This week, graduate students in my course are learning how to write about science for the non-expert public.
For those of you who do this professionally, what tips would you offer?
Spell out all non-layperson terms* with the first use, then the acronym in brackets after it (if relevant), followed by a short explanation of what it means after that, if relevant. After that, the acronym can usually be used.
*Don't assume a layperson will understand anything that you do
I remember in my incomplete time in grad school for Chem trying to describe my undergrad work on adding functional groups to silicate sheet minerals to try and reinforce elastomers, and even among a crowd of people going for PhDs it needed a lot of establishing the basics of what that shit meant
As much as I hated my time working in the insurance industry, it beat a core skill into me of being clear about complexity and terminology. Especially given the number of times that the same acronyms referred to different things within the same company, and sometimes in the same department. 🫠
I got that education partly through grad school, but more intensely from a decade+ at a company big enough they have an online internal glossary of company acronyms and having to explain to groups we collaborate with how to format spreadsheets with DOIs so I can automate some of my work slightly
