References & Resources for Explaining Research

Introduction References & Resources

General references

Clark, Fiona, and Illman, Deborah H., "Portrayals of Engineers in 'Science Times,'" IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Spring 2006
Council for the Advancement of Science Writing
EurekAlert!
Google News
Greenberg, Daniel, Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion, University of Chicago Press, 2001
Job Outlook 2012: The Candidate Skills/Qualities Employers Want, National Association of Colleges and Employers
Meredith, Dennis, "A Wrongheaded Myth Still Hinders Scientists' Communication," Research Explainer, February 20, 2010
Meredith, Dennis, "Monkey Pay-Per-View" Study Could Aid Understanding of Autism," Duke Medical Center News Office release, January 28, 2005
Meredith, Dennis, "Please Explain: Training Scientists to Be Better Communicators," Chronicle of Higher Education, may 16, 2010. Article also posted on Research Explainer blog
Mooney, Chris, and Kirshenbaum, Sheril, "Unpopular Science," The Nation, August 17, 2009
National Academy of Engineering, "Harris Poll Reveals Public Perceptions of Engineering"
National Institutes of Health
National Science Foundation
NSF Office of Legislative and Public Affairs
NSF Broader Impacts Review Criterion
NSF Science360 news service
Phillips, D.P., Kanter, E.J., Bednarczyk, B., and Tastad, P.L. "Importance of the Lay Press in the Transmission of Medical Knowledge to the Scientific Community," New England Journal of Medicine, October 17, 1991
PLoS-ONE
Project for Excellence in Journalism, State of the News Media 2008
Project for Excellence in Journalism, State of the News Media 2009.
ResearchBlogging.org
Rosei, Federico and Johnston, Tudor, Survival Skills for Scientists, Imperial College Press, 2006
Watson, J.D. and Crick, F.H.C., "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids," Nature, April 25, 1953
Yahoo! News
Zhang, Guili, Anderson, Timothy J., Ohland, Matthew W., and Thorndyke, Brian R., "Identifying Factors Influencing Engineering Student Graduation: A Longitudinal and Cross-Institutional Study," Journal of Engineering Education, October 2004
Ziman, John, Public Knowledge: The Social Dimension of Science, Cambridge University Press, 1968

Chapter 1: Understand your audiences

General references

Borchelt, Rick and Hudson, Kathy, "Engaging the Scientific Community with the Public," Science Progress, April 21, 2008
Evans, William and Priest, Susan Hornig, "Science Content and Social Context," Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp 327-340, 1995
Gillmore, Dan, We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the People, For the People, O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2006
Harris Poll, Doctors and Teachers Most Trusted Among 22 Occupations and Professions: Fewer Adults Trust the President to Tell the Truth, Harris Poll # 61, August 8, 2006
Harris Interactive, Firefighters, Scientists and Doctors Seen as Most Presitigious Occupations, August 2009
Harris Interactive/ California Academy of Sciences Poll, 2001
Harris Poll, The Religious and Other Beliefs of Americans 2005, #90, December 14, 2005
Hassol, Susan Joy, "Improving How Scientists Communicate About Climate Change," Eos, March 2008, pp 106-107
Holland, Earle M. Pleasant, Andrew, Quatrano, Stephen, Gerst, Robert, Nisbet, Matthew C., and Mooney Chris, Framing Science letters to the editor and response, Science, August 31, 2007, Vol. 317 No. 5842, pp. 1168-1170 (subscription required)
Meredith, Dennis, "Marketing for Scientists Charts a Path to Sucess," Research Explainer, April 1, 2012
Mixon, Bobbie, "Why 'Scientific Consensus' Fails to Persuade," NSF news release, September 13, 2010 (Ref: Journal of Risk research article by Dan Kahan, et al)
Mooney, Chris, Do Scientists Understand the Public?, American Academy of Arts & Sciences project on Improving the Scientific Community's Understanding of Public Concerns about Science and Technology, 2010
Mooney, Chris, "If Scientists Want to Educate the Public, They Should Start by Listening," Washington Post, June 27, 2010
National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators 2008
National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators 2010
National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators 2012
Nisbet, Matthew C. and Scheufele, Dietram A., "What's Next for Science Communication? Promising Directions and Lingering Distractions," American Journal of Botany, September 3, 2009
Nisbet, Matthew C. and Scheufele, Dietram A., "The Future of Public Engagement," The Scientist, October 1, 2007
Nisbet, Matthew C. and Mooney, Chris, "Framing Science," Science, April 6, 2007, V. 316, p. 56
Nisbet, Matthew, Framing Science blog
Pew Research Center for Public and the Press survey, "Public Praises Science; Scientists fault Public, Media," 2009
Science and Engineering Indicators 2008, Chapter 7, Public Attitudes and Understanding, National Science Board
Thompson, Clive,"Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law," Wired, November 2007, p 102
Thompson, Mark, BBC Creative Future, speech to BBC staff, March 25, 2006
Quinn, Helen, "Belief and knowledge—a plea about language," Physics Today, January 2007, p. 8
Woodward, Billy, Science Heroes Web site
Woodward, Billy, Shurkin, Joel, and Gordon, Debra, Scientists Greater than Einstein: The Biggest Lifesavers of the Twentieth Century, Linden Publishing, 2009

