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Welcome! HCOM 511: Writing about Health and Medicine

Welcome! HCOM 511: Writing about Health and Medicine. Today’s Class. Course Overview Introductions What does it mean to write well? In class activity This week’s homework. Course Overview . HCOM 511 - Writing about Health and Medicine

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Welcome! HCOM 511: Writing about Health and Medicine

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  1. Welcome!HCOM 511:Writing about Health and Medicine

  2. Today’s Class • Course Overview • Introductions • What does it mean to write well? • In class activity • This week’s homework

  3. Course Overview • HCOM 511 - Writing about Health and Medicine • Designed to teach the skills necessary to write about health and medicine • Not a grammar review

  4. Course Goal • Writers will have the skills needed to produce high-quality, accurate, readable written materials about health and medicine • Writers will have several high-quality “clips”

  5. Course Design • Plain Language and Health Literacy • Planning and Research Methods • Selecting Topics • Evaluating Information and Presenting Risk • Deconstructing an Article • Editing and Ethics • Interviewing, Writing for the Web • Wrapping-Up • Career Panel

  6. Textbooks • Health Writer’s Handbook, 2nd Ed. • Woe is I. The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English, second edition • Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Ed. (optional) • available on Amazon.com (note both are second editions) • on reserve at the library

  7. Class Time • Meet Thursdays from 5:30 to 7:30 pm • Class time consists of • Homework review • Lecture • In-class activity • New homework assignment • Out-of-class discussions and other communication at our class website (http://sites.tufts.edu/aliabucciarelli)

  8. Grading • Minimal-marking policy • Highlight lines that contain errors • Will try to distinguish between grammar and style problems • Writers should • Pore over drafts with a “reader’s eye” • Use “Woe is I” • Keep lists of typical errors

  9. Grading Scale • Papers will be evaluated for the following: • Organization • Grammar and Mechanics • Clarity and Style • Content and Accuracy • Bibliography • All assignments must indicate: • Audience • Word count • Sources • Readability stats

  10. Rewrites • Are encouraged! • Must be substantively different from the original for an improved grade • Must be submitted within two weeks of receipt

  11. A bit of philosophy:How is writing related to critical thinking?* *Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. John C. Bean. Jossey-Bass Publishers. San Fransisco. 1996

  12. Writing is both a process of critical thinking and a product of communicating the results of critical thinking

  13. Writing and Critical Thinking • If writing is merely a communication skill, then we primarily ask of it, • Is the writing clear? • If writing is critical thinking, we ask • Is the writing interesting • Does it show a mind actively engaged with a problem • Does it bring something new to readers • Does it make an argument

  14. Traditional Writing Instruction • Leads to a view of writing as a set of isolated skills unconnected to an authentic desire to converse with interested readers about real ideas

  15. Introductions

  16. Who Are You? • What is your writing experience? • how much have you done academically, professionally, creatively? • What is your experience with writing? • do you like or loathe writing? • What is your writing style? • academic, scientific, business? • Have you taken Epidemiology and Biostastics? • What do you like to read?

  17. Break!

  18. Quality Writing

  19. Who writes about health and medicine? • Newspaper reporters • Magazine writers • Freelancers • Bloggers • Public information and public relations staff • Editors • Ad agency members • Broadcast media • Who else?

  20. Press releases Journal articles Patient materials Proposals Grants Magazine/newsletter articles White paper/backgrounder Newspapers Project reports CME What else? Types of Health Writing

  21. What makes high-quality health writing? • Good health writing is at heart good writing. • How do you characterize good writing?

  22. Good Writing Has… • Ideas that are interesting and important. • Organization that is logical and effective. • Voice that is individual and appropriate. • Word choice that is specific and memorable. • Sentence fluency that is smooth and expressive. • Conventions that are correct and communicative.

  23. Activity • Read a health article and indicate if it meets the criteria in the Good Health Writing Checklist. • Report back to class • Did it meet criteria? • What did you like/dislike about the health article?

  24. Homework • Reading assignment: • Federal Plain Language Guidelines (skip marked sections) • Gastel ch. 10 (about style and usage) • On-line discussion on reading • Writing assignment: • Write a 750-word personal essay about what brought you to Tufts • due by 5:30 pm, Jan. 27 by email

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