David M. Schultz

Writing an Effective Title

The title is your first opportunity to attract an audience to your paper. A well-worded and catchy title can lure reluctant readers to take a closer look at your paper. This chapter discusses the characteristics of effective titles and provides examples of how to write accurate, concise, and attention-commanding titles.

Authorship and Its Responsibilities

Nearly everyone who publishes will collaborate with others on their research. Working with others can be a satisfying or a frustrating experience. One potential difficulty can be determining who will be listed on the paper as coauthors. This chapter describes guidelines for determining authorship and authorship order, the responsibilities of the corresponding author, and the responsibilities of all coauthors.

Constructing Effective Oral Presentations

An electronic presentation is the visual companion to the verbal component of a scientific presentation. As such, a poorly constructed electronic presentation can cripple an otherwise excellent speaker. Speakers need to carefully consider the design, construction, and delivery of the slides, topics to be covered in this chapter.

The Motivation to Write

Writing can be a struggle, or it can be fun. Most likely it is both. The attitude with which we approach the writing project can determine its success. Lack of motivation and writer’s block can prevent us from beginning, continuing, completing, and enjoying writing projects. This chapter provides strategies for overcoming these obstacles to our writing.

Constructing Effective Sentences

Well-written sentences convey information succinctly and precisely. Examples presented in this chapter guide authors toward improving their sentences. These improvements include such topics as subject—verb placement, overuse of passive voice, improper or inconsistent verb tense, and misplaced modifiers.

Communication with the Public and Media

Throughout this book, we have generally considered the audience of our work as being other scientists, a relatively small segment of society. In this chapter, however, we focus on communicating with the rest of the public. When the public is surveyed, they say that scientists are one of the most trusted occupations, yet a majority do not believe in the scientific consensus on global warming. How can we use our position of trust to inform a population that looks to us for answers on important questions facing society? What are the best approaches to communicating with the public, especially through the lens that most of them will meet us: the media?

Writing a Review

Thousands of reviews are written each year by reviewers who receive no credit, for the benefit of authors whom the reviewers may not even know. The result of this review process is that authors receive guidance on improving their manuscripts and editors receive guidance on the suitability of manuscripts for publication. As such, reviewers are the publication process. This chapter provides guidance to reviewers (or potential reviewers) on whether to agree to perform a review, how to critique a manuscript, and how to write a review.

Responding to Reviews

The reviewers have provided their input, and the editor has made the decision to return your manuscript to you for revisions. How do you make revisions and respond to the reviewers to maximize your chances of publication? What do you do if your paper is rejected? What can you do if you are dissatisfied with the review process? This chapter deals with these and other questions.

Brainstorm, Outline, and First Draft

The prewriting process consists of two components: brainstorming and outlining. Brainstorming allows the author to think randomly, covering the topic both deeply and widely; whereas outlining organizes and focuses those thoughts into a framework that can be explained clearly to others. This chapter describes the prewriting stage, leading up to, and including, the production of the first draft.

Potent Poster Presentations

The other side of many scientific meetings are the poster sessions. In contrast to the relatively sedate monologues occurring at the podium, the poster sessions are boisterous and frenetic. How do you lure an audience amid the din and distractions? How do you communicate your results persuasively? This chapter addresses how to organize, assemble, present, and market your poster in a way to entice viewers, stimulate dialog, and enrich an active poster-session environment.