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Category Archives: Writing
What to do about a low GRE verbal score
How can you fix a low GRE verbal score when it is dependent on a lifetime of reading, listening to complex language, and writing? Little children have no control over the richness of language they hear. They don’t get to … Continue reading
Why you shouldn’t say “data not shown” or “personal communication”
What makes something science is not so much the subject matter as the process. Scientific information is obtained by clear methods that others should be able to repeat. It is above all based on evidence. There are lots of different … Continue reading
Who gets to tell the story?
Why didn’t the writer of that important new review cite your work? After all, it is on exactly that topic. This is unfair. It is easy to feel aggrieved. Why should you bother to work so hard on your research … Continue reading
A three thousand word day
My graduate students, post-docs, and technicians are four days away from a thousand word deadline. The undergrads are an equal number of days away from a five hundred word deadline. This should be no surprise to them, because the due … Continue reading
Posted in Writing
Tagged Double Helix Ranch Writer, Scientific writing, Writers Resources, writing, Writing Exercises
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Why a scientist needs a writer’s retreat
A retreat is not an advance. It is more introspection than extroversion. It is more remembering than discovering, at least if the discovery is external. A Zen retreat might involve a silent week of focus on breathing, on holding poses, … Continue reading
Put some drama into your lab notebook!
My daughter’s Bellaire High School history teacher told us once at an open house that she did not want her students to learn what happened, but instead to learn why it happened. I felt joyous, knowing my daughter was in … Continue reading
Posted in Data and analysis, Research, Writing
Tagged data collection, lab notebook, Research
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Easy tips for effective writing
Why is it so hard to write clearly? Is it because we don’t know what to say? Is it because we jettison all common sense when we write and try to adhere to some fancy form we imagine is sophisticated? … Continue reading
Posted in Tenure, Writing
Tagged communication, Jerry Coyne, Richard Dawkins, science writing, Scientific writing, Writers Resources, writing
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Teaching graduate students to write, Memphis style
Isn’t it a shame that some people think writing is a born talent, not a learned trade? We writers know that is not true, so we all have our methods for helping others also become writers. There is a lot … Continue reading
Posted in The joy of teaching, Writing
Tagged graduate students, Research, sociology, teaching, university, University of Memphis, writing, writing workshops
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More on work life balance: get writing done first!
Wouldn’t it be interesting to zoom backwards and forwards to other times and see how much time we really spend working and what areas we work in? Does email count? Checking Facebook? Answering colleagues’s emails? What counts? Does the work … Continue reading
Posted in Managing an academic career, Writing
Tagged organization, Work–life balance, writing
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