As a scientist, it is extremely important that you know how to talk to the general public about your research. Below, you will find resources on science communication, as well as some takeaways I have gleaned over the years.
One way to structure your blog post or conversation, is to think about your argument like an hourglass.
Image Credit: Irene Tournas, 2025
1. Emotional import: In a study on public perceptions of science via the platform formerly known as twitter, Elena Denia studied the societal impact of Neil DeGrasse Tyson's tweets by analyzing public engagement. She found that content containing "an emotional charge" has a more profound impact on the public.
2. Societal Context: In the same study, Elena Denia also found that communication was more widely received when the science is explained in the context of issues people care about. Framing, or the "particular ways of constructing and presenting messages" can greatly impact how the public engages with and understands your science. Ask yourself how your particular framing of the science might impact how people understand issues, perceive different factors related to these issues, and transform this knowledge into action (Priest, Goodwin and Dahlstrom, 2018).
3. How do we know? Don't be shy of explaining in plane language how scientists have figured out what we know. This act of narrative building not only helps build trust with the reader, but also paints a picture of science as a discursive, iterative process, that is constantly evaluating and producing new knowledge, rather than a bland institution handing out facts.
4. Your motivation matters: Science communication is often approached by way of a 'deficit model', which Sam Illingworth describes as when scientists are perceived to hold all the knowledge that non-scientists are lacking. Illingworth describes this model as patronizing the intellectual capacity of the audience, while revealing bad faith on the part of the scientist (Illingworth, 2022). While it is true that as a scientist you probably do posses more specialized knowledge on a subject, your audience may have life experiences that connect to the science in surprising and powerful ways. In 50 Essentials on Science Communication, key characteristics of open science is to inform, interact, and involve. It's my opinion that if all three are involved in your rhetoric, your message will not only be more accessible, but far more engaging than a message that is primarily concerned with providing hard facts.
***Note: All in-text citations sourced from books in the column to the right or below
50 Essentials on Science Communication
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Ethics and Practice in Science Communication
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Science Communication Through Poetry
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Getting to the Heart of Science Communication
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Toward a Democratic Science
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Am I Making Myself Clear?: A Scientist's Guide to Talking to the Public
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Science V. Story: Narrative Strategies for Science Communicators
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Sharing Our Science: How to Write and Speak STEM
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The Art of Scientific Storytelling
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Open Science is all about making scientific research more accessible and transparent to both the greater scientific community, and society at large. In 50 Essentials of Science Communication, the authors define the term as an umbrella encompassing many different types of communication, including, scientific research published under an open access model, openly available research data, citizen science, educational resources, software, and hardware. Science communication and public engagement with science also fall under this umbrella!
Credit: Bertemes, J. P., Haan, S., Hans, D., Luxembourg National Research, F., & University of, L. (2024). 50 Essentials on Science Communication / ed. By Jean Paul Bertemes, Serge Haan, Dirk Hans (1st ed.). De Gruyter Mouton. Pg. 22.