How to Write a Popular Piece about your Research

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Overview

Writing skills are essential for fisheries professionals. Researchers analyze data, report results, and draw conclusions in peer-reviewed papers. Biologists describe management investigations in agency reports. Policy experts summarize legislative developments in editorals and op-ed pieces. No matter what kind of fisheries professional you aspire to become, effective writing is imperative for attaining and holding your dream job. Undergraduate and graduate students commonly conduct fisheries research projects and summarize their results using scientific writing. However, it is also important to communicate research (and other fisheries information) to the public. As such, we outline important steps for writing popular articles.

1. Choose a topic
2. Identify your audience
3. Outline an article
4. Write section by section
5. Paint a picture for your readers
   1. Illustrative examples
   2. Humor
6. Receive objective review
7. Revise your draft
8. Select a publication outlet

By:

Andrew Carlson, Ph.D. Student, Michigan State University
Nick Cole, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Nebraska