Blog and Text Writing for Scientists and Scientific Entrepreneurs

1. Introduction: Blog and texts writing for scientists and scientific entrepreneurs. I'm just going back. I have a BA degree from Sonoma State University in California in Communication Studies with a minor in astronomy, which also included one year at the University of Tubingen in Germany. I was an assistant on a major European Union research project and carbon sequestration agriculture cost action, TD 1107. Bio char is an option for sustainable resource management. This work includes two newsletters and the project book, all of which I helped put together. Scientists and scientific entrepreneurs need to inform the public about their work. They're also now aware of the need to do so in the online content world and on other web-based published forums, which usually means their own project or institutional websites. This class is divided into ten lessons which will help guide you through the steps necessary to work in this field. This course won't just be a how-to guide for writing, but I will also offer insights into how to get into this line of work and some things to be aware of once you're in the field. Scientists and scientific entrepreneurs need writers to help them communicate to the public about their work. This growing and consistent demand represents an opportunity for students with an interest in science, creative writing, and who possess digital media skills or graphic design skills. Scientists, scientific entrepreneurs, which are people with scientific backgrounds, who found their own companies, as well as research projects, need content for the digital media space. With these types of writing skills, you could find yourself in a field that is rewarding on several levels. Your project for this course will be to find an area of science and then to write irrelevant belonged to upload. So let's get going on this journey and see you in the first class. 2. Lesson One: Entering the field of writing for science: Lesson one, how do you enter the field of writing for science or science-based companies? Science is a process of discovery and cause and effect analysis to find these links between cause and effect and employees measurements. The force, the cognitive process to adhere to rules and employs reasoning. For Earth, the solar system, the human body, and pretty much everything else in the world have been studied using science. In essence, sciences is a tool utilized to comprehend all these topics. Since the beginning of time and distance measurements made by the ancients, science has been applied. So how do you know which area of science is yours? Most likely if you are in this course, then you have some idea of the fields of science that interests you. If you're interested in working for his scientific entrepreneur or a science-based company or startup, then most likely you already have some idea of your areas of focus. Many areas are relevant from the standpoint of computer science, medicine, applied engineering, and environmental sciences are all offering amazing opportunities in this era. You may even be thinking of others that I have not mentioned. Once more, scientists and entrepreneurs are very busy and in demand people. And if you can help with their public relations writing projects or blogs and web text, then you will be appreciated. Finding a field of science can be a fun and logical task. Do you care about the environment, forests, oceans, or animals? Then one of the branches of Environmental Sciences for you, for the stars, astronomy or computers, especially supercomputers or AI. Then computer science, then I think you get the idea. Also remember, you're not sending out to be a leading researcher in the field unless you want to be, of course, you're in this class to become proficient in conversing, mainly in writing about an area of science or science-based business. So you found your area, the more specific, the better if it's ecology. How about flowers and flowers? How about sustainably grown flowers or flowers grown in water stressed or poor soil regions. Then find the leading companies, university programs, scientists, and organizations working in this very area, subscribe to their newsletter, watch their YouTube videos, get their books, and get into their realm. Make a Twitter account for yourself for only this topic and start following the accounts of others in this area as well. For Facebook, started small project of your own in the field, e.g. start growing flowers using sustainable growing methods. Use the scientific method and compare them with one's not being grown this way. Documents your effort and have fun. See when there are conferences going on and see if you can do a short time. After this, you will begin to see who is who in the field. And you'll be able to talk to them about the subject in a credible way. This is how you can begin to ask about a job position. If you get one, be sure to get very specific information about what they are hoping that you can help them with. As for now, your homework now is to begin this process. Find your area of science and begin to be able to talk and most importantly, write about it credibly. For fun, for finding an area of science for you, I offer this link. Which field of science matches your personality? 3. Lesson Two: Guidelines for public relations for science: Lesson two, blogging from a scientific standpoint is a type of public relations for science. There are a few guiding principles for this approach. Lack of effective communication as one of the largest and most pervasive problems with the public's comprehension of science. It is challenging to communicate scientific breakthroughs to the general public, since they are typically complicated by nature. And the product of years of research and small incremental advancements is uncommon for scientists to be an effective communicator. And Sciences frequently struggled to communicate the importance and relevance of their research. Public relations and scientific communication are frequently combined and research institutes communications with the public. Public relations activities frequently act as instruments for science communication. Despite the fact that these are two separate tasks. This is due to the fact that creating a common language and presenting information in context are essential for both effective scientific communication and public relations efforts for research institutes. There are some resources for us to turn to and considering how best to offer communication services to sciences. Numerous facets of personal and societal life are impacted by science is fundamental to the growth in decision-making process in politics, the economy and the individual. Science altered society through bringing new knowledge, innovations, and ways of thinking. It also rigorously checks its own