#21235
Managing Technology Transfer: Issues for Scientific Communicators 
Technology transfer is arguably one of the greatest communication opportunities of our day. In this panel presentation, we will define technology transfer terms and issues, identify technology transfer issues in private industry as well as in government R & D labs, and discus how today’s technical communicators can play a key role in technology transfer.
Cuba, Laurence L., Rich McGillick, Suzanne S. Roberts, Donna G. Roper and David Schuelke. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Scientific Communication>Technology>Technology Transfer
#18910
Marketing Science Through the Media
Marketing communications can involve more than just selling a product. Simply being mentioned in the general media and in trade publications can build a name for a company or institution and position it as a leader. When the University of Tennessee announced its entrance into the exclusive community of public institutions with a successful farm animal cloning program, a combination of science and news writing, web page creation, and media savvy was used to ensure that the announcement reflected well on the university and its research program.
Clark McDaniels, Patricia, Margot Pantalone, Charles Denney, Misty Anderson and Doug Edlund. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Scientific Communication>Marketing
#27288
Materials Data on the Internet 
The availability of the Internet has provided unprecedented opportunities for both data compilers and users. With respect to materials data, this paper explores: how do we know what is available? how can data be accessed, interpreted, exchanged? what novel modes of presentation are now available? what organizations are active in this field and what are their programs? what improvements are needed? where do we go from here and how? Examples will be illustrated of specific materials databases available on the Internet from a variety of materials data fields, e.g. fundamental data, engineering design properties, environmental data, and materials safety data. While there is no question that large and widely varied bodies of data are accessible on the Internet, significant improvements are needed promptly. The paper concludes by summarizing these problems and possible means for their alleviation.
Westbrook, J.H. Data Science Journal (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Online>Engineering
#23312
Issues of technical writing and the effective presentation of mathematics and computer science. Preparation of theses, papers, books, and 'literate' computer programs.
Knuth, Donald E., Tracy Larrabee and Paul M. Roberts. Stanford University (1987). Articles>Writing>Scientific Communication>Mathematics
#14127
Measuring the Quality of Editorial Peer Review 
The quality of a process can only be tested against its agreed objectives. Editorial peer-review is widely used, yet there appears to be little agreement about how to measure its effects or processes. Ten studies used a variety of instruments to assess the quality of articles that had undergone peer review. Only 1, nonrandomized study compared the quality of articles published in peer-reviewed and non–peer-reviewed journals. The others measured the effects of variations in the peer-review process or used a before-and-after design to measure the effects of standard peer review on accepted articles. Eighteen studies measured the quality of reviewers' reports under different conditions such as blinding or after training. One study compared the time and cost of different review processes.
Jefferson, Tom, Elizabeth Wager and Frank Davidoff. JAMA (2002). Articles>Scientific Communication>Editing
#29333
Many people make an unfortunate and invalid separation between heart and mind, or feeling and intellect. In some contemporary traditions, abetted by attitudes stereotypically centered on Southern California, feelings are exalted as more "real" and the only proper basis for action -- if it feels good, do it -- while intellect gets short shrift as a hang-up of outmoded elitism.
Gould, Stephen Jay. Edward Tufte. Articles>Scientific Communication>Statistics>Biomedical
#18416
In order to promote the results of their medical research to other healthcare professionals, researchers must publish their work. This is usually done by publishing manuscripts in medical journals and by presenting papers and posters at conferences. Medical writers may write these documents on behalf of the researchers that carried out the studies. This is termed ghostwriting. This is most common when studies are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, but academic researchers sometimes also use the services of medical writers. The medical writer and researchers collaborate to determine what should be written and the researchers gain from the expert writing skills of the medical writer.
#19639
In a multibillion-dollar-per-yearcindustry, medical technical writers are well situated between companies that manufacture drugs and medical equipment and the federal government, which regulates the manufacture of drugs and medical equipment. The government requires that these companies produce specific types of documents, which must be of a very high standard. This situation creates lucrative opportunities for technical writers.
English, Wayne A. Intercom (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical>Technical Writing
#28189
Medical Writers Give Career Changers Plans of Action
Those who are interested in breaking into medical writing received the inside scoop from L. Megan Day and Dr. Susan Dakin, the panelists at the chapter meeting on January 9 at Dreyfus Auditorium at Research Triangle Institute. Day has a bachelor's degree in chemistry, a master's degree in anatomy and has written for pharmaceutical companies for 10 years. Dakin has a bachelor's degree in biology and psychology and a Ph.D. in zoology. Self-employed since 1984, her specialties are scientific writing and proposal writing.