Chapter 2: Plan your communication strategy

General references

Harvard Focus
Harvard Gazette
Harvard Health Newsletter
Harvard Lab Works
Harvard Medical School disease-based Web pages
Journal of Visualized Experiments
Seringhaus, Michael, and Gerstein, Mark, "The Death of the Scientific Paper," The Scientist, September 4, 2006

Chapter 3: Give compelling talks

General references and resources

Adler, Ronald B. and Rodman, George, Understanding Human Communication, Oxford University Press, 2009
Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical Steps to Succeed and Critical Errors to Avoid, Springer-Verlag, New York, 2003
Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Writing, Prentice-Hall, 1987
Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Giving Talks. For a free copy, email
Hewlett Packard, "The Power of Visual Communication," 2004
Hoff, Ron, Say It In Six, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1996
Kushner, Malcolm, Presentations for Dummies, For Dummies, 2004
Mahar, Stephen, Yaylacicegi, Uku, and Janicki, Thomas,"The Dark Side of Custom Animation," International Journal of "Innovation and Learning, July 2009. See also news article and blog discussion.
Meredith, Dennis, "Play 'Bad Presentation Bingo': Losers are Winners!," Research Explainer, February 26, 2010
Mitchell, Olivia, How to Present with Twitter (and other backchannels)
Naftulin, D.H., Ware, J.E., and Donnelly, F.A., "The Doctor Fox Lecture: A Paradigm of Educational Seduction," Journal of Medical Education, July 1973
OSHA Office of Education and Training, "Presenting Effective Presentations with Visual Aids,"1996
Quamut, Public Speaking Chart, Barnes & Noble
Six Minutes: A Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog
Soyouwanna Deliver an Effective Speech?
Speaking About Presenting blog on presentations
Toastmasters, Toastmaster's International Guide to Successful Speaking: Overcoming Your Fears, Winning over Your Audience, Building Your Business & Career
Winston, Patrick, "How to Speak" videos
Wired How-To Wiki, "Deliver the Perfect Presentation"
Woodward, Billy, Science Heroes Web site
Woodward, Billy, Shurkin, Joel, and Gordon, Debra, Scientists Greater than Einstein: The Biggest Lifesavers of the Twentieth Century, Linden Publishing, 2009
Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies and Annenberg School, USC, Talking Science: The Elusive Art of the ScienceTalk

Software and Web sites for sharing presentations and other content

Agarwal, Amit, Share your Presentation Slides with a QR Code
Articulate Presenter
authorStream
Creating a slidecast using Slideshare (Explains recording audio using Blackboard, but you can also use a link to an existing .mp3 file on the Web)
Echo360
40 Interesting ways to use QR Codes in the Classroom
Gallo, Carmine, "Present like Steve Jobs," YouTube, April 17, 2008
for text such as business cards, web URLs, email addresses, etc.
Impatica
Meredith, Dennis, "Publishing Online Flip Books: Useful Tool or Gimmick?" Research Explainer, June 25, 2010
Meredith, Dennis, "Slidecast: Using Multimedia to Advance Your Research," Research Explainer, February 21, 2010
Meredith, Dennis, "Use QR Codes to 'Amplify' Your Work," Research Explainer, April 3, 2012
MyBrainshark,free hosting service for sharing presentations
QR Code in Powerpoint Presentations
QR Code generator, basic (Google)
QR Code generator (Delivr) Free version enables personalizatio, tracking of QR code use. Paid version adds more sophisticated services
QR Code generator, basic (Digital Inspiration)
QR Code generator, basic (KayWa)
QR Code generator for producing more sophisticated codes, including those that trigger an action
QR code generator (ZXing)
QR Codes: What are They and How to Use Them (video)
QR Codes: How to Generate with bit.ly
QRStuff.com tools for QR codes
SciVeeSlidecast
Screencast.com, free basic presentation-hosting service with inexpensive upgrade to more subtantial storage, bandwidth
SlideBoom
Slidecastingscreencasts using Slideshare
SlideShare free hosting service for sharing PowerPoint presentations.
SlideServe, free hosting service for sharing PowerPoint presentations
Slide Sharing Websites: Review, m62, January 19, 2010
Soundslides, software for producing audio Web slidecasts
Sonic Foundry's Mediasite
TagmyDoc for sharing documents via a QR Code on the document or a Powerpoint slide
280 Slides allows creation, accessing, and sharing of slide shows
Ventation enables creation of synchronized video and slide presentations

