Science communication
The content of this page is adapted from a workshop presented by Floret Meredith in November 2016 as part of an E&ERC Skills Transfer Award.
This workshop was presented over three days. In order to maximise what you get out of this information, I advise working through one section at a time and stopping to do the exercises and reflections. Each unit should stand pretty well alone, though there might be a few terms that are better explained in previous sections or link to upcoming sections.
This workshop was constructed with the help of many great science communicators. I would like to thank and acknowledge:
Dr Siobahn Dennison, Dr James Hanlon, A Prof Tracey Rogers, Prof Angela Moles, A Prof Mike Kasomovic, Dr Rhiannon Dalrymple, Dr Sichong Chen, and more people whom I will remember shortly!
This workshop was presented over three days. In order to maximise what you get out of this information, I advise working through one section at a time and stopping to do the exercises and reflections. Each unit should stand pretty well alone, though there might be a few terms that are better explained in previous sections or link to upcoming sections.
This workshop was constructed with the help of many great science communicators. I would like to thank and acknowledge:
Dr Siobahn Dennison, Dr James Hanlon, A Prof Tracey Rogers, Prof Angela Moles, A Prof Mike Kasomovic, Dr Rhiannon Dalrymple, Dr Sichong Chen, and more people whom I will remember shortly!
Overview
Why learn how to do outreach and communicate science?
Clear science communication is an essential skill for scientists. Delivering articulate messages can open collaborative networks, strengthen reputations, and attract professional opportunities. Further, advances in knowledge can only benefit society if that knowledge is made available (and comprehensible) to the public. Yet despite the importance of effectively sharing science, formal training is rarely available to young scientists.
Who is this information for?
This information is intended for early-career researchers (students, post-docs, or research assistant and technical staff).
You will find this workshop useful if you seek:
Workshop content
Clear science communication is an essential skill for scientists. Delivering articulate messages can open collaborative networks, strengthen reputations, and attract professional opportunities. Further, advances in knowledge can only benefit society if that knowledge is made available (and comprehensible) to the public. Yet despite the importance of effectively sharing science, formal training is rarely available to young scientists.
Who is this information for?
This information is intended for early-career researchers (students, post-docs, or research assistant and technical staff).
You will find this workshop useful if you seek:
- to write concise, powerful summaries of scientific research;
- to engage people through writing, speaking, teaching, or media;
- to create scientific content for online outlets, including social media;
- to understand what makes science stories appealing to various media channels;
- to clearly communicate scientific concepts to people in short periods of time; or
- to find opportunities to conduct outreach.
Workshop content
- The many forms and benefits of science communication and outreach
- Fundamental skills in writing & speaking (and how to practice them)
- Creating effective visuals (and why you need them)
- How to get picked up
- Learning what outlets exist for beginning or continuing your outreach;
- Identifying what makes your story attractive to different outreach channels;
- Practicing how to approach potential communication outlets;
- Creating a blurb, byte, or graphic for your research (and when to use them)
- Developing a “pitch” for a blog, an article, an interview, a workshop, or a partnership
- Make it count - document & connect outreach efforts to build your CV.
What is outreach, and why bother?
Why share your science?
There are lots of reasons to share your science (besides how awesome it is). Some of these reasons are:
There are lots of reasons to share your science (besides how awesome it is). Some of these reasons are:
- It’s a must-have skill if you want to win grants. There are rumours going around that outreach will increasingly become a selection criterion on some grants (like the NSF).
- Being able to say what you do and why it matters in an interesting way is essential for career progression, whether you stay in science or not.
- Outreach can be incredibly rewarding and personally fulfilling, particularly when you consider how lucky we are to study what we love and that not everyone has had the same opportunities as we have had.
- Outreach is one way to promote science, rational thought, and evidence-based policies. Given the many issues and challenges our world faces, chipping in a bit of knowledge and evidence might help to create a future we can live with.
Pause & reflect:
Which of these reasons resonates with you the most?
Is your motivation internal or external?
What is science communication and outreach?
Scientific communication, science communication, and outreach are NOT the same things, but all of them are important to you as a scientist.
Scientific communication, science communication, and outreach are NOT the same things, but all of them are important to you as a scientist.
- Scientific communication is more about presenting information from scientists, to scientists. What’s more, these scientists are probably in the same field or research area. Think journal articles, conferences, or professional meetings.
- Science communication is more about presenting scientific information to an audience already interested in science, but lacking the specific vocabulary or background understanding of a professional or expert in a given field. Science communication outlets include podcasts, radio broadcasts, television segments, opinion pieces or articles in venues (like The Conversation), or posts on social media.
- Outreach is about reaching out to an audience that may not already have an interest in science*. Think of this as providing a “spark” that ignites someone’s curiosity or interest in science. Outreach is often aimed at children through school partnerships, museum programs or public events. However, outreach can also occur for all audiences through science festivals, public lectures, citizen science events, or other special events.
* HOWEVER, most people attending science events or tuning into science broadcasts are probably already interested in science at a basic level. Some evidence suggests that outreach might better be called inreach, that is, that it is hard to spark a love of science in those with no prior interest or background in science. That being said, you never know who you might bump into, and what kind of influence your efforts will have- so don’t give up!
The communication spectrum
Moving from scientific communication to science communication, and then from science communication to outreach activities requires different communication styles. For example, language that is appropriate at a conference will not engage children at an public outreach event, while fun and colourful demonstrations may seem gimmicky or over-simplified to a scientifically-literate audience.
It may be helpful to think of your communication efforts in terms of where they sit in a spectrum (see figure below, made for biologists). On the left is a rough guide of what kind of people you may be addressing. In the middle are the rough ‘zones’ of communication that will be effective for these sorts of people (note that these communication zones are not the same!). On the right are three important aspects of communication that generally decrease with an audience’s decreasing familiarity or interest.
Moving from scientific communication to science communication, and then from science communication to outreach activities requires different communication styles. For example, language that is appropriate at a conference will not engage children at an public outreach event, while fun and colourful demonstrations may seem gimmicky or over-simplified to a scientifically-literate audience.
It may be helpful to think of your communication efforts in terms of where they sit in a spectrum (see figure below, made for biologists). On the left is a rough guide of what kind of people you may be addressing. In the middle are the rough ‘zones’ of communication that will be effective for these sorts of people (note that these communication zones are not the same!). On the right are three important aspects of communication that generally decrease with an audience’s decreasing familiarity or interest.
More about these 'aspects of communication' (above right):
- Ease of sale: This is the degree to which you will have to work to get your audience engaged. This is essentially telling your audience ‘why this piece of science is important’. Generally speaking, someone with no interest or no background in your topic will tune out unless you make it relevant to them. Relevance to people depends on their interests and background. A scientist would want to know if your work advances the field, offers a new methodology, or has discovered something new. A non-expert might be more interested in whether your work impacts human health, costs or saves money, is dangerous or cute, or is urgent (e.g. extinction).
- The degree of technical language and understanding you can assume: With experts, you can also use words (especially after you briefly define them) that are specific to your field. With non-experts, specialised vocabulary can confuse, disengage, or even alienate your audience. HOWEVER! Just because someone is a non-expert does NOT mean they are ignorant or stupid- as long as you explain what you mean by a term and have some form of reminder from time to time, you can use specialist vocabulary wisely. Similarly, just because you have an audience of experts does not mean you can drown them in jargon- this makes your message really indigestible!
- The scope of your message: The more expert your audience is, the more specialised, ‘deep’, or ‘pointed’ your ultimate message can be. As you move away from experts, your message must match the audience’s level of understanding an interest. This might mean stepping back quite a bit from the specifics of your project- but that’s okay. For example, someone who studies new methods for assessing river health might first need to talk about what rivers do for people, then explain why healthy rivers help people, and THEN explain their project or findings on gauging river health.
Pause & reflect:
Can you think of any situations where you have struggled to communicate a message?
Does the diagram above help you identify what went wrong?
Some caveats:
Please bear in mind that there is a fair degree of “wiggle room” amongst where people fall on this spectrum. Just because someone is an expert in your field does not mean they will automatically believe you when you say your work is important, nor does it mean you can get away with endless amounts of jargon, acronyms, or technical terms. Likewise, just because someone has never heard of your study species or system before does not mean s/he will glaze over with a bit of neat biology- you might just have to ‘zoom out’ (thinking in terms of scope) into basic biology before that person will see why what you work on is so cool. There will be hostile academics and armchair enthusiasts, just as there will be super keen and excitable newbies.
Also, some fields or study topics are simply easier than others to communicate. Some topics are easier than others to less expert audiences (for example, it may be harder to sell beetle taxonomy to a general audience than it is to track the spread of super bacteria). Some topics will be 'automatically interesting' because they are current issues, but scientists working in those fields have to deal with emotionally charged arguments (which makes it hard to reach people's rational minds!). For example, if you work in a politically volatile field (say, climate change), you may encounter hostility no matter where you go or how you package your work.
Please bear in mind that there is a fair degree of “wiggle room” amongst where people fall on this spectrum. Just because someone is an expert in your field does not mean they will automatically believe you when you say your work is important, nor does it mean you can get away with endless amounts of jargon, acronyms, or technical terms. Likewise, just because someone has never heard of your study species or system before does not mean s/he will glaze over with a bit of neat biology- you might just have to ‘zoom out’ (thinking in terms of scope) into basic biology before that person will see why what you work on is so cool. There will be hostile academics and armchair enthusiasts, just as there will be super keen and excitable newbies.
Also, some fields or study topics are simply easier than others to communicate. Some topics are easier than others to less expert audiences (for example, it may be harder to sell beetle taxonomy to a general audience than it is to track the spread of super bacteria). Some topics will be 'automatically interesting' because they are current issues, but scientists working in those fields have to deal with emotionally charged arguments (which makes it hard to reach people's rational minds!). For example, if you work in a politically volatile field (say, climate change), you may encounter hostility no matter where you go or how you package your work.
Pause & reflect:
Where does your field or project sit in terms of interest or topicality?
What benefits and potential difficulties might this present to you?
Do you think the success of your project might be influenced by how well you can overcome these difficulties or harness these benefits?
Choosing your audience
Most of us MUST publish, attend conferences, and interact professionally with other experts in or nearly in our fields in order to survive as scientists (or students). So while scientific communication is vitally important, we tend to get a lot of practice and guidance on this throughout our training.
Chances to practice science communication or outreach are less common for students, but they are available (more on that later). Before jumping in, it might be a good idea to consider what kind of communication you want to do. Think about:
Your answers to these questions will shape what kind of communication will work for you.
Consider two imaginary science students:
These people aren’t real, but you can see how a blend of interests, projects, strengths, and circumstances change what kind of communication works best.
Most of us MUST publish, attend conferences, and interact professionally with other experts in or nearly in our fields in order to survive as scientists (or students). So while scientific communication is vitally important, we tend to get a lot of practice and guidance on this throughout our training.
Chances to practice science communication or outreach are less common for students, but they are available (more on that later). Before jumping in, it might be a good idea to consider what kind of communication you want to do. Think about:
- Why do you do what you do? Is it to save a species, make the world a better place, make bazillions of dollars (hah!), or just because it’s cool and interesting? Reasons will resonate with people differently. Consider what group(s) of people will be most influenced by your aspirations.