Harvey, Rachel A. Carolina Communique (2003). Careers>Writing>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#22658
Forum for the discussion of medical writing.
WritersWrite.com. Resources>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#23689
Review: Medical Writing in Drug Development: A Practical Guide for Pharmaceutical Research 
When I first saw this book, I was surprised that it was so slim. When you think of medical texts, you immediately imagine a volume of 600 pages or more. But Robert Bonk has been able to distill his information into a readable volume. All of the information is right there, easy to access, with no jargon cluttering the way.
Bonk, Robert J. MetroVoice (2003). Resources>Reviews>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#10667
Michigan Electronic Library: Science Writing and Publishing
The Michigan Electronic Library (MEL), sponsored by the Library of Michigan, is an online information system that provides residents of Michigan with no-charge access to a core set of electronic resources over the Internet. MEL's 'virtual library' is selected and evaluated by librarians and is designed to be a comprehensive electronic information tool for the state's libraries, schools and citizens.
Michigan eLibrary. Resources>Directories>Scientific Communication
#29068
To determine the metaphor that represents cloning, a contemporary scientific revolution, this study examines articles published in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Science, and Time that describe the cloning of the sheep Dolly. A plethora of figurative language may be garnered from these articles, and this study describes a number of them: metaphor (dead, natural, and technical), simile, hyperbole, personification, irony, cliché, paronomasia, antithesis, metonymy, anthimera, oxymoron, the rhetorical question, and analogy. The significance and relationship to cloning are explicated. The article concludes that the figures do not support a central metaphor. Further research is suggested to determine if the lack of a metaphor is a fluke or a trend in the development of scientific research and what the difference may be between scientific and technical metaphor.
Giles, Timothy D. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical>Tropes
#31700
Modeling Rhetoric in Scientific Publications
Despite the advent of computer-centered ways of creating and accessing scientific knowledge, the format of the scientific research article has remained basically unchanged. We have developed a model of a more appropriate form for research publications to structure scientific articles, based on a rhetorical structure which is ubiquitous in (natural) science papers. The model has three components: defining rhetorical elements inside the documents, the identification of the argumentational relationships between these elements; and the connection of data elements and entities to external sources.
de Waard, Anita, Leen Breure, Joost G. Kircz and Herre van Oostendorp. INSCIT (2006). Articles>Scientific Communication>Rhetoric>Technical Writing
#24566
Moving Beyond the Moment: Reception Studies in the Rhetoric of Science
Studies in the rhetoric of science have tended to focus on classic scientific texts and on the history of drafts and the interaction surrounding them up until the moment when the drafts are accepted for publication by a journal. Similarly, research on disasters resulting from failed communication has tended to focus on the history of drafts and the interaction surrounding them up until the moment of the disaster. The authors argue that overattention to the moment skews understanding of what makes scientific discourse successful and neglects other valuable sources of evidence. After reviewing the promises and limitations of studies from historical, observational, and text-analytic approaches, the authors call for studies of responses to research articles from disciplinary readers and argue for studies using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies that will explore the real-time responses of readers to scientific texts, test the effects of rhetorical strategies on readers, and track the course of acceptance or rejection over time.
Paul, Danette, Davida Charney and Aimee Kendall. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Scientific Communication>Rhetoric
#29530
Multimodal Analysis: An Integrative Approach for Scientific Visualizing on the Web
The Multimodal approach offers technical communicators and science writers an analytical tool to synthesize the meaning made in the connections across communicative modes. This multimodal synthesis can help technical communicators better exploit the meaning-making potential of multimodal combinations and understand the needs of future generations shaped by their increasingly developed multimodal literacy.
Maier, Carmen Daniela, Constance Kampf and Peter Kastberg. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>Technical Illustration>Biomedical
#18588
Narrative Medicine: A Model for Empathy, Reflection, Profession, and Trust
The effective practice of medicine requires narrative competence, that is, the ability to acknowledge, absorb, interpret, and act on the stories and plights of others. Medicine practiced with narrative competence, called narrative medicine, is proposed as a model for humane and effective medical practice. Adopting methods such as close reading of literature and reflective writing allows narrative medicine to examine and illuminate 4 of medicine's central narrative situations: physician and patient, physician and self, physician and colleagues, and physicians and society. With narrative competence, physicians can reach and join their patients in illness, recognize their own personal journeys through medicine, acknowledge kinship with and duties toward other health care professionals, and inaugurate consequential discourse with the public about health care. By bridging the divides that separate physicians from patients, themselves, colleagues, and society, narrative medicine offers fresh opportunities for respectful, empathic, and nourishing medical care.
