{"id":2509,"date":"2014-10-29T08:03:48","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T02:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/?p=2509"},"modified":"2022-05-03T11:19:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T05:19:09","slug":"academic-storytelling-how-to-reduce-risk-in-research-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/academic-storytelling-how-to-reduce-risk-in-research-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"Storytelling in Academia: How to Reduce Its Risks in Research Narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rigorous academia narrative and high-impact storytelling are poles apart. Translating complex data into attention-grabbing and accessible stories is not something that many can do intuitively\u2014writing skills, tools, and practice are needed. Therefore, researchers often see the possibility of sharing their researches with the general public as an obstacle difficult to overcome, which can affect their careers. But the truth is that mitigating storytelling risks is not that difficult: researchers need to find a balance between what they want to say and what the audience want to hear<\/a>. This is what communication is about.<\/p>\n

But how to combine reductionism and accuracy? Academia\u2019s narrative arc is much more complex than the classic narrative arc. While classic narrative stories begin with an exposition that brings the reader to a climax and end in a clear resolution, academia\u2019s narrative arc is full of expositions, data, findings, conclusions, etc. This narrative style is exactly what academics must forget when targeting the general public. To find another way to \u201ctell your story,\u201d we suggest that you start thinking as both teacher and journalist. Who are you going to write for<\/a>? What do you want to tell them\u00a0that\u00a0they still do not know?<\/p>\n

Think About Your Target<\/h2>\n

The most difficult part for researchers is usually to lower themselves to their readers\u2019 level. While facing this problem, think about a teacher who is teaching maths to 10-year old kids. Should he teach them trigonometry, just because he excels in it? Being able to stoop to other people\u2019s level is actually a huge demonstration of intelligence.<\/p>\n

Professionals with a high command of their field should be able to communicate about it. It is as simple as looking back and remembering when they did not have this knowledge. Ask yourself questions such as \u201cwhat did I know about this\u00a0by that time?\u201d or \u201cwhat did I want to learn about it?\u201d to think about what you can tell them. If this is particularly difficult for you, ask the opinion of others.<\/p>\n

Look For a Good Story<\/h2>\n

Since you have to forget about the research narrative style, try to figure out how to make your research content interesting for the general public. Since it should be accessible, it is a good idea to focus on one part of your research. Your main goals, the obtained results or the difficulties faced while writing your research paper<\/a> can be, for example, great starting topics.<\/p>\n

Examples:<\/strong> If your research has plenty of applications for daily life or can be easily explained through examples, use them to highlight your research. If only one example is enough, focus on that one. Remember that the simplest is often the best.<\/p>\n

Objectives:<\/strong> Explaining why your research can be positive for society or scientific development can easily captivate readers. People like positive stories, and studies always open doors to future improvements.<\/p>\n

Results:<\/strong> Did you manage to discover something important? Focus on that. It is probably the easiest option, and since you have actually achieved something, the story has a clear goal: explaining your attainments.<\/p>\n

Difficulties:<\/strong> Challenges are always a good starting point for attention-grabbing stories. Which are your main obstacles for reaching your goal? How do you deal with them? Remember that people like personal stories. Explaining how to deal with a particular problem from a human perspective can be really interesting.<\/p>\n

And if you are going to count on journalists\u2019 help to transmit your stories, do not see them as enemies but as allies. They are specialists in transmitting difficult stories and information to the general public.<\/p>\n

When trying to reduce risks in research narrative, keep two goals in mind: the story should be comprehensible<\/a> to the general public and it must be a story you are proud of. Try to make it simple, but do not let all your effort in academia be thrown away.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rigorous academia narrative and high-impact storytelling are poles apart. Translating complex data into attention-grabbing and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[747,2],"tags":[1452],"ppma_author":[1894],"class_list":["post-2509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-content-structure","category-academic-writing","tag-manuscript-drafting-tips"],"better_featured_image":null,"acf":{"faq_main_heading":"","faq_heading_one":"","faq_heading_two":"","faq_heading_three":"","faq_heading_four":"","faq_heading_five":"","faq_heading_six":"","faq_description_one":"","faq_description_two":"","faq_description_three":"","faq_description_four":"","faq_description_five":"","faq_description_six":""},"views":607,"single_webinar_page_date":null,"single_webinar_page_time":null,"session_agenda":null,"who_should_attend_this_session":null,"about_the_speaker_field":null,"co-webinar-sec":null,"co_webinar_sec_one":null,"speaker-name":null,"webinar-date":null,"webinar-time":null,"webinar-s-image":null,"custum_webinar_category":null,"authors":[{"term_id":1894,"user_id":6,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daveishan","display_name":"Enago Academy","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-favicon-192x192-1.png","url2x":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-favicon-192x192-1.png"},"author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":"Enago Academy, the knowledge arm of Enago, offers comprehensive and up-to-date resources on academic research and scholarly publishing to all levels of scholarly professionals: students, researchers, editors, publishers, and academic societies. It is also a popular platform for networking, allowing researchers to learn, share, and discuss their experiences within their network and community. The team, which comprises subject matter experts, academicians, trainers, and technical project managers, are passionate about helping researchers at all levels establish a successful career, both within and outside academia."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2509"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}