- Why you feel it’s important to share your science? Or, what does your project add to society? If it really is just a very cool theoretical advancement, you’ll have a harder time with non-experts than you would with experts. If it makes people’s lives better somehow, or has some compelling story behind it, you’ll have an easier time with non-experts.
- Your field (and how it is relevant to both experts and non-experts): Try to think of implications that are relevant to both experts and non-experts. Some fields are just easier to share than others! While not fair, remember that all science is important- no one can say what prior work will form the foundation of the next big breakthrough.
- What your personal strengths and weaknesses as a communicator are: If public speaking causes you distress, perhaps try written or visual channels instead. If you don’t have a clear weakness or strength, think about what you enjoy.
- What you have time for: Once-off engagements or deliverable projects are much less time-intensive than on-going engagements or developing lessons or course materials. While outreach is important, it’s probably not as important as finishing your thesis (and other engagements such as employment, family life, or maintaining your health and well-being).
Your answers to these questions will shape what kind of communication will work for you.
Consider two imaginary science students:
- Arla is interested in enhancing sensitivity of an enzyme used in diagnostic tests. She thinks her work has major industrial potential. Arla is excellent with visual communication and writing, but struggles with public speaking. She is in the final year of her candidacy, but had some serious setbacks in the lab and is feeling pretty stressed out about finishing in time. Arla may choose to create an exhibition at a tradeshow, write a popular science article, or make an infographic for a blog. Investing lots of time into an on-going partnership with elementary school children, particularly if Arla were required to orally present information, would probably not suit Arla’s interests, resources, or ambitions.
- Burt is interested in rapid evolution of invasive flower species along an invasion front. Burt’s study species is innocuous, ubiquitous, and sort of pretty, so no one really cares about the species itself. Burt loves working with children and has a real knack for getting an audience to listen to him. Burt did all his fieldwork last year, and isn’t feeling too time-stressed about his candidacy (well done, Burt!). Burt may want to look for volunteering or even paid work involving young kids and general science education. Burt could also work on packaging his findings to appeal to more theoretical crowds or to management bodies who want to know about species invasions. Without this footwork, Burt would struggle to convince non-experts that his work matters.
These people aren’t real, but you can see how a blend of interests, projects, strengths, and circumstances change what kind of communication works best.
Pause & reflect:
Think about, then write down the answers to each of the bullet points above.
If you don’t feel like your particular project is easy to sell to anyone (even after you’ve thought about it really, really hard), ask yourself why you think it’s important to share science, full stop. ‘Zoom out’ from your project as far as necessary to capture interest and importance for an audience (remember, non-experts will probably demand more ‘zooming out’).
What do all these variables mean for communicating science?
Your skills, time, and project will shape what kind of outreach or science communication you do. At the same time, different audiences demand different strategies in communicating your science: you may have to change what you say, how you say it, and why you say it! While that might seem hard at first, the good news is that different audiences demand the same fundamental communication skills, so practising will improve your abilities (provided your practice conscientiously, seek feedback, and try again!).
Your skills, time, and project will shape what kind of outreach or science communication you do. At the same time, different audiences demand different strategies in communicating your science: you may have to change what you say, how you say it, and why you say it! While that might seem hard at first, the good news is that different audiences demand the same fundamental communication skills, so practising will improve your abilities (provided your practice conscientiously, seek feedback, and try again!).
Fundamental skills in communication
All communication requires a few simple steps:
Although these steps are simple, they are intertwined and will feed back into each other! It is worth considering these four steps in this light before moving on, even if you think you have heard this information before.
1. Knowing your audience.
Consider where your audience falls on the spectrum of possible audiences, discussed above. Are they colleagues, a special interest group, a primary school classroom, or a bunch of people at the pub? We must tailor our messages to specific audiences: see “more on aspects of communication”, below.
Respecting your audience seems pretty straightforward, but respect is not as common as some might think! It can be hard to be respectful if it isn't reciprocated- I cover respecting your audience a bit more in the speaking section below, since this is where issues are most likely to crop up.
- Knowing and respecting your audience;
- Having a message;
- Assessing your success; and
- Adapting your approach.
Although these steps are simple, they are intertwined and will feed back into each other! It is worth considering these four steps in this light before moving on, even if you think you have heard this information before.
1. Knowing your audience.
Consider where your audience falls on the spectrum of possible audiences, discussed above. Are they colleagues, a special interest group, a primary school classroom, or a bunch of people at the pub? We must tailor our messages to specific audiences: see “more on aspects of communication”, below.
Respecting your audience seems pretty straightforward, but respect is not as common as some might think! It can be hard to be respectful if it isn't reciprocated- I cover respecting your audience a bit more in the speaking section below, since this is where issues are most likely to crop up.
2. Having a message.
What are you trying to say? No, really- sometimes we forget to think about this! And further, it's actually really hard to pinpoint one key message that is most important to get across- scientists are always worried about limitations and context, which can quickly drown out a key message.
Having a message is essential to communicating- otherwise you might waffle on about nothing in particular (and nobody likes that!).
You must know your audience before you solidify your message, since your ‘bottom line’ might change depending on who you are trying to engage with.
You might change whom you communicate with if there is a specific message you desperately wish to share (e.g., your work has important socio-political consequences, and you need to address policy-makers). Even so, you still need to consider what your audience cares about, what level of detail they need, and how much you ‘zoom out’ to bring home the relevance of your science to their lives. See “more on aspects of communication” for more details.
What are you trying to say? No, really- sometimes we forget to think about this! And further, it's actually really hard to pinpoint one key message that is most important to get across- scientists are always worried about limitations and context, which can quickly drown out a key message.
Having a message is essential to communicating- otherwise you might waffle on about nothing in particular (and nobody likes that!).
You must know your audience before you solidify your message, since your ‘bottom line’ might change depending on who you are trying to engage with.
You might change whom you communicate with if there is a specific message you desperately wish to share (e.g., your work has important socio-political consequences, and you need to address policy-makers). Even so, you still need to consider what your audience cares about, what level of detail they need, and how much you ‘zoom out’ to bring home the relevance of your science to their lives. See “more on aspects of communication” for more details.
Pause & reflect:
Find a paper you find really interesting and pick out ONE KEY MESSAGE that reached you (this should be one sentence or so).
Now, re-package that message for a grandparent, a colleague, and a year 11 student.
3. Assessing your success.
Stop and ask yourself how you are doing. Even better, ask someone you are trying to reach to summarise what he or she understands from what you’ve said/written/designed. You might be surprised at how much different people’s interpretation of the same graph, figure, or sentence can vary- and how far that interpretation can deviate from what you meant to say!
Stop and ask yourself how you are doing. Even better, ask someone you are trying to reach to summarise what he or she understands from what you’ve said/written/designed. You might be surprised at how much different people’s interpretation of the same graph, figure, or sentence can vary- and how far that interpretation can deviate from what you meant to say!
Pause & reflect:
In the workshop, I asked participants to make a diagram for three people: a member of the general public with a TAFE education, a commercial scientist with an honours education, and a postdoc in my lab.
Only a handful of participants were able to successfully convey the message they intended! This is not saying my colleagues were not good at communicating- rather, this story serves to illustrate just how hard it can be to make a subject you know inside out and backwards clear to people with very different backgrounds and experiences! The only way you can get better is to ask for - and adapt to - feedback.
4. Adapt your approach.
If something didn’t come across quite right, think about what might have gone wrong.
Never assume that the audience ‘just doesn’t get it’. This is an important one, and one that I think really demonstrates the mettle of a communicator. Perhaps your take-home-message was too complex, or perhaps your implications were too tangential. Maybe the delivery of the main message unclear- perhaps it was too hard to pick out a main message, or perhaps the evidence you used to support your main message was not presented clearly. Whatever happened, learn from it, and try to do better next time.
How can a message be unclear? For more on this, see “clarity comes from good planning” in the writing section. Briefly, the main culprits of garbled messages often arise from:
Think back on your least favourite lecturer during undergrad… are you getting flashbacks seeing that list?
Sometimes even a perfectly clear talk lacks the pizzaz it takes to be memorable. To fix this, try different strategies to polish your message (until it shines!). For example, you could try to change the words you use, to stick to the active tense, to use better figures or real-life analogies, or to find a memorable example that illustrates your point more clearly. Humour works really well here- if it suits your personality.
If something didn’t come across quite right, think about what might have gone wrong.
Never assume that the audience ‘just doesn’t get it’. This is an important one, and one that I think really demonstrates the mettle of a communicator. Perhaps your take-home-message was too complex, or perhaps your implications were too tangential. Maybe the delivery of the main message unclear- perhaps it was too hard to pick out a main message, or perhaps the evidence you used to support your main message was not presented clearly. Whatever happened, learn from it, and try to do better next time.
How can a message be unclear? For more on this, see “clarity comes from good planning” in the writing section. Briefly, the main culprits of garbled messages often arise from:
- Confusing grammar;
- Mumbling or speaking too quickly;
- Impenetrable forests of jargon and acronyms;
- Horribly dull figures (often with tiny text and puzzling axis labels); and/or
- Information overload.
Think back on your least favourite lecturer during undergrad… are you getting flashbacks seeing that list?
Sometimes even a perfectly clear talk lacks the pizzaz it takes to be memorable. To fix this, try different strategies to polish your message (until it shines!). For example, you could try to change the words you use, to stick to the active tense, to use better figures or real-life analogies, or to find a memorable example that illustrates your point more clearly. Humour works really well here- if it suits your personality.
Pause & reflect:
Next time you have a figure, abstract, poster, piece of writing, etc. that you are working on, think about:
a) Who is this for?
b) What am I trying to say?
After you’ve got your “final draft” [ final draft cartoon phd comics ] of your work, take it to someone you’d consider a representative of your target audience, and ask them what they surmise from your work. Try hard not to prompt them, and only give them extra information they might get in real life. Ask yourself,
a) Did I get my point across satisfactorily?
b) If not, what went wrong, and how can I fix it?
Of course, different modes of communication require changes in your communication approach. The good news is that the fundamentals are still all there. After you’ve got a handle on the basics above, check out more mode-specific information for effective writing, visual communication, or speaking strategies.
Writing: the art of reduction
“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” - A. Einstein
The information on writing provided below is broadly applicable to any kind of writing you do, whether it’s a journal article, a popular science article, or a Facebook post.
Key words:
Attention spans are short, people have limited time, and often energy and concentration levels are less than optimal. For these reasons, keep your written messages:
Let's consider your audience, whether expert or non-expert.
Experts are probably academics or high-level researchers juggling teaching, supervising, research, grant applications, editorial duties, institutional admin and board obligations, and (we hope) a life. An academic reviewing your grant application or journal submission will have little patience for uninteresting introductions or conclusions, bad grammar or spelling, murky sentence or paragraph structures, or blown-out, unsubstantiated conclusions.
Non-experts have lives and jobs too, and are probably reading your work for entertainment or to gain information quickly. If it’s unrelated to the non-expert, uninteresting, unreadable, too hard to understand, or too long, he or she will move on. Sensationalist or tantalising titles (‘click bait’) might draw in some readers, but others will be turned away.