Charon, Rita. JAMA (2001). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#21984
A collection of useful links, especially for science freelances.
Robinson, Richard. NASW (2004). Resources>Scientific Communication>Consulting
#15044
National Association of Science Writers: Local Affiliates
Links to the websites of regional chapters of the NASW.
#15043
National Association of Science Writers: Members' Web Sites
Any NASW member who wants to set up an individual web site on the nasw.org server is entitled to 2 megabytes of space at no charge. If you're an NASW member, we have some information on setting up individual web sites. Here is a complete alphabetical list of links to the web sites of NASW members. Some are on the nasw.org server, and some are located elsewhere. We also have separate pages for members whose writing fits into one or more specialty areas (Thanks to Richard Robinson for this idea.)
#21236
Newsletters in the Communication System of Science
Newsletters play several important roles in the scientific community because they can be used to convey information (e.g., administrative information) that is not appropriate for more formal genres (e.g., journals) and because they can be a more timely form of communication than other media, such as books.
O'Hara, Frederick M., Jr. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Scientific Communication>Publishing>Newsletters
#29022
The Non-Fiction Novel as Psychiatric Casebook: Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
As proposed in the classic work by Hervey Cleckley, M.D.--The Mask of Sanity--a psychopath typically meets sixteen diagnostic criteria. Every one of them applies to Richard Hickock as he is revealed by Truman Capote's <em>In Cold Blood</em>, a nonfiction novel about the murder of Kansas farmer Herbert W. Clutter and his family forty years ago. It transcends the boundaries of traditional journalism by closely examining the entire constellation of antisocial personality traits that Hickock exhibits. Drawn in large part from jailhouse interviews, Capote's portrait of Hickock breathes life into the psychiatric literature, thus rendering intelligible the mental evaluation provided by the physician who examined the accused in preparation for his upcoming trial. In so doing, Capote s best-selling masterpiece serves as a case study of a psychopath, one that conforms to established medical authority while maintaining its popular appeal.
Koski, Cherly A. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical
#20906
Northwest Science Writers Association
Northwest Science Writers Association (NSWA) is a northwest-US based organization that strives to improve understanding of science and technology by examining issues from a variety of perspectives. We encourage writers of all types (e.g., journalists, novelists, poets, technical writers) and others (e.g., policy makers, educators, business leaders) to participate in discussions to gain insight from one another.
NSWA. Organizations>Scientific Communication>Regional>Puget Sound
#20910
Northwest Science Writers Association Mailing List
This email list provides information about Northwest Science Writers Association (NSWA) events and offers a forum for discussing how we can better communicate about the various impacts and benefits of science, technology, medicine, environmental change, etc. NSWA encourages Western Washington writers and editors of all types and others (policy makers, educators, and business leaders) to participate and gain insight from one another.
NSWA. Resources>Mailing Lists>Scientific Communication>Puget Sound
#14053
Nuclear Information: One Rhetorical Moment in the Construction of the Information Age
Since the late 1970's we have been said to be living in the information age, and that name has stuck, with the phrase increasingly appearing throughout the closing decades of the millennium. The slogan, like all slogans, attempts to assert unity in the face of complexity; nonetheless, it captures, better than most such slogans, a dominant theme of almost all aspects of our everyday life. The slogan has its visual icons in advertising and journalism: binary bits flashing down wires and across the sky, tied to no location and independent of the humans who may need or use that information. Information has become an abstract universal, like atoms and electrons, to create or serve any entity, in no particular configuration, serving no particular purpose, gathered and used by no particular people (but of course provided or facilitated by specific companies who make this information their business). Information, however, is a human creation for human purposes, even if our devices now produce terrabytes of signals that travel only to other devices, never to be seen or touched by humans. This essay recovers a small piece of the history by which we constructed our understandings and uses of information, so that information has become pervasive in everyday life, needs, and action. It considers how information came to have major governmental and military meanings to the U.S. public during World War Two and after, and how an anti-nuclear test activist group asserted an alternative understanding of information to foster public opposition to government policy. This rhetorical reconstruction of information advanced a culture of citizen information, validated by citizen scientists to serve the needs and concerns of citizens, which pervaded the anti-war, environmental, and consumer movements that became our everyday reality in the second half of the century. Such citizen information embodies multiple assumptions about threats to everyday life, the necessity of reliable and up-to-date information for action to oppose the threats, large institutions whose interests are served by the threatening situation and which limit access to relevant information, science as an independent and objective source of information, and the responsibilities of a citizen to be informed.
Bazerman, Charles. UCSB. Articles>Scientific Communication>Technical Writing>Rhetoric
