Do You Need a Scientific Degree to Be a Freelance Science Writer
If you want to become a science freelance writer, you will need to work very hard. One must possess a wide range of skills in order to succeed in this business. This means that you will need to major in either science or journalism. Depending on your primary specialization, you will need to sign up for a special course to complement it. This means that if you major in science, you will need to attend journalism courses, and vice versa.
The vast majority of the employers are looking for freelance writers that hold at least bachelor’s degree in the subject. Those with master’s degree usually receive preferences due to their higher level of knowledge. However, your reputation and good references may help you get a job even when your degree is inferior to your competitor’s.
If you can prove your skills as an excellent science writer and have a good reputation to support your claims, you might be able to get orders even without a degree. Though, you should be aware that many clients specify a science degree as a mandatory requirement. This means that they won’t even consider your resume due to the fact that you don’t have it.
As a freelance science writer, you can be employed by:
- Students seeking professional assistance with writing academic papers
- Colleges/universities/schools
- Magazines/newspapers
- Book publishers
- TV/radio networks
- Digital news services
- Government/private laboratories
- Museums
The requirements that the writer must meet depend on the client as there are no specific rules for this particular matter. This means that your chances are rather good, especially if your portfolio is impressive. With a catchy pitch, you may be able to impress any potential client so much that they will be able to overlook your lack of appropriate education.
However, you need to understand that reputation is everything for a freelance writer. Should you fail to deliver high quality text, you can be sure that there will be negative reviews appearing all over the Internet. Considering the fact that many people decide on what author to contract based on the reviews posted on different forums, having your name defamed there will be a disaster.
This means that you should never take a job if you are not completely positive that you can carry it out. If you feel that writing this particular article/paper will require a degree which you don’t have, you shouldn’t take the order. It is better to lose some money by refusing an offer than to lose any chance of succeeding with this career as a whole.