The information on writing provided below is broadly applicable to any kind of writing you do, whether it’s a journal article, a popular science article, or a Facebook post.
Key words:
Attention spans are short, people have limited time, and often energy and concentration levels are less than optimal. For these reasons, keep your written messages:
- Interesting
- Clear
- Concise
- Credible
Let's consider your audience, whether expert or non-expert.
Experts are probably academics or high-level researchers juggling teaching, supervising, research, grant applications, editorial duties, institutional admin and board obligations, and (we hope) a life. An academic reviewing your grant application or journal submission will have little patience for uninteresting introductions or conclusions, bad grammar or spelling, murky sentence or paragraph structures, or blown-out, unsubstantiated conclusions.
Non-experts have lives and jobs too, and are probably reading your work for entertainment or to gain information quickly. If it’s unrelated to the non-expert, uninteresting, unreadable, too hard to understand, or too long, he or she will move on. Sensationalist or tantalising titles (‘click bait’) might draw in some readers, but others will be turned away.
Pause & reflect:
Spend a few minutes looking at science articles targeted for experts and for non-experts. Pinpoint where your attention is lost, and why. Was the article uninteresting, unclear, too long, or just plain unbelievable?
How can I be interesting?
Interesting topics come from knowing your audience! If you know your audience, you will be able to know what is important to them. And if you know what is important, you know what is interesting.
Interesting topics often:
Interesting topics come from knowing your audience! If you know your audience, you will be able to know what is important to them. And if you know what is important, you know what is interesting.
Interesting topics often:
- Are a story (e.g. a journey to discovery, affecting people’s lives)
- Have an element of drama, conflict, surprise, or urgency
- Demonstrate extreme cleverness
- Are novel or exciting
- Are related to current events.
Pause & reflect:
Flick through a news outlet's science section and copy 10 titles that interest you. Pinpoint what grabbed you- was it something from the list above?
Could you apply one of these elements to your work to make an attention-grabbing title?
Be Positive!
While being interesting and being positive are not really the same thing, being positive can help make a bit of writing feel more engaging.
For example, compare the sentences below- which one makes you want to read more?
Negative: My work is about a rare fern limited to the Sydney region.
Neutral: My work provides information about populations of a rare fern in the Sydney region.
Positive: I have found new information about rare ferns under our noses in Sydney.
Some pitfalls to avoid while aiming for interest:
We’ve all seen science articles that induce eye-rolling. In an effort to grab attention, the message can be distorted, blown out beyond the reach of the data’s support, or even taken completely out of context. It’s no good if someone reads your words and can’t take them seriously- and so writers must find the fine line between being interesting and being sensationalist.
Click-bait (e.g. “You won’t believe what my data tells you about your lifespan!”) might seem like a good way to get people interested in your message. While the click-bait strategy might win you some readers, it will definitely lose you many more- and what’s worse, it will hurt your credibility. A better strategy is to have an informative title or link text (e.g. “Longevity linked with conscientiousness”). And wham! Your reader already is attentive to your message.
While being interesting and being positive are not really the same thing, being positive can help make a bit of writing feel more engaging.
For example, compare the sentences below- which one makes you want to read more?
Negative: My work is about a rare fern limited to the Sydney region.
Neutral: My work provides information about populations of a rare fern in the Sydney region.
Positive: I have found new information about rare ferns under our noses in Sydney.
Some pitfalls to avoid while aiming for interest:
We’ve all seen science articles that induce eye-rolling. In an effort to grab attention, the message can be distorted, blown out beyond the reach of the data’s support, or even taken completely out of context. It’s no good if someone reads your words and can’t take them seriously- and so writers must find the fine line between being interesting and being sensationalist.
Click-bait (e.g. “You won’t believe what my data tells you about your lifespan!”) might seem like a good way to get people interested in your message. While the click-bait strategy might win you some readers, it will definitely lose you many more- and what’s worse, it will hurt your credibility. A better strategy is to have an informative title or link text (e.g. “Longevity linked with conscientiousness”). And wham! Your reader already is attentive to your message.
How can I write with clarity?
Clarity comes from good planning. Good planning involves thinking about who you are writing for and what that audience will understand.
“Hunt down jargon and kill it.” – David Dobbs, writer for Wired and Neuron Culture Blog
Nothing is more confusing and unreadable than a sea of jargon punctuated by acronyms. If you MUST use a specialised or technical term, be sure you explain it really well, or have a diagram that illustrates exactly what you mean.
“[Your audience] may be ignorant but they are rarely stupid.” Roger Highfield, author, former editor of New Scientist and former science editor of the Daily Telegraph
Simple language need not be insulting to your audience’s intelligence. That being said, the average reading age in Australia is about 10 years old (know your audience! Also, seek out readability tools online or use the one built into MS Word).
Get organised
There are three big levels of organisation that you should be worried about.
First, consider the order of words within a sentence. Grammar dictates that sentences in English follow a pattern, usually something along the lines of “subject verb object”. When words fall out of this pattern or when parts are missing, sentences don’t make any sense. Grammar and clarity are best friends. If you need help with your grammar, check out the Writing Resources page and online grammar guides. Getting a labmate or good friend to check your grammar is also an excellent way to improve. Without dwelling too long, some of the easiest ways to squash confusing grammar are:
Second, consider the order of sentences within a paragraph. Open with a topic sentence that tells readers what the paragraph is about. Be sure that all sentences within a paragraph are about the same idea. That way, if a reader isn’t interested in that information, they can skim to the next paragraph without giving up on the whole piece. Within a paragraph, sentences should link together in some logical fashion (e.g. cause and effect or chronological order).
Finally, consider the order of paragraphs. The organisation of most journal articles is probably second nature to you by now, but sadly this structure doesn’t cut it outside of expert-to-expert communication. The good news is, those main points are all still there- just re-arranged (and potentially dropped or seriously simplified).
Just like a journal article, a good title goes a long way. And just like a journal article, you start out big-picture, then get more detailed as the piece goes on. Unlike a journal article, don’t assume people will stick around until the discussion to read about your implications- they will want to know that right away.
It is VERY unlikely that a popular audience will want to know about your ANOVAs or cool Bayesian models, or about the specifics of your experimental design or labwork. While essential for a journal article, such detailed information is best left out, unless it is actually interesting (it often helps to ask yourself, would my grandfather care?). Any readers that thirst after the specifics should be encouraged to follow a conveniently placed link to your paper (be sure to use one that has a DOI embedded in it, if available). Sometimes IFL articles can be very, very good at taking a paper and turning it into a short popular science article (but not always!). Another great place to look for inspiration is The Conversation.
Clarity comes from good planning. Good planning involves thinking about who you are writing for and what that audience will understand.
“Hunt down jargon and kill it.” – David Dobbs, writer for Wired and Neuron Culture Blog
Nothing is more confusing and unreadable than a sea of jargon punctuated by acronyms. If you MUST use a specialised or technical term, be sure you explain it really well, or have a diagram that illustrates exactly what you mean.
“[Your audience] may be ignorant but they are rarely stupid.” Roger Highfield, author, former editor of New Scientist and former science editor of the Daily Telegraph
Simple language need not be insulting to your audience’s intelligence. That being said, the average reading age in Australia is about 10 years old (know your audience! Also, seek out readability tools online or use the one built into MS Word).
Get organised
There are three big levels of organisation that you should be worried about.
First, consider the order of words within a sentence. Grammar dictates that sentences in English follow a pattern, usually something along the lines of “subject verb object”. When words fall out of this pattern or when parts are missing, sentences don’t make any sense. Grammar and clarity are best friends. If you need help with your grammar, check out the Writing Resources page and online grammar guides. Getting a labmate or good friend to check your grammar is also an excellent way to improve. Without dwelling too long, some of the easiest ways to squash confusing grammar are:
- keep sentences reasonably short (4+ lines is probably too long);
- keep nouns and verbs in agreement (“the possums are” versus “the possums is”); and
- make sure pronouns are unmistakably linked to one noun only (be wary of “it” or "they").
Second, consider the order of sentences within a paragraph. Open with a topic sentence that tells readers what the paragraph is about. Be sure that all sentences within a paragraph are about the same idea. That way, if a reader isn’t interested in that information, they can skim to the next paragraph without giving up on the whole piece. Within a paragraph, sentences should link together in some logical fashion (e.g. cause and effect or chronological order).
Finally, consider the order of paragraphs. The organisation of most journal articles is probably second nature to you by now, but sadly this structure doesn’t cut it outside of expert-to-expert communication. The good news is, those main points are all still there- just re-arranged (and potentially dropped or seriously simplified).
Just like a journal article, a good title goes a long way. And just like a journal article, you start out big-picture, then get more detailed as the piece goes on. Unlike a journal article, don’t assume people will stick around until the discussion to read about your implications- they will want to know that right away.
It is VERY unlikely that a popular audience will want to know about your ANOVAs or cool Bayesian models, or about the specifics of your experimental design or labwork. While essential for a journal article, such detailed information is best left out, unless it is actually interesting (it often helps to ask yourself, would my grandfather care?). Any readers that thirst after the specifics should be encouraged to follow a conveniently placed link to your paper (be sure to use one that has a DOI embedded in it, if available). Sometimes IFL articles can be very, very good at taking a paper and turning it into a short popular science article (but not always!). Another great place to look for inspiration is The Conversation.
Pause & reflect:
Find a publication in a journal you hope to publish in (or have published in!). Pick one meant for expert audiences that you struggle to understand. Now, find one written for non-expert audiences that you struggle with (try The Conversation or a newspaper op-ed). Have a look at what made it hard to read, keeping the preceding points in mind.
How can I be concise?
Concise writing doesn’t try to do too much. Focus on one key message that you want your reader to take away after reading your piece (or only part of it). This is probably the hardest part for scientists to do, as we are trained to specify the exact parameters or situations where our result is true.
After you have your key message, cut it down and polish it until not one extra word remains.
If you struggle with this, practice by speaking with labmates, with other scientists at conferences, with other E&ERC members over coffee, with that sweet old lady on the bus, or with your mom… oh, the possibilities! You’ll know you aren’t concise enough if people start looking bored or change the subject. Don’t take this personally- take it as a challenge to do better next time.
Concise writing doesn’t try to do too much. Focus on one key message that you want your reader to take away after reading your piece (or only part of it). This is probably the hardest part for scientists to do, as we are trained to specify the exact parameters or situations where our result is true.
After you have your key message, cut it down and polish it until not one extra word remains.
If you struggle with this, practice by speaking with labmates, with other scientists at conferences, with other E&ERC members over coffee, with that sweet old lady on the bus, or with your mom… oh, the possibilities! You’ll know you aren’t concise enough if people start looking bored or change the subject. Don’t take this personally- take it as a challenge to do better next time.
Pause & reflect:
E&ERC member Will Cornwell suggested this excellent exercise for the workshop:
Take a journal article and distil it down to its essence.
To do this, find a paper (it’s easier if it isn’t your own to start) that you care enough about to spend some time on. From the paper:
Write a paragraph or two of what you got out of it. Be sure the main finding is in there somewhere.
Now take your summary paragraph(s) and knock them down to just a few sentences.
