From the Horse's Mouth

For those of us who write materials that get submitted to the Pharmaceutical Advertising and Advisory Board (PAAB) for approval, navigating the PAAB code is a daily facet of life. Learning the PAAB code and how it applies to each individual piece is an on-going process; and remembering how the code applies in specific circumstances can be a constant mnemonic challenge.

Fortunately, the Pharmaceutical Marketing Club of Quebec (PMCQ) has a great feature on their website to help called Ask PAAB. Here we can peruse an long list of answers to questions commonly-asked to the PAAB. You can also anonymously ask the PAAB your own question via the website.

Not only is this a great tool to keep track of common queries, but it is also a great study tool to learn or review the PAAB code. Simply bookmark the website, and try to answer a question each day starting from question 1. When doing this exercise, don't just rely on your memory; actually look for the asnwer in the code. Then, after reviewing the answer provided by the PAAB, open the PAAB code again to review the sections of the code that were refered to in the answer.

Currently there are 64 questions in the Ask PAAB FAQ. At a rate of one per business day, this is already a three-month program!

Looking It Up

One of the tricks of researching information on topic is to start with a very recent review paper and then to follow the references in the text backward to the original articles. You can then look at the abstracts to see if the article may be useful before purchasing it.

Finding the abstract for an article when you have the citation is easy with the Single Citation Matcher on PubMed. You don't even need to have the full citation for the matcher to work. I have succesfully used the Single Citation Matcher feature when all I've had is an author name and publication year vaguely recalled from the head of a contributing author.

1. From PubMed home page, click on Single Citation Matcher on the left navigation bar. This will take you to the single citation matcher page.
2. Enter whatever information you have about the article that you wish to find in the appropriate search boxes in the form
3. Click 'Go'

It really is that simple.

Basic Word Processing Skills

As a freelancer, I'm often asked to pick up projects that other writers have started. I'm always shocked when I come across documents where the writer has obviously not been trained in even the most basic word processor functions.

As professional writers, the word processor is our tool of the trade, our instrument, in much the same way that an extended ruler is a tool of the carpenter, or the piano is the instrument of the pianist. So why do many writers not take the time to learn their instrument? It would be inconceivable that a graphic artist these days not know how to use a graphic design application or illustration software; so why is it still acceptable for a professional writer to be unfamiliar with the basic features of word processing software?

I'm not saying that all writers should be experts in Microsoft Word or other word processing programs, but we should at least know the basics, such as page breaks, setting tabs, using styles, and creating tables of contents. If we're working with revisions, I believe that we should also be familiar with track changes and comments.

For those of us using MS Word, the Microsoft website has some great tutorial programs on the basics of this word processor, as well as its more advanced features. Here are some that I recommend to my students and junior writers:

Get to know Word: Create your first document
Tables I: Create and format basic tables
Format your document with styles
So that's how! Great Word features

Most of the tutorials can be done in about half an hour if you have some familiarity with MS Word, or about an hour if Word is completely new to you. Set aside a 30 minutes time block each week to devote to learning your instrument, and you'll be moving beyond the basics and wowing your clients with your word processing skills in no time!