"You want me to condense four years of research into 100 words?" was the common reaction of the fifteen graduate students who participated in a two-part workshop on "Communicating Your Research." The workshop, developed by Nancy Serrell, Outreach Office; Cindy Tobery, Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL); and Kerry Landers, Graduate Studies Office, came out of the recognition that the next generation of researchers will be called on to communicate their results in a context broader than the ivory tower. Being able to describe research in accessible terms is important for funding success, interdisciplinary collaboration, communicating with policy makers and the general public, and obtaining non-academic jobs.
Graduate students are trained to describe their research for colleagues using the technical vocabulary of their discipline. Rarely do they get practice writing for people outside of their field. Nancy Serrell gave students practical tools to improve their communication skills to make their research accessible and interesting. Students then broke into small groups for peer feedback on their research descriptions. Some students resisted the idea that others would not understand their writing. But questions from fellow graduate students were enlightening. "What are pro-fibrotic cytokines?" "I have heard about the Big Bang -- but remind me, exactly what is it?" As one student commented, "The feedback from Nancy, Cindy, and Kerry was great, but getting feedback from people in other fields helped me see what I needed to explain more."
Sighs were heard around the room while students struggled to translate complex concepts into "plain language." Serrell told them, "If you find this difficult, you should. It's a totally different way of writing about science from your training."
In the second session, after a round of online peer feedback, students presented their revised abstracts in one minute. As one student finished her reading, her group members applauded and one told her, "I can't believe how different that is from your first version!"
The positive feedback on the workshop demonstrated that students valued their new skills. One student wrote on her evaluation, "Now, it will be easier for me to talk to general audience, participate in poster sessions, have job interviews - i.e., engage in any kind of activities that requires me to present my research without too much jargon or too many details."
View graduate students' new and improved abstracts here!
Photos: Nancy Serrell teaches the Science Communication Workshop (top right); graduate students Jennifer Sarget, Sara Walker, and Victor Martyanov work on their research abstracts (bottom left).
