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 • Designed to teach the skills necessary to write about health and medicine • Not a grammar review

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”

Course Design • Getting Started • Research Methods • Evaluating Information and Presenting Risk • Deconstructing an Article • Plain Language and Health Literacy • Editing and Ethics • Editor Guest Lecture • Wrapping-Up • Career Panel

Textbooks • Health Writer’s Handbook, 2nd Ed. • Woe is I. The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English, second edition • Both available on Amazon.com (note both are second editions) • Both are on reserve at the library

Class Time • Meet Thursdays from 5:30 to 7:30 pm • Class structured as • Homework return and review • Short lecture • In class activity • New homework assignment

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 characteristic errors

Grading Scale • Organization – 2 • Grammar and Mechanics – 2 • Clarity and Style – 2 • Content and Accuracy – 2 • Bibliography – 2 10 points = A 8 to 9 points = B 6 to 7 points = C Rewrites (to improve your work and grade) are encouraged!

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

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

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

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

Introductions

Who Are You? • What is your writing experience? • What is your writing style (academic, scientific, business)? • Have you taken Epidemiology and Biostastics?

Quality Writing

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

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

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

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.

Activity • Break into pairs. • Read a health article and indicate if it meets the criteria in the Good Health Writing Checklist. • Other person reads handouts on good writing. • Switch. • Compare checklist and discuss what you liked/didn’t like about the health article. • Report back to class.

Homework • Reading assignment • Gastel ch. 8 • Writing assignment • Write a 750-word personal essay about what brought you to Tufts • due by 5:30 pm, Jan. 28 by email

Welcome! HCOM 511: Writing about Health and Medicine