I'm calling the police and having you arrested for trespassing." -- Hollywood acting teacher to Randy Olson, former scientist After nearly a decade on the defensive, the world of science is about to be restored to its rightful place. But is the American public really ready for science? And is the world of science ready for the American public? Scientists wear ragged clothes, forget to comb their hair, and speak in a language that even they don't understand. Or so people think. Most scientists don't care how they are perceived, but in our media-dominated age, style points count. Enter Randy Olson. Fifteen years ago, Olson bid farewell to the science world and shipped off to Hollywood ready to change the world. With films like Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus (Tribeca '06, Showtime) and Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy (Outfest '08), he has tried to bridge the cultural divide that has too often left science on the outside looking in. Now, in his first book, Olson, with a Harvard Ph.D. and formerly a tenured professor of marine biology at the University of New Hampshire, recounts the lessons from his own hilarious-and at times humiliating-evolution from science professor to Hollywood filmmaker. In Don't Be Such a Scientist, he shares the secrets of talking substance in an age of style. The key, he argues, is to stay true to the facts while tapping into something more primordial, more irrational, and ultimately more human. In a book enlivened by a profane acting teacher who made Olson realize that "nobody wants to watch you think," he offers up serious insights and poignant stories. You'll laugh, you may cry, and as a communicator you'll certainly learn the importance of not only knowing how to fulfill, but also how to arouse.
Effective Science Communication by
Communicate Science Papers, Presentations, and Posters Effectively is a guidebook on science writing and communication that professors, students, and professionals in the STEM fields can use in a practical way. This book advocates a clear and concise writing and presenting style, enabling users to concentrate on content. The text is useful to both native and non-native English speakers, identifying best practices for preparing graphs and tables, and offering practical guidance for writing equations. It includes content on significant figures and error bars, and provides the reader with extensive practice material consisting of both exercises and solutions. Covers how to accurately and clearly exhibit results, ideas, and conclusions Identifies phrases common in scientific literature that should never be used Discusses the theory of presentation, including "before and after" examples highlighting best practices Provides concrete, step-by-step examples on how to make camera ready graphs and tables
How to Write a Lot by
All students and professors need to write, and many struggle to finish their stalled dissertations, journal articles, book chapters, or grant proposals. Writing is hard work and can be difficult to wedge into a frenetic academic schedule. In this practical, light-hearted, and encouraging book, Paul Silvia explains that writing productively does not require innate skills or special traits but specific tactics and actions. Drawing examples from his own field of psychology, he shows readers how to overcome motivational roadblocks and become prolific without sacrificing evenings, weekends, and vacations. After describing strategies for writing productively, the author gives detailed advice from the trenches on how to write, submit, revise, and resubmit articles, how to improve writing quality, and how to write and publish academic work.
Investigating Science Communication in the Information Age by
How are recent policy changes affecting how scientists engage with the public? How are new technologies influencing how scientists disseminate their work and knowledge? How are new media platforms changing the way the public interact with scientific information?Investigating science communication in the information age is a collection of newly-commissioned chapters by leading science communication scholars. It addresses current theoretical, practical and policy developments in science communication, including recent calls for greater openness andtransparency; and engagement and dialogue on the part of professional scientists with members of the public. It provides a timely and wide-ranging review of contemporary issues in science communication, focusing on two broad themes.The first theme critically reviews the recent dialogic turn and ascendant branding of 'public engagement with science'. It addresses contemporary theoretical and conceptual issues facing science communication researchers, and draws on a range of methodological approaches and examples.The second theme, popular media, examines recent trends in the theory and research of these forms of science communication. It includes contemporary accounts of the study of 'traditional' forms of popular media, including television and newspapers, examining how they are produced, represented andconsumed. This theme also documents examples where novel forms of popular media are challenging researchers to re-think how they approach these forms of science communication.A companion volume, Practising science communication in the information age, provides an ideal introduction to anyone wishing to reflect on the practices of contemporary science communication.
