Lamar Soutter Library
Medical School Building, first floor

A great starting point for electronic databases, eBooks, and library materials, including resource guides for scholarly writing and data visualization. (Login may be required).

Advance Series
Office of Faculty Affairs

This monthly webinar series is designed to address areas in which faculty are evaluated as part of the promotions process: educational effectiveness, scholarship, and academic reputation. The Advance series takes place on Tuesdays 12:00 – 1:00 pm, via Zoom.

Elements of Style
William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, 2000.  

First published in 1935, this classic set of grammar rules provides timeless guidance for every writing project.   

Trees, Maps, and Theorems
Jean-luc Doumont, 2009.

This book on “effective communication for rational minds” explains how to get messages across optimally in written documents, oral presentations, graphical displays, and more.  

How to Write a Lot
Paul J. Silva, 2019.

Want to be a more efficient and productive academic writer? This is the book for you. Available as a free eBook through UMass Chan’s Lamar Soutter Library (login required).

Air & Light & Time & Space: How Successful Academics Write
Helen Sword, 2017

Sword explores the habits, mindsets, and creative processes of successful academic writers. Through research and interviews, she challenges common myths about writing and provides practical insights to help writers cultivate productive and enjoyable writing practices.

Healthy Presentations
Emily P. Green, 2021

Authored by UMass Chan's own Emily Green, this book is a practical guide aimed at helping clinicians and educators in the biomedical sciences enhance their presentation skills.

De-Jargonizer
Tzipora Rakedzon, Elad Segev, Noam Chapnik, Roy Yosef and Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, 2017.  

Paste or upload your text into this automatic jargon identifier to highlight areas that may not translate well for general audiences. Consider using for project narratives, websites, and other public-facing content.

The Science of Scientific Writing
George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan, 1990.  

Science doesn't have to be hard to read. Find tips here to write clearly without oversimplifying complex topics. (PDF version here). 

"R-Club" Research Writing Group
UMass Chan CCTS

Are you an early-stage investigator looking to write your first R21 or R01? The UMCCTS Research Writing Group (R Club) meets every other week to review and plan for successful R-level grant submissions.

K-Award Group
Research Career and Writing Group

The K Award Group meets every other week to provide information and feedback on academic career development and on preparing a Research Career Award application (NIH K Awards, VA Research Career Awards, CTSA K grants, etc.).

F30/F31 Writing Group
UMass Chan Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Applying for an F30/F31 NIH Fellowship? Join the GSBS F30/F31 writing group to receive support and feedback on your application! Go to the GSBS SharePoint site for more information, or contact Brent Horowitz or Funmi Ayobami.

The Anatomy and Physiology of a Specific Aims Page
Justine M. Pinskey, PhD

Dr. Justine Pinskey, Sr. Scientific Writer for the Investigator Career Advancement Program in the Office of Health Equity at UMass Chan, presented a talk on "The Anatomy and Physiology of a Specific Aims Page" in January 2025, as part of the Office of Faculty Affairs' Advance workshop series. Please find the handout here, and the session recording under "Specific Aims" on this page.

The Grant Writing Guide
Betty S. Lai, 2023

An essential handbook for writing research grants, providing actionable strategies for professionals in every phase of their careers, from PhD students to seasoned researchers.

NIH Matchmaker
National Institutes of Health

Paste in your abstract or other grant text to find potential NIH program officials, Institutes/Centers, or review panels that might be a good fit for your application. 

Choosing a Journal
Lamar Soutter Library @UMass Chan

The Lamar Soutter Library has compiled a list of free tools and resources—including JOT, JANE, and tools from Elsevier and Springer—to help you find a suitable journal for publication.

Open Access Publishing
Lamar Soutter Library @UMass Chan

Confused about open access policies and whether you should choose the journal's open access option or self-archive your paper? The Lamar Soutter Library has developed a comprehensive guide to understanding open access scholarly publishing. Their resources include a list of journals that offer open access publication discounts to UMass Chan researchers.

Connected Papers
Connected papers in a visual graph

Use this AI-based tool to find papers connected to your topic of interest for a more comprehensive literature analysis. 

Writing Effective Titles
Wordvice Hj, 2023

Making a title for your research is one of the most important decisions when writing an article to publish in journals. Read this article for tips on writing concise and effective titles. 

Writing your Journal Article in 12 Weeks
Wendy Laura Belcher

This step-by-step workbook demystifies the academic publishing process to help writers overcome their anxieties and produce the publications that are essential to succeeding in their fields.

Requesting a new website
UMass Chan CMS (login required)

Ready to set up your research website? Start here (and start early)! You'll need your intended url and the names and email addresses of anyone who will be granted permission to edit your site. 

CMS Self-help
UMass Chan CMS (login may be required)

If you're just getting started in the CMS or feeling stuck on a particular project, check out these content manager resources from UMass Chan's IT department. 

CMS Support
UMass Chan CMS (login required)

Use this link to submit a support ticket if you need assistance while designing and building your site.  

UMass Chan Brand Toolkit

Check here for logos, templates, graphics, and other resources in alignment with the UMass Chan Brand (login required). 

UMass Chan Photo Library

As part of the UMass Chan Brand Toolkit, the Office of Communications offers a library of professional campus photos to use for your website or other materials (login required). 

Pixabay
Royalty-free stock images (signup required)

Visuals can really help your site pop! Check here for stock images you might include on your research group website (be sure to carefully check license and attribution information for each image). 

The Noun Project
Icons and stock images (signup required)

Extensive library of designer-contributed icons and images (be sure to carefully check license and attribution information for each image). 

OFA Communication Skills 

The UMass Chan Office of Faculty Affairs offers a Summer Intensive, a Talk Review & Feedback Service, and other resources to help faculty hone their ability to express complex ideas verbally and in written form as scholars, educators and leaders.

Making Scientific Figures with Illustrator
Christopher Gutierrez

A helpful collection of videos for learning how to use Adobe Illustrator to create scientific figures. 

NIH BioArt Source - Free Scientific & Medical Illustrations
NIAID

2000+ free vectors, icons, and brushes created by professional illustrators and available through the National Institutes of Health.

Adobe Illustrator for Scientists YouTube Channel 
@AdobeIllustratorforScientists

Adobe Illustrator tutorials to make informative and captivating figures for scientific presentations and publications. 

Designing Science Presentations
Matt Carter, 2020

This book provides pragmatic advice on the preparation and delivery of exceptional scientific presentations and demonstrates hundreds of visually striking presentation techniques.

Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
UMass Chan Information Technology

This blog post provides a checklist to help ensure webpage content is compliant with the current technical standards designed to make the web more accessible to people with disabilities.

Who Does Scientific Communication Not Reach
Philipp Schrögel, Christian Humm, Jonas Adler, and Markus Färber, 2020

From 2017 to 2020, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Department of Science Communication, together with Wissenschaft im Dialog and funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, implemented the project "Science for All" to systematically investigate which population groups have so far not or hardly been reached by science communication, why they are not reached and how this can be changed. 

 WebAIM

WebAIM is a non-profit organization that provides web accessibility resources, products and services. Their informative website discusses the principles of accessible design and best practices for ensuring web accessibility, including alternative text (Alt-text). The site also administers the free, online WAVE suite of evaluation tools to make web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities.

PowerPoint Accessibility Checker
Microsoft Office Support

This site gives you step-by-step instructions (for both Windows and macOS) and best practices for making your PowerPoint presentations accessible and unlock your content to everyone, including people with disabilities.