What can you share?
Anything!!
From Biology to Physics to Geology to Bioinformatics to Genetics to Nutrition to everything.... Science has evolved and so have the people studying it.
We all have countless research papers and written pieces that had never seen the light of day.... Some of us have been working on R or Python creating amazing graphs, analyzing data or creating tutorials but they just sit on our computer.... Some have amazing and simple illustrations of basic to complicated techniques but they just sit somewhere on a desk....
We sometimes think that basic science concepts are common knowledge and that, like us, people will go into a paper research frenzy when we hear of a new technique, drug or trend. However, we are living in a time where pseudo science, wrong practices and self proclaimed experts trump facts and scientific information; and this is the information a lot of people access. It is up to us, the incoming, the passionate, the curious science lovers to share the facts and informed the public.
Everything you write, research, discover, and make is important. Everything you do has value. Do not underestimate your work.
You might feel your piece of writing or code or graph or drawing is silly and simple; but, it might be just the thing someone else was looking for. It might be just the background someone needed for a paper, the code someone needed to start making sense of some graph, it might be the kind of art that would describe your project perfectly.
Who is this for?
Scientists, grad students, data scientists, bioinformaticians, undergrads and all science lovers.
We all have so much we want to share; so, some of us have a blog, some of us use our twitter/Instagram account to share our day to day in the lab or a certain article or study. But you can only tell so much with an Instagram story or caption. Also, most science students and established scientists do not have have or use those outlets to share their research.
There are times when we read an article and we learn something new on a subject you have been studying for years and your first thought is to share this with anyone and everyone but you can only share it with lab members or some friends... Times when you learn about some new trend and after doing some reading you find they have the facts wrong and you want to tell the world but you don't have the tools... Times when you have an article and critique or you just simply want to talk about a topic that fascinates you but you don't have a blog? Or any other outlet?
Post it here! and then share the link with the world. This is the purpose behind the existence of Science Talk.
Things to keep in mind..
- Focus on the science.
- Back up your writing with primary sources.
- Be respectful.
- You want to write something but you would like some help? Find a collaborator
- Be aware of your audience and adjust your language adequately. If you are sharing an article to all audiences, keep your language and approach simple and understandable. This doesn't mean you need to dumb it down or skip facts. Instead use examples and everyday words. Sure, it might be a challenge depending on the subject but it will also help you to grow as a writer, communicator and it might even help you to understand the subject better.
Get Started!!!
Become a member of the Science Talk group. How? Follow the step by step shown in
Here.
That is the Getting started page of Authorea and gives you a quick a guide into how to use and how powerful Authorea is. Just remember to become a member of the group so you can post in it, ask for help, start collaborations and create a network of people that love science as much as you.