Now (without making a mega-long sentence), reduce those sentences to something the size of a Tweet (140 characters or less).
Did you get the main point across? Does your Tweet make sense? Is it true to the original paper? Would you click on a link to the full article after reading your Tweet?
If not, try again.
Try repeating the exercise above with the final Tweet aimed at different audiences – perhaps a discussion group or your lab mates versus a Year 7 classroom?
Once you’ve nailed this exercise with a few different papers and audiences, try it on one of your own papers. If you are a normal human being, boiling down your own work is much more difficult than boiling down someone else’s.
Knowing your audience (see above) will help you to define whatever message you craft, and to be sure the meaning you wish to convey resonates with your targets. What works for your neighbour probably isn’t the same as what works for a potential post-doc supervisor.
Conflicts with clarity and brevity
Amongst experts or professionals, the purpose of jargon and acronyms is to cram a whole bunch of meaning into a tiny space.
For example:
When I write “SAR”, I and other biogeographers know I am referring to the Species Area Relationship. The Species Area Relationship is a well-supported hypothesis regarding the positive relationship between species diversity and habitat area. In plain English, the bigger the space, the more kinds of plants or animals we expect to find there.
Conflicts with clarity and brevity
Amongst experts or professionals, the purpose of jargon and acronyms is to cram a whole bunch of meaning into a tiny space.
For example:
When I write “SAR”, I and other biogeographers know I am referring to the Species Area Relationship. The Species Area Relationship is a well-supported hypothesis regarding the positive relationship between species diversity and habitat area. In plain English, the bigger the space, the more kinds of plants or animals we expect to find there.
Pause & reflect:
Can you see how quickly clarity for a non-expert audience immediately compromises brevity?
Choose a bit of jargon from your field, and boil it down to plain language for a non-expert.
To combat explaining away all your space (particularly in the non-expert context), avoid using specialist terms where they are not needed. Consider what your readers really need to know, or what they will find truly interesting about your work. Another strategy is to use a picture instead of a heap of words where a specialist term is really unavoidable.
How can I be credible?
This is a really, really big one. Without credibility, it doesn't matter how good you are at getting a point across- you have much, much bigger issues to deal with!
Credibility comes from integrity. The easiest way to maintain integrity is to tell the truth.
The ‘truth’ in science is never really knowable, but be honest about how strong your argument is. Without highlighting the holes in your study/argument, make your message as strong as it can be given the science that supports it.
ALWAYS give credit where credit is due- plagiarising is never a good idea.
Finally, it’s okay to say, “I don’t know”. It’s much better to admit a knowledge gap than to make something up. Making things up will only hurt your credibility!
This is a really, really big one. Without credibility, it doesn't matter how good you are at getting a point across- you have much, much bigger issues to deal with!
Credibility comes from integrity. The easiest way to maintain integrity is to tell the truth.
The ‘truth’ in science is never really knowable, but be honest about how strong your argument is. Without highlighting the holes in your study/argument, make your message as strong as it can be given the science that supports it.
ALWAYS give credit where credit is due- plagiarising is never a good idea.
Finally, it’s okay to say, “I don’t know”. It’s much better to admit a knowledge gap than to make something up. Making things up will only hurt your credibility!
Pause & reflect:
Have you ever had the experience of seeing someone lose credibility?
If you mishandled a situation that might damage your credibility, how would you attempt to fix it?
Do you think it's possible to fix a loss of credibility?
Conflicts with being interesting, credibility, clarity, and being concise:
You might see this coming by now… Writing something interesting and doing it in a credible, clear, and concise fashion sounds like a pretty tall order. And it is! But you can do it!
The key trade-offs are:
Considering who the target audience is will go a long way in helping you find the sweet spot between these conflicts (What do they know? What do they care about?).
How can I improve my writing?
While not easy, improving your writing is simple: write a lot. Write as much as you can, and more, wherever and whenever possible. Make it a habit, even if it's only a few minutes a day.
Here’s a collection of ideas, cool apps, and other resources to help you get your writing habit going strong:
Also, check out 12 Tips for Scientists Writing for the General Public.
You might see this coming by now… Writing something interesting and doing it in a credible, clear, and concise fashion sounds like a pretty tall order. And it is! But you can do it!
The key trade-offs are:
- a piece’s interest vs a piece’s credibility;
- and a piece’s brevity vs. its clarity (and precision).
Considering who the target audience is will go a long way in helping you find the sweet spot between these conflicts (What do they know? What do they care about?).
How can I improve my writing?
While not easy, improving your writing is simple: write a lot. Write as much as you can, and more, wherever and whenever possible. Make it a habit, even if it's only a few minutes a day.
Here’s a collection of ideas, cool apps, and other resources to help you get your writing habit going strong:
- 750 words.org
- Shut up and Write groups
- Shut up and Write Tuesdays
- #madwriting
- #ShutUpAndWrite
- Forest/Pomodoro/RescueTime mobile & desktop apps (if you tend to procrastinate)
- Find yourself a writing buddy and keep each other accountable
- Keep a blog, or contribute to a blog (more on that later)
Also, check out 12 Tips for Scientists Writing for the General Public.
The Bespoke Message: Speaking
The same principles that apply to writing also apply to speaking: you must be interesting, clear, concise, and credible. At the same time, the same fundamental communication skills also apply. That is, you must:
Knowing your audience and respecting them is perhaps more important for speaking than for the other forms of communication I talk about. Face-to-face interactions demand respect because there is a lot more investment from both sides: in coming out to see someone and in sharing your knowledge face-to-face. The stakes are higher for speakers to get it right (there's no "undo"), and the listeners are asked to focus intensely for however long the speaker speaks- that can be a pretty big ask!
Here’s what a few scientists with track records in successful outreach and science communication have to say:
[Talk to your audience ] like you’re talking to your mum. – A Prof Tracey Rogers (let's all hope we respect our mums!)
Maintaining authority, credibility, & respect is a two-way street. – Dr Siobahn Dennison
Your communication isn’t about YOU- it’s about your audience! – Dr Amanda Bauer
Never waste anybody’s time- have a clear message
The really good way to disrespect someone is to waste his or her time. Someone will feel like you have stolen his or her time when your message is unclear, when the message is not really for the audience, or when you never really had a message in the first place- is this sounding familiar?
Spending a few moments to work out what you really want to say when you're looking at a blank presentation slide or speech draft will save you (and your audience) a lot of agony later on!
Tailoring your message
Most speaking occurs in direct contact with an audience. This affords the communicator the opportunity to assess how the message is being received, and if necessary, to change his or her approach to communicating the message.
In order to tailor a message, you must know your audience. Before you even start writing your talk, ask yourself:
Answering these questions should help you keep your message in the realm of interest for your audience.
- Know your audience (and respecting them);
- Have a message;
- Assess your success; and
- Adapt your approach.
Knowing your audience and respecting them is perhaps more important for speaking than for the other forms of communication I talk about. Face-to-face interactions demand respect because there is a lot more investment from both sides: in coming out to see someone and in sharing your knowledge face-to-face. The stakes are higher for speakers to get it right (there's no "undo"), and the listeners are asked to focus intensely for however long the speaker speaks- that can be a pretty big ask!
Here’s what a few scientists with track records in successful outreach and science communication have to say:
[Talk to your audience ] like you’re talking to your mum. – A Prof Tracey Rogers (let's all hope we respect our mums!)
Maintaining authority, credibility, & respect is a two-way street. – Dr Siobahn Dennison
Your communication isn’t about YOU- it’s about your audience! – Dr Amanda Bauer
Never waste anybody’s time- have a clear message
The really good way to disrespect someone is to waste his or her time. Someone will feel like you have stolen his or her time when your message is unclear, when the message is not really for the audience, or when you never really had a message in the first place- is this sounding familiar?
Spending a few moments to work out what you really want to say when you're looking at a blank presentation slide or speech draft will save you (and your audience) a lot of agony later on!
Tailoring your message
Most speaking occurs in direct contact with an audience. This affords the communicator the opportunity to assess how the message is being received, and if necessary, to change his or her approach to communicating the message.
In order to tailor a message, you must know your audience. Before you even start writing your talk, ask yourself:
- “Why are these people coming to see me speak?”
- “What do these people already know?”
- “What do these people care about?”
- “What do these people want to know?”
Answering these questions should help you keep your message in the realm of interest for your audience.
Pause & reflect:
Think about the next time you will be speaking to someone about your science (or maybe just science in general). Answer these four questions about your predicted audience.
Assess your success
Feel free to open a dialogue early if the situation allows. Take questions throughout a talk, or monitor the body language and facial expressions of a more formal audience (when taking questions early isn’t possible). This can help you gauge if you’ve misjudged your audience, help you steer yourself back towards a talk the audience will enjoy, or at least prepare you for the kinds of questions you’ll get at the end of the talk.
Obviously, teaching a group of school children is more amenable to opening your talk up for discussion early on than giving a seminar in a packed auditorium. It might be good to practice on smaller audiences first if public speaking makes you nervous. Practice makes perfectly calm! (see “Cool, Calm, & Collected”, below).
Adapt your approach
Uniquely to speaking, you have the opportunity to assess your success and adapt your approach on the fly. You also have a chance to get to know your audience as you go.
Some aspects of approach to consider
A few things are really helpful for building a connection (or rapport) with your audience. These are:
Being positive comes more easily to some than others. If you struggle to appear enthusiastic or positive, pay special attention to things like:
Enthusiasm helps to engage people and create positivity- it's almost magical! But they can also sense when you're trying too hard. It helps tremendously to have some actual excitement and enthusiasm for your work. To appear positive, all you have to do is let that enthusiasm show! If you are struggling to find some passion in your work for whatever reason, consider reaching out to colleagues or mentors to re-center yourself.
Humour is almost always a good way to get people to open up to you. If you don’t seem to have a sense of humour that tickles the average funny bone, try not to force it – at best, you’ll come off a bit awkward, but at worst, you’ll stick your foot in your mouth. Sprinkling jokes, diagrams, or anecdotes throughout a talk will help you if you aren’t the kind of person that can come up with jokes on the spot.
Using humour is powerful, but there are few things to steer clear of:
Never make jokes at the expense of someone else, unless you’re absolutely sure you know your audience will not take in personally. If in doubt, don’t do it- it’s not worth losing your credibility or endangering your audience’s respect for you.
Avoid making your presentation so focused on popular culture references or humorous photos that the science gets buried or you look unprofessional. Think of humour as icing on the cake- too much ruins the whole thing.
Feel free to open a dialogue early if the situation allows. Take questions throughout a talk, or monitor the body language and facial expressions of a more formal audience (when taking questions early isn’t possible). This can help you gauge if you’ve misjudged your audience, help you steer yourself back towards a talk the audience will enjoy, or at least prepare you for the kinds of questions you’ll get at the end of the talk.
Obviously, teaching a group of school children is more amenable to opening your talk up for discussion early on than giving a seminar in a packed auditorium. It might be good to practice on smaller audiences first if public speaking makes you nervous. Practice makes perfectly calm! (see “Cool, Calm, & Collected”, below).
Adapt your approach
Uniquely to speaking, you have the opportunity to assess your success and adapt your approach on the fly. You also have a chance to get to know your audience as you go.
