Resource of the Week #158: “How to Write a Science News Story Based on a Research Paper”

Hello again. Many science stories in newspapers, magazines, and other media are based on scientific papers that recently appeared in journals. How can one write a good such story? This week’s resource provides advice in that regard.

This resource is part of a series of brief guides appearing in the Guardian in association with the Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize 2014. Other topics thus far are how to interview a scientist, how to write a science feature, and how to establish a science blog.

Although the guides in this series are intended for beginning science journalists, they also can aid researchers who write for the public about their work or others’ work.

Competition for the Wellcome Trust Science Writing prize is open only to non-published writers in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man. However, advice in the guides can help journalists and researchers everywhere to write for the public about science.

Also, a booklet of last year’s best entries is available online. These entries can be interesting and informative to read. They also can serve as models of good science writing.

My thanks to Philip Horgan and Julie Walker at INASP for mentioning this resource.

Until the next post—

Barbara