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 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 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

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

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 (

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

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

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

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? –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?

Break!

Quality Writing

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?

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

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 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?

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