Office of Scientific Editorial Support

Rhea-Beth Markowitz, PhD
rbmarkowitz@georgiahealth.edu
CA 1018 
Phone: 706-721-7916
Fax: 706-721-8727

Editorial Assistance with Grant Applications!

Scientific editorial assistance in the preparation of

grant applications is available to all Medical College of

Georgia faculty by Dr. Markowitz on a “first-come, first served” basis.

Dr. Markowitz will review the scientific sections of your grant application for the following:

• Overall logic and organization with smooth transitions.  Can the reviewer understand the rationale and significance of the study?
• Clarity of experimental design. Can the reviewer understand how the observed work tests the overall hypothesis?
• Accuracy and succinctness of the methods described.
• Consistency between figures, figure legends, and main text.
• Correctness of English phrasing, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Dr. Markowitz is an experienced cell and molecular biologist.  She has worked for over 10 years with investigators at the Georgia Health Sciences University and elsewhere to improve their grants and manuscript writing.  She specializes in assisting biomedical scientists who are not "native" English speakers and has taught scientific writing and grant writing classes at GHSU as well as at Wuhan University and Sichuan University in China.  She is a member of the Council of Science Editors and has taught "Editing in the Language of Molecular Biology - Making Sense of the Jargon" for the Council of Science Editors.

How to submit:

• Please let Dr. Markowitz know 2-4 weeks in advance that you will be giving her a grant to edit.  A simple e-mail with the grant deadline will suffice.
• Grants may be submitted as hard copy (preferred) or by e-mail.  They may be submitted section by section, rather than as the complete, final proposal. Please include the following information:
  • Title of grant
  • Funding agency
  • Deadline date
• Dr. Markowitz will read your proposal, mark changes on hard copy with a red pen, and go over major changes with you when she has finished the editing.  If you are resubmitting a grant, she will read your introductory letter to the reviewers as well.  
• Submission of your grant to this office does not take the place of a critical read by a colleague in your field.  While Dr. Markowitz may be able to critique the science, depending on the subject area, her primary function is to make your grant clear, concise, and easy (easier) to read.

Manuscript Editing

Special arrangements can be made with Dr. Markowitz for editing of manuscripts.  This will be on a fee-for-service basis and as time permits.  Dr. Markowitz will be happy to discuss this with you.

Grant Writing 101 Workshop - Online Tegrity Presentation

This workshop, presented on October 22, 2009 by Dr. Rhea Markowitz, Director of Scientific Editorial Support, focuses on writing the scientific text for an R01 grant in the "new shortened format" that will be instituted by the National Institutes of Health on January 25, 2010.  Topics include:

• Elements required for an RO1 grant application
• How to make sense of the new vs current format
• Common mistakes made in grant applications and how to avoid them
• Other writing tips

The workshop is directed at both novice and not-so-novice grant writers, in particular, faculty and post-doctoral fellows.  Grant front pages and procedures for routing and electronic submission are not covered in this 2-hour presentation.

Helpful booklets for manuscript writing:

 

How to Write a Manuscript for Submission to a Biomedical ( Basic Science ) Journal.

 

How to Write a Manuscript for Submission to a Biomedical ( Clinical ) Journal.