Category Archives: Writing

The joys of a Wikipedia edit-a-thon

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Frank

Last week the Royal Society held a Wikipedia edit-a-thon to try and help redress the gender imbalance in Wikipedia’s coverage of biographies of scientists. Twenty volunteers gathered in the library of the Royal Society for a few hours to learn … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Writing | Tagged | 4 Comments

Wordy, wooden, weak-verbed

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Frank

A piece in today’s Times Higher, on the flaws of academic writing styles, struck a chord with me.  It says: If you have ever needlessly added the term “Foucauldian” to a journal article or bludgeoned readers by starting an epic sentence … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | 5 Comments

Collecting, connecting, communicating

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Frank

Librarians collect stuff. To collect is one of the most important verbs in the librarian’s instruction manual. Probably the next most important is to categorise. There is a connection between these two. We do not collect randomly but with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogology, Libraries and librarians, Uncategorized, Writing | 4 Comments

A rearward look at rewards: celebrations and celebrities

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Frank

Last autumn I had the pleasure of attending the awards ceremonies for two science writing prizes. They are similar competitions but have individual characteristics and constraints: the Max Perutz prize is sponsored by the MRC, which is a taxpayer-funded organisation … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | 2 Comments

And the winner is …

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Frank

The Max Perutz essay prize is in its 14th year and is a major landmark on the science writing landscape. To enter the competition MRC-funded PhD students are invited to write an essay: in no more than 800 words, to … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Seven sins of science writing

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Frank

I was never trained as an editor, but a few years ago I found myself as joint editor of our Institute’s annual volume of essays on science, aimed at a lay(-ish) audience. For the first few years I worked on … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | 5 Comments

Books, Poetry and Prizes

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Frank

Scientific poetry competitions are catching on.  First there was a genomics poetry competition, organised by the Genomics Forum and the Scottish Poetry Library.  You’ve missed the deadline for entries; winners are due to be announced in November. More recently the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Writing | 10 Comments

Genomics poetry competition

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Frank

I was delighted to see a new poetry competition announced. I must confess that I am not a big poetry afficionado, but I think on balance it is a good thing and deserves to be encouraged. The Scottish Poetry Library … Continue reading →

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Truthtelling

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Frank

Last month I attended an interesting and lively discussion at the City University about science journalism. On my way home I opened the book I was reading at the time and saw the the following: In the world of financial … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogology, Writing | 1 Comment