Communicating Your Research
Scholarly articles are not the only ways that academics communicate their research, or even the main way in many fields. We began to cover this idea in last module's discussion of Scholarly Publishing & Open Access -- but it's a point that requires more thought than at first it seems.
This is in part because for many of us do not have experience communicating research using methods outside of academic writing. Consider, for instance, your experience to date with:
- Creating posters, slides, and research visualizations
- Lecturing or teaching students about research
- Speaking about research to non-academic or mixed expertise audiences
- Being interviewed or answering questions about research
- Writing blog posts or non-academic articles about research
- Posting to social media about research
As a graduate student, challenge yourself now to start practicing broader forms of research communication. Some ideas include:
- Participate in (un)conferences or local networking events
- Tip: UW offers grad student travel awards! (Awards suspended temporarily due to COVID-19, but check back later in the year.)
- Submit poster or presentation proposals to student-focused research events
- Tip: The UW Libraries' Research Commons Links to an external site. regularly offers programming aimed at grad student research communication, including Scholar's Studio Links to an external site.and 3 Minute Thesis (UW 3MT).
- Watch TED Talks
Links to an external site. or listen to podcasts related to your research interests.
- Tip: The Libraries offers periodic online podcasting workshops Links to an external site. that focus on storytelling skills for researchers.
- Search for researchers, experts, and fellow grad students on Twitter
Links to an external site..
- Tip: Search on conference hashtags for a social media snapshot of an event.
More Resources for Communicating Research
- Postdocs, You Are Public Thought Leaders, UW Office of Postdoc Affairs
- Tips for Communicating Research to Broader Audience Links to an external site., Kentucky University
- How to Effectively Present Science and Scientific Research to a Broad Audience Links to an external site., Purdue University
- Certificate in Public Scholarship Links to an external site., UW Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities
- Science Communication Fellowship Links to an external site., Pacific Science Center