A message is a summary of the most important things about your work and the main things you want reporters to take away from your conversation. It distills the key points of your research project or recent findings.
Why is it important to have a message?
- To be clear, concise, and consistent
- To avoid an overwhelming information dump
- To ensure your audience remembers your main points
- To avoid ambiguity and misunderstanding
- To give you more control over how the research is portrayed
How to start
- Write down three or four main points or key takeaways you want to make about your work. Journalists want to know what you found and why your results matter. Use the “tips for message development” in the sidebar on the back of this sheet if you’re unsure where to start.
- Or, break your message into three parts:
- What we know (the background, context, previous research)
- What is new (your results)
- Why it matters (why someone should care about this)
- After you’ve written your main points, write down any facts, anecdotes, or other information that support or clarify them.
- Practice reading your message aloud. Does it make sense? Is it easy to speak and understand? If you stumble over your words, try re-writing them.
- Enlist a colleague or friend to be your audience and get their feedback.
- Keep refining until your message is as clear and concise as possible.
Use plain language
Avoid jargon or words that have different meanings for the public than for scientists. Instead, use stories, anecdotes, metaphors, and analogies to explain concepts. If you introduce a technical term, define it. Be conversational; avoid reading from a paper or abstract. Avoid scientific shorthand: say “carbon dioxide” rather than “CO2.” Examples:
Jargon: anthropogenic
Plain language alternative: human-caused
Jargon: deep convection
Plain language alternative: thunderstorm
Be specific
Include relevant numbers and statistics when talking about the implications of your work. Comparisons can be a useful tool for providing scale. Examples:
Statements that are informative but vague:
- “Climate change will have many different impacts on our society.”
- “Space weather can disrupt our electrical grid and impact orbiting satellites.”
- “Wildfires are driving up electricity prices in California.”
Statements that are specific and relevant:
- “Thanks to climate change, in 50 years, our summers here in Maine will feel like summers in Florida.”
- “A major geomagnetic storm caused by space weather could knock out power to 3 million people for hours.”
- “Electricity bills increased by over $400 per year for typical California residential customers in 2023.”
Keep your message relevant to the audience
What does the audience already know about the subject matter? Tailor your message to their concerns and interests. Examples:
Avoid: “Invasive species in the Chesapeake Bay are taking over habitat from native organisms.”
Use: “Catfish are an invasive species encroaching on the food and habitat of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, which make up the most valuable commercial fishery in the Chesapeake Bay and bring in more than $45 million of income for Marylanders every year.”
Provide context
What about your research is unusual, surprising, or important? It may be helpful to use superlatives (first, best, last, oldest, longest) to explain the impact or relevance of your work; or explain how your results align (or don’t) with previous research. Examples:
Avoid:
- “I am studying the effects of the Marshall Fire on soil ecosystems.”
- “We found tornadoes form from the ground up.”
Use:
- “I am studying how soil microbes changed after the Marshall Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history.”
- “We found tornadoes form from the ground up, which contradicts conventional wisdom that tornadoes form at the cloud level and move downward.”
Focus on the outcome
Journalists want to know what you found and why it matters. How do your findings compare to previous work? What did you do that had not been done before?
Save some details for later
Skip such things as the specifications of the instrumentation used in the study, which researcher performed which role, or the physics behind a climate model.
Emphasize the value and impact of your work
Why should the audience care? dd an appropriate level of detail to emphasize your key points. Examples:
- “Our work improving weather forecasts better protects lives and property from the ravages of severe weather.”
- “We are providing residents of New York City with actionable information they need to fight for better air quality in their communities.”
Inject some positivity
Show how science is helping solve a problem, explaining how there are opportunities for change, or giving examples of actions that decision-makers, individuals, or communities can take to address the situation. Examples:
- “Environmental research is so important because…”
- “The work we do at CIRES addresses this problem by…”
- “We have the opportunity to safeguard our water resources for generations to come …”
- “Residents of [x location] can use our results to advocate for better air quality…”
Stuck? Ask yourself these questions
- Who is the audience for this story (journalists, policymakers, students, etc.)? What do they care about? What are their interests and values?
- Why is your research important to this audience?
- Tip: Can you connect your research or findings to something your audience already cares about, such as their identity; their community; clean water and air; affordable housing; their children’s future; or something else?
- What’s new about this research study? What did you do here that hasn’t been done before?
- What did you find and how do your results compare to previous findings?
- What about your research findings is different, unusual, surprising, or counterintuitive? What about your research or findings is exciting to you?
- What metaphors or examples can help explain this science?
- Is there anything contentious or controversial about this work or these results?
- Why do these results matter? How do your results affect people and society?
- What is your take-home message? What does all of this mean?
- Do you have a request to make of your audience— something you want them to do or think about, such as advocating for better air quality?
- What opportunities are there for scientists, policymakers, community groups, or individuals to solve a problem or take action?
CIRES Communications can help!
Our team can answer your questions and help you prepare for an interview! Email ciresnews@colorado.edu