Some aspects of approach to consider
A few things are really helpful for building a connection (or rapport) with your audience. These are:
- Tailoring your message and communication style (which comes from knowing your audience);
- Being positive; and
- Respecting your audience.
Being positive comes more easily to some than others. If you struggle to appear enthusiastic or positive, pay special attention to things like:
- You posture and body position (stand up straight and use your arms or hands constructively; or fold them calmly behind your back or on a lecturn);
- Your language (choose positive language whenever possible); and
- Your tone (if you sound bored or hopeless, what hope is there for your audience?).
Enthusiasm helps to engage people and create positivity- it's almost magical! But they can also sense when you're trying too hard. It helps tremendously to have some actual excitement and enthusiasm for your work. To appear positive, all you have to do is let that enthusiasm show! If you are struggling to find some passion in your work for whatever reason, consider reaching out to colleagues or mentors to re-center yourself.
Humour is almost always a good way to get people to open up to you. If you don’t seem to have a sense of humour that tickles the average funny bone, try not to force it – at best, you’ll come off a bit awkward, but at worst, you’ll stick your foot in your mouth. Sprinkling jokes, diagrams, or anecdotes throughout a talk will help you if you aren’t the kind of person that can come up with jokes on the spot.
Using humour is powerful, but there are few things to steer clear of:
Never make jokes at the expense of someone else, unless you’re absolutely sure you know your audience will not take in personally. If in doubt, don’t do it- it’s not worth losing your credibility or endangering your audience’s respect for you.
Avoid making your presentation so focused on popular culture references or humorous photos that the science gets buried or you look unprofessional. Think of humour as icing on the cake- too much ruins the whole thing.
Pause & reflect:
The next time you watch a science presentation, keep an eye out for what works (and what doesn’t) as far as humour is concerned.
Or, if you're a keen bean, check out presenters like Mike Kasumovich. He has a real knack for integrating humour into his presentations without overdoing it.
Cool, calm, and collected
Gaining and keeping credibility and the respect of your audience is easier when you appear to be completely unruffled by giving a talk (or questions that come during or after). If this doesn’t come naturally to you, the best way to do this is to practice!
Practice-runs, particularly to a group of friendly colleagues (like your lab group), or within your school (like the PRF at BEES), or within your faculty (like the 3-Minute-Thesis Competition within the Science Faculty) offer excellent opportunities for you to hone your speaking skills. Make the most of these chances to improve, and take them seriously!
Here’s a few scenarios and solutions that might help you overcome your stress:
What if…
… I get a horrible, terrible, no good question?
This might happen because the person has a bee in their bonnet, and most likely has nothing to do with your speaking or your skills as a communicator. We have ALL been to a presentation where someone asks a complete irrelevant, long-winded question. It happens- so just deal with it quickly so that the conversation can keep flowing despite the hiccup.
You may notice that pretty much anything you do should focus on maintaining respect between you and your audience, maintaining your integrity, and in keeping (or boosting) your audiences’ interest. Remember that most people there are 'on your side', and will also be annoyed by a member of the audience doing rude or disruptive things.
Gaining and keeping credibility and the respect of your audience is easier when you appear to be completely unruffled by giving a talk (or questions that come during or after). If this doesn’t come naturally to you, the best way to do this is to practice!
Practice-runs, particularly to a group of friendly colleagues (like your lab group), or within your school (like the PRF at BEES), or within your faculty (like the 3-Minute-Thesis Competition within the Science Faculty) offer excellent opportunities for you to hone your speaking skills. Make the most of these chances to improve, and take them seriously!
Here’s a few scenarios and solutions that might help you overcome your stress:
What if…
… I get a horrible, terrible, no good question?
This might happen because the person has a bee in their bonnet, and most likely has nothing to do with your speaking or your skills as a communicator. We have ALL been to a presentation where someone asks a complete irrelevant, long-winded question. It happens- so just deal with it quickly so that the conversation can keep flowing despite the hiccup.
- Good: If the question IS relevant, explain the point more clearly or with a new example or back-up graphic (those are handy to have at the end of your slide show if you anticipate questions about a certain tricky topic). If the question isn’t really relevant, acknowledge it as quickly as you can without being rude, and move on. My favourite is, “That’s an interesting point that deserves a whole separate discussion. Perhaps we can talk a bit more about this after the presentation.”
- Handle this with humour, reassess your language, reassess your audience, and check you haven't gone over time!
- Good response: humour, calm & logical response, stick to facts, shift focus away from this person, or if you have to, ignore this person
- Not so good response: Call him/her an idiot (this won't get you anywhere)
You may notice that pretty much anything you do should focus on maintaining respect between you and your audience, maintaining your integrity, and in keeping (or boosting) your audiences’ interest. Remember that most people there are 'on your side', and will also be annoyed by a member of the audience doing rude or disruptive things.
Graphic Content: Visuals
Why bother with graphics?
Graphics are awesome at catching and holding attention, especially when done well. Graphics should be used wherever possible (according to Prof Tracey Rogers, Dr Tegan Gale & The UNSW Media Office).
Graphics are especially important when you’re trying to grab people's attention (think of which links you click on when you’re on Facebook or Twitter!). If you’re still not convinced, check out these stats.
If you use UNSW’s Media Office (and you should), note that graphics + your story = ‘a package’ that helps the media pick up and amplify your story. For example, check out news items on a lab’s page (e.g. The Sex Lab’s Facebook Page), or Fresh Science, a competition where students get media training (Centre member Dr Tegan Gale was a finalist). Notice something? Almost every bit of science on these attractive pages uses a graphic to lure the reader in. For further good practice, look at what kind of stories make it onto the BEES website, or indeed, any university's website!
So, what makes a graphic good?
Tailor-made graphics
Just like other forms of communication, it’s important to consider: Your message (what story is this picture telling?); and Your audience (or who you want to draw in). Check out an example of this process.
Simplicity
Convey one message per graphic. Find your message first, then prepare a graphic. If you find your graphic getting overly complex, you may have to reassess what you’re trying to say with it.
Clean and easy-to-follow at a glance. Remember that simple and ‘dumbed-down’ are not the same thing. Having one message to send helps with this. If your graphics appear cluttered, consider breaking them apart, creating a panelled or flow-chart type graphic, or re-vamping your message.
If what you’re trying to say is unavoidably complex, be sure to build up to it instead of laying it on all at once.
Appeal
Get inspired! Keep an eye out for great graphics, and try to work out what makes them great. Keep a Pinterest board (or a real pin-board, or just even a folder) of some cool examples of graphics that move you. Or, if you see something you like in a paper or poster, take some notes about what is so attractive to you.
Graphics are awesome at catching and holding attention, especially when done well. Graphics should be used wherever possible (according to Prof Tracey Rogers, Dr Tegan Gale & The UNSW Media Office).
Graphics are especially important when you’re trying to grab people's attention (think of which links you click on when you’re on Facebook or Twitter!). If you’re still not convinced, check out these stats.
If you use UNSW’s Media Office (and you should), note that graphics + your story = ‘a package’ that helps the media pick up and amplify your story. For example, check out news items on a lab’s page (e.g. The Sex Lab’s Facebook Page), or Fresh Science, a competition where students get media training (Centre member Dr Tegan Gale was a finalist). Notice something? Almost every bit of science on these attractive pages uses a graphic to lure the reader in. For further good practice, look at what kind of stories make it onto the BEES website, or indeed, any university's website!
So, what makes a graphic good?
Tailor-made graphics
Just like other forms of communication, it’s important to consider: Your message (what story is this picture telling?); and Your audience (or who you want to draw in). Check out an example of this process.
Simplicity
Convey one message per graphic. Find your message first, then prepare a graphic. If you find your graphic getting overly complex, you may have to reassess what you’re trying to say with it.
Clean and easy-to-follow at a glance. Remember that simple and ‘dumbed-down’ are not the same thing. Having one message to send helps with this. If your graphics appear cluttered, consider breaking them apart, creating a panelled or flow-chart type graphic, or re-vamping your message.
If what you’re trying to say is unavoidably complex, be sure to build up to it instead of laying it on all at once.
Appeal
Get inspired! Keep an eye out for great graphics, and try to work out what makes them great. Keep a Pinterest board (or a real pin-board, or just even a folder) of some cool examples of graphics that move you. Or, if you see something you like in a paper or poster, take some notes about what is so attractive to you.
Pause & reflect:
To get you started on thinking critically about what makes a graphic 'good', check out these resources: before & after (3/4 of the way down); visual.ly; NASA; and how it’s done.
Design
Colour is often very attractive. Too much can be busy. Remember that simplicity is what you need! Also, always consider how your graphic will be perceived by colour-blind people.
Consistency can add a polished look to your work. If you have multiple graphics in a piece, or multiple graphics tiled together into one larger one, keep the style and “flavour” of the graphics consistent.
What kind of graphic should I use?
You may already be familiar with how to prepare nice figures for publication in your scientific journal articles. While many of the same rules apply, it’s important to distinguish between graphics meant for different audiences (just like your written or spoken messages!).
It’s important to remember that graphs are not the only kind of graphic.
The chart below helps you determine what kind of graphic might best suit the information you’re trying to convey. This image is by Ilissa Ocko, from The Plainspoken Scientist.
Colour is often very attractive. Too much can be busy. Remember that simplicity is what you need! Also, always consider how your graphic will be perceived by colour-blind people.
Consistency can add a polished look to your work. If you have multiple graphics in a piece, or multiple graphics tiled together into one larger one, keep the style and “flavour” of the graphics consistent.
What kind of graphic should I use?
You may already be familiar with how to prepare nice figures for publication in your scientific journal articles. While many of the same rules apply, it’s important to distinguish between graphics meant for different audiences (just like your written or spoken messages!).
It’s important to remember that graphs are not the only kind of graphic.
The chart below helps you determine what kind of graphic might best suit the information you’re trying to convey. This image is by Ilissa Ocko, from The Plainspoken Scientist.
Pause & Reflect:Use the answers to these questions to fine-tune your graphic. What colours will work well? What font size should you use? What kinds of terms can you use?
- Think of the message you want your graphic to tell. E.g. “Banana crop yields increase with increasing night-time temperatures” or “Urban areas suffer more asthma hospitalisations than suburban areas”.
- Determine how you want to represent that message- a map? A photo? A graph?
- Decide who your visual message is meant for. Other scientists? School kids? Armchair ecologists?
Break it down: a step-by-step guide to making graphics
Now that we know what makes a graphic good and what kind of graphics are best for various types of information, let's have a crack at making an awesome one for your own devices. To that end:
Tools & tips for creating graphics
Making graphics from scratch
Use vector graphics programs (Inkscape = free version of Illustrator) or get familiar with Paint, PowerPoing & GIMP (= free version of Adobe Photoshop). Here’s a great way to see what you can do!
Graphic design is a world in itself. Check out this presentation about graphics if you’re after more nitty gritty.
Here’s another great resource on how to make graphics from start to finish.
Keep a portfolio of all your graphics. You may not need to re-invent the wheel every time you make a graphic if some of the building blocks between your graphics remain similar. This is especially true if you find yourself using vector graphics. This will also help you keep a consistent theme between graphics, and allows you to track your progress.
