Audience analysis

• Who is your audience?
• What sources of information can I use to better understand my audience?
• What is their prior knowledge of my topic?
• How can I make the story accessible to a wide audience?

Story structure: The “Inverted Pyramid”

Getting started: Writing the “lead” and “nut graph”

• 5 W’s and H – Who, What, Where, When, Why and How
• So What? (The “hook”)
• Tips for writing leads:
  1. Be brief
  2. Don’t bury the lead
  3. Use active voice
     • “Researchers conducted experiments…” (Active)
     • “Experiments were conducted by researchers…” (Passive)
  4. Use subject-verb-object format
  5. Balance breadth and specificity
  6. Avoid jargon, unnecessary words, and “it”

Resources:

• Arnold, C. & Cook, T. (2010). “How to Write a Lead.” OWL: Purdue Online Writing Lab.
• Blake, K. “Six Rules for Writing Straight News Leads.”

And his annotated pdf of his example from yahoo news.

As always, leave your links in the comments!

Example of a MotW paper/topic

• Manganese(II)-Containing MRI Contrast Agent Employing a Neutral and Non-Macrocyclic Ligand

Examples of “Science in the News”

• Superconductors: how do they work? Better with magnets, apparently
• Electrified Bacterial Filaments Remove Uranium from Groundwater
• Ancient Woolly Rhino Points to Himalayas – see the associated press releases below

Examples of Press Releases (which are off-limits as well)

• Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County announces discovery of important woolly rhino fossil
• Tibetan Plateau: New Cradle of the Ice Age Giants

Chemistry journals I try to review regularly (weekly or biweekly if possible):

• Accounts of Chemical Research | RSS
• Chemical Reviews | RSS
• Crystal Growth & Design | RSS
• Inorganic Chemistry | RSS
• Chemical Society Reviews | RSS
• Dalton Transactions | RSS
• Angewandte Chemie | RSS
• Organometallics | RSS
• Nature | RSS
• Science | RSS

The ACS maintains a complete list of their journals and related RSS feeds.

Other science related feeds I review as time permits:

• Chemical & Engineering News: Latest News | RSS
• Nature News | RSS
• Cosmic Variance – Sean Carroll is a VU Alumnus (Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics)
• Next Big Future
• Nobel Intent
• Bad Science
• Knight Science Journalism Tracker
• Not Exactly Rocket Science
• FemaleScienceProfessor
• On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Godess
• The Frontal Cortex
• is this a Good Idea?
• Terra Sigillata
• Slate Magazine – Science
• Innovation

What are you reading online (science related of course)? Leave a link and why you read it in the comments!

Disclaimer: I assume no responsibility for the content of the listed websites.

Writing

• So you’re writing your first post…
• Chemical Information?
• A few of my favorite books on writing
• Quick tips to improve your writing NOW!
• Could I actually know what I’m talking about?
• Commenting

Molecule of the Week

• More info on the Molecule of the Week assignment
• If you are struggling with your Molecule of the Week topics…
• Impressions about Molecule of the Week Assignment
• Mercury 101

And a few more…

• Lists of some of my science related feeds… [updated]
• Science requirements irk to the core, a reply.
• New Lightbulbs for a Better World, But What about the Mercury Content?
• Bottled “Water”?
• Why take it to the Next Level?

A wealth of information exists outside of Google, although both Google and Google Scholar are powerful tools. How do you search for chemistry related information, documents, references, and other literature?

What if you wanted…

1. to find references related to your current laboratory experiment?
2. to find references for your writing assignments?
3. to find references for your research?
4. to determine if the ‘science’ you are interested in pursuing is already known?
5. to cultivate new research or project ideas?

Chemical Databases

Many databases exist that allow searching by author, keyword, title, structure, or even reaction! Most provide tools for exporting search results to text files, word docs (or rtf’s), or reference managers (e.g., RefWorks). The library maintains a current list of major resources. Those that I use most often follow (in no particular order):

1. American Chemical Society (ACS) Publications (pubs.acs.org)
2. Article1st and WorldCat (search journals and books, respectively – not chemistry specific)
3. SciFinder Scholar + structure searching (ChemAbstracts search client)
4. Reaxys + structure/reaction searching
5. ScienceDirect (not chemistry specific)
6. Cambridge Crystallographic Data Center (ConQuest – crystal structure search)
7. Google Scholar (not chemistry specific)

Be careful…

Do not assume that each of these databases is comprehensive! As much as they would like to be the “one stop shop,” each will have omissions or exclusions of some sort. A good strategy is to use multiple searches of multiple databases. Also remember that a single search term is unlikely to provide comprehensive results. Small changes (additional terms, change in case, etc.) may give drastically different results. Remember to always put your search results in context with the ultimate question(s) asked, and that smaller, complementary searches are usually better than attempting one world beating search!

Searches to try… (use multiple databases as appropriate)

Author

1. DeSimone, Joeseph
2. Sorensen, Eric
3. Trofimenko, S.
4. Rabinovich, Daniel
5. Riordan, C.

Topic

1. organometallic (complex)
2. olefin metathesis
3. oxidation
4. olefin oxidation
5. epoxidation (styrene)
6. asymmetric oxidation
7. trispyrazoylborate (synthesis)

Structure

1. Search using a simple ethylenediamineNi(II) fragment
2. Search for both nitrito and nitro cobalt complexes, and other metal nitrito/nitro complexes
3. Consider the salen ligand and derivatives
4. Consider a fragment of the tris(pyrazolyl)borate ligand using different R groups (e.g., Me, t-Bu, Ph, halogens… use your imagination)