Dr Dinah Parums. 10 Tips for Your Science Blog
10 Tips for Your Science Blog by Dr Dinah Parums
Dr Dinah Parums has been publishing scientific and clinical medical research papers and reviews in peer-reviewed journals for 30 years and she has also edited scientific papers. Like Dinah, more scientists and health professionals have started to take up blogging, possibly as a way to give balance to articles that appear in the general media.
Dr Dinah Parums 10 tips for your science blog are that your writing should be:
Balanced,
Accurate,
Relevant,
Well-Referenced/Sourced,
Original,
Well-Written,
Evidence-Based,
Popular (culturally or otherwise),
Questioning and
without Bias.
BALANCE
Ideally, your blog will be 500 to 1,500 words in length; no more than one or two single-spaced pages of A4 text.
Your blog should look at all sides of an argument, past views, pros and cons. In this way, you will avoid over-stating your case.
ACCURACY
Check the literature at the scientific ‘source’. Never use a ‘generalized’ review by a non-scientist as your source. If you can, interview the scientific source or quote from the original material.
RELEVANCE
You may be asking a question that no-one else has.
You may research the evidence that challenges a long-established belief.
You may be bringing something new and important to the attention of your blog reader.
You may be raising the profile of a topic or group you have a personal interest in.
REFERENCES & SOURCES
Collate the reference sources, with their URLs, if they have them. These sources should be acknowledged, even in a short blog.
You may use hyperlinks within the text of your blog or place the full reference with or without its URL at the end of your blog, just as you would for a science paper.
ORIGINALITY
Depending on your target audience, your blog needs to grab their attention in some way by being original
WRITING
When published online, your blog will be read by more people than most journal articles, so write as well as you can. Check spelling and grammar, but also ‘tone’. Blogs can be a good way to develop your own style.
EVIDENCE-BASED
You are writing an ‘evidence-based’ article, so no matter how short, it should contain evidence for, against, any unanswered questions and further studies that should be done.
QUESTIONING
It is often good to start with a question or to have a question as your blog title.
POPULAR or SOCIAL CONTENT
Something popular in the social media can create interest in your site.
WITHOUT BIAS
Even if you have strong views and this is why you have written your blog, try to acknowledge all sides of the argument.
NB. This blog is an updated and expanded version of Dr Dinah Parums’ ‘6 Tips for Your Science Blog’ as seen on: http://www.pinterest.com/dinahparums/six-tips-for-...
Essential Clinical Pathology by Dinah V. Parums
CONTENTS:
Microbiology; Clinical Immunology; Haematology; Chemical Pathology and Toxicology; Clinical Genetics; Essential Systemic Pathology; Tropical and imported infectious disease; The Immune System; Immune deficiency disease including aids; Neoplasia; Disease of Blood and Bone Marrow; Diseases of Fluid Balance, Sodium, Potassium and Acid-base Biochemistry; Endocrine Disease; Essential Systemic Pathology; Cardiovascular Disease; Diseases of Lymph Nodes, Spleen and Thymus; Diseases of the Ear and Respiratory Tract; Diseases of the Gastrointestinal Tract; Diseases of the Liver, Biliary Tract and Exocrine Pancreas; Diseases of Bone and Joint; Diseases of the Urinary Tract; Diseases of the Male Reproductive System; Diseases of the Female Reproductive System; Breast Disease; Perinatal and Paediatric Disease; Pathology of the Skin and Soft Tissue; Diseases of the Nervous System, including the Eye; Glossary
