There are many resources to help you integrate science communication into your career plans. Here are some books, videos or articles to get you started.  Note, many of these focus on oral science communication, especially the use of storytelling.

At the bottom of this webpage is a list of journals that publish science communication articles.


GENERAL SCIENCE COMMUNICATION SKILLS

BOOKS

Presenting Science Concisely. Bruce Kirchoff & Jon Wagner. 2021. A practical look at presenting science through narratives, knowing your audience, various length talks, and posters. Many examples and resources to build on.

Communicating Science: Giving Talks. The Burroughs Wellcome Fund. 2nd edition. Outstanding overview of what science communication is and how to be good at it. Nice list of resources too. 

Explaining Research: How to Reach Key Audiences to Advance Your Work.  2nd edition. Dennis Meredith. 2021. A comprehensive communications guidebook for scientists, engineers, and physicians.

Read the AAAS Communication Fundamentals article and make sure to watch the tutorial video by Denise Graveline (near the end!) (12:59 min) Graveline was an advocate for enhancing public speaking skills, particularly for women. (more)

Theory and Best Practices in Science Communication Training. Edited by Todd Newman. 2019. Excellent collection of research on what and how to teach science communication.

Escape from the Ivory Tower. A Guide to Making Your Science Matter. Nancy Baron. 2010. Tried-and-true methods from Nancy and the COMPASS team that will improve your communications skills and make your science matter. Describes the Message Box technique.

Don’t be such a scientist. Talking substance in an age of style. 2nd. edition. Randy Olson. 2018

From Awful to Awesome: 9 Essential Tools for Effective Presentations. Don Franceschi. 2016. A roadmap for effective speaking.

From Awful to Awesome: Speaking Safety Successfully! Don Franceschi. 2023. Excellent summary of how to use communication skills for outstanding talks, especially in training situations.

Made to Stick. Why some ideas survive and others die. Chip and Dan Heath. 2008. 

The craft of scientific presentations. Critical steps to succeed and critical errors to avoid.  2nd edition. Michael Alley. 2013.

Resonate. Nancy Duarte. 2010.

Championing science. Communicating your ideas to decision makers. Roger and Amy Aines. 2019. A practical guide to the mechanics of persuasive science communication.

WEBSITES, VIDEOS AND ARTICLES

AAAS Center for Public Engagement with Science & Technology…Communication Toolkit. This Communication Toolkit provides guidance for scientists to build skills to more effectively communicate and engage with public audiences (online, journalists, visuals), including ways to apply the fundamentals of communication to scientific topics.

TED's secret to great public speaking Chris Anderson (TED talk).  (7:55)

Life’s Secret – Be Science Literate  Frederic Bertley (TEDx talk)  (13:16) Why we need to help everyone understand science.  Also, an example of an excellent presentation: informative, interesting and even entertaining! 

Nature - Collection - Science Communication. Sept 2019. A collection of articles to help scientists communicate science effectively to the public and policymakers.

How To Speak by Patrick Winston (MIT). Great advice on how to talk about science to anyone. Especially note the first 5 min (how to open your talk) and the last 7 min (how to end your talk.) Video (1:04)

Top Tips for Superstar Presentations by Todd Reubold. Design and delivery principles for outstanding presentations. Worth watching several times! Video. (27:40)

Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. Stony Brook University. Building trust and understanding with your listeners. Look for classes and training opportunities.

Society of Behavioral Medicine - Sci Comm Toolkit

Broad Research Communication Lab - CommKit The CommKit is a collection of guides to successful communication in the biological sciences.


Storytelling

BOOKS

Houston. We have a narrative. Randy Olson. 2015. (scienceneedsstory.com)

Made to Stick. Why some ideas survive and others die. Chip and Dan Heath. 2008.

The story factor. Annette Simmons.  2006.

Resonate. Nancy Duarte. 2010.

The springboard. How storytelling ignites action in knowledge-era organizations. Stephen Denning. 2001.

The Art of Scientific Storytelling: Transform Your Research Manuscript using a Step-by-Step Formula.  Luna, Rafael E.  2013

Business Storytelling for Dummies. Karen Dietz & Lori Silverman. 2014. A complete guide for crafting memorable stories about you, your work or your organization!

Storytelling with Data. Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic. 2015.

Long Story Short. Margot Leitman. 2015. An excellent guide to crafting stories by an award-winning storyteller.

Whoever tells the best story wins. How to use your own stories to communicate with power and impact. Annette Simmons. 2007


WHY SCIENCE COMMUNICATION MATTERS

The Public Face of Science in America. American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 2020

Life’s Secret – Be Science Literate  Frederic Bertley (TEDx talk)  (13:16) Why we need to help everyone understand science.  Also, an example of an excellent presentation: informative, interesting and even entertaining! 

GradSciComm. Report and Recommendations.  Integrating sci comm training into STEM grad education. 2014.

Bodmer Report. The Public Understanding of Science. The Royal Society. 1985.

Bankston, A., & McDowell, G. S. (2018). Changing the Culture of Science Communication Training for Junior Scientists. Journal of microbiology & biology education19(1), 19.1.43. doi:10.1128/jmbe.v19i1.1413

Communicating Science Effectively. (2017) National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. A research agenda for science communicators and researchers seeking to apply this research on how to communicate effectively about science.

The Science of Science Communication III: Inspiring Novel Collaborations and Building Capacity: Proceedings of a Colloquium. (2018) National Academy of Sciences.


FEAR &CONFIDENCE

Speaking up without freaking out.  Techniques for confident, calm and competent presenting.  Matt Abrahams. 2016. (See also his website and YouTube No Freaking Speaking: 3 Techniques for Managing Speaking Anxiety  (10:39)

Why I live in mortal dread of public speaking (Megan Washington) (TED talk) Stuttering/speech impediment/overcoming fear (12:55)

How I beat stage fright (Joe Kowan) (TED talk) Write more, practice more, use humor!  (8:03)

TED talks --- Search "value of self-confidence", "body language", & "non-verbal communication", “fear of public speaking”


KEEP IT SIMPLE

Plain Language.gov Lists, advice and essays on using simple words.

7 ways to simplify complex content  Copyblogger.com article

Distilling complexity (TED talk) Eric Berlow (3:42)

Thing Explainer. Complicated stuff in simple words. Randall Munroe. 2015 (Using only the 1000 most common words to explain complex science & engineering.) 

Supercommunicator. Explaining the complicated so anyone can understand. Frank Pietrucha. 2014.


speech preparation

Search Internet for “writing a speech” - lots of info on how to write a speech.  

eNotes  How to write a speech.  

Darren LaCroix  Check out his speech crafting tips. 

My Speech Class  Speech topics and ideas 


Memory Tools

Tony Buzan  Mind mapping

Mind Tools

iMindMap 

Remembereverything.org  Method of Loci.  


VISUALS - SLIDE DESIGN

artforscience - Science Communication visual scientist. Adam Steinberg.

Designing effective scientific presentations. Susan McConnell (Stanford). 2011. (42 min of excellent advice!)

Slide:ology. The art and science of creating great presentations. Nancy Duarte. 2008.

Resonate. Nancy Duarte. 2010.

Storytelling with Data. Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic. 2015. 

Wall Street Journal guide to information graphics: the dos and don'ts of presenting data, facts, and figures.  Dona M. Wong. 2013.

Edward R. Tufte  Check out his website for books, courses, and more. 

Visual Strategies. Felice Frankel & Angela DePace. 2012.

S.P.A.R.K.| 5 Strategies for visual communication of science. (Excellent online course!) Betsy Palay and Tami Tolpa. 2018.

Venngage. Many types of visual tools for presenting data & stories. Templates for making infographics, posters, and more. Tutorials.

Assertion-evidence approach to making slides. Michael Alley, Penn State Univ. Instructions and templates available.

NoteandPoint.com. Slide design inspirations.

How to Un-Suck Your PowerPoint Slides. View Dennis Meredith’s PowerPoint presentation on slide design.

Unsplash: Free images and photos.


Poster Design

Colin Purrington’s --- great advice on poster design. 

Scientific Posters. Michael Alley --- website: design, examples, templates

Ben Nargi (Penn State) --- video (11:43)   

MakeSigns.com --- several useful tutorials

Venngage. Many types of visual tools for presenting data & stories. Templates for making infographics, posters, and more. Tutorials.

NCSU's tutorial on poster design.  Excellent tutorial on creating and presenting scientific posters.

Collation of good links to poster design --- Cornell University Library


Interview Skills 

101 Toughest Interview Questions: And Answers That Win the Job! Porot, Daniel; Haynes, Frances Bolles (2013).

Google search:  “interview questions” … many videos and webpages!


Science Denialism

Welcome to the Age of Denial. Adam Frank, New York Times. Aug 21, 2013

Denying to the Grave: Why We Ignore the Facts That Will Save Us. Sara Gorman and Jack Gorman. 2016.

The War on Science: Who's waging it, why it matters, what we can do about it. Shawn Otto. 2016. 

The Conspiracy Theory Handbook. Stephan Lewandowsky & John Cook. 2020.

Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change. Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway. 2011. Historians explain how high-level scientists with extensive political connections ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades.