The ability to write well is an essential component of an academic research career. But is there enough emphasis given to developing writing skills during researcher training? The national Sigma Xi Postdoc Survey found that more than half of respondents (53.6%) cited informal on-the-job training as their primary source of training in writing skills during their postdoc experience, while 37% received no training in writing at all. Only 9.3% received training in writing skills from a workshop or seminar, or through formal coursework.
Many studies have highlighted the importance of mentoring in developing and improving scientific writing ability, including two recent articles cited in our Medical Updates section below. MedEdMentoring has covered this issue in presentations including Publication Strategies, by Jeffrey M. Lyness, MD, and Mentoring Trainees' First Paper for Publication, by Dilip V. Jeste, MD. We plan to add more information on improving writing skills in the future.
Sincerely,
Stephen J. Bartels, MD, MS; Martha L. Bruce, PhD, MPH; Maureen Halpain, MS; Barry D. Lebowitz, PhD;
Charles F. Reynolds III, MD; Gwenn Smith, PhD; Joel E. Streim, MD; Jürgen Unützer, MD, MPH, MA
Bursaries, writing grants and fellowships: a strategy to develop research capacity in primary health care.
Ried K, Farmer EA, Weston KM.
BMC Fam Pract. 2007 Apr 5;8:19.
A small grant and mentoring scheme through a University Department can effectively enhance research skills, confidence, output, and interest in research of primary health care practitioners.
Writing intelligible English prose for biomedical journals.
Ludbrook J.
Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2007 May-Jun;34(5-6):508-14.
The author argues that the quality of English prose in biomedical scientific writing is deteriorating and considers possible strategies for reversing this apparent trend, including mentoring.
MostViewedPresentations 
General
Effective Mentoring
Charles F. Reynolds III, MD
Dr. Reynolds talks about the processes involved with effective mentoring, and how both mentors and students benefit from that process.
Geriatric
Excellence in Mentoring: Skills, Obstacles, and Facilitators
Yeates Conwell, MD
Dr. Conwell discusses the two types of mentorship seen in academic settings -- content and process -- and how excellence can be attained in each type on an individual, dyadic, and institutional level.
MostReadArticles 
General
Developing Educational Leaders: The Teaching Scholars Program at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.
Muller JH, Irby DM.
Acad Med. 2006 Nov;81(11):959-964.
A Teaching Scholars Program (TSP) was established in 1998 in the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), School of Medicine with the mission of building knowledgeable and skilled educational leaders, teachers, and scholars.
Geriatric
Depression in late-life: shifting the paradigm from treatment to prevention.
Whyte EM, Rovner B.
Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2006 Aug;21(8):746-51
While the field of geriatric psychiatry is focused on depression treatment, prevention is an enticing option. This paper will review current thinking on prevention research with a particular focus on its application to late-life depression.
InTheNews
How Doubling the NIH's Budget Created a Funding Crisis
ArsTechnica.com, April 20, 2007
An analysis in Science looks at how a number of trends have led from an rapid increase in NIH funding to an impending sense of crisis within the research community.
Capitol Hill Watch: Four NIH Officials Testify Against Proposed Budget Reduction
KaiserNetwork.org, April 23, 2007
A $328 million reduction in funds for NIH that President Bush has proposed in his fiscal year 2008 budget could limit important research and discourage young scientists, agency officials testified.
CareerAutobiographyDaniel Weintraub, MD
Dr. Weintraub gives his perspective as a junior faculty member in the early stages of a geriatric mental health research career. Other career autobiographies can be found in the Researcher Roadmaps section.
EventsCalendar
American Geriatric Society Annual Meeting
When: May 2 - May 6
Where: Seattle, Washington
When: May 3 - May 6
Where: Istanbul, Turkey
American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting
When: May 19 - May 24
Where: San Diego, CA
MedEdResources
Foundation Center
The Foundation Center, a clearinghouse for information on U.S. philanthropy, provides education and training on the grantseeking process and maintains a database of 80,000 currently active grantmakers and on millions of grants.
Retirement Research Foundation
Established by the late John D. MacArthur and endowed in 1978, the RRF funds direct service programs, educational initiatives, and research projects that enhance the quality of life of older Americans.
Smith, Robert V. Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)
This site creates a link between underrepresented minority students and faculty and the research training opportunities available through the NIH Research Supplements for Underrepresented Minorities program.
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