Tarbell never intended to be a journalist. Interested in the sciences, she majored in biology at college, but was unable to find work, so she unhappily worked as a teacher for two years. After working for a monthly teaching supplement, she left to do graduate work in women's history in France. To help pay for her studies, she started writing articles for papers and magazines, and eventually became a full-time writer.
Tarbell wanted to study and work in France so she could write a biography of a French woman, so she and two female friends sailed to Paris in 1891. She worked in a soup kitched and talked to students in coffeeshops, and sent dozens of articles to newspapers in the U.S. McClure's hired her as a freelancer from Paris, and kept her when she came back home. She interviewed scientists, covered student demonstrations, wrote a series on the history of feminism in the U.S., and talked about exploited female garment-workers in factories.
Tarbell became famous for her 16-part series on the corruption in the oil industry, which was published in McClure's . Because of her articles, the Supreme Court looked at the situation, and Congress established the Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Corporations. Her style of exposing things and stirring things up caused President Teddy Roosevelt to label her and her colleagues as "muckrakers," meaning that they dug around in dirt and muck and made trouble, but didn't solve the problems. Many investigative journalists today use the term muckraker with pride, because it symbolizes exposing the truth and getting people to change things.
Tarbell was always interested in science. Many things in the news involve science, like shuttle launches and problems with pollution and the environment. Some writers who have a science background make a living as "science journalists," explaining complicated scientific concepts and discoveries to the general public. Find out about a new scientific development in the news, like new kinds of computer technology or advances in medicine, and think about how it can affect people. What people will benefit from the new technology? Will it hurt anyone? Is it expensive? What can people learn from it? If you have trouble understanding a scientific idea, ask an adult for help explaining it to you. Then, you can write an article on it for class or your school paper. Science is important news, just like politics and community events, because it affects so many people.