A Science Communicator's Toolkit

A Science Communicator’s Toolkit

A Toolkit for Science Communication that will continue to grow, so keep your eye on it. This article is a part of our Nodes of Science Library

Written by Knigel Holmes
Photo credit: Niall Kennedy | CC


Tools

  • Zotero: “[zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources.”
  • Mendeley “is a free reference manager and academic social network. Make your own fully-searchable library in seconds, cite as you write, and read and annotate your PDFs on any device.”
  • Papers “helps you collect and curate the research material that you’re passionate about. From citations to search, Papers will improve the way you find, organize, read, cite and share.”
  • LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting system; it includes features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation. LaTeX is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents.
  • Google Scholar: “Stand on the shoulders of giants”
  • Google Scholar Button for Chrome
  • Google Scholar Button for Firefox
  • Cite This for Me: Create Harvard, APA, & MLA citations for your bibliography
  • Skeptools applies “the power of the programmable web to the purposes of skepticism.”
  • Web of Trust “is a website reputation and review service that helps people make informed decisions about whether to trust a website or not. “
  • Wayback Machine is an archive and timeline of websites. This tool keeps track of website changes over time.
  • FreezePage “Enter a web address to freeze any page as it looks right now.”
  • Rbutr “tells you when the webpage you are viewing has been disputed, rebutted or contradicted elsewhere on the internet.”
  • Slick Write is a free tool that checks your writing for potential stylistic mistakes and other features of interest. Whether you’re a blogger, novelist, or student writing an essay for school, Slick Write can help take your writing to the next level.
  • Hemingway is similar to Slick Write and highlights various writing patterns that might have better alternatives. Very useful in reducing long, complex sentences.
  • Simon Columbus: ‘Using Twitter to Explore the Frontiers of Psychological Research’
  • /r/scholar
  • Pirate University
  • #ICanHazPDF on Twitter
  • Livejournal’s Requests for Scholarly Articles
  • Library Genesis: Distribution of LG scientific articles via torrents
  • Microsoft Academic Search
Science Communication Resources
  • AAAS Center for Public Engagement with Science & Technology Our activities focus on providing scientists and scientific institutions with the resources they need to have meaningful conversations with the public.
  • World Science Festival
  • Sci-ənce “(pronounced “science”) is a comic about science, technology, skepticism, geekery, video games, atheism, and more. The comics are accompanied by articles, written by the artists (with the occasional guest writer) and follow a Monday/Wednesday/Friday semi-regular schedule (likely Tuesdays and Fridays). Founded in December 2010 on the eve of the infamous Arsenic Life announcement, Sci-ənce’s goal is to communicate science topics in a way that hopefully anybody can understand, and ideally elicit some chuckles.”
  • Ask For Evidence: Examples of evidence hunting “Being asked for evidence isn’t a criticism. People ask out of curiosity and an interest to know more about the science behind a claim. It’s an opportunity to show you stand up for evidence and don’t make unsubstantiated claims.”
On Writing