Free Writing and Publishing Online Workshop: 19–20 June 2024

Join Prof. David Schultz of the University of Manchester for a free 6-hour workshop on writing and publishing. During this two-day workshop, you will learn the process of peer review from an experienced and interdisciplinary author, reviewer, and editor. Get behind-the-scenes insight into how to better prepare your manuscript for submission, engage with the reviewers […]

Get your paper accepted faster: Responding to reviewers’ comments

Getting your manuscript accepted at a journal can typically take one to three rounds of back and forth with reviewers, each round taking one to three months. In my experience as Editor, sometimes the process could go faster because of things that the author could have done better or done differently when writing their responses […]

Tribute to Jinny Nathans, AMS Archivist and Librarian

Jinny Nathans (Photo Source: Cambridge Rotary Club) It is devastating to hear that Jinny Nathans passed away this past week due to COVID-19. From American Meteorological Society Executive Director Keith Seitter: “I’m sorry to report that AMS staff lost one of its own to COVID-19. Longtime archivist and librarian Jinny Nathans died this past Sunday. […]

Book review: Designing Science Presentations: A Visual Guide to Figures, Papers, Slides, Posters, and More

Here is another in my series of reviews for books that I read a while ago and were sitting on my desk waiting for the time to write the review. This review is of Matt Carter’s Designing Science Presentations: A Visual Guide to Figures, Papers, Slides, Posters, and More. Outside of my own book, I’ve […]

Polar Vortex, Redux

Lee Grenci has a lot to say about the polar vortex and its abuse in the media. https://www.e-education.psu.edu/worldofweather/node/2103

Oh…snap! 1895-style.

From the mini-Annals of Improbable Research (“mini-AIR”) “Pitted Pebbles in the Bunter Conglomerate of Cannock Chase.” T. Mellard Reade, Geological Magazine, vol. 2, no. 8, August 1895, pp. 341-5. LINK: The author instructs: “Mr. W. S. Gresley criticizes the summing-up of my views… It would have been more satisfactory if Mr. Gresley could have read […]

Junk the Jargon Interview on Public Engagement

An oldie, but goodie. Here is an interview (Junkcast) I did for the University of Manchester Junk the Jargon competition. I talk about my own experiences good and bad with public engagement, tips for connecting with the audience, and the origins of Eloquent Science.

Storm chaser, no. Meteorologist, yes.

The death of four storm chasers in the recent Oklahoma tornado raises issues about the safety of stormchasing, but also how stormchasing is marketed to the public and students. For example, some undergraduate meteorology, environmental science, and geography programs use storm chasing as a tool to market their programs. Even MyMajors.com lists stormchaser as a […]

Is it OK to mentor someone who is writing a peer review?

Brian Curran asks: I would like to hear your thoughts regarding the review process and young (or inexperienced) reviewers. I’ve reviewed just a handful of manuscripts, so it’s safe to say I’m inexperienced. Having a mentor or two guiding us relatively inexperienced reviewers through the process might prove to be beneficial and could serve to […]

“Utilize” versus “Use”

From The Telegraph (sent to me by Jamie Gilmour): When the American writer David Foster Wallace died four years ago, he left behind the following fragments: notes towards a dictionary all of his own. Utilize A noxious puff-word. Since it does nothing that good old use doesn’t do, its extra letters and syllables don’t make […]

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