Are you a scientist or science communicator who wants to learn to write in a style that is creative, interesting, engaging and accessible?

This course is presented in partnership with the Royal Society of New Zealand and Victoria University Community Continuing Education. It will give you a stimulating introduction to the art of science writing. The course combines practical writing workshop sessions and critique/discussion of your own written work with examination of the considerations involved in science writing.

Scientists or science communicators who want to write in an interesting, engaging and accessible format to suit their audience – whether writing for children, other scientists, or for the general public.

There are no entry requirements.

Through this course participants will:

• Learn how to write about science in an engaging and creative way.
• Experience different styles of good science writing and determine what constitutes good science writing.
• Build up a variety of techniques for creating engaging scientific writing. 
• Evaluate their own writing and the writing of other class members in a critical yet constructive way.

This course will follow a similar pattern on each of the three days:

10.00 – 11.00 Group discussion and group exercises

We’ll consider questions such as: What is good science writing? How do we make our writing creative and engaging without ‘dumbing ‘down’?

11.00 – 2.30 Individual focused writing exercises with guidance

The individual exercises include identifying good science writing, writing short bites of information such as museum labels, information for children etc and moving up to longer articles, press releases, brochures etc.

Some work will be done ‘on the spot’ in class; other work will be written outside class and brought along. Participants will have the chance to read their work to others in the group and have it critiqued by Dave and the rest of the class.

2.30 – 4pm: Guest interview and discussion

Dave will interview guests from the writing and scientific community followed by general discussion with the class. Guests will be asked to identify their influences, talk about their sources for inspiration and their “careers” as writers and/or scientists and how science writing fits into that.

Discussion will focus on identifying good examples of writing and the issues faced in science writing.

Dates and times

Saturdays 12, 19, 26 June 2010, 10am-4pm

Held at Victoria University Pipitea campus

Course teacher

Playwright Dave Armstrong won the fiction category of the 2008 Royal Society of New Zealand Manhire Prize for Creative Science Writing. He has worked as a museum writer at Te Papa as well as the children’s TV science show Q.

Dave has also written extensively for screen and stage.  He has won Best New New Zealand Play in three times at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards for The Tutor and Niu Sila (co-written with Oscar Knightley) and where we once belonged (with Sia Figiel). His musical play King and Country has been performed throughout the country and on radio and his most recent play Le Sud recently had sell-out seasons in Auckland and at Wellington's Downstage Theatre.

Dave's television credits include Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby, Bro’town, The Semisis, Skitz and Shortland Street. He won an AFTA television award for Best Comedy Script for Spin Doctors.

He has written one book, True Colours, about the 1996 general election

Further information: Writing for Science