Издательство John Wiley, 2005, -247 pp.
A Guide for Young Scientists
School and university science courses generally prepare students well for the challenges of understanding science, carrying out experiments, and interpreting results. Surprisingly, however, the topics of creativity in science and science communication are only rarely a part of the curriculum of science courses at colleges and universities. Most young scientists are left simply thrown in the deep end and expected to lea by trial and error. But, as is amply evident from the working habits, the presentations, and the publications of many senior scientists, that leaing process often comes to a halt at a fairly rudimentary stage.
Furthermore, having left the fold of the teaching environment, young researchers often struggle for several years to find their feet and establish themselves within the larger scientific community. The purpose of this book is to support young scientists during this early phase of their career and, by giving the relevant advice and information in a concise form, to speed up this leaing process.
This book will not teach you any science. Instead, it addresses the often neglected questions of (1) how to work creatively once you have left the exams and course books behind you, (2) how to effectively communicate your scientific achievements in oral presentations and written publications and (3) whether and how to protect your accomplishments with a patent. If taken to heart, the advice given will also help you to adopt good working habits from which you will benefit throughout your career in science. In addition the book gives much background information about the machinery of scientific publishing and also about the mode possibilities of electronic publishing. A further chapter is devoted to patents - since this is an area in which scientists frequently fail to recognize and exploit good opportunities.
The main beneficiaries of this advice and information are likely to be graduate students and other young scientists; but anyone lacking confidence in these activities will find useful hints for improving their creativity and effectively mastering the task of communicating their ideas and results. Even senior scientists and professors with years of teaching experience might profit from reviewing their style of working or the quality of their oral presentations.
The style of this book is informal and easy to read, and intricate technical details are avoided. There are a number of other texts on scientific writing and presenting in which the reader can find all conceivable facts, figures and conventions. In contrast to such detail- laden tomes, our aim when writing this text was to make it concise, enjoyable to read and easy to digest. We hope we have succeeded in this aim.
For elucidating the topic of effective science communication from all relevant perspectives, the authors are able to draw on a wide spectrum of experience, including:
? scientific writing in numerous inteational scientific jouals;
? lecturing and teaching experience in various countries and at various levels;
? assisting colleagues and students in preparing their papers and presentations;
? assessment of countless book manuscripts, joual articles and oral presentations during their work as editors at a leading scientific publisher.
One of the authors (CA) has been invited by many institutes and universities to lecture on the topics of this book. A recurring comment at the end of these lectures was: 'It would be great to have this information available in the form of a book too'. So here it is. We hope you will enjoy reading it and that you will be able to use it to your advantage.
Introduction
Scientific Creativity
Scientific Presenting
The Culture and Ethics of Scientific Publishing
Writing and Publishing Your Own Paper
Electronic Publishing
Patents
A Guide for Young Scientists
School and university science courses generally prepare students well for the challenges of understanding science, carrying out experiments, and interpreting results. Surprisingly, however, the topics of creativity in science and science communication are only rarely a part of the curriculum of science courses at colleges and universities. Most young scientists are left simply thrown in the deep end and expected to lea by trial and error. But, as is amply evident from the working habits, the presentations, and the publications of many senior scientists, that leaing process often comes to a halt at a fairly rudimentary stage.
Furthermore, having left the fold of the teaching environment, young researchers often struggle for several years to find their feet and establish themselves within the larger scientific community. The purpose of this book is to support young scientists during this early phase of their career and, by giving the relevant advice and information in a concise form, to speed up this leaing process.
This book will not teach you any science. Instead, it addresses the often neglected questions of (1) how to work creatively once you have left the exams and course books behind you, (2) how to effectively communicate your scientific achievements in oral presentations and written publications and (3) whether and how to protect your accomplishments with a patent. If taken to heart, the advice given will also help you to adopt good working habits from which you will benefit throughout your career in science. In addition the book gives much background information about the machinery of scientific publishing and also about the mode possibilities of electronic publishing. A further chapter is devoted to patents - since this is an area in which scientists frequently fail to recognize and exploit good opportunities.
The main beneficiaries of this advice and information are likely to be graduate students and other young scientists; but anyone lacking confidence in these activities will find useful hints for improving their creativity and effectively mastering the task of communicating their ideas and results. Even senior scientists and professors with years of teaching experience might profit from reviewing their style of working or the quality of their oral presentations.
The style of this book is informal and easy to read, and intricate technical details are avoided. There are a number of other texts on scientific writing and presenting in which the reader can find all conceivable facts, figures and conventions. In contrast to such detail- laden tomes, our aim when writing this text was to make it concise, enjoyable to read and easy to digest. We hope we have succeeded in this aim.
For elucidating the topic of effective science communication from all relevant perspectives, the authors are able to draw on a wide spectrum of experience, including:
? scientific writing in numerous inteational scientific jouals;
? lecturing and teaching experience in various countries and at various levels;
? assisting colleagues and students in preparing their papers and presentations;
? assessment of countless book manuscripts, joual articles and oral presentations during their work as editors at a leading scientific publisher.
One of the authors (CA) has been invited by many institutes and universities to lecture on the topics of this book. A recurring comment at the end of these lectures was: 'It would be great to have this information available in the form of a book too'. So here it is. We hope you will enjoy reading it and that you will be able to use it to your advantage.
Introduction
Scientific Creativity
Scientific Presenting
The Culture and Ethics of Scientific Publishing
Writing and Publishing Your Own Paper
Electronic Publishing
Patents