What are the benefits – expected and unexpected — of translating your research for the general public? • How do you pitch your research story to the media? • When writing for the media or the public, how do you frame the topic to be explored so it is relevant outside of the research community? Hear Maria Balinska, Editor of The Conversation US, previously of BBC London, and a 2010 Nieman Fellow at Harvard (need we say more?) address these questions in this one-hour webinar. She also presents some success stories from other researchers as well as one place to start for you and your colleagues – The Conversation US, an independent, non-profit media organization that publishes news analysis and commentary written by academics and edited by journalists aimed at the general public. (In other words, a team of professional editors who work with scholars like yourselves to apply their expertise to topical issues and to unlock their cutting edge research, all at no cost to you.)

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From Publication
to Public:
Expanding your
research beyond
academia

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While we do our best to answer as many questions as we can, time constraints
may not allow us to answer every question. Thank you for understanding.
Send us your questions!
Send in your questions
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Maria Balinska,
Editor,
The Conversation US
Camille Gamboa,
PR, Public Affairs & Conventions Manager,
SAGE Publishing
Moderator
#SAGETalks

5. A workshop for SAGE authors
From Publication to the Public
Expanding your research beyond academia

6. A bit about your presenter...
BBC Radio Current Affairs
● History of anthropology; Reith Lectures; radio talks
The Conversation
● Scholarly insight into current events; unlocking research for
general public

7. Why write for wider public
“I share with my fellow presidents the notion that it’s
actually a responsibility, or even an obligation, of
universities to engage in public discourse and to share
the expertise that we accumulate, the knowledge we
discover, and the understanding we achieve with the
public at large.”
University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel, speaking on a panel at May 2015 “Academic
Engagement in Public and Political Discourse” conference with Presidents Teresa Sullivan
(University of Virginia), Philip Hamlin (Dartmouth) and Michael Crow (Arizona State University)

8. Why write for wider public
“As the president of one of our country’s leading
research university systems, I believe it is now
incumbent on the academic community to ensure that
the work and voices of researchers are front and center
in the public square.”

9. Why write for wider public
• Enrich the public discourse
• Share knowledge of universities
• Explain big problems, offer solutions
• Give academics a voice in scientific, cultural debates
• Raise personal profile - articles, interviews
• Expand network in unexpected ways

10. Let’s talk about pitching

11. Pitching - where it all begins
Always start from assumption that reader has no prior knowledge, little interest and no time!
• Why should they care about this topic?
– Relevance to their lives, surprise, counterintuitive
• Why now?
– Current events, anniversaries
• What does it add to current discussion?
• Why you?

12. Types of stories
• News analysis
• Report and explain new research/science or ideas
• An “explainer” of topical issue
• The personal story behind the headline about a
research discovery

13. Timely and topical
• Reaction to an event or scholarly take to the news

14. Cutting-edge ideas, research

15. The art of the news peg
•Why now? An ongoing trend, an event, an anniversary?

16. The “explainer”
• Pegged to recent events
• Based on your expertise
• Gets reader up to speed

17. New research explained
Berkeley’s Alan Auerbach and BU’s Laurence Kotlikoff on their new paper:
U.S. INEQUALITY, FISCAL PROGRESSIVITY, AND WORK DISINCENTIVES: AN
INTRAGENERATIONAL ACCOUNTING

18. The personal story behind the headline
Science is hard and good science is harder – it takes persistence and tons of patience. When we
began planning a mission to Pluto over 15 years ago, we knew it was going to be, as they say, a
long haul. But we also knew it had a huge potential payoff. New Horizons would be the first
closeup look at a world that we’d known about only distantly for 70 years. That kind of
challenge is hard to pass by. And I didn’t.

19. More on writing...

20. Starting an article
• How to engage the reader?
– Topical relevance
– Relatability
– Surprise
– Story
– Provocative statement
– Lay out (eg use of image)
• Outline: main points you want to make
• Why you? Establish your credentials.

