Writing for non-academic audiences (press, websites, blogs) 

This workshop is intended for academics who would like to think about communicating their research to non-academic audiences and are wondering where to start. The workshop will focus on some typical pieces they may need to write. These include press releases, op-eds (and pitching op-eds), and press kits in case of larger projects. The goal of the workshop is to encourage PGRs to think of how they can publicise their work and why this is important. And then to give them some tools to widen their audiences and be well-prepared to write short articles, blog posts or press releases. Delivered by an ex-journalist and political cartoonist and current blog writer.

Workshop plan:

• Discussion on what is the non-academic landscape. Why is it important to the PhD community? Does it overlap with your “academic” career? Your experiences.
• Discussion on how your work is important outside of academia/universities?
• Writing for “the press”

• Press releases
• Preparing press kits
• Pitching an article or Op-Ed
• How are blogs different from opinion pieces and how to think about writing them?

• Storytelling strategies
• What we can learn from reporters in journalism, including the structure of articles and the necessary components of an opinion piece.

• Photo stories.