Other handy hints
Take loads of photographs of your work as it unfolds. This might be of you conducting fieldwork, a step-by-step photographic journey of your chemical analyses, screenshots of your models as they develop, or pictures of meetings with collaborators or stakeholders. Remember that it is quite important to get permission from people if you want to include their photos in published materials.
Getting help
Ask the media office for help if you want to make videos or clips about your work.
If you really don’t have an eye for graphic design, consider collaborating with someone who does. There is a lot of talent amongst your colleagues, friends, or even acquaintances. Forging partnerships is a valuable skill in and of itself, so don’t be shy about asking for help.
Now that we know what makes a graphic good and what kind of graphics are best for various types of information, let's have a crack at making an awesome one for your own devices. To that end:
- Figure out what you’re trying to say.
- Figure out who you are going to say it to.
- Work out what kind of graphic best imparts your message (see the next section).
- Sketch it up, keeping in mind the traits of good graphics above.
- When you are happy with your sketch, make a more polished version (see ‘Tools to create graphics’, below).
- Run your sketch (or polished graphic, if you’re brave) by a person that identifies with your target audience, and ask for feedback.
- Adjust your graphic.
- Repeat Steps 6 & 7 as much as you can stand. With subsequent drafts (and future graphics), you will probably develop a feel for what will be effective.
Tools & tips for creating graphics
Making graphics from scratch
Use vector graphics programs (Inkscape = free version of Illustrator) or get familiar with Paint, PowerPoing & GIMP (= free version of Adobe Photoshop). Here’s a great way to see what you can do!
Graphic design is a world in itself. Check out this presentation about graphics if you’re after more nitty gritty.
Here’s another great resource on how to make graphics from start to finish.
Keep a portfolio of all your graphics. You may not need to re-invent the wheel every time you make a graphic if some of the building blocks between your graphics remain similar. This is especially true if you find yourself using vector graphics. This will also help you keep a consistent theme between graphics, and allows you to track your progress.
Other handy hints
Take loads of photographs of your work as it unfolds. This might be of you conducting fieldwork, a step-by-step photographic journey of your chemical analyses, screenshots of your models as they develop, or pictures of meetings with collaborators or stakeholders. Remember that it is quite important to get permission from people if you want to include their photos in published materials.
Getting help
Ask the media office for help if you want to make videos or clips about your work.
If you really don’t have an eye for graphic design, consider collaborating with someone who does. There is a lot of talent amongst your colleagues, friends, or even acquaintances. Forging partnerships is a valuable skill in and of itself, so don’t be shy about asking for help.
Pause & reflect:
Open up one of the graphic design programs I suggested, and have a crack at creating something. Creating a graphic can be challenging even if it isn't your first time using one of these programs. But with a little practice, you could gain a valuable new skill. At the very least, you'll gain an appreciation for all those amazing infographics out there!
Pick-me-ups: The Pitch
What is a pitch?
Pitches are a “hook”: they grab someone’s interest and spark curiosity. Pitches persuade someone to give you a chance, whether that’s to continue listening to you, or to give you a shot as a professional researcher! In a nut shell, a pitch is a statement about your science that makes its importance both completely obvious and immediately apparent.
You may have heard the term ‘elevator pitch’- the idea is that you persuade someone to do something for you or let your have something from them in as much time as you might have in an elevator together- think 30 seconds or less. That’s really just a few sentences! All pitches should adhere to this idea- they should be short, sharp, and convincing.
Remember this, too: a pitch is your chance to shine. This is the ultimate form of science communication, and represents the distillation of your work into one perfect, clear, captivating message. It’s not easy, but with practice you will get better.
Bonus: being concise and persuasive is a useful skill in life- not just in science! If you can hone your pitch, you are well on your way to becoming an expert communicator.
How do I make a pitch?
Pitches are a little bit like ‘the final frontier’ of our science communication journey- they call on every skill that we have touched upon so far. If you haven’t browsed through the other sections of this online workshop yet, you might miss some key points here.
To make a pitch, you need to have an idea of what you want to say. To do that,
The ultimate goal: Your end product should be clear, short, and perfectly tailored to whomever you deliver it.
If you are delivering your pitch to a media outlet, include bonus content (graphics, audio, or video, as appropriate for the outlet).
In a sense, this is a little bit like a Tweet- you have up to 140 characters to earn someone’s attention. Perhaps spend a little time on Twitter looking at what “pitches” work well on you (which tweets do you actually click on to read more about?).
How do I improve my pitches?
Just like our other types of communication, practice makes perfect! Practicing allows you to gain confidence, receive feedback, and adjust and optimise your message.
Try your pitches out on various people. Many of us instinctively do this with people we trust, which is great! But if you're not that open a person, close friends and family are great place to start. If possible, target people who belong to the audience you are ultimately hoping to pitch to (e.g., if you want to convince a colleague to work with you, run the idea by a labmate first).
Practice adjusting your pitches to members of different audiences. For example, if you have a message about the importance of your study species, try convincing everyone from your grandmother to a scientist outside of your field why it matters so much.
Ask for feedback, and try again. Try not to take comments personally, and consider a misunderstanding as a failure on your part to make the information clear, not a failure of your audience’s intelligence or attention span. If you lost someone’s attention in only a few minutes, you need to think hard about what went wrong- see the sections on speaking and writing for more on this.
If after working on your pitch you still get rejected from wherever or whatever, never be afraid to ask for feedback or for ways you could improve. Most outlets and officers will be happy to give you some indication of where your proposal fell down. Learn from these mistakes!
You may also want to approach the Media Office before you head off on your own- they can help you polish your pitch.
Pitches are a “hook”: they grab someone’s interest and spark curiosity. Pitches persuade someone to give you a chance, whether that’s to continue listening to you, or to give you a shot as a professional researcher! In a nut shell, a pitch is a statement about your science that makes its importance both completely obvious and immediately apparent.
You may have heard the term ‘elevator pitch’- the idea is that you persuade someone to do something for you or let your have something from them in as much time as you might have in an elevator together- think 30 seconds or less. That’s really just a few sentences! All pitches should adhere to this idea- they should be short, sharp, and convincing.
Remember this, too: a pitch is your chance to shine. This is the ultimate form of science communication, and represents the distillation of your work into one perfect, clear, captivating message. It’s not easy, but with practice you will get better.
Bonus: being concise and persuasive is a useful skill in life- not just in science! If you can hone your pitch, you are well on your way to becoming an expert communicator.
How do I make a pitch?
Pitches are a little bit like ‘the final frontier’ of our science communication journey- they call on every skill that we have touched upon so far. If you haven’t browsed through the other sections of this online workshop yet, you might miss some key points here.
To make a pitch, you need to have an idea of what you want to say. To do that,
- Choose your message. But you knew this already, I'm sure.
- Decide who you are speaking to.
- Re-write your message, rejecting all jargon.
- Then, condense, condense, and condense some more (similar to our writing exercise above!).
The ultimate goal: Your end product should be clear, short, and perfectly tailored to whomever you deliver it.
If you are delivering your pitch to a media outlet, include bonus content (graphics, audio, or video, as appropriate for the outlet).
In a sense, this is a little bit like a Tweet- you have up to 140 characters to earn someone’s attention. Perhaps spend a little time on Twitter looking at what “pitches” work well on you (which tweets do you actually click on to read more about?).
How do I improve my pitches?
Just like our other types of communication, practice makes perfect! Practicing allows you to gain confidence, receive feedback, and adjust and optimise your message.
Try your pitches out on various people. Many of us instinctively do this with people we trust, which is great! But if you're not that open a person, close friends and family are great place to start. If possible, target people who belong to the audience you are ultimately hoping to pitch to (e.g., if you want to convince a colleague to work with you, run the idea by a labmate first).
Practice adjusting your pitches to members of different audiences. For example, if you have a message about the importance of your study species, try convincing everyone from your grandmother to a scientist outside of your field why it matters so much.
Ask for feedback, and try again. Try not to take comments personally, and consider a misunderstanding as a failure on your part to make the information clear, not a failure of your audience’s intelligence or attention span. If you lost someone’s attention in only a few minutes, you need to think hard about what went wrong- see the sections on speaking and writing for more on this.
If after working on your pitch you still get rejected from wherever or whatever, never be afraid to ask for feedback or for ways you could improve. Most outlets and officers will be happy to give you some indication of where your proposal fell down. Learn from these mistakes!
You may also want to approach the Media Office before you head off on your own- they can help you polish your pitch.
Pause & reflect:
Go ahead, practice a pitch. Whether it's your mum, your husband, your neighbour, or your supervisor- get cracking!
Making it count
Making science communication work for you
All this effort, all this time, all this investment in learning new skills... is science communication worth it? Well, yes- but only if you make it work for you, and only if that puts you closer to your goals (whatever they may be- see the very first bit of this workshop!).
Here are some tips on how to make the most of your efforts.
Focus! That is, use your energy and time like the precious resources they are. We all have limited time, and science communication can easily consume a lot of it. In order to avoid wasting your time, it’s important for you to develop focus in your science communication and/or outreach endeavours.
To develop focus, ask yourself:
The answers to these questions will guide the development of your science communication/outreach strategy. This might sound familiar- we talked about this at the beginning of the workshop!
Once you have your focus in mind, you can create a strategy that optimises return from your efforts in science outreach and communication.
Devising a communication strategy
The UNSW Research and Training Development Unit runs a great workshop about social media for researchers, and discusses the development of a communication strategy at some length. The following information is adapted from that workshop, but if this sort of thing interests you, you may consider signing up. Keep an eye on GRS newsletters, or search UNSW’s website for when the next workshop will be held.
How what you want to accomplish shapes your communication strategy
There are four ways that this happens:
1. The main reasons that people communicate science differ, and as a consequence, so do the audiences these scientists hope to reach.
2. People naturally excel at some communication types (e.g. writing-vs-speaking). The effectiveness of various types of science communication differ across audiences and outcomes.
3. Some research areas or projects lend themselves especially well to certain audiences or types of outreach (e.g. distributions of populations lend themselves to citizen science apps, see Jodi Rowley's Frog ID app).
4. People vary in their ability and willingness to commit to outreach, and some communication methods can very easily consume a lot of time.
Given all of these considerations, some methods of communicating work better for different kinds of science communicators than others.
Finding what works for you:
To work out what outlets to use, you should ask yourself:
This is a little bit of recap from the Fundamentals above, but now we are being a bit more introspective.
Once you know the answers to these questions, use the table below to work out what outlets might be best for you.
All this effort, all this time, all this investment in learning new skills... is science communication worth it? Well, yes- but only if you make it work for you, and only if that puts you closer to your goals (whatever they may be- see the very first bit of this workshop!).
Here are some tips on how to make the most of your efforts.
Focus! That is, use your energy and time like the precious resources they are. We all have limited time, and science communication can easily consume a lot of it. In order to avoid wasting your time, it’s important for you to develop focus in your science communication and/or outreach endeavours.
To develop focus, ask yourself:
- “Why am I doing this?”
- “Who do I want to communicate with?”
- “What am I trying to accomplish?”
The answers to these questions will guide the development of your science communication/outreach strategy. This might sound familiar- we talked about this at the beginning of the workshop!