assumptions, techniques, and outcomes. Throughout the process. Specialization and ever-rising complexity are traits of science. Thus, it becomes more challenging for many individuals to assess its potentials and hazards as well as to identify potential conflicts. Germany's Leopold Dina National Academy, they're often, or National Academy of Sciences, published a short paper in English simply titled guidelines for good science PR. Your homework for this lesson will be to read it. Don't worry, it's only two pages. This lesson has been largely based on this work. The link is there. Briefly, their recommendations are that good science PR should enhance the understanding of Sciences working methods and perspectives supports and promotes dialogue between science and the society at large, remains true to the facts, is open to societal changes and continuously adjusts its goals, strategies, and actions. There is more, but that's enough to start. Indeed, the scientists or scientific entrepreneur you will work for may have his or own priorities. In fact, it's very likely that they will. Nevertheless, this is a resource worth noting. Other resources along these lines are Vicent shaft in dialogue, WE D is a German organization for science communications of the scientific community. Wida support science and research with expertise in effective communication with society and encourages researchers to communicate their research. The link will be here. And the paper titled Public Relations for science promotion, perspectives from scholars. The link will be provided. 4. Lesson Three: Choosing an article topic : Lesson three, article topics has submitted topic to your lead scientist or how to make sure the topics they give you are followed up on. Pick your topic for this course. Your lead scientists will very likely give you your first blog assignment. If they've not done so, then you need to suggest a topic for them. But you should have and ideas folder. Be looking at others writing in your field. Looking out for trends in the topic, searching on the Internet. If you set up a Twitter, are getting newsletters, then there should be no problem in finding ideas and topics to write on that irrelevant. When you have a few ideas than pitched them to your lead scientists. For this course, today's homework, you need to pick your topic and begin doing the background and research work to write just one-page blog with a few graphics. 5. Lesson Four: How to follow science news to stay up-to-date: Listen for how to follow news in your field of science and stay up to date and relevant. This is very important in this pursuit. Being informed of the developments in your profession will help you stay on top of things. You may start arming yourself with knowledge you can use in your profession by actively searching on new material and keeping up with trends. Keeping current doesn't have to be challenging. You can benefit from recognizing important shifts, developments in your sector, new technology or methods. You must decide which sources are most beneficial to you and your line of work. If you want to keep current. You need to be subscribed to at least two newsletters in your field. You need to be visiting and primary website and organization working in your area at least once a week. You need to have a look at the social media channels for news, for science and science-based entrepreneurship. Twitter and LinkedIn are my favorites, but you may have yours. When you can. You need to be going to conferences or lectures or book readings in your field and even on topics that are just a bit related. If you can keep all your contacts warm. If you spoke to in person or email or through social media with a scientist or scientific entrepreneur in your field. And they were not able to hire you or give you any work per se. But you still had a reasonably good conversation than stay in touch, asked them questions, or even offered to do a little free research projects to get some news from them. All of this will give you an edge in staying up-to-date. And in the loop. In journalism, this is called having a contact. Plus later on they may have paid work for you. Stay organized and keep all your useful information and sources of information in places you can find them. Homework. The homework for this lesson is to gather information and if possible, contexts in your area of science to begin building resources for yourself and keep them organized. 6. Lesson Five: Balancing writing for science as well as the public: Lesson five, how to write well for science, but also for the public. This requires a balancing act and often sacrifices must be made. Writing for scientists and scientific entrepreneurs requires being mindful of a number of facets that you might not be concerned with when writing and other areas. The primary balance between making your texts accessible to the widest possible public at the very same time, satisfying the factual rigor required by your lead scientist. At the end of the day, it will be more important that your boss is happy than a vague sense of, I think the world will like this. Scientists have high standards and publishing their papers is very crucial to their work. There'll be viewing your writing for them through this lens. Get an idea of what they like early on in your working relationship. Be as sure as possible of their expectations from you as early as possible in your working relationship. Scientific people do not like reviewing many drafts. Make your copy as close as possible for prime time before sending it to be reviewed. Blogging and some web texts scientists and scientific entrepreneurs need is essentially a short version of a white paper. White papers and educational resource disseminated by a corporation or a research project that in-depth examines a particular subject, issue or solution pertinent to the organization. Quality white paper provides an in-depth information that engages and teaches. A white paper can build authority on a certain issue in the public eye by addressing a specific topic pertinent to the sector, industry, and the greater world. When your blog and other texts that you write for scientists and scientific entrepreneurs keeps the concept of the white paper in mind, will help you bridge the science with the business side of the work. If this is important. Homework, you now need to begin to get close to finishing your blog on a particular topic within a scientific field is even better if it's one headed towards commercialization. Example, algae for pollution control. Fine, but that's the overall project. More likely you'll be working on something like algae can help in reducing contaminants in wastewater, which contaminants phosphorus and does so better than chemical process treatments. Then you will talk about the specific work your lead scientists and, or his organization is doing. You can bring in other research to flesh out the story. You will learn to enjoy the abstracts of scientific papers and Google Scholar. 