PowerPoint and other presentation resources

a Luna Blue stock video for PowerPoint backgrounds
Alley, Michael, "Improve your PowerPoint," February 12, 2010
Animation Factory animated clip art, templates, backgrounds and videos. Science/Medical PowerPoint backgrounds
Atkinson, Cliff, Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire, Microsoft Press, 2007
"Become a PowerPoint Power User," Wired Wiki
Bit.ly URL shortener
CaptureFox, screencasting add-on for Firefox
Crystal Graphics PowerPoint plugins for templates, Flash, animations, 3D
GoogleDocs Presentations
Grant, Bob, "Pimp your PowerPoint," The Scientist, March 1, 2010
How to Create an Effective PowerPoint Presentation, OnlineCourses.net
"How to use Movie Maker to put titles on your video backgrounds for PowerPoint," PowerFinish
Inspiration organizing software
Microsoft training for PowerPoint 2010
123PPT.com video backgrounds for PowerPoint presentations
OpenOffice.org Impress
PowerFinish templates, backgrounds and videos
Powered Templates PowerPoint templates and video backgrounds
PowerPlugs: Transitions for PowerPoint Volume 7
The PowerPoint FAQ
PowerPointing.com commercial collection of templates, shapes, illustrations, maps
PowerPoint Heaven
PowerPoint Tips and Tricks, A Bit Better Corp
PresentationPro
Presenter for PowerPoint for creating special effects within PowerPoint
Prezi presentation software
Screenflow (Mac) for recording computer screen interaction, video, etc.
SlideRocket
Snagit for capturing and manipulating screen images
SnipURL URL shortener
TinyURL URL shortener
Digital Inspiration, "The Most Essential Tools for Presenters"
Tufte, Edward, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within, Second Edition
Wikipedia, "Presentation Programs"
Zamzar for converting file formats

Apple iWork Keynote resources

Apple Keynote
Apple iWork Keynote tutorials Apple iWork '08
KeynoteUser
Keynote/PowerPoint Comparison Chart, KeynoteUser, July 26, 2007
Tessler, Franklin N, "PowerPoint 2008 vs. Keynote, '08," Macworld, April 16, 2008

Free sources for images, illustrations, animations, and videos

Astronomy Picture of the Day, NASA
Bugwood Network insect and forestry images
CalPhotos
Cool Science and Extreme Animated GIFs
Genomics Image Gallery, (also images depicting biofuels, carbon cycling, systems biology), DOE
Earth Science World Image Bank
EurekAlert! multimedia gallery
Free Science Animated Clipart
Google Advanced Image Search
Hubble Space Telescope images
Interactions.org image bank for particle physics
Library of Science Illustrations: vast collection of illustrations and slides in cell biology, microbiology, molecular biology, genetics, labware, shapes, and anatomy
Master site for U.S. government photos and graphics
National Digital Library, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Department of Energy and DOE national laboratories
Giphy: Find and Share Animated GIFs
Video University Guide to Public Domain Footage
How Stuff Works Web site illustrations, animations, and videos on science and technology
Materials Research Society Science as Art image winners
Medical Animation Library, Penn Medicine. Huge collection of short medical animations
MorgueFile general stock shots
Molecular Workbench
NASA art gallery
NASA images
NASA video gallery
National Institutes of Health photo galleries
National Marine Sanctuaries Media Library
NIH National Cancer Institute visuals online
NIH National Institute for General Medical Sciences image gallery
National Science Foundation multimedia gallery
NOAA Photo Library
North Harris College Natural Sciences collection of links to science animations
Photl.com general stock shots
Stock.xchng general stock shots
Twenty Animated GIFs That Explain How Things Work
U.S. government YouTube channel for science & technology
Wellcome Images, more than 40,000 images from clinical and biomedical sciences
Wikimedia Commons free images and video
YouTube

Commercial sources for images, illustrations, animation and video

Animation Factory
Corbis
Earth: Portrait of a Planet
eduMedia
Eduscapes collection of links to Flash animations
Fotoliageneral stock shots
Getty Images
iStockphoto
Microsoft clipart collection
Molecular Expressions Photo Gallery
NVTech
PhotoObjects
Photos to Go Unlimited
ScienceSlides
Wiley Interactive Concepts in Biochemistry
Worth1000
Worth1000 Nerdimals

