Science, in my humble opinion, is the most constructive, positive enterprise in human history. Farming, engineering, and building give people food, all sorts of technological wonders, and homes to live in; the study of history, languages, and the arts brings us together and encourages appreciation of the progress we've made since moving out of caves and forest shelters. Wars destroy all that people have built, as well as the people themselves. Religion soothes and comforts, but all too often blinds its followers even to their own moral and ethical precepts. Science alone steadily advances the quality and quantity of human understanding of our existence.

   Science, however, is of little use if its advances are invisible to the human population. That's where science writing comes in. Books, newspapers, and magazine articles are the obvious and traditional manifestations of the science writer's craft, but today there can be much more. Science writers prepare scripts for radio and TV shows, write the dialog for movies, and create web pages; working as consultants and editors, they scurry behind the scenes to ensure that government reports, academic tomes, and even advertisements are informed by the best knowledge available.

Books and reports

It's hard enough just getting the materials together, but then there's that blank sheet of paper or empty computer screen glaring at you. Where to start? How to organize all that stuff? How to write without losing your audience?

Magazines

All those empty pages to fill! Where to get the copy? What to feature; what to organize into columns? Print it on paper or go for an "e-zine"? Hint: Nothing yet beats Mr. Gutenberg's invention for producing readable, portable, durable publications (no batteries required).

News and feature articles

Science has been called "the endless frontier". That means there's also endless need for well-written, grab-you-where-you-live stories about the incredible results of scientific exploration (on scales both immense and sub-microscopic), and the fascinating people who devote their lives to science.

Editing

Conference proceedings volumes, quarterly bulletins, magazines, and committee reports all have one thing in common: those pesky typos, grammatical errors, and questionable assertions that seem to pop up as soon as your work is published and can make even the best documents hard to read...or easy to ashcan!

Web pages

These are a lot of fun to do, but there are pitfalls, not least of which is the temptation to load up on bells and whistles! I feel strongly that web pages should appear quickly in your browser, immediately convey what they're about (through appropriate use of text and graphics), and, especially, not blink at you.

  Some excellent examples of what can be done are on the web. Check these sites out:

VIEWS of the Solar System.... (everything you ever wanted to know about astronomy). I admire this site greatly, but had nothing to do with creating it.

The Bridge. Designed to provide a comprehensive source of information on all things oceanic for teachers, The Bridge has links to just about everything worth knowing about the oceans. It is a product of the National Sea Grant program and the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences.

St. John's College. A four-year school very much in the Socratic mode of "two men on a log," St. John's offers a "great books" curriculum that is the same for all students. Above all, the school encourages students to think about and examine all aspects of their lives. It also is famous for its croquet team, which annually trounces the brave, but doomed, team from the United States Naval Academy, located just across the street.

Washington Apple Pi  My (Macintosh) computer user group. This site is a work continually in progress.

National Association of Science Writers. Founded in 1934 by a handful of mainly newspaper science writers, this has bloomed into a 4,000-plus member, highly diverse organization of writers concerned with the dissemination of information about science: its methods, practitioners, and results. I am proud to have been a member for more than 30 years.

Chesapeake World.  This is a personal, non-commercial, attempt to provide a useful starting point for information concerning the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding region. It offers a page of selected (by me) links to more than 400 web sites of organizations, government agencies, research centers, and publications. An occasional "Special Events" section and links to the Annapolis weather report and a web search engine are included. A slightly tongue-in-cheek Policy page offers more explanation. Contributions and suggestions are most welcome.

Back to Scienceworks: Writing & Editing

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You can contact me at Scienceworks; on AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) as "longbote" ; or through the Annapolis, Maryland telephone directory. Of course, Google will tell all!