Guidelines for writing NIH Research Matters stories

See http://www.nih.gov/news/research_matters/index.htm for current stories to get an idea of content and format.

Writing the Story:

• Write clearly. NIH Research Matters is written for people who are interested in science, but that doesn't mean they necessarily have extensive science knowledge. Don't use jargon or technical terms if you don't have to, and define terms clearly.
• Stories should be short and follow this general outline:
          — Introduction—tells readers why the story is interesting.
          — Background—explains disease or condition and discusses why the study was done.
          — Study Design—how the study was carried out.
          — Results—what the study found.
          — Conclusion—put the results in perspective, talking about their significance and future research directions.
• Provide supporting graphics if possible: a photo, graph, diagram, etc. We can handle almost any format — TIFF , EPS, GIF, BMP, JPEG—as long as the resolution is at least 72 dpi for web viewing.
• List supporting web sites at the end.
• Include journal reference to the papers you are writing about.
• Include your title with your name, if appropriate (M.D., Ph.D., etc).

Style specifics:

• Identify ICs as “NIH’s [Institute] (abbreviation)” the first time, then just use the abbreviation.
• Identify people’s titles the first time you refer to them (Dr. [name]), then just use their last name.
• List organization affiliations for people, but not the towns where they are unless it’s integral to the organization’s name. For example, write "University of California at San Francisco" because there are several separate schools in the UC system, but not "Howard University in Washington, DC."
• Use minimal formatting. The less formatting (i.e. different fonts, spacing, etc.) the better, to make final layout simpler for us.

Don’t hesitate to contact the editor with any questions:
Harrison Wein, Ph.D., Writer/Editor
National Institutes of Health
Office of the Director, Office of Communications and Public Liaison
Bldg. 31, Rm. 5B38C, MSC 2090
Bethesda, MD 20892-2090
Phone: 301-435-7489
Fax: 301-496-0019
E-mail: weinh@od.nih.gov