How to write and publish a scientific paper - Barbara Gastel, Robert A. Day 2022

An admittedly unvalidated quiz
How to seek a scientific-communication career
Other topics in scientific communication

Many from the sciences who choose communication careers seem to share certain traits. Based on this observation, here is an informal quiz. As social scientists might point out, this quiz has not been validated systematically. But the smiles of recognition it evokes seem to suggest, literally, a sort of face validity.

So, is a science communication career for you? To help find out, consider the following 10 items:

1.  Have you enjoyed courses in both science and other fields? Did you consider majoring in English or another area of liberal arts? Did you minor in such an area?

2.  Are you an avid reader? Do you find yourself editing what you read? Do topics for writing often occur to you?

3.  Do you like word games? For example, do you enjoy working crossword puzzles and playing Scrabble?

4.  Have teachers or others complimented you on your writing?

5.  In high school or college, did you serve on the school newspaper or another student publication? If not, did you consider doing so?

6.  Do you consider yourself a science generalist? Rather than wanting to focus on a narrow research area, do you like to learn about various aspects of your field, or of science in general? Do you find yourself more interested in knowing what other researchers are doing than in doing your own research?

7.  Do you like to view science in its broad context? Are you interested not only in research itself, but also its applications and implications?

8.  In laboratory projects, are you often the team member who writes things up? Do you find this role satisfying?

9.  Do others ask you to edit what they wrote? Do they otherwise approach you for help with their writing?

10.  Does a science-communication career sound like fun to you? Is writing or editing something you would look forward to doing each day?

If you answered “yes” to most of these questions, a career in science communication might well be for you. And if after reading these questions, you exclaim, “That’s me!”—let us be the first to welcome you to the field.