The Art of STEM Communication
Mark Bauer
Summer Session A online (May 27, 2025 – July 3, 2025)
Recent years have shown that the need for clear science writing is stronger than ever. They have also underscored that the challenges of communicating scientific principles and findings lie not simply in the complexity of those ideas, but in audiences’ willingness and ability to listen.
How, then, can science writers offer compelling narratives about scientific and technological impacts amid the din of competing interests and outright misinformation? In this environment, science writing needs not just to be clear, but persuasive, and that requires writers to mobilize strategies that go well beyond the usual imperative to report and contextualize data.
This course seeks to develop a toolkit for writers who are looking to convince decision makers about the need to incorporate research findings into their planning, and also to convince a broad audience of non-scientists about the importance of acting on them.
To achieve these goals, we’ll draw lessons from reading case studies and other works by experts in the field, and students will write a variety of pieces ranging from short summaries to longer argumentative research papers aimed at broad audiences.