7. Lesson Six: Adding SEO: Lesson six, adding SEO. While this topic is outside the scope of this course, it is something that should be taken into account which can naturally be added to your text. I'll admit I'm not an expert in SEO. If you have a colleague on your project that has some knowledge of it, and I would advise letting him or her have a look. In general, it means relevance and originality overall. So use your own words as much as you can and look into keywords in your field and on your specific topic. I encourage you to look into SEO and take a course on it or read up on it. Most likely your lead scientists want to expect it from you right away. But if you look into it and build up some proficiency than it only adds to your value and competency. Seo or search engine optimization in terms of blogs as opposed to websites, must keep a few things in mind. Keywords, visuals, relevant and up-to-date info, and original text. For more on this topic, you can go to hubspot.com, no affiliation. Have a look at their SEO tutorials. On page optimization, adding plugins, Enhancing website loading speed and internal linking our typical activities related to blog SEO, homework. You can now see if there are a few SEO tactics you can add to your blog. Use keywords, be original, and stay up to date. 8. Lesson Seven: Know how to take criticism : Lesson Seven. Know how to take criticism from your lead scientist. Scientists have very high standards and you need to be prepared for some time, surprisingly tough feedback. Also, they can have a lot of demands on their time. So how to communicate in the most efficient way is important. Then implement their reviews. You can try using Google Docs that WAV files can be easily shared and they don't need to download anything. After they have made their critiques. Use suggestion mode so they can see and improve your new edits. Use a thesaurus and use terms that the scientists are using. Read and take note of every comment after reading the entire paper. Only then should you begin rewriting. Be considerate. After hearing comments, writers may experience annoyance, rage, or denial, but don't take it personally. Scientists have high standards and want their work to be presented not just in the best, but more crucially the most correct way possible. To allow yourself time to analyze and starts synthesising the most and least significant recommendations. Put the feedback aside for a day or two to get clarity, ask questions, but be patient your leads scientists just reviewed your work. So other work has now come up on the table. Get to revising based on the feedback. But make note of your questions to ask when the time is right. Homework. For your own project blog, you can seek feedback. If you have someone in the field of science to objectively review your work, that would be recommended. Hire someone to Upwork or fiverr.com if you're ambitious or have your mom review it, or a previous teacher or professor. But you must have at least someone to give you feedback. 9. Lesson Eight: Adding the right graphics and videos : Lesson eight, adding the rank graphics and videos to the blog. This can go along with the SEO section of this course as adding graphics is an aspect of SEO. Nevertheless, when writing blogs or other documents for scientists and scientific entrepreneurs, you attended begin adding graphics and placeholders for videos after the first review. If your lead scientists has given you photos, then those would be the first to use. Be sure to get examples for the kinds of graphic designs use lead scientists and scientific entrepreneurs like stock photos do not tend to be appreciated in this field. Nor are screenshots. Making a table of figures would be better than no graphics at all. In some cases, your blog images boosts your content and draw new visitors. Is also crucial to use visuals in your blog posts to break up the content and keep the reader interested. We'll take a look at an example blog and you can see how this looks. Homework begin to compile and then add graphics to your blog. Remember, a blog does not need to be very long. 10. Lesson Nine: Publishing and promoting the blog: Lesson nine, publishing and promoting the blog. Your lead scientist has reviewed your work and graphics and has given final approval for your blogs publication, and posting. If you have access to upload the blog itself to the organization or company website, then do so or pass it to those who do. Make sure to check that all formatting is correct. Also, you will want to promote the blog. The social media channels associated with your project are the first places to do so. Hopefully your blog and media post generate some conversations when people message you on any platform regarding anything about the blog or anything else relevant for that matter, then you must respond to them. Consider networking with similar blogs and reaching out to influencers, which in this case will be other lead researchers and scientific entrepreneurs operating in the same or similar areas. Hubspot has additional materials, 12 tried and true ways to promote your blog posts. Homework, post your blog and promoted in your social media. 11. Lesson Ten: Gauging your results: Less than ten, gauging your results. Ask your lead scientists for impressions on how the finished work looks live on the web. This is especially important early in your working relationships. So you know you're on the right path. See how much social media interaction or comments on the blog page you get. After months. See if you can run Google Analytics on the organization or company site, and see how much traffic the blog post has generated. A Google Analytics Tutorial is outside the scope of this course, but there are many resources available on this topic. Number of page views is a straightforward indicator that provides information about the success of the blog. Effort. Time spent on the page is a measurement that shows you how engaging your blogging is to the readers. Number of page views per visit is a measurement on how well you are doing at promoting the blog. Homework. See if you can get Google Analytics on your own blog page or the organization you are worth. So you can check on the metrics of your blog. 12. Conclusion: Conclusion. Thank you for joining me for this course. Writing for scientists is a growing and valuable field. At the time of the production of this course, which is September 2022, I am making most of my income from writing for scientific business professionals, although I completed additional tasks for them as well. This leads towards another topic. Your job may expand and you never know what kind of amazing journey writing for scientists can take you on. Thank you.