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 511 - 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
Getting Started
Research Methods
Evaluating Information and Presenting Risk
Deconstructing an Article
Plain Language and Health Literacy
Editing and Ethics
Editor Guest Lecture
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
– Both available on Amazon.com (note both
are second editions)
– Both are on reserve at the library
Class Time
Meet Thursdays from 5:30 to 7:30 pm
Class structured as
– Homework return and review
– Short lecture
– In class activity
– New homework assignment
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 characteristic errors
Grading Scale
Organization – 2
Grammar and Mechanics – 2
Clarity and Style – 2
Content and Accuracy – 2
Bibliography – 2
10 points = A
8 to 9 points = B
6 to 7 points = C
Rewrites (to improve your work
and grade) are encouraged!
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?
What is your writing style (academic,
scientific, business)?
Have you taken Epidemiology and
Biostastics?
Quality Writing
Who writes about health and
medicine?
Newspaper reporters
Magazine writers
Freelancers
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
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
Break into pairs.
Read a health article and indicate if it meets
the criteria in the Good Health Writing
Checklist.
– Other person reads handouts on good writing.
Switch.
Compare checklist and discuss what you
liked/didn’t like about the health article.
Report back to class.
Homework
Reading assignment
– Gastel ch. 8
Writing assignment
– Write a 750-word personal essay about
what brought you to Tufts
– due by 5:30 pm, Jan. 28 by email