Communicating with your peers and the general public

Preparing a poster for a scientific meeting Consult the requirements Write an abstract that is pertinent to the contents of the poster Scientific format but very little text Emphasize results Poster should be self explanatory Be visual Prepare handouts

Writing for the public A dialogue with society Before talking, you must listen. To make yourself understood, you must first understand.

Writing for the public Press releases, introductory courses and general audiences Important for outreach and policy makers Magazines, non-peer reviewed journals, news articles Radio and television Giving talks to local groups and schools Web site publicity Frequently uses a journalistic style

Ways to engage your audience Include quotes from individuals Give stories e.g. give an account of how the research developed Examples of problems encountered and how they were resolved Talk about the people involved Include images or simple diagrams

Ways to engage your audience Relate topic to human or environmental interests Avoid technical detail Make use of analogies Can be humorous and include word play Consult a test audience Look at good examples

Assignment #2: Writing a critique Provide a brief 2-5 line summary of the paper and its main findings Summarize the strengths and weakness of the paper How novel are the findings? Is the paper relevant to the journal’s mission? Are the methods appropriate to the study in question? Are the results clearly and logically presented? Could some figures and tables be removed? Do the authors effectively address their primary questions and acknowledge weaknesses?

Assignment #2 Writing for the public Pick a topic of general scientific interest or an area of your own research Prepare a short article (500 words max) for a general audience Clearly identify the topic or issue of interest Identify the “main players” in your story and describe their role in the discovery OR Provide an overview of key findings of a recent paper and why it is important to society