Lab 8: Science writing. You are one unlucky reporter. Today, you’ve been assigned to the science desk where your grumpy editor tells you that the lead story for this week’s science section has just tanked. You’ve got an hour to come up with a pitch for a good story idea or next week, you’ll be back covering school board meetings. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Here’s what you do:
- Go onto the web and check into as many peer-reviewed academic, scientific or medical journalsas you can. Restrict yourself to the issues published since Dec. 2019. (The idea here is to find somethingyou can use for Assignment 5)If you don’t know where to start, go here: http://www.scu.edu/library/research/find/journals/ One of the best databases is Academic Search Complete/EbscoHost. Check full-text, peer-reviewed and enter the dates
.2. Do a keyword search of some of the topics that you find intriguing. Try to tap into your passion, or at least a topic to which you have some sense of connection. Or maybe just look for some research on the best way to treat the flu.
- Find a study that interests you and that you find to have news value. Be sure to note when it was done, by whom and when and where it was published. Does the study have some applied value? Is there a significant “gee whiz” factor? Also check to make sure, should you decide to use this story for your article due at the end of the quarter, that you can access a full text version of the study without having to pay for it. And, again: make sure the study has been published in a primary source (i.e., an academic journal) that has been peer-reviewed. Articles in secondary sources, such as newspapers or magazines, newsletters or digests, do NOT count for this lab assignment or for your science writing assignment (Assignment 5).
- Write a coherent and easily understandable (i.e., translate the jargon) summary – as if you were writing to your roommate -- of what the study found in 50 words or fewer. Think of those science articles you and your classmates found in class today and how you described them.
- Once you’ve figured out the significance of the study, ask yourself: what’s the story? What is the news value? Why is it relevant? Does it have any validity? How would you verify it? How does it fit within the larger context of what has come before? Is there a newshook? Based on your answers to those questions, follow the summary with a one-sentence pitch to your editor, convincing her of the newsworthiness of this study.
- If you have some time left, outline briefly how you might report the story. How would you validate the study? Who would you interview? Where would you find your sources? Researchers? (Note: a good way to find other researchers is to look at the footnotes to this study. Google the names that appear a number of times to see how reliable they are.) Members of specific organizations? Other experts in the field? Other published research? “Real” people who could put a face of the story? Name names, if you can find any. Note: This is where the secondary sources -- newspapers, newsletters, magazines, websites, digests, etc.-- come in: do a google news or lexis-nexis search of the topic (overeating research, say). Then take note of the expert sources or their organizations who are quoted in the stories. Look for names that come up again and again to find reliable experts; look for organizations that are likely to lead you to good “real people” sources; and look for references to current studies, documents, etc. which might lead you to some good stats.
Sample Solution