Once you have your focus in mind, you can create a strategy that optimises return from your efforts in science outreach and communication.
Devising a communication strategy
The UNSW Research and Training Development Unit runs a great workshop about social media for researchers, and discusses the development of a communication strategy at some length. The following information is adapted from that workshop, but if this sort of thing interests you, you may consider signing up. Keep an eye on GRS newsletters, or search UNSW’s website for when the next workshop will be held.
How what you want to accomplish shapes your communication strategy
There are four ways that this happens:
1. The main reasons that people communicate science differ, and as a consequence, so do the audiences these scientists hope to reach.
2. People naturally excel at some communication types (e.g. writing-vs-speaking). The effectiveness of various types of science communication differ across audiences and outcomes.
3. Some research areas or projects lend themselves especially well to certain audiences or types of outreach (e.g. distributions of populations lend themselves to citizen science apps, see Jodi Rowley's Frog ID app).
4. People vary in their ability and willingness to commit to outreach, and some communication methods can very easily consume a lot of time.
Given all of these considerations, some methods of communicating work better for different kinds of science communicators than others.
Finding what works for you:
To work out what outlets to use, you should ask yourself:
- “Why am I doing this?”
- “Who do I want to communicate with?”
- “What am I trying to accomplish?”
- “How much time do I have for this?”
- “What am I good at?”
This is a little bit of recap from the Fundamentals above, but now we are being a bit more introspective.
Once you know the answers to these questions, use the table below to work out what outlets might be best for you.
Pause & reflect:
Answer the questions above before you move on. Know thyself!
The Research and Training Development Unit produces a great table that shows how different outlets (e.g. social media, blogs, YouTube, op-eds or popular articles, blogs, face-to-face talks, and so on) have different 'values' for each of the four points above. For example, Tweeting your findings is easy and fast, but will probably only reach like-minded people (your followers and their followers, maybe). It might only work if you've got a sexy topic, and the impact of that approach will be super short-lived. On the other hand, producing a workshop for children will be mega-rewarding from a reaching new minds perspective, but will also incredibly time-consuming and energy-intensive. You would also need to have a partnership in place to deal with things like venues, sourcing materials, and securing an audience.
I've had a crack at adapting this table for ecologists; the results are pasted below. I'm working on making this clearer- feedback from the workshop was that this table was confusing. In the meantime, something is better than nothing, no?
I've had a crack at adapting this table for ecologists; the results are pasted below. I'm working on making this clearer- feedback from the workshop was that this table was confusing. In the meantime, something is better than nothing, no?
In the table, we examine how well goals (rows) align with outlets (columns). Here's how to interpret the symbols:
- Clock symbols warn that outlets and goals can be time intensive, either intrinsically (e.g. keeping abreast in your field requires lots of reading), through investing in how to do it (creating content), through production (podcasts, writing op eds), or through constant updates to stay on top of the pile (Twitter).
- Hearts are great matches between goals and outlets.
- Pusheen (the rainbow/unicorn cat) shows you a strong alignment between goal and outlet that is pretty easy to boot. Cats are lazy, after all.
- No symbol at all is average compatibility. You can do better, but you can definitely do worse.
- Shamrocks indicate that you might get lucky with this outlet helping you reach your goals, but really, you should find another method (e.g., you might happen to run into someone new at a public appearance, but chances are the people coming to see you are already keen on what you have to say).
- Hazard signs indicate a risky strategy with pretty poor alignment between goal and outlet- proceed at your own risk.
- Skulls and crossbones indicate that an outlet is a pretty rubbish way to reach a particular goal.
Pause & reflect:
Given the answers to your questions from the previous exercise, use the table to identify possible areas of outreach that might work for you.
A bit more on different outlets:
Social media, the internet, and communicating science
Having an online profile is pretty important to enhance your professional visibility, even if you don’t actually use these profiles to communicate science. In fact, one might say that having a bare-bones or missing online presence communicates a negative message about you- either you appear out-of-date or inactive (that’s bad!), or you appear uninteresting (that’s really bad!), or you are invisible (that’s really, really bad!).
Take home message: you should have at least ONE online outlet where people can go to find out more about you.
Sorry, but a mail-to link next to an out-of-date, poor resolution head-shot doesn’t cut the mustard! We've all been frustrated by such a profile when sussing out potential collaborators or supervisors!
So what is this social media business, anyway?
NB: For more in-depth information on this topic, attend the UNSW Research and Training Development Unit’s workshop about social media for researchers. The information below is distilled from that workshop for researchers in the E&ERC.
Not everyone enjoys plastering themselves all over the internet and social media, and that’s okay (actually, that’s quite refreshing!). You don’t need to divulge your entire personal history in order to share your science. Think of it this way- having a good profile improves your networking capabilities, which in turn improves your chances of getting noticed.
At some point, you need to decide whether you use your social media profile(s) strictly for your science persona, or whether you allow your personal interests to shine through as well. Your decision may also be influenced by the audience you try to reach, the messages you typically share, and the level of credibility you wish to maintain. In addition, your own level of comfort with sharing personal information will also influence your decision.
There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to both approaches, illustrated with a couple of examples:
Example 1: If you wish to spread the general message that science is cool, letting your personal love of baked goods and puppies mingle with your science messages may paint you as a normal person who is also a scientist. Your profile may reach a much wider breadth of people, but at a much lower level of interest. In other words, your audience may only go so far as: “Huh, that’s cool. Okay, next…”.
Some things you can do RIGHT NOW to improve your online appearance:
Sign up for the profiles you reckon you’ll actually use (more on that in a second). Social media platforms sit in a spectrum of time-consumption, professionalism, and permanency, as discussed above.
Some profiles are standard “must-haves”, though they don’t really add anything special or make you stand out in any way. It’s a little bit like having your photo in the staff/student directory- it’s helpful, it’s useful, and if you aren’t there, it looks a little weird.
A non-exhaustive list of these profiles include (depending on your area, career ambitions, and circles):
If you don’t have or maintain these profiles, sign up right now! Spend a brain-dead day uploading information about yourself and linking these profiles together. If you have publications, make sure you add links to them, preferably on the journal’s page using the DOI.
Other profiles can boost you beyond the ordinary in different ways. If you’re an amazing photographer or have a lot of cool pictures stocked up, consider using Instagram and getting savvy with hashtags and tags. If you’re hilarious, start a podcast or find one to guest-star on, and then share it. If your work is varied enough, or you have enough friends with interesting work, start a blog or a web page. Oh, the possibilities!
Zombie profiles
Social media can be horrendously time-consuming because everything happens so fast. Some platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat) are notoriously difficult to keep up with, and any post you make is almost instantly obsolete. Because of that, scientists who do well on social media typically post something quite regularly. If you can’t manage to post something at least every once in a while on all of your profiles, it may be better to strategically limit which profiles you activate as part of your professional scientist online persona.
To get around this, you might consider contributing to a blog, Twitter handle, or other social media profile instead of having your own. Another strategy is to craft a bunch of content when you do have time (or a bunch of awesome field photos), then trickle your content out slowly.
More permanent collections of your cool findings, graphics, written pieces, etc. should be available to people who want to look into your profile or work. Consider using a personal/professional web page for this- most of time, you get one with your institution, but if not, there are plenty of free and easy-to-use options out there (WordPress, Weebly, Wix, and more!). A good strategy is to announce links to your web page content. People who stumble upon your social media presence can follow links and see all of your content, old and new.
Good examples of (social) media profiles
Blogs: In Situ Science (James Hanlon); In Defense of Plants
Podcasts: Stuff You Should Know
Twitter: Manu Sanders
Instagram: Justin Chan
Facebook: Best Ecology Blogs
TV: The Feed
Radio: East Side FM
Etiquette
Etiquette hasn't necessarily kept pace with technology, but it's always a good idea to treat others how you would like to be treated.
DO:
DON’T:
Social media, the internet, and communicating science
Having an online profile is pretty important to enhance your professional visibility, even if you don’t actually use these profiles to communicate science. In fact, one might say that having a bare-bones or missing online presence communicates a negative message about you- either you appear out-of-date or inactive (that’s bad!), or you appear uninteresting (that’s really bad!), or you are invisible (that’s really, really bad!).
Take home message: you should have at least ONE online outlet where people can go to find out more about you.
Sorry, but a mail-to link next to an out-of-date, poor resolution head-shot doesn’t cut the mustard! We've all been frustrated by such a profile when sussing out potential collaborators or supervisors!
So what is this social media business, anyway?
NB: For more in-depth information on this topic, attend the UNSW Research and Training Development Unit’s workshop about social media for researchers. The information below is distilled from that workshop for researchers in the E&ERC.
Not everyone enjoys plastering themselves all over the internet and social media, and that’s okay (actually, that’s quite refreshing!). You don’t need to divulge your entire personal history in order to share your science. Think of it this way- having a good profile improves your networking capabilities, which in turn improves your chances of getting noticed.
At some point, you need to decide whether you use your social media profile(s) strictly for your science persona, or whether you allow your personal interests to shine through as well. Your decision may also be influenced by the audience you try to reach, the messages you typically share, and the level of credibility you wish to maintain. In addition, your own level of comfort with sharing personal information will also influence your decision.
There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to both approaches, illustrated with a couple of examples:
Example 1: If you wish to spread the general message that science is cool, letting your personal love of baked goods and puppies mingle with your science messages may paint you as a normal person who is also a scientist. Your profile may reach a much wider breadth of people, but at a much lower level of interest. In other words, your audience may only go so far as: “Huh, that’s cool. Okay, next…”.
- Advantage: You reach lots of different people, and might just change someone’s mind about something.
- Disadvantage: You could lose credibility, professionalism, or the ability to attract and retain followers with very narrow, science-based interests. This is particularly true if you post political, humorous (to you anyway), or very personal messages.
- Advantage: You appear very professional, knowledgeable, and credible, and may gain an excellent reputation in your area if your profile is maintained at a high standard.
- Disadvantage: Your ability to attract new followers is limited to the pool of people who find the scope of your message appealing, and also by the inherent appeal of the subject matter itself.
Some things you can do RIGHT NOW to improve your online appearance:
Sign up for the profiles you reckon you’ll actually use (more on that in a second). Social media platforms sit in a spectrum of time-consumption, professionalism, and permanency, as discussed above.
Some profiles are standard “must-haves”, though they don’t really add anything special or make you stand out in any way. It’s a little bit like having your photo in the staff/student directory- it’s helpful, it’s useful, and if you aren’t there, it looks a little weird.
A non-exhaustive list of these profiles include (depending on your area, career ambitions, and circles):
- A webpage or profile hosted by your affiliated university or institution;
- A Google Scholar profile;
- A LinkedIn profile- handy if you want professional connections; and
- Twitter- amazing for hearing about opportunities and following conferences you cannot attend.
If you don’t have or maintain these profiles, sign up right now! Spend a brain-dead day uploading information about yourself and linking these profiles together. If you have publications, make sure you add links to them, preferably on the journal’s page using the DOI.
Other profiles can boost you beyond the ordinary in different ways. If you’re an amazing photographer or have a lot of cool pictures stocked up, consider using Instagram and getting savvy with hashtags and tags. If you’re hilarious, start a podcast or find one to guest-star on, and then share it. If your work is varied enough, or you have enough friends with interesting work, start a blog or a web page. Oh, the possibilities!
