Alan Boyle Leads Science Writing Master Class

By Kelly Hunt

Award-winning science writer Alan Boyle [1] of MSNBC drew a crowd of nearly 60 UT students to his Master Class Tuesday before giving the annual Hill lecture later that night.

Boyle's Inside the Toolbox talk gave the audience a glimpse into the life of a science writer with tips for journalists breaking into the field and a discussion of the role of blogs in today's society.

"Science is moving into areas never seen before," such as politics, environmental issues, health and culture, Boyle said.

The key is writing about how the issue affects everyday life and conveying to the audience how we know what we know, he said.

"There are maybe three strategies to do that," Boyle said when a student asked if he had any advise for journalists new to science writing.

Step 1: leverage the area that you know and find interesting issues in your field. "You learn through checking with experts," he said. Step 2: take courses in what you're interested in learning, outside of writing classes. "You can benefit from courses in that field," Boyle advised. And step 3:Pick up the technical aspects as you go. Also, read a lot of material in the field, he said.

During the lecture, Boyle fielded questions from the class ranging from the misrepresentation of science in the media to his role in the journalism field.

"My view point is that people, on one hand, expect a lot, maybe too much, from scientists in the (realm) of certainty," Boyle said of readers' opinion of scientists. Science changes; there are no gospel-truth certainties, he said.

"On the other hand, people think too little of scientists in terms of ‘Oh, it's just a theory,'" so sometimes people think scientists don't know what they are talking about, Boyle said. "You have to follow those threads of debate.

"I see myself not so much as a gate keeper, but a guide," Boyle said of his role.

Online, Boyle gives readers links to explore more in-depth information or supporting documentation if they want it and he uses a Flash program to tell stories interactively.

"It's a good way to tell a story graphically," he said of the method. The interactive approach is a way science writers can convey a topic not necessarily new to the public, but still important, such as an eclipse.

Boyle encouraged students during his lecture to explore their interests and experiment with blogs to gain experience in their field of choice.

"Blogs aren't maybe a money venture, but a way to get your feet wet," Boyle said.

View the Tennessee Journalist's article on the annual Hill lecture [2].