Search

📜

2. Turning Research Papers into Compelling Stories

Introduction

Your academic papers might be brilliant, but simultaneously a challenging read for anyone outside of your field.

All those hours perfecting your methodology section? Much less impactful when policymakers or industry professionals can’t get through technical jargon to become informed.

This matters because your research could actually make a difference in the real world. It could shape policy, drive innovation, or solve practical problems. But it won't if it stays trapped in academic journals that nobody reads.

Here's the thing: you don't have to choose between academic rigor and being understood. The best researchers can do both. They maintain all the complexity and nuance of their work while simultaneously presenting it in ways that make people care, in the spaces where they’re already getting information. They don't dumb it down—they make it accessible.

Most PhDs get this wrong. They think storytelling means oversimplification or hype. It doesn't. Effective research storytelling keeps the substance intact while adding something crucial: relevance. It answers the "so what?" question that academics often forget to address.

This section will teach you practical techniques to transform your dense publications into compelling stories for different audiences:

  • How to extract the narrative elements hiding in your research
  • Ways to maintain scientific integrity while capturing attention
  • Techniques for highlighting the human impact of your work
  • Frameworks for adapting complex ideas for business, policy, and public audiences

Exercise: Publication-to-Narrative Transformation

Introduction: This exercise guides you through a systematic process of transforming an academic publication into multiple narrative formats tailored to different audiences and purposes.

Exercise Components:

  1. Impact Story Construction We’re going to develop a narrative around our work that has the following components:
    • Problem significance statement (why this matters beyond academia)
    • Impact pathway map (connecting research to potential real-world changes)
    • Stakeholder benefit analysis (who benefits and how)
    • Future scenario development (what becomes possible through this work)
    • Call-to-action framework (what should different audiences do with this information)

      • Upload your published work to an LLM and use one of the following prompts:

      For a broader story that is more professional:

      🤖

      Context: I want to develop a compelling impact narrative for my research that resonates with non-academic, professional audiences. My research focuses on [brief description]. Please help me construct an impact story by: 1. Crafting a problem significance statement that explains why this matters to society (not just to my field) 2. Developing an impact pathway that shows how my findings could lead to real-world changes 3. Identifying specific stakeholders who might benefit and how 4. Creating a "future scenario" that illustrates what becomes possible through this work 5. Suggesting specific calls-to-action for different audience types

      For a more human, connective story:

      🤖

      Context: I want to develop a compelling impact narrative for my research that resonates with non-academic audiences. My research focuses on [brief description]. Please help me construct an impact story by creating an outline that includes the following sections in language that could be understood by a wide audience. Please also ask any further questions you may need, to understand my research:

      • The Central Mystery/Problem (What question drove this research?)
      • The Stakes (Why does/should anyone care about this problem?)
      • The Journey (What obstacles or surprises emerged during the research?)
      • The Discovery (What was learned, beyond just the results?)
      • The Implications (How might this change understanding or practice?)
      • The Human Element (How does this connect to human experiences?)
  1. Media Translation Workshop You can also take the same information and transform it into several different forms of media, to spread the word even further and speak to several different forms of communication style. Use this prompt with the narrative generated above to create outlines or templates for:
    • A dynamic slide presentation (emphasizing visual storytelling)
    • A blog post or article for a general interest publication
    • A policy brief or executive summary for decision-makers
    • A social media campaign (sequence of connected posts)
    • A mini-documentary or explainer video script
      • 🤖

      Context: I want to translate my research paper on [topic] into different media formats to reach broader audiences. My paper's key findings are: [list 2-3 key findings] The main narrative for my research is [fill in narrative from previous prompt] Please help me develop outlines for these formats: 1. A 10-slide presentation that tells a visual story 2. A 1000-word article for a general interest publication 3. A policy brief for decision-makers 4. A series of 5 connected social media posts 5. A 2-minute explainer video script For each format, please include: - How to structure the content for this medium - Specific techniques for engagement in this format

      Note: I would not suggest using all at once, because the response would be shortened if you requested all 5 formats at a once. For best results, stick to one at a time and modify the prompt as such.

  2. Visual Story Translation A visual element can be the reason why a major concept ‘clicks’ for some people, but boiling down a complicated idea into a graphic can be difficult. Here we can use an LLM to brainstorm about how to create a visual element that works. Use this prompt with your chosen LLM:
    3. 🤖

    Context: I need to create visual elements to help tell the story of my research on [topic]. I'm not a design expert, so I need guidance on visual concepts that I could either create myself or work with a designer to develop. My research examines: [brief description] Key finding: [main discovery] Target audience: [describe audience] Please suggest: 1. A central visual metaphor that could represent my research concept 2. A simple process flow visualization showing the key steps or relationship 3. How I might visually represent the data to highlight the most important finding 4. A concept for showing the "before and after" impact of my research 5. A sketch outline for how these elements could be combined into a cohesive visual story For each suggestion, include a simple description of what the visual would show and how it connects to my narrative.

External Resources: