Taking your research paper from published to public
Congratulations! The research paper you’ve been working tirelessly on for months years is accepted, published, and in print. You hold back the urge to print the cover page and post it on your refrigerator. Instead, you take the link and post it to social media sharing your paper with the world. And now you are […]
An Academics Guide to Op-ed Pitches
Long, long ago, in the year 2014, an opinion writer for the New York Times wrote a plea for more professors to come down from the ivory tower and write for the public. Our knowledge demands to be shared beyond the academy! And for many good reasons, not the least bit that op-eds can have […]
Media Pitching for Academics (how to become a source)
If you are a scholar interested in learning about media pitching for academics, you’re in the right place! This introduction post covers how researchers and scholars can pitch a journalist and/or editor to be a source. The goal here is two-fold: to pitch story ideas (e.g., your published research, your expertise) to targeted members of […]
What is public scholarship?
What is Public Scholarship? What is public scholarship? What does it mean to be a public scholar? Or a publicly engaged scholar? Or to do community engagement? These are valid questions. Thankfully, and for simplicity’s sake, I’ve counted no less than two dozen published definitions and explanations. Just try googling ‘public scholarship’ or ‘public engagement.’ […]
Why do we assume the public is not interested in our research? Thoughts on the knowledge deficit model.
There is much to be said about the knowledge deficit model and its impact on how researchers and scientists think about communicating with the public. Get this: scientists more or less hold negative feelings about the public’s base scientific knowledge. To add insult to injury, researchers who already have negative views about their potential public […]
Public engagement, reappointment, tenure, and promotion
The incentive structure for research faculty at institutions of higher education in the United States and beyond hinges on knowledge creation through traditional research outputs (e.g., peer reviewed articles, books, conference presentations). Research faculty are awarded reappointment, tenure, and promotion based on a criteria of high productivity in research, teaching, and service. This is not […]
