User:Leslie Ann Roldan

Contact information

• Email: lroldan@mit.edu
• Office: 12-113
• Office hours: By appointment

Writing instructor for 20.109. Lecturer II in the Writing Across the Curriculum program at MIT.

Background and Education

• 2001, PhD (Biology), MIT
• 1992, BA (English), Stanford

Prior to coming to MIT's WAC program in 2005, I was a scientific editor who commissioned and edited biology college-level text and articles for the web, and more recently Executive Director of the Cell Decision Process Center, an NIH Center of Excellence in Systems Biology. I currently teach primarily in the Biology department; my scholarly research focuses on how students develop scientific communication skills through discussion leading.

Lectures/Workshops

• 20.109 FA13 Illustrations
• 20.109 FA13 Scientific Abstract
• 20.109 FA13 IMRD report

Resources

Note: many of the resources can fit in other categories. For example, the principles of storytelling apply to both writing and presentations.

Writing

• On Writing by Stephen King
• Story by Robert McKee
• The Science of Scientific Writing by George Gopen & Judith Swan
• The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White
• Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams

Oral presentation

• Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte
• TED: excellent examples of different presentation styles

Visualization & Design

• Presentation Zen Design by Garr Reynolds
• Visual Storytelling by Robert Klanten, Sven Ehmann, and Floyd Schulze
• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
• Visual Strategies by Felice Frankel and Angela DePace

General inspiration

• A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
• Brain Pickings