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Four Editors Give Tips on Writing Headlines. You Won’t Believe What Happens...
Good headlines achieve balance. They pique the reader’s interest without demanding it, they allude to the story without giving it away, and they give specific details without being technical. On top...
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Congratulations, You’re an Editor! What Do You Do Now?
Perhaps you want to be, or already are, an editor. But once you have the job, how do you master it? How do you draw the best out of the writers you work with? How do you figure out what’s broken in...
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Gender Differences in Pitching: Results from the TON Pitching Habits Survey
The TON Pitching-Habits Survey probed gender differences in science journalists’ pitching habits and how such differences may pertain to gender disparities in the field. We found that men and women in...
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Asking for More: Negotiating Rates for Freelance Assignments
Many freelancers question whether they can ask for more than what’s offered for assignments—and, if so, how and when they should ask. Seeking answers to these quandaries, we surveyed and interviewed...
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Jacqui Banaszynski’s Literary Forensics: A Diagnostic Tool to Improve Writing
As a diagnostic tool, says Jacqui Banaszynski, the literary forensics technique she developed and uses in editing and teaching helps writers identify their habits, strengths, and weaknesses, and then...
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Ask TON: Who Should Trim Long Drafts?
I often turn in first drafts of articles that are over the assigned word count by around 20 to 30 percent. I do so knowing that the story will need to be trimmed but wanting the editor's feedback on...
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How to Be a Great Science Editor at a Student Publication
Many science writing careers begin at the student-run newspapers and science magazines housed at universities and colleges. These independent newsrooms give aspiring science writers, majoring in any...
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Delivering the Bad News: How to Reject Pitches Well
Many editors dread rejecting pitches, and it’s easy to see it as the end of the road. But recognizing a good idea or a good writer, even if the pitch doesn’t work, can be the first step to finding a...
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Journalists of Color Face Harassment by Sources
A journalist’s job is to get the story. But for journalists of color, doing so sometimes means encountering racism from the very gatekeepers of that story: their sources. Science writer Jane C. Hu...
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How to Ask for Feedback from Editors
Reporters regularly receive feedback in the form of line edits on story drafts. But broader input on one’s overarching writing quality can be tough to glean from editors. Getting this kind of...
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Gut Check: Working with a Sensitivity Reader
Like fact-checkers, sensitivity readers can help illuminate the truth in stories by avoiding harmful stereotypes or mischaracterizations. Jane C. Hu explains the ins-and-outs of working with...
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Editors’ Roundtable: Managing Pandemic Coverage
Five editors who are managing their publications’ coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic share the difficulties they’re facing and the lessons they’ve learned through the experience so far, their...
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A.J. Hostetler on Mentoring Interns and Writing for Tony Fauci’s Aunt
“Tell stories like you’re writing for Tony Fauci’s aunt.” That advice from my first mentor, A.J. Hostetler, has stuck with me for more than 20 years. And these days it comes to mind whenever I see...
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There’s No One Path to Becoming an Editor
The steps to becoming an editor may not seem clear, especially to the early-career writer. But while many people fall into an editing role, it can pay off to be proactive. Editing work can bump up a...
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How to Report with Accuracy and Sensitivity on Contested Illnesses
Contested illnesses pose extraordinary challenges for science journalists, because the scientific consensus we aim to present simply doesn’t exist for most questions. Science journalists thus have a...
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How Editors Can Support Writers with Mental Health Conditions
With mental conditions like depression and PTSD so common in modern society, it’s likely that a science editor will, at some point, work with writers who have mental health conditions. But...
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How Publications Can Support Writers and Sources Experiencing Digital Harassment
Journalists writing about controversial (and even noncontroversial) science topics can face heinous attacks on social media, suffer the release of their personal information online, and even endure...
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Eradicating Ableist Language Yields More-Accurate and More-Humane Journalism
Striking ableism from journalism isn’t just about avoiding certain “naughty” words. It’s a practice of critically thinking and recognizing the historical violence and ongoing oppression that underlies...
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Roundtable: A Writer’s Guide to Being Edited
The editing process might seem harrowing to some writers, but it doesn’t have to be that way. A group of seasoned journalists share the do’s and don’ts of working with editors, responding to edits,...
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How to Deal with a Difficult Edit
Just as a smooth editing process can keep a writer coming back to an outlet again and again, a rocky one can turn even a dream assignment into a nightmare. Wasted effort, introduced errors, and clunky...
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