Referencing the work of Emily S. Darling, David Shiffman, Isabelle M. Cote, and Joshua A. Drew
Infographic Resources for Hamline Students
Click for larger image
from: Funders & Founders website
Infographics can help engage your audience and can help you better communicate scientific findings and concepts.
Nature Publishing discussion of: The Power of using Infographics to Communicate Science
How do scientific findings get communicated and disseminated?
Here is a traditional view of the scientific communication and publishing cycle:
video courtesy of Hartness Library
The following slides discuss how scientists share information and findings.
Of particular importance is the peer review process:
Slides courtesy of Univ. of Calif. Irvine Libraries Dept. of Education and Outreach
(please note: the quiz on page 13 is not set up for Hamline students)
Writing for Science
This exceptional book encompasses the entire range of writing skills that today’s experimental scientist may need to employ. Detailed chapters cover every type of science writing, from routine forms, such as laboratory notes, abstracts, and memoranda, to the more complex writing required in dissertations, journal articles, and grant proposals. Using numerous extended examples, the book offers students and professionals alike the thorough, practical advice they need to optimize the effectiveness of their written communications. Robert Goldbort discusses how best to approach various writing tasks as well as how to deal with the everyday complexities that may get in the way of ideal practice—difficult collaborators, experiments gone wrong, funding rejections. He underscores the importance of an ethical approach to science and scientific communication and insists on the necessity of full disclosure. For working scientists, those seeking employment in the sciences, students taking on writing assignments or oral presentations, and professionals who hope to publish or acquire funding, this volume is an essential resource.
Dazzle 'Em with Style: the art of oral scientific presentation
Mastering the art of communicating scientific information is more critical than ever for a successful career in science and technology. Scientists today must be able to effectively convey sophisticated information to a broad audience that may include students, colleagues around the world, regulatory bodies, granting agencies, legislators, and the lay public. In this engaging and lively book, the author provides a step-by-step guide to the complete process of making a scientific presentation from preparation to delivery. It offers numerous examples highlighting what to follow and what to avoid. This revised edition covers the effective use of PowerPointT and other computer-based presentation programs. It also includes a handy checklist, new illustrations, and tips on handling an audience in a foreign country.
When the Scientist Presents: an audio and video guide to science talks
This book looks at the presenting scientist from a novel angle: The presenter-host. When scientists give a talk, The audience ("guests") expects the title of the talk to determine presentation content, they require understandable slides, and they demand visible and audible scientific authority. To each expectation corresponds a set of skills: personal (voice, host qualities, time control), technical (presentation tools and slide design), and scientific (Q & A, slide content). The author takes an original human factor view of the presentation delivery, In which the audience is easily distracted, rapidly forgetful, and increasingly impatient. Thus, insightful pointers are given on how to deliver the talk, how to craft the slides, and how to prevent the computer from rendering the presenting host-scientist into a "ghost". In addition, The book goes in-depth over the treatment of questions by examining the motives and style of the questioners, and advising on how best to answer to each type of questioner. The book comes with a DVD for audio and video examples, and includes essential PowerPoint and Keynote techniques that a presenter cannot live without.
Crackle and Fizz: essential communication and pitching skills for scientists
This is a book for scientists and other experts who need to explain the significance and potential of their work to colleagues, committees, funding bodies or the general public. It details how to harness story-telling principles to make complex or technical content easier to communicate and fulfilling for audiences. Eight narrative ingredients, Audience, Change and Affect, Lure, World, Character, Big Hook, Plot and Structure, are illustrated with examples and exercises to demonstrate how to build a presentation, how to pitch for funds or resources, how to make a persuasive argument, or simply how to explain ideas so they CRACKLE and FIZZ for the Audience.
Am I Making Myself Clear? A scientist's guide to talking to the public
What we don't know can hurt us, and does so every day. Climate change, health care policy, weapons of mass destruction, an aging infrastructure, stem cell research, endangered species, space explorationâe"all affect our lives as citizens and human beings in practical and profound ways. But unless we understand the science behind these issues, we cannot make reasonable decisionsâe"and worse, we are susceptible to propaganda cloaked in scientific rhetoric. To convey the facts, this book suggests, scientists must take a more active role in making their work accessible to the media, and thus to the public. In Am I Making Myself Clear? Cornelia Dean, a distinguished science editor and reporter, urges scientists to overcome their institutional reticence and let their voices be heard beyond the forum of scholarly publication. By offering useful hints for improving their interactions with policymakers, the public, and her fellow journalists, Dean aims to change the attitude of scientists who scorn the mass media as an arena where important work is too often misrepresented or hyped. Even more important, she seeks to convince them of the value and urgency of communicating to the public. Am I Making Myself Clear? shows scientists how to speak to the public, handle the media, and describe their work to a lay audience on paper, online, and over the airwaves. It is a book that will improve the tone and content of debate over critical issues and will serve the interests of science and society.
Communicating Clearly about Science and Medicine: making data presentations as simple as possible ... but no simpler
Scientific communication is challenging, conclusions are rarely clear cut making communicating statistical risk and probability tough, especially to non-statisticians and non-scientists such as journalists.In this book John Clare illustrates how to communicate clearly the risks and benefits contained in a complex data set, and balance the hope and the hype. He explains how to avoid the 'miracle cure' or 'killer drug' headlines which are so common and teaches you how to combine the accuracy of peer-to-peer reviewed science with the narrative skills of journalism.
Taking Science to the People: a communication primer for scientists and engineers
Taking Science to the People calls on scientists and engineers to polish their writing and speaking skills in order to communicate more clearly about their work to the public, policy makers, and reporters who cover science. The authors represent a range of experience and authority, including distinguished scientists who write well about science, federal officials who communicate to Congress about science, and science journalists who weigh in with their own expertise. In this long-overdue volume, scientists, engineers, and journalists will find both a convincing rationale for communicating well about science and many practical methods for doing so.
Escape from the Ivory Tower: a guide to making your science matter
Most scientists and researchers aren’t prepared to talk to the press or to policymakers—or to deal with backlash. Many researchers have the horror stories to prove it. What’s clear, according to Nancy Baron, is that scientists, journalists and public policymakers come from different cultures. They follow different sets of rules, pursue different goals, and speak their own language. To effectively reach journalists and public officials, scientists need to learn new skills and rules of engagement. No matter what your specialty, the keys to success are clear thinking, knowing what you want to say, understanding your audience, and using everyday language to get your main points across. In this practical and entertaining guide to communicating science, Baron explains how to engage your audience and explain why a particular finding matters. She explores how to ace your interview, promote a paper, enter the political fray, and use new media to connect with your audience. The book includes advice from journalists, decision makers, new media experts, bloggers and some of the thousands of scientists who have participated in her communication workshops. Many of the researchers she has worked with have gone on to become well-known spokespeople for science-related issues. Baron and her protégées describe the risks and rewards of “speaking up,” how to deal with criticism, and the link between communications and leadership. The final chapter, ‘Leading the Way’ offers guidance to scientists who want to become agents of change and make your science matter. Whether you are an absolute beginner or a seasoned veteran looking to hone your skills, Escape From the Ivory Tower can help make your science understood, appreciated and perhaps acted upon.
Communicating Biological Sciences: ethical and metaphorical dimensions
Communicating Biological Sciences discusses the 'ethics' of science communication in light of recent developments in biotechnology and biomedicine. It focuses on the role of metaphors in the creation of visions and the framing of scientific advances, as well as their impact on patterns of public acceptance and rejection, trust and scepticism. Its rigorous investigation will appeal not only to science writers and scientists, but also to scholars of sociology, science and technology studies, media and journalism.