21. What you should include
• Make your main point in the first few paragraphs (don’t
save the best for last!)
• ‘Nut graf’: what is this story about and why does it
matter?
• Framing questions

22. Engaging tops…
•Why boys need to have conversations about
emotional intimacy in the classrooms
• How Donald Trump gets away with saying
things other candidates can’t
• Toxic lead can stay in the body for years after
exposure

23. Language
• Address the piece to a smart high school
senior.
• Avoid jargon.
• Short sentences and short paragraphs.
• Use examples to illustrate analysis or theory.

24. Academic rigor, journalistic flair
www.theconversation.com
@ConversationUS

25. • A new model that brings together best
of both academic and journalistic
worlds.
• An international network – TCUS
launched October 2014
• Independent and non profit: supported
by 10 foundations and 19 universities
• A small, start-up team of ten editors –
expanding to 14 in May
The Conversation US - history

26. TCUS: Editorial distinctiveness
• All contributors = researchers affiliated with academic institutions
• Not traditional oped, explanatory journalism
• An editorial collaboration between scholar and journalist. This is
about our authors’ voices but both sides must approve final copy.
• Twin editorial aspirations:
• Complement the news agenda: scholars give insight and
context to stories in the headlines.
• Set the public agenda: scholars by sharing research and
new thinking.

27. A collaborative editorial process
• Online, real-time editor
• Shared draft document pre-publication

28. Easy revisioning
• Ability to have multiple authors
• Link to live site

29. Disclosure statement

30. Author’s final approval

31. Life after publication
• Promotion on social media
• Daily newsletter sent to 24+K subscribers
• Republication through Creative Commons
• Media follow-ups

32. Audiences: the numbers
Free to read and to republish through Creative Commons
license
Monthly unique visits to site: over half a million
Through republication: over five million reads.
Newsletter recipients: 24,000

33. 19,000 sites republishing

34. Feedback from TCUS reader survey
• “Sometimes popular academic writings don't seem to jive with the
times. The Conversation does.”
• “I like the idea of news items being written by a person who has
some background knowledge of the topic.”
• "It's refreshing to read articles that do not fall back on sarcasm,
idioms, irreverence, or other current digital writing tropes to
engage the reader.“
• 90% of readers surveyed say they “like” or “strongly like” TCUS.

35. Contributor feedback
• “Thank YOU so much for all of your help with the story. It was such a great experience to
write it, and you were immensely helpful. What strikes me most …is that you helped me
make a complex argument in a simple and straight-forward way, which is just SO different
from most op-eds! So, I would definitely be interested in writing for you guys again.”
University of Michigan
• I can’t say enough good things about your outlet. It’s such a great way to both spread the
deep knowledge academics have, while also giving them an opportunity to stretch
themselves to be better communicators! Tufts
• I just saw my article is on Newsweek.com...SO COOL!!!!!!!!! And Voice of America just
interviewed me yesterday - the Russian Desk is translating the interview and publishing it,
with a link to the article, on their website. But awesome!! Kudos to my editor! Does that
mean I can write for you again??
- Holy Cross

36. Please get in touch:
Maria Balinska, Editor, The Conversation US
maria.balinska@theconversation.com
www.theconversation.com

37. Los Angeles | London | New Delhi | Singapore | Washington DC | Melbourne
While we do our best to answer as many questions as we can, time constraints
may not allow us to answer every question. Thank you for understanding.
Send us your questions!
Send in your questions
via the Question Box
on your screen. →
Using Twitter? Use
the hashtag
#SAGETalks.
#SAGETalks

38. Los Angeles | London | New Delhi | Singapore | Washington DC | Melbourne
Webinar recording, slides, and follow-up Q&A will be emailed to you and available on
connection.sagepub.com.
Thank you!
Maria Balinska
www.theconversation.com
Be sure to check our website for updates on our webinar series!
#SAGETalks