As you might notice, I’m posting this blog entry early. The reason is that I’m leaving tomorrow for Nicaragua, to give an AuthorAID workshop. I look forward to leading the workshop, meeting Latin American colleagues, and seeing Nicaragua for the first ...

“Does anyone have a blog topic to suggest?” I asked one of my classes last week, after a student mentioned the AuthorAID blog.

“Write about doing e-mail,” a student quickly answered.

What a good idea! Much of the writing that researchers do is e-mail. And preparing e-mail skillfully can save time, avoid confusion and conflict, and promote success.

So here are 10 tips on preparing e-mail:

1. Use an informative subject line. For ...

Last week an AuthorAID user told me about a helpful Web site she had found. (Thanks again!) This Web site is the HINARI Authorship Skills site. I agree that this site is very useful.

This Web site contains four items:

• a PowerPoint presentation on how to write a scientific paper
• a “Web bibliography”, with links to online resources on various ...

When should you start planning a journal article about your research? You should start planning your article even before you begin collecting data.

This advice comes from Marianne Mallia, manager of the scientific publications section of the Texas Heart Institute. Mallia presented this advice last month at the annual conference of the American Medical Writers Association.

Mallia told the audience about a doctor who collected information about patients for many ...

Today I returned from Louisville, Kentucky, where I took part in the annual conference of the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA). At the conference, I attended sessions, gave sessions, and talked with old and new colleagues.

Highlights of the conference included the awards dinner. AMWA’s highest award, given for distinguished contributions to medical communication, went to Norman Grossblatt, a senior editor at the US ...

Today I am busy preparing for the American Medical Writers Association annual conference. I soon must complete my slides and handouts and finish other preparations. 

Recently a researcher recommended that instead of speaking at conferences, people just e-mail their presentations. Doing so, the researcher said, would save time and money and help preserve environmental resources. 

In general, I disagree with ...

As I walk through the buildings at my university, I often see posters presenting research. Researchers prepared most of these posters for conferences. Then, after returning, they hung the posters near their laboratories or offices.

Some of these posters are excellent: informative, clear, and attractive. Others, however, are not so good. Probably most of my colleagues, like most researchers elsewhere, never received guidance in preparing effective ...

[Note: Recently AuthorAID helped find a leader for a writing workshop in Zambia. Below, the workshop leader, Tom Lang, presents some highlights. Thanks very much, Tom!]

In August, I taught a week-long course on report writing and scientific publications at the National Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research in Zambia. Among the 19 participants were several  from other countries, ...

On Friday, EQUATOR reached its 3-month birthday. No, I don’t mean the Earth’s equator. I mean the EQUATOR Network, an initiative to improve scientific publications.

Officially launched on 26 June 2008, the EQUATOR network has a Web site providing resources for research reporting. Why the name EQUATOR? It stands for Enhancing the QUAality and Transparency ...

When I last wrote to you, a storm—Hurricane Ike—was approaching. We were lucky. Although we had many hours of wind and rain, we did not lose electricity, and our community did not have much damage. Some other communities were not as lucky, and we here are trying to help them.

I hope that your communities—and your careers—do not suffer serious storms. A minor storm that many of us face is the rejection of a paper by a journal. Even the best researchers sometimes have papers ...