Interview with Trisha Steele describing where her literary piece originated, The graduate science writing class Subatomic Writing taught by Jamie Zvirzdin
My students are the bestest.
#SubatomicWriting #scicomm #grammar #JHU
@hopkinspress.bsky.social
rappahannockreview.com/issue-12-2/i...
@jamiezvirzdin.com - working my way through #SubatomicWriting, found one typesetting error you've probably already noted, but just in case... mid page 83, I suspect the bold face "Personal pronouns" should start a new numbered paragraph.
100%. It's fascinating to see these kinds of words over and over in manuscripts. To me it seems like insecurity and/or unwillingness to take the time to communicate fully with the reader, skipping steps to save time and seem smart. But it results in poor coherence (Chapter 6 of #SubatomicWriting).
Thanks to @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social for hosting #SubatomicWriting, along with our Academic Life podcast (@academiclife.bsky.social). I'm not anti-AI, but I challenge students to find their own writing voice—you can write BETTER than #AI.
newbooksnetwork.com/subatomic-wr...
#SciComm #EduSky 🧪⚛️🔭
University of Delaware Arts & Sciences Department of Physics and Astronomy Jamie Zvirzdin University of Utah, Johns Hopkins University Mini-Workshop Psst . . . Your AI Is Showing: How to Put Your Own Voice in Scientific Papers Monday. January 27, 2025 1:00 – 4:30 p.m. In-person: Gore Hall Register Here! (link on real PDF via event site) Seats limited. Want to publish your science article, submit your grant proposal, or receive top marks on a term paper? Think AI can easily write it for you? You might want to think again. Come hear a seasoned science editor and award-winning Science Writing professor at Johns Hopkins University give examples of how painfully obvious the AI voice is to editors, grant-givers, and professors. Jamie Zvirzdin, who now builds neural networks to analyze cosmic-ray data for the Telescope Array Project, will show you how to identify your writing voice and leverage AI to produce outstanding scientific work that still retains your personal linguistic stamp. This three-hour event (with breaks) will cover the main concepts of Subatomic Writing: Six Fundamental Lessons to Make Language Matter (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023). See reviews for Subatomic Writing from NPR, NASA, MIT, and more at http://www.subatomicwriting.com. Book signing to follow event.
Coming soon to a University of Delaware near you. In-person only. We'll strengthen your own neural net capacities. See PDF here for sign-up link.
events.icecube.wisc.edu/event/243/
🧪🔭⚛️👩🔬 #highenergyastro #MLSky #AI #scicomm #publishing #TelescopeArray #subatomicwriting @hopkinspress.bsky.social
My editor at JHU Press told me Amazon rankings are . . . not the best metric, but a general temperature gauge. I don't actually make much from #SubatomicWriting sales (university presses have cutthroat contracts), but I'm still pleased many of you are investing in yourselves by🧵
Here is the book trailer I made for #SubatomicWriting. My very first boyfriend from high school plays the electric guitar (we're still friends! My friends are amazing), and he composed the music for this. Make sure to watch it in HD if you can!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C7t...
This book was published right before Twitter became X, so whenever I suggest you post an exercise online, mentally replace "Twitter" with "Bluesky." 🦋💙 Use #SubatomicWriting to get my attention! I (or one of my former JHU grad students, if they wish) will respond as often as I can.
Screenshot of a ChatGPT conversation. ChatGPT answers the user question "Is Subatomic Writing a good book?" Is Subatomic Writing a good book? ChatGPT said: "Subatomic Writing: Six Fundamental Lessons to Make Language Matter" by Jamie Zvirzdin has received positive feedback from both readers and experts. On Goodreads, it holds an average rating of 4.4 out of 5, indicating strong reader satisfaction. GOODREADS Notable endorsements include: Mary Roach, author of "Fuzz" and "Stiff," describes the book as "a quirky, quarky, marvelously helpful, relentlessly readable guide to effective science communication." AMAZON Christopher Joyce, Science Desk Correspondent at NPR, praises it for linking "principles of physics with those of grammar and linguistics," serving as "a tasty guide to scientific thinking and writing." AMAZON Deborah Blum, Pulitzer Prize–winning science writer and director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT, calls it "smart, effective, and a whole lot of fun." AMAZON These endorsements suggest that "Subatomic Writing" is a valuable resource for those interested in enhancing their science communication skills.
One of nicest comments I received on Bluesky to date was that ChatGPT speaks highly of me. And, apparently, #SubatomicWriting. SW will help you write BETTER than #AI, and more importantly, in your own voice.
www.subatomicwriting.com
#authors #books #EduSky #WomeninSTEM #ITeachPhysics #scicomm 🧪🔭👩🔬
Awesome, thank you! #SubatomicWriting uses lots of mnemonic devices so readers remember the info, and Maxwell's mother's demon is thrown in for additional fun (we remember that which is exaggerated). I edited dry upper-level textbooks for Taylor & Francis for ten years . . . I wanted mine to be fun.
The people who write in this way want to impress and even intimidate the reader, not communicate with the reader. The anti-science movement in America in on us too. We must get better at how we communicate, with each other and the public. Find #SubatomicWriting at your local library and see how!
3) Never assume that other people already know (what you think is) "basic" knowledge and critical thinking. This is called "The Curse of Knowledge" and it is a real cognitive bias I talk about in #SubatomicWriting. Give plain-language definitions for all sci-jargon. This also helps your colleagues!
If you're a concerned scientist and want to get better at writing, esp. for a general audience (you know this is needed!), please give yourself the gift of #SubatomicWriting. It was reviewed by folks from NPR, NASA, MIT, and many others. I wrote it for my JHU students. 🧪🔭 www.subatomicwriting.com
Absolutely. A lot of small newspapers are struggling too, so if any science folks have any level of #SubatomicWriting skills, I fully encourage them to reach out to their local newspapers and offer to do a science column. Helps build local communities again.
Registration for Boot Camp closes TODAY at NOON (EST). We've got over 40 people now (!), so networking will be fantastic. I see more graduated #SubatomicWriting students in the mix in addition to our moderators, so you'll get to connect with more alumni from JHU! dcswa.wildapricot.org/event-5514496
This boot 👢🥾camp is made for learning.
@jamiezvirzdin.bsky.social who wrote #SubatomicWriting & has taught science writing at Johns Hopkins since 2019, will be holding a @dcswa.bsky.social 🐥🐥🐥boot camp January 21-28
Register here: dcswa.wildapricot.org/event-5514496
🧪⚛️🔬⚗️🔭
Subatomic Writing out of stock at Bookshop.org
Of all problems to have, this is the nicest. JHU Press is already in the process of getting more books to Bookshop.org, but in the meantime, you can get #SubatomicWriting from the JHU Press website:
www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...
