Publishing and presenting your work - sparklabnyc/resources GitHub Wiki
Communicating for impact
Researchers should consider communicating their research less technically to expand its accessibility to wider audiences. Please think carefully about the readability of your project, ridding it of jargon and technicalities.
Main Points to Consider
- Identify your audience: first, establish the audience that you want to communicate as this will determine the level of technical language that you will use. Keep in mind that there is usually a mix of various audiences.
- Change your style: academic writing is often very formal and uses a lot of passive voice. This style does not suit a non-academic audience, and therefore, your writing needs to be adapted.
- Make it accessible: you also need to get rid of any commonly used abbreviations in your discipline, or at least make sure that you explain them. Each discipline has its acronyms that even other scientific fields do not understand. Removing as many barriers to research communication as possible will increase its effectiveness.
Communicating accessibly
Where your research is communicated and how much it costs will have an impact on its accessibility. Most communications to wider audiences will be free to access as they will be distributed online, which makes them even more impactful. Consider publishing works in open-source journals to bypass the paywall. Consider Disabilities: Often, the text in academic publications is accessible, but the images and figures are not. Issues such as colour blindness, language, and screen readers should be considered when trying to make your work accessible.
Writing and publishing your work
Getting your scientific paper published can be a difficult process. The publication process is handled by editors, reviewers, and the publisher. The first impression is the most important factor that decides whether the paper is sent out for review.
What is a Manuscript?
A manuscript is a research work that a researcher writes and submits to journal publications. Manuscripts are reviewed by peer reviewers assigned by journal editors to maintain the quality of the publication. Consequently, published manuscripts will help other researchers in the field to understand the research methodologies, experiments, and results of the work.
The main elements of a manuscript
Elements — Length and Limits
| Element | Length / Limits |
|---|---|
| Title | < 12 words |
| Abstract | 250–300 words |
| Introduction | 600 words (3–4 paragraphs) |
| Methods | 3–4 pages |
| Results | 2–3 pages |
| Tables & Figures | ≤ 5 combined (see journal style) |
| Discussion | 3–5 pages |
| References | < 40 (see journal style) |
I highly recommend this article for starting to draft your manuscript
Getting it published
Learn about authorship and rewrites
Choosing a journal: In choosing a journal, select one that is highly regarded with a high citation index. The journal content should match what you are reporting, so the readership will be interested in what you have to say. Rejections and negative reviews can be very frustrating. Revisit and re-review your submission when resubmitting.
Presentations and posters
Creating academic outputs
What is a research poster?
Posters are widely used in the academic community, and most conferences include poster presentations in their program. Research posters summarize information or research concisely and attractively to help publicize it and generate discussion. The poster is usually a mixture of brief text mixed with tables, graphs, pictures, and other presentation formats.
What makes a good poster?
- Title is short and draws interest
- Words are kept at around 300-800 words
- Use of bullets, numbering, and headlines makes it easy to read
- Effective use of graphics, color, and fonts
- Consistent and clean layout
- Includes acknowledgments, your name, and institutional affiliation
Image credit: Poster Session Tips by [email protected], via Penn State
Where do I begin?
Answer these three questions:
- What is the most important/interesting/astounding finding from my research project?
- How can I visually share my research with conference attendees? Should I use charts, graphs, photos, images?
- What kind of information can I convey during my talk that will complement my poster?
Remember to use the lab's logo in your presentations
Presenting your work
Tips for presenting your research at conferences
Talks - usually 10-20 minutes, the audience is usually students and academics, talks are categorized by topic, the objective is to get people interested in your work, don’t have time to present every detail – remember the presentation is a “bumper sticker”
Outline for presentation
- Title/author/affiliation/e-mail address
- Motivation - similar to the first few paragraphs of the paper's introduction.
- Outline
- Methods
- Results
- Summary
- Future directions
Preparing the slides
Although the organization is similar to paper, the presentation style is very different. Slides should convey ideas, not details. The goal is to present material in a visually appealing way so the main points are obvious.
- Organize slides to emphasize the big picture
- Use short, clear bullet points
- Don’t use complete sentences
- Fill in figures and graphs; don't clutter the slide (don't use too many words)