You don’t need to “dumb down” your science just because you’re writing for an online audience. But, a few strategic tips can help you make your science more accessible on the web. 

Use Short Paragraphs, Sentences, and Words

Over the years, the scientific community has developed a certain writing style for journal articles and reporting research results. Unfortunately, that style can be difficult to read and understand for those of us without PhDs. When writing about science online, you still need to consider your audience first, but you also need to remember why people come to the web for information.

People—even other experts in your field—visit websites to get information as quickly and easily as possible. In fact, according to some research, highly educated people with specialized knowledge have an even greater preference for reading plain English than most. So, keep it concise and try to stick to:

• 5 sentences or fewer per paragraph
• 25 words or fewer per sentence
• 10 letters or fewer per word

When you’re concise, your audience will be better able to understand your science.

Avoid Repetition and Passive Voice

Much like being concise, avoiding repetition and passive voice will also allow your audience to absorb your content quicker and easier. You don’t need to repeat yourself with different language to get your point across. Say it one time as clearly as you can.

And, while passive voice has long been a staple in academic and scientific literature, it often makes things ambiguous. When you write sentences like “The results were found to be positive,” it’s unclear who or what the subject of the sentence is. Did you find the results to be positive or did a computer program analyze them? Use active voice as often as you can, and you’ll make it much easier to understand your science and research.

A Microsoft Word Tip

Microsoft Word can help you determine the reading level of your content. Select File >> Options >> Proofing, and check the box next to Show readability statistics under the When correcting spelling and grammar in Word section. Then, when you complete a Spelling & Grammar check on your content, you’ll get a Flesch Reading Ease and a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score.

The Reading Ease score rates text on a 100-point scale. The higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. For general audiences, you’ll want the score to be between 60 and 70.

The Grade Level score rates text on a U.S. school grade level. For example, a score of 8.0 means that an eighth grader can understand the document. For general audiences, you should aim for a score of approximately 7.0 to 8.0.

Use Powerful Analogies and Metaphors

While not everyone agrees with this approach, I think that using analogies and metaphors can help people better relate to science. And, they can work well for a wide range of audiences as well as for explaining both simpler and highly technical concepts.

For example, a fifth grade teacher can use them to explain to her class how cells make up all plants and animals by comparing them to Legos. And, a grad student can use them to explain what a Higgs field and a Higgs boson are by describing himself and Einstein walking into a room full of physicists. Another one of my personal favorites is using clothes and a closet to explain the difference between weather and climate.

While using analogies and metaphors can help make your science easier to understand, there’s a few things you should keep in mind:

• Make sure they will resonate with your audience
• Don’t mix different ones together
• Explain both similarities and differences

Remember, you can’t explain everything with analogies and metaphors so don’t over user them.

Link to Other Resources

Linking to other resources can also be especially helpful when your audience may need some basic building blocks to fully understand your topic. Are you trying to explain the influence of climate change on extreme events? Maybe your audience doesn’t know what climate change is, or maybe they don’t understand what attribution science is. You can create some building block information in your own web presence to link to or you can link to articles and posts from other sources. Either way, providing avenues for your audience to explore additional information about your topic can also help them understand it easier.

Tell a Story

And, last but not least, you should strive to make your science tell a story. When communicating science, you’re probably not trying to entertain your audience or share a message with them in the traditional sense. But, it’s still important to tell a story with your science so you can engage and teach them. Use your story to help your audience get to know you, understand why your work is important, and get excited about your science. If you think about communicating science by telling a story, it will help you avoid many of the pitfalls I mentioned earlier and will steer you toward creating content your audience wants to read and can understand.

All in all, it’s not about “dumbing down” your science. It’s about making it as accessible as possible for your audience.