Episode 126 - Listen To This If…You need to write a 100-word lay summary

Transcript

Jen (00:00:11)

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Listen to This If from Jen and Michael, the team at Let's Talk SciComm. Listen to This episodes are very short and they are an episode in which we just try to have a little chat about one problem you might currently be dealing with or one task on your plate.

Michael, today we are talking about you need to write a 100 word lay summary, which happens all the time, right? Grants, scholarship applications, papers. 100-word lay summaries, they are quite common.

Michael (00:00:43)

Yeah, very common. And the fact that they are so common tells you that they're important as well. I think, you know? They are everywhere. And the idea is, you know, people are going to be reading these applications that are not experts in your field. And we really need to be able to communicate to non-experts why this matters, why it's important.

So I think that would really be my tip to really focus on that question. Ask yourself, why it matters, why is it important to come through in a hundred word lay summary? I mean, you have to be really efficient with your words. But really try and ask yourself that question.

But don't just ask yourself that question. Do a draft. Give it to a friend who's not in that discipline or you know, is not in science at all and ask them to read it. You know, ask them to think about what's clear, what's confusing, what's interesting and have a bit of a chat about it. So I think that would be my tip. You really have to try and put yourself in someone else's shoes.

Jen (00:01:54)

I think that's great advice Michael. And I really struggled to work out what to say here because there's so many pieces of advice that are useful. I think mine is going to be what I often say to people and that is start off by speaking your lay summary rather than writing it. Because I just feel like when we write, we fall into traps of expressing our research in quite formal academic ways.

And the whole point of a lay summary... The you know, spoiler alert, the giveaway is there in the name lay. The idea is that this is something that could be understood by people without your training. So when we speak, we tend to make it more accessible.

And the other thing I would say is when you're out there, you know, go for a walk, speak into your phone, record it, transcribe it. And then of course, you're going to have to do a whole heap of editing in order to get this down to you know, the perfect hundred words. But when you're thinking about it and talking about it, I would say really focus on the results and the impact and try to forget about the methods.

I mean of course, there'll be some studies where the methodology is the key and of course, you're going to have to talk about it. But like you said Michael, how do you get your audience to care and to really understand the value of this work? To me, that's almost always by not prioritising any time or words on your methods, and instead to really think about what have you found out and what does that mean. What's the impact? How has the world been changed by this research?

But I think lay summaries are just so deceptive, don't you? You know, 100 words, seems like Oh, I should be able to knock that out in a couple of minutes. But when every word has to count, I think they're hard. What's your process Michael? What do you do if you have to write a lay summary?

Michael (00:03:35)

Yeah, I think my process is really... If it's kind of a familiar topic to me, I'll have a few different angles on it that I like to go with. The way I arrived at those angles was really by talking to people I think, at conferences. And you know, chatting with people through conversation I think you can get a really good sense of what people find interesting, you know. Are they like? Fully like? Do they kind of get what you're doing and why it's important or are there some kind of missing gaps there?

So yeah, for me it was really about refining those angles by talking to people. And then you know, once you've done that it's an easier process to sit down and write the lay summary. But if it's a new topic, yeah, I think I just have to talk to lots of people. So yeah, get out there and stop people on your walk, you know. Go to a dog park and say, you know, "Excuse me, will you listen to my 100 word lay summary"?

Jen (00:04:39)

I mean, what's the worst that can happen, right? Someone can say no and you can feel really silly and you build your tolerance for discomfort which is a good thing. But yeah, I think you're right. I think it's all about seeking feedback because the whole point is that you are writing for an audience who is very different to you and it can be very hard to recognise the parts of your lay summary that might be over complex or rely on prior knowledge. And really checking in with other people, I think that's excellent advice.

And the other thing I would say is don't forget about having a hook. Even though it's only 100 words, having an interesting first sentence, even though you can assume people will manage to stick around and read the whole hundred words because it's not very long, that doesn't mean you don't still need a really interesting first sentence to grab people's attention.

Michael (00:05:24)

Yes.

Jen (00:05:26)

So good luck everybody. Whatever you are applying for or submitting or writing that you need a lay summary for, leave... allow some time.

Allow some time to talk with people, to write, to edit, to think. Because a good 100-word lay summary I think is something to be very proud of.

Michael (00:05:43)

Good luck.

Michael (00:05:52)

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the episode, we'd love you to tell a friend about the podcast or leave us a review. And you can reach out to us on social media.

And also a big thank you to our production team, Steven Tang and Madeleine Kelly.