Overview

Blending deep experience, evidence-based advice, and good humor, this is an invaluable resource for everyone involved in developing good scientific writers. Every scientist eventually teaches scientific writing or mentors junior scientists as they develop their writing skills—only to discover that the task is both challenging and remarkably time-consuming. If you are in this position, Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences is the resource you need, offering approaches that will help you help writers develop their skills more effectively and with less time and effort. Bethann Garramon Merkle and Stephen B. Heard, both experts in scientific communication, offer evidence-based advice that draws on their own extensive experience as well as on proven tactics from writing studies, science studies, and rhetoric and composition. Shorn of the unfamiliar and off-putting jargon that much pedagogy literature adopts, their advice is engaging and accessible to scientists. As you read, you'll see where developing writers are coming from; how mastering scientific writing matters to the careers of students who do and don't continue in academia; how writing occurs and is taught in both undergraduate and graduate curricula; how to find and harness teaching resources that help share the workload; how to teach writing to students who speak English as an additional language; and how to navigate the use (by yourself and by developing writers) of tools from pencils and dictionaries to AI writing assistants. If you teach or mentor scientific writers, this book will help you deliver what your students and mentees need most: clear, effective writing guidance.

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9780226843889

Table of Contents

Reviews

“A treasure trove. . . . As someone who teaches writing to scientists and lots of other people, I can confidently say: this book gets it. Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences is smartly focused and refreshingly practical. Merkle and Heard understand that writing in the sciences doesn’t happen in a vacuum: It’s shaped by mentorship, institutional pressures, what’s happening in the wider world—and now AI. This book is a lifeline for anyone designing writing courses or struggling to support research students. It offers genuinely useful advice on assessment (a rare feat in the age of ChatGPT), mentoring for process not just product, and clear strategies for giving better feedback (a skill most academics were never taught). The EAL chapter alone is worth the price of admission—insightful and refreshingly non-patronising. What the authors have to say about AI in scientific writing is especially strong—informative, nuanced, and timely. If you’re a research supervisor or teacher who’s tired of just ‘correcting’ student work and wants a more thoughtful way to teach writing, this book delivers.” -- Professor Inger Mewburn, The Thesis Whisperer “While scientists are taught how to write, how many of us have learned how to teach writing? This eminently pragmatic guide can rectify that situation, and I recommend it to all of us to improve our craft as teachers and mentors.” -- Terry McGlynn, author of ""The Chicago Guide to College Science Teaching""

“A treasure trove. . . . As someone who teaches writing to scientists and lots of other people, I can confidently say: this book gets it. Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences is smartly focused and refreshingly practical. Merkle and Heard understand that writing in the sciences doesn’t happen in a vacuum: It’s shaped by mentorship, institutional pressures, what’s happening in the wider world—and now AI. This book is a lifeline for anyone designing writing courses or struggling to support research students. It offers genuinely useful advice on assessment (a rare feat in the age of ChatGPT), mentoring for process not just product, and clear strategies for giving better feedback (a skill most academics were never taught). The EAL chapter alone is worth the price of admission—insightful and refreshingly non-patronising. What the authors have to say about AI in scientific writing is especially strong—informative, nuanced, and timely. If you’re a research supervisor or teacher who’s tired of just ‘correcting’ student work and wants a more thoughtful way to teach writing, this book delivers.” -- Professor Inger Mewburn, The Thesis Whisperer “This book offers something rare: guidance for scientists who teach and mentor students in writing without much formal training in it themselves. In a clear and engaging way, the authors offer practical, evidence-based strategies on everything from giving feedback to using AI. Essential reading for scientists helping students grow into confident, capable scientific communicators.” -- Faith Kearns, author of ""Getting to the Heart of Science Communication"" “While scientists are taught how to write, how many of us have learned how to teach writing? This eminently pragmatic guide can rectify that situation, and I recommend it to all of us to improve our craft as teachers and mentors.” -- Terry McGlynn, author of ""The Chicago Guide to College Science Teaching""

Author Information

Bethann Garramon Merkle is professor of practice at the University of Wyoming, where she teaches and studies science communication and scientific writing. She is a transdisciplinary researcher who melds art, writing, and social science research to understand and enhance how we train scientists. She was formerly a science journalist and editor, has contributed to many collaborative book projects, and blogs at School of Good Trouble. Stephen B. Heard is honorary research professor at the University of New Brunswick. He is an evolutionary ecologist and the author of The Scientist’s Guide to Writing and Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider. He blogs at Scientist Sees Squirrel. He has spent many years teaching scientific writing; he still finds it hard, but not nearly as hard as he once did.

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