SCIENCE WRITING: BIOSM 3110

CHECK OUT THE BLOG ENTRIES MADE BY THIS YEAR'S CLASS!

Prerequisites: An introductory level science course.

This course offers students an introduction to science writing. Students will learn about the business of science writing (including career opportunities in newspapers, television, and the Internet). They will also give students the opportunity to become familiar with the craft of making complex scientific research understandable and exciting for the general public. Students will need at least one introductory science course and be prepared to complete several short-deadline writing exercises.

List of planned topics:

1. Turning a scientific paper into a short article
2. Magazine writing
3. Professional blogging
4. Interviewing scientists
5. The structure of a good article
6. Op-eds and other opportunities for professional scientists
7. Special challenges in science writing: "framing," "fair and balanced coverage," etc.

Faculty:
Carl Zimmer;
Contributing editor at Discover magazine, and frequent contributor to the New York Times.
email: carl@carlzimmer.com
web: http://carlzimmer.com
blog: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom

Check out the science writing course that Carl is teaching at Yale! 

MICROCOSM: E. COLI AND THE NEW SCIENCE OF LIFE
"Superb...quietly revolutionary"--Boston Globe
"A phantasmagoric read"--New England Journal of Medicine
For more information go to http://carlzimmer.com/books/microcosm/index.html

Cornell students cannot receive credit for taking both BIOSM 3110, Science Writing, and COMM/ST 3520, Science Writing for the Mass Media