Sources for science cartoons

Cartoon Bank
CartoonStock
Sidney Harris cartoons

Science demonstrations

Beaty, William, Physics demos & Science Exhibit Designs
The experiMENTALS
ExploScience: Innovative Resources for Science Education and Exploration
Frostbite Theater: Jefferson Laboratory Physics Video Demonstrations
Ophardt, Charles E., ed., Science Demonstrations, Elmhurst College
Shakhashiri, Bassam, Chemical Demonstrations, Volume 1, University of Wisconsin Press, 1983
Shakhashiri, Bassam, Chemical Demonstrations, Volume 2, University of Wisconsin Press, 1985
Shakhashiri, Bassam, Chemical Demonstrations, Volume 3, University of Wisconsin Press, 1989
Shakhashiri, Bassam, Chemical Demonstrations, Volume 4, University of Wisconsin Press, 1992
Shmaefski, Brian, Favorite Demonstrations for College Science: An NSTA Press Journals Collection
The Video Encyclopedia of Physics Demonstrations
Willey, David, The Physics Behind Four Amazing Demonstrations

Science and engineering jokes

Ahajokes, Science Jokes
Devine, Betsy and Cohen Joel, Absolute Zero Gravity: Science Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes, Fireside, 1992
Funny Engineering Conversions
Jupiter Scientific Science Jokes
Verhagen, Joachim, Science Jokes
Workjoke Profession Jokes

Chapter 4: Develop informative visuals

General references

(Animated GIFs) Williams, Alex, "Fresh from the Internet Attic," The New York Times, February 13, 2013
AAAS Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge 2009
Adobe Flash animation tutorial
Cleveland, William S., Visualizing Data Hobart Press, 1993
Adobe Photoshop
Biointeractive animations
Cimons, Marlene, "Cover Calculations," HHMI Bulletin, June 2002
Johnsen, John, The Cultural Significance of Color, American Chronicle
Kyrnin, Jennifer, Color Symbolism Chart by Culture, About.com
Exploration magazine
Few, Stephen Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten, Analytics Press 2004
Meredith, Dennis, "Using Multimedia to Advance Your Work" (Sidecast), AAAS meeting, February 21, 2010
NSF
Tufte, Edward, Beautiful Evidence, Graphics Press, 2006
Tufte, Edward, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition, Graphics Press, 2001
The Why Files
Zuker, Charles, et al, "Mammalian Sweet Taste Receptor," Cell, August 10, 2001

Tools and techniques for creating data visualizations

Atkinson, Cliff, Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire, Microsoft Press, 2007
"Build Animated GIFs in Photoshop," Creative Techs
Chartle.net for producing online charts
Exploratree site for creating visual "thinking guides"
Extreme Presentation Method for designing visualizations of information
Factual site for uploading, creating, and/or embedding data tables
Flowing Data, "What Visualization Tool/Software Should You Use? — Getting Started," September 3, 2009
Friedman, Vitali, "Data Visualization:Modern Approaches," Smashing Magazine, August 2, 2007
Google Visualizations tools for creating Web visualizations
Griffith, WEric, "How to Make Animated GIFs," PC Magazine, September 11, 2011
"How to Create Animated GIFs Using Photoshop," wikiHow
Lovely Charts, free Web-based tool for creating diagrams, flow charts and organizational charts
Making Data Meaningful guides for effective presentation of statistics, United Nations Economics Commission for Europe
ManyEyes collections of data visualizations
Meredith, Dennis, "Use Infographics to Explain Your Work," Research Explainer, December 2011
Microcharts, Excel add-in for creating sparklines
Photofly (renamed 123d Catch) creates 3D images from photos
Smartdraw visual processor
Sparklines, open source software for creating sparklines
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, A Guide to Presenting Statistics, (part of Making Data Meaningful guide series)
UUorld tool for visualizing data with maps
Visualization Tools/Applications collection
Wired, Make an Animated GIF
Youblisher makes pdf documents flippable and quickly loading

Chapter 5: Create effective poster presentations

General references

American Society of Plant Biologists, How to Make a Great Poster
Colorado State University, Guide to Poster Sessions
eHow, How to Prepare a Proper Scientific Poster
Hess, George, Tosney, Kathryn and Liegel, Leon, Creating Effective Poster Presentations
Meredith, Dennis, "Use QR Codes to 'Amplify' Your Work," Research Explainer, April 3, 2012
Purrington, Colin, Designing Conference Posters
Pimp my Poster discussion/critique group for posters
PosterSession.com, commercial source for poster production, including a multitude of poster templates
The Science Forum commercial poster design and production
State University of New York at Buffalo, Designing Effective Posters
University of Washington, Making a Poster Using MS Powerpoint also see tutorial Creating a Poster Using MS Powerpoint
Volz, Tracy, Poster Design and Presentation Skills, Rice University Office of Professional Communications. Excellent presentation on creating and presenting posters

Chapter 6: Write clear research explanations