Science Centres and Science Events by
The idea for this text stemmed from the fruitful experience gathered during the training course of 9 Nigerian university students organized in Naples from 3 to 18 September 2008 by the team of Fondazione IDIS-Citt#65533; della Scienza under the project Science Centre Owerri. The training course turned out to be not only an educational opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills for these students, but also a real and practical tool that later led to the realization of the first Science Festival of Owerri in Nigeria in May 2009. This in turn sparked the idea of creating a highly practical handbook for those who want to face the challenge of developing new projects for the dissemination and socialization of science in developing countries. In these countries, the role of scientific education and training in schools is not sufficient to arouse scientific curiosity among young people and make the population aware of the importance of scientific knowledge in everyday life. Moreover science and technology are indispensable tools for people's empowerment and should be supported with actions that encourage curiosity about science and the intelligent use of technology to bridge the divide with developed countries. It is therefore necessary to set up activities that are carefully targeted to promote and communicate science. The text has been designed as a practical guide to be used in a variety of contexts: scientific events or more structured science festivals, training, the creation of scientific cultural associations, and the development of new science centres. Besides being an excellent tool for training and supporting the design and planning phases, the manual can also be used as a reference work for institutions and local cultural services which have to select projects of this type.
Science Communication in Theory and Practice by
This book provides an overview of the theory and practice of science communication. It deals with modes of informal communication such as science centres, television programs, and journalism and the research that informs practitioners about the effectiveness of their programs. It aims to meet the needs of those studying science communication and will form a readily accessible source of expertise for communicators.
Science from Sight to Insight by
John Dalton's molecular structures. Scatter plots and geometric diagrams. Watson and Crick's double helix. The way in which scientists understand the world--and the key concepts that explain it--is undeniably bound up in not only words, but images. Moreover, from PowerPoint presentations to articles in academic journals, scientific communication routinely relies on the relationship between words and pictures. In Science from Sight to Insight, Alan G. Gross and Joseph E. Harmon present a short history of the scientific visual, and then formulate a theory about the interaction between the visual and textual. With great insight and admirable rigor, the authors argue that scientific meaning itself comes from the complex interplay between the verbal and the visual in the form of graphs, diagrams, maps, drawings, and photographs. The authors use a variety of tools to probe the nature of scientific images, from Heidegger's philosophy of science to Peirce's semiotics of visual communication. Their synthesis of these elements offers readers an examination of scientific visuals at a much deeper and more meaningful level than ever before.
Scientific Writing and Communication by
Scientific Writing and Communication: Papers, Proposals, and Presentations, Second Edition, covers all the areas of scientific communication that a scientist needs to know and to master in order to successfully promote his or her research and career. This unique "all-in-one" handbook beginswith a discussion of the basics of scientific writing style and composition and then applies these principles to writing research papers, review articles, grant proposals, research statements, and resumes and to preparing academic presentations and posters. It is ideal for a wide range of readers - from upper-level undergraduates and graduate students to postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and professional researchers in the life sciences, medicine, psychology, chemistry, physics, and engineering.
Successful Science Communication by
In the 25 years since the 'Bodmer Report' kick-started the public understanding of science movement, there has been something of a revolution in science communication. However, despite the ever-growing demands of the public, policy-makers and the media, many scientists still find it difficult to successfully explain and publicise their activities or to understand and respond to people's hopes and concerns about their work. Bringing together experienced and successful science communicators from across the academic, commercial and media worlds, this practical guide fills this gap to provide a one-stop resource covering science communication in its many different forms. The chapters provide vital background knowledge and inspiring ideas for how to deal with different situations and interest groups. Entertaining personal accounts of projects ranging from podcasts, to science festivals, to student-run societies give working examples of how scientists can engage with their audiences and demonstrate the key ingredients in successful science communication.
Writing Science in Plain English by
Scientific writing is often dry, wordy, and difficult to understand. But, as Anne E. Greene shows in Writing Science in Plain English,writers from all scientific disciplines can learn to produce clear, concise prose by mastering just a few simple principles. This short, focused guide presents a dozen such principles based on what readers need in order to understand complex information, including concrete subjects, strong verbs, consistent terms, and organized paragraphs. The author, a biologist and an experienced teacher of scientific writing, illustrates each principle with real-life examples of both good and bad writing and shows how to revise bad writing to make it clearer and more concise. She ends each chapter with practice exercises so that readers can come away with new writing skills after just one sitting. Writing Science in Plain English can help writers at all levels of their academic and professional careers--undergraduate students working on research reports, established scientists writing articles and grant proposals, or agency employees working to follow the Plain Writing Act. This essential resource is the perfect companion for all who seek to write science effectively.