2026 Graduate Student Science Writing Workshop
February 16, 2026
February 23, 2026
2:30-4:30pm
Location: TBA
Instructor: Carl Zimmer
Email: carl@carlzimmer.com
Website: carlzimmer.com
Workshop registration: Attendace is open only to those who preregisered prior to Jan. 31, 2026.
Registration opens Dec. 1, 2025 at 10:00am to all graduate students. To register, please complete the registration form. If you need any assistance with the form, email kelly.pyers@yale.edu.
Workshop objectives: This workshop will introduce science graduate students to writing about science for a broad, non-scientist audience.
About the instructor: Carl Zimmer is professor adjunct, Yale MBB, a columnist for The New York Times, and the author of 15 books about science.
Course schedule:
First meeting: Monday, February 16, 2:30-4:30 pm
This session will begin with a discussion about science writing, considering techniques required for good science writing. We will use the assigned readings below as the basis for the discussion.
I will describe in some detail how I produced one of my own articles, starting with the paper on which it was based.
Finally, we will discuss the course assignment (details below).
NOTE: Access to The Atlantic, The New York Times, and many other publications is available free of charge through the Yale Library.
tECHNIQUE:
Ian Bogost. “Scholars Shouldn’t Fear Dumbing Down.” The Atlantic, October 26, 2018 https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/scholars-shouldnt-fe…
I highly recommend these two books:
Steven Pinker, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. (Amazon page http://www.amazon.com/The-Sense-Style-Thinklng-Persons/dp/0670025852
Siri Carpenter, editor. The Craft of Science Writing https://www.theopennotebook.com/the-craft-of-science-writing/
Pulitzer-winning EXAMPLES OF SCIENCE WRITING:
Natalie Wolchover, “The Webb Space Telescope Will Rewrite Cosmic History. If It Works.” Quanta, https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-matters-so-much-20211203/
Ed Yong, “Why the Coronavirus Has Been So Successful,” The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/03/biography-new-corona…
FROM PAPER TO ARTICLE:
The paper:
Kunz, Erin M., et al. “Inner speech in motor cortex and implications for speech neuroprostheses.” Cell 188.17 (2025): 4658-4673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.06.015
The article:
“For Some Patients, the ‘Inner Voice’ May Soon Be Audible.” The New York Times, August 14, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/science/brain-neuroscience-computers-speech.html
Questions to consider: What in the paper is in the article? What is missing? How does the article go beyond the paper? How does the article portray the way scientists work? What key concepts are required to understand the research? How does the article address the emotionally charged issues at play for the patients who may or may not benefit from the work?
WRITING ASSIGNMENT
Pick a new scientific paper in an area of your choosing. Write a 600-word explanation of the research.
You are free to choose the style in which you write your assignment. It may be an opinion piece, a piece of straight news reporting as you’d see in a newspaper, or a more creative piece you might find in a magazine.
However you approach it, you must explain why the scientists did the research, how they did it, and what they learned from it-and in such a way that a lay reader can understand it (and even enjoy it).
The first step towards good writing is good language. So, avoid all jargon, no matter how tempting. See here for an index of words I’ve banned from previous classes: https://carlzimmer.com/the-index-of-banned-words-the-continually-updated-edition/
To research your piece, read the paper, look for any commentaries in the journals, and find background reading for context. If necessary, try to find a grad student at Yale or elsewhere who can take you through the research.
Be sure to include the citation of the paper on your assignment.
Since the assignment is due three days after the first workshop, I’d recommend starting on it before we meet. It may look like a quick task, but many grad students who have taken my workshop have told me it took a lot longer than they expected!
Assignments are due by Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 5 pm. Email them to me at carl@carlzimmer.com
Please note that I will only be able to evaluate pieces by the first 20 students who registered for the workshop. However, all registrants are welcome to attend both sessions, complete the assignment, and participate in the discussions about the assignment in the second meeting.
Second Meeting: Monday, February 23, 2:30-4:30 pm.
We will begin this session discussing the writing assignment. Most likely, you will have encountered unexpected challenges, which you are encouraged to describe.
After discussing the writing assignment, we will survey the many opportunities for communicating science, such as magazines and podcasts. We should have additional time for any topics that students wish to discuss further.