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SCIENCE WRITING COMPETITION 2017
Have you ever dreamt of trying your hand at journalism?
Do you want to express your opinion on a hot scientific topic?
Would you like to have a go at writing about science?
… then do, and get published in the Science in Society Review!
The Science in Society Review (SiSR) is a termly science magazine published by The Triple Helix
Society at the University of Cambridge. We publish articles authored by undergraduate and
graduate students at the University and students at other Triple Helix chapters around the world,
such as Harvard and UCSD. You have the opportunity to have a piece of your writing published in
both the print and online versions of the magazine.
All you have to do is write a short (up to 800 words excl. references) piece on one of the
following topics:
1. Internet applications have become ubiquitous and have
transformed much of how we live. Discuss one of these
applications.
Discuss any application, product, or service that the internet has facilitated.
And why you think it is of particular importance. It can be related to social
media networks, online gaming communities, or even email services.
2. The medical field is one of the oldest branches of science.
Discuss an aspect of Medicine which has had or will have a great
impact on our lives.
Your discussion may include technological advancements, or basic scientific
research, or medical procedures.
3. Interdisciplinary research is important in both basic and applied
science. Discuss a collaboration between different scientific
fields, and why this teamwork is significant.
Tell us how any interdisciplinary research has helped advance scientific
endeavour or improved our lives. You can discuss a research focus, or a
technological product, or suggest a novel interdisciplinary collaboration, as
long as it involves more than one discipline.
Deadlines and Rules:
Deadline
15th February 2017
Prize
Three winning articles will be published in the Easter edition of our journal. Print copies
will be mailed to your school for free, and the online edition of the journal will be made
publicly available.
Submission
Article must be entered into the Article Submission Form (below) and emailed to
[email protected].
Restrictions
There are no restrictions on the number of submissions per school, age of the author, etc.
as long as the article submitted is up to a certain standard of scientific rigour (see below!)
Referencing
 All factual claims must be referenced below the text.
Briefly, whenever you make a statement that is not a thought generated by yourself,
the source of the statement must be acknowledged (however, statements considered
to be general knowledge - e.g. ‘the structure of DNA is double-helical’ – do not require
referencing).
 Include a reference list.
Place a square-bracketed number after the statement, along with the reference source
in a numbered list at the end of the article. This should include the author(s), title of
the publication/article and the source including the URL, if available). It is best to use
the original source.
 We encourage the use of the Vancouver style of referencing.
There are a number of guides available online
[https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-supportservices/library/public/vancouver.pdf].
To illustrate good practice in scientific writing, take the example excerpt below from an old SiSR piece
on the subject of behavioural change campaigns:
The UK public can be broken down into 7 generalised groups according to their attitude to climate
change: active environmentalists (18%), people who either deny climate change or want to live their life in
their own way with no consideration for it (18%), and the most important group, which shares a
willingness to act if empowered and informed (64%) [4]. The latter are the main targets for nationwide
behaviour change campaigns, and it could be argued that the future of our environmental policies is
dependent on our ability to encourage them to perform and support environmentally-conscious
behaviours.
[4] DEFRA, A Framework for Pro-Environmental Behaviours, Jan 2008, p43-45 – see copy at
http://archive.defra.gov.uk/evidence/social/behaviour/documents/behaviours-jan08-report.pdf
We hope to receive lots of submissions! If you have any questions, email us at
[email protected]
See next page for submission form; that is the part you need to save in a separate Word
document and email to us.
ARTICLE SUBMISSION FORM
ARTICLE TITLE:
Enter title here
AUTHOR INFORMATION:
Full Name:
E-mail Address:
Age:
School (name and address):
PERSONAL BLURB:
A few curt phrases to introduce yourself. It doesn’t need to contain exactly the same information
as in the example provided. Feel free to tell us why you wrote about your topic!
Example:
Cindy Smith is a sixth-former keen on becoming an engineer. She loves banana bread
and listening to music so loud it makes the neighbours complain. She decided to write
on this topic because she feels passionately for climate change and wants to make the
case that geoengineering is the best way of solving it.
Your Personal Statement:
Enter personal statement here
<ENTER ARTICLE TEXT HERE>
(Don’t forget the reference list at the end; and you can take up as much space or as many pages as
you like, as long as you stay within the 800 word limit, excluding references.)