HOW TO BREAK INTO SCIENCE JOURNALISM

Whether you’re a journalist wanting to dive into science reporting as your new beat or just interested in incorporating more science stories in your roster, this class is packed with actionable advice, personal stories, and behind-the-scenes insights for you. After a small introduction on her experience getting started in science journalism—and how she realized even someone with no science background could learn the ropes—Sofia will walk you through the basics. She’ll break down the core types of science stories you can work on and how to access them. She'll teach you where to look for the next hottest science scoops (like know that a new species is about to be discovered before it's public!) and she’ll guide you through the ins and outs of interviewing scientists, parsing through complicated data, getting external corroboration, and making granular expertise pop off the page. All this while giving you a real sneak-peak of how she places these unique science stories as a freelancer, sometimes getting to science news before staffers. Sofia’s courses on how to break into science journalism are tried and tested, as she’s trained students from Stanford to Columbia. Her mentees—be it scientists learning journalism, or journalists learning science—all now regularly publish in the New York Times, BBC, National Geographic, and more.