Zombie profiles
Social media can be horrendously time-consuming because everything happens so fast. Some platforms (Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat) are notoriously difficult to keep up with, and any post you make is almost instantly obsolete. Because of that, scientists who do well on social media typically post something quite regularly. If you can’t manage to post something at least every once in a while on all of your profiles, it may be better to strategically limit which profiles you activate as part of your professional scientist online persona.
To get around this, you might consider contributing to a blog, Twitter handle, or other social media profile instead of having your own. Another strategy is to craft a bunch of content when you do have time (or a bunch of awesome field photos), then trickle your content out slowly.
More permanent collections of your cool findings, graphics, written pieces, etc. should be available to people who want to look into your profile or work. Consider using a personal/professional web page for this- most of time, you get one with your institution, but if not, there are plenty of free and easy-to-use options out there (WordPress, Weebly, Wix, and more!). A good strategy is to announce links to your web page content. People who stumble upon your social media presence can follow links and see all of your content, old and new.
Good examples of (social) media profiles
Blogs: In Situ Science (James Hanlon); In Defense of Plants
Podcasts: Stuff You Should Know
Twitter: Manu Sanders
Instagram: Justin Chan
Facebook: Best Ecology Blogs
TV: The Feed
Radio: East Side FM
Etiquette
Etiquette hasn't necessarily kept pace with technology, but it's always a good idea to treat others how you would like to be treated.
DO:
- Act like everyone’s watching – be kind, humble, and helpful.
- Be yourself (considering the abovementioned scope of posts).
- Realise you might be in an ‘echo chamber’- what we see on our social media profiles is incredibly biased.
- Maintain your accounts & respond in timely fashion.
- Distinguish between personal & professional (again, considering the abovementioned scope of posts).
- Interlink profiles- this is vital!
- Add to the community – add to the conversation. No one likes a lurker.
- Be hashtag savvy. Limit?
- Follow people/organisations you are interested in.
- Share links/facts/media wisely- just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true!
- Have a sense of humour.
DON’T:
- Get hooked by trolls (it is best not to respond if the troller isn’t someone you should respond to).
- Be vague…
- Pick fights.
- Be (too) critical / cynical / sarcastic / negative.
- Get angry- count to ten before you send!
- Be an ass (e.g. overly confrontational, mean-spirited, troll-like, or “that guy!”).
Pause & reflect:
Whichever outlet you choose (social media, producing content for a radio show, publishing a piece in the Conversation, etc.), write down a few steps (or achievable goals) that you could take to improve your communication:
1) Today;
2) This month; and
3) This year.
Getting picked up by the media
What the media want from you
The media have a term for a scientist that is knowledgeable, passionate, a good communicator, and offers interesting content: the mix.
Showcase your ‘passion, enthusiasm, knowledge, and love of subject’ .
Be warm and humorous.
– Sarah McDonald, UNSW Media Team, She Says She Says event
Have a message!
“In terms of material, I look for three things in particular: an alluring scientific idea or discovery; a scientist who is a highly intriguing figure on his or her own or who can talk engagingly; and either a subject or an event in which we see the idea or process at work.”
David Dobbs, who writes the Neuron Culture blog for Wired
“Look for work that is entertaining, fascinating, important or controversial. Ask yourself: will anyone care? Be brutal about this. Move on if the answer is no.” - Ian Sample, science correspondent
Have an opinion: ‘I think this’ supported by knowledge, experience, examples, and data.
Challenge truisms & the status quo
For example:
Truism: Women should pursue careers in STEM!
Facts: Women are paid less, respected less, and like all STEM grads, face chronic underemployment.
Offer solutions to this problem - be a thought leader.
-From She Says, She Says event @ UNSW
Remember those pitches?
Once you have an idea, pitch it. Polish your pitch until it shines, and then get in touch with the Media Office. If that seems a bit much right off the bat, express your interest in getting involved with science communication with the media to others who are already doing it- you might get an opportunity or some pointers in the right direction.
'Now is a special time- media are trying to do more with less, which equates to an opportunity for scientists to get their work out there.'
– Sarah McDonald, UNSW Media Team
What the media want from you
The media have a term for a scientist that is knowledgeable, passionate, a good communicator, and offers interesting content: the mix.
Showcase your ‘passion, enthusiasm, knowledge, and love of subject’ .
Be warm and humorous.
– Sarah McDonald, UNSW Media Team, She Says She Says event
Have a message!
“In terms of material, I look for three things in particular: an alluring scientific idea or discovery; a scientist who is a highly intriguing figure on his or her own or who can talk engagingly; and either a subject or an event in which we see the idea or process at work.”
David Dobbs, who writes the Neuron Culture blog for Wired
“Look for work that is entertaining, fascinating, important or controversial. Ask yourself: will anyone care? Be brutal about this. Move on if the answer is no.” - Ian Sample, science correspondent
Have an opinion: ‘I think this’ supported by knowledge, experience, examples, and data.
Challenge truisms & the status quo
For example:
Truism: Women should pursue careers in STEM!
Facts: Women are paid less, respected less, and like all STEM grads, face chronic underemployment.
Offer solutions to this problem - be a thought leader.
-From She Says, She Says event @ UNSW
Remember those pitches?
Once you have an idea, pitch it. Polish your pitch until it shines, and then get in touch with the Media Office. If that seems a bit much right off the bat, express your interest in getting involved with science communication with the media to others who are already doing it- you might get an opportunity or some pointers in the right direction.
'Now is a special time- media are trying to do more with less, which equates to an opportunity for scientists to get their work out there.'
– Sarah McDonald, UNSW Media Team
Pause & reflect:
Media appearances or published work might seem huge and terrifying, but in reality your work or segment will air or occupy prime viewing space for a very short time. While nothing truly disappears, it is unlikely that you will stuff up so badly that you cannot show your face ever again.
Do you recall some points about credibility from the speaking part of this workshop? It may be worth revisiting those points if you are concerned with any media engagements you land.
Getting started
There is no time like the present. Getting started is probably the hardest part, especially if you need to convince someone to give you a chance. However, building your experience will enhance your skills, confidence, and network- so it only gets easier and easier. Hooray!
Volunteer
There are so many people who need help in science, but who can't afford to pay for it. It's a bummer to work for free, but you will learn a lot and meet some great people. The BEES Volunteers Facebook page is a good place to start, as is asking around or checking out society or organisation websites for upcoming events and opportunities.
Learn from your experiences
You learn the most from doing! You might find a strength you didn't know you had, or pick up a new skill. The simple act of doing stuff makes you more interesting to others, gets your name out there, and gives you valuable skills and experience.
Talk to people (and listen to them) - make connections
When you work with people, you learn about them and they learn about you. Express what you want, what you need, where you want to go. You never know who might have a chance come up for you, or who you might be able to help down the road.
Do your best
Once you get a chance, make it count. At the end of the project, make sure you can look back on it with satisfaction, not regret. If things go haywire, learn from those mistakes or circumstances and try not to dwell on things outside of your control. Use bad experiences as lessons (thank you, Si-Chong Chen!).
Love what you do
If you enjoy what you do, you'll probably be good at it, enthusiastic about it, and almost magnetically grab people's attention. Most likely, your enthusiasm will be contagious as well. Sounds like the right set of conditions for good communication!
There is no time like the present. Getting started is probably the hardest part, especially if you need to convince someone to give you a chance. However, building your experience will enhance your skills, confidence, and network- so it only gets easier and easier. Hooray!
Volunteer
There are so many people who need help in science, but who can't afford to pay for it. It's a bummer to work for free, but you will learn a lot and meet some great people. The BEES Volunteers Facebook page is a good place to start, as is asking around or checking out society or organisation websites for upcoming events and opportunities.
Learn from your experiences
You learn the most from doing! You might find a strength you didn't know you had, or pick up a new skill. The simple act of doing stuff makes you more interesting to others, gets your name out there, and gives you valuable skills and experience.
Talk to people (and listen to them) - make connections
When you work with people, you learn about them and they learn about you. Express what you want, what you need, where you want to go. You never know who might have a chance come up for you, or who you might be able to help down the road.
Do your best
Once you get a chance, make it count. At the end of the project, make sure you can look back on it with satisfaction, not regret. If things go haywire, learn from those mistakes or circumstances and try not to dwell on things outside of your control. Use bad experiences as lessons (thank you, Si-Chong Chen!).
Love what you do
If you enjoy what you do, you'll probably be good at it, enthusiastic about it, and almost magnetically grab people's attention. Most likely, your enthusiasm will be contagious as well. Sounds like the right set of conditions for good communication!
Pause & reflect:
Who can you talk to to get started? Set up a coffee/afternoon tea with that person, and write down some questions to ask them!
Document your successes!
CVs
If you have a CV, think of anything relevant you’ve done that could help you build your communication profile. Have you demonstrated a course? Written a lecture? Tutored?
If you don’t have a CV, MAKE ONE RIGHT NOW!
Keep your CV up to date- it's much easier to add things every six months or so than try and remember what you did several years ago.
One strategy is to keep a "master" copy of your CV that literally has EVERYTHING you have ever done on it (every grant you've won, every job you've had, every lab technique you've mastered). Then you can quickly and easily draft up a new, well-targeted CV for any opporunity that pops up by picking out relevant points from your master copy.
CVs
If you have a CV, think of anything relevant you’ve done that could help you build your communication profile. Have you demonstrated a course? Written a lecture? Tutored?
If you don’t have a CV, MAKE ONE RIGHT NOW!
Keep your CV up to date- it's much easier to add things every six months or so than try and remember what you did several years ago.
One strategy is to keep a "master" copy of your CV that literally has EVERYTHING you have ever done on it (every grant you've won, every job you've had, every lab technique you've mastered). Then you can quickly and easily draft up a new, well-targeted CV for any opporunity that pops up by picking out relevant points from your master copy.
Pause & reflect:
Check on the status of your CV. Does it need some TLC?
Networking
Maintain your connections- check in every now and again with people that you have worked closely with.
If you had an amazing time at an event, see if you can get involved again or with something similar.
Never be afraid to ask for a chance- at worst, you will be told no, but at least whoever you spoke to knows you are keen.
Stepping Stones
By building your experience, learning from mistakes and successes, and using your momentum, you can take your communication onward and upward!
Be open to new opportunities, especially if you can afford the time and effort they demand of you.
Maintain your connections- check in every now and again with people that you have worked closely with.
If you had an amazing time at an event, see if you can get involved again or with something similar.
Never be afraid to ask for a chance- at worst, you will be told no, but at least whoever you spoke to knows you are keen.
Stepping Stones
By building your experience, learning from mistakes and successes, and using your momentum, you can take your communication onward and upward!
Be open to new opportunities, especially if you can afford the time and effort they demand of you.
Pause & reflect:
Now that you've made it to the end of the workshop, I hope you are jazzed about communicating your science. You can do it, even if it just a little bit here and there to start! We need good communicators. The world needs scientists to share their love of knowledge, and it needs people who can encourage critical thought. Let's do this!
GOOD LUCK!