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How to tell your story 1.! Some basic rules 2.! A useful exercise

Photo: thinkstock

Communicating science means mapping out a clear path for your audience

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Photo: CERN

Disseminating science is not the same as

communicating science

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Address your audience correctly. Are they the end-user of your information?

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Source: Wantchinatimes.com

You need to ‘sell’ your

science. How do you stand out from the

rest?

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Your audience will only want to hear something:

Personal New

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Be clear & benchmark

your results…

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…or someone

else will fill in the gaps

Remember you are an EXPERT!

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Widen your scope of expertise

Test your story on an honest non-expert - explain it to your PARENTS

Photo: ESA

Don’t overestimate

understanding. GPS relies on

satellites!

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The anatomy of an article

Title – unambiguous or intriguing

Sub title – summarise in 2 sentences

Photo(s): copyright, caption & name

1 paragraph = 1 idea Use sub-headers to break up text

Source: epfl.ch

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Remember the

F*@! word! Most

people don’t read

everything!

Source: epfl.ch

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If you’re writing on your university site, SEO is less of an issue PageRank Authority sites: •! Google owned •! Authorities •! Media •! Universities

Source: Dezeen/Google

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Adapt your story for the right media

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Map out your story.

Does it still make sense?

What’s missing?

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When you write a paper!.

Be honest…people read your paper

because they have to.

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When you tell a story!

People will only read it if they want

to.

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Imagine your story as

a set of Matryoshka

dolls

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What is your research focused on?

In general, what does your research group work on?

How could solving this problem be useful for society?

What problem could your research solve??

How does it work?

Try this exercise!

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What problem does society face?

How does your research contribute to solving the problem?

How does it work?

Now flip your story!

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Consume great

science communi-

cation

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or create your own!

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Writing can make a difference, Write to make a difference!

Seth Godin