DISCOVERIES
Now that you have put countless hours into your research, it is your responsibility to share this knowledge with others. How you go about disseminating your research is up to you and can be carried out in numerous ways.
There are several ways for someone to publish their research findings. Publishing a manuscript in an academic journal, presenting a poster at a conference, and giving an oral presentation are among the most common ways for someone to publish their research.
Academic Journals:
How to publish a research article in an academic journal?
Step 1: Create an Outline for your Research Paper
The organization is very important when it comes to writing a manuscript. Being organized from the beginning will save you a lot of time later when you begin editing your manuscript.
Step 2: Search suitable Journals
Conduct research to find the journal most relevant to your research. You can do so by searching for journals that people who have done work similar to yours have published their work in. Some journals have specific requirements for the manuscripts. For example, some journals set a word limit on each section (i.e. Introduction: 1500 Max). Therefore, it is very important that you find a journal before you write the manuscript so you can keep their requirements for the manuscript in mind while you are writing.
Step 3: Write the First Draft of the Manuscript
Some students find writing one of the most challenging aspects of research. It is important for you to know that your first draft will not be perfect in any way, but that is not important. Your goal for your first draft should be to get it completely written. You can later perfect that draft by spending time editing it.
(If applicable) Step 4: Abide by ethical standards of Writing
After you have edited your manuscript and feel like the quality of writing meets the standard of the journal you wish to publish your work in, it will be time for you to add any pictures and figures to make it easier for your reader to understand your work. If you need to obtain images from the internet, make sure that those images are not restricted images, and you are authorized to add them to your manuscript, which will be published.
Step 5: Submission to Journal for Peer Review
After you submit your manuscript to the journal, your manuscript will likely be forwarded to peer reviewers. Peer reviewers are experts in the field, and they will decide on whether to publish your manuscript in that journal or not. If your research is not a good fit for the journal, it will likely be rejected. If a journal rejects your manuscript, do not be discouraged! You can submit your manuscript to another journal that might be a better fit for your research. The peer reviewers may also recommend revision. Those revisions can be minor or major. After completing those revisions, the peer reviewers evaluate your research and decide on whether to publish it or reject it.
Although this process seems intimidating, as an undergraduate student, your research supervisor will be willing to help you tremendously to publish your paper!
Poster Presentations:
Presenting your research by presenting a poster at a conference is sure a fun way to get people in your field educated about your findings! Preparing to give a poster presentation is very important as people who are experts in the field may come up to you and ask you questions. Make sure you are familiar with the background of your research and how your findings relate to what other researchers have found in the past. Besides being familiar with your area of research, you need to prepare two other things to have a successful poster presentation, a poster and an elevator pitch.
How to create a research poster?
The poster is a tool to help you present your research to people. It should include a summary of your research as well as visual aids that will help you convey a message to your listener. A basic research poster contains similar sections to a research manuscript, such as a background, hypothesis, method, results, discussion, conclusion, and references. By reading your poster, a person should be able to understand your study. Of course, you cannot write a 1500 words background on your poster. Therefore, you should only add a summary of the critical points of your research.
The text on your poster should be big enough that a person who is standing about 2 feet away from your poster can still read it. Do not forget that your poster will help you deliver a message to your listener, so adding figures such as graphs and tables to your poster will make the message you are trying to deliver clearer!
How to present the poster?
In a poster presentation, a poster is a tool that helps you present your research. Your job is to prepare a short talk for 2-3 minutes that summarizes your research. This talk is known as the elevator pitch, and it is intended to grab the attention of your listener. Make sure you allow the listener to ask questions about your research. Presenting a poster about your research is less formal than giving an oral presentation. Therefore, feel free to have a conversation with your listener about your research and ask them questions and allow them to ask you questions. Most importantly, have fun!
Oral Presentations:
How to create a research presentation?
The slideshow that you will create for your presentation is an essential tool to ensure your audience understand your research and follow along as you present. Make sure that the layout of your slideshow is clean, simple and consistent. Also, make sure that your font size is big enough that people sitting 3 feet away can read it. As much as you can, use images and figures to help your audience understand your procedure and results. Having a clear slideshow for your presentation is crucial, but a slideshow alone will not help your audience understand your research. Therefore, it is essential that you rehearse and plan how you will present your research.
How to give a presentation about your research?
Public speaking can be intimidating for many people. Therefore, it is essential for you to rehearse many times before the actual presentation. By rehearsing, you will gain confidence, and you will find any mistakes you may have on your presentation slides.
Academic Podcasts:
Podcasts are another means of research dissemination. One may create their own podcast or participate as an interviewee in one. Among other things, presenting research in podcasts involves talking about your research process, findings and challenges that you encountered during your project. Being able to relate your research to mundane situations is very important in developing an audience. Podcasting can help researchers improve different skills such as technical skills through the production of information, interpersonal skills through the interpersonal connections formed during podcast interviews and advertising.
How to create a podcast
Podcast creation involves multiple steps which are usually made as you go. There are many applications that can be used for the recording and editing of audio and video material before presenting it publicly. Recording can be done using ZenCaster, Zoom, and other applications which have a screen recording option to save the video for editing later. Creating cuts of your podcast material can be performed using applications like Davinci Resolve. Tutorial steps on how to make cuts using Davinci Resolve can be found using this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Rw9rJFEmOFkF-BU45j_xBjNpUeTIpjw_magiIR7rBvw/edit.
The final steps of podcasting involve deciding which platform to produce it on. One of the most common ones used is YouTube, however, there are multiple others that can be useful for reaching your target audience. Accessing a reputable platform may also be very important in dissemination of your research. Another thing to consider may also be the cost of utilization and the researcher and the audience, as well as the advertizing. Some may require no monetary input while others may require monetary input from the researcher, and others from interested individuals. Therefore, finding an accessible platform combined with good advertising is very important for disseminating your research using podcasts.
As an example of the journey of academic podcasting, here is the story of CURNCast: … put link to the CURNCast Story
TAKEAWAYS
- Steps to publishing your research.
- Poster creation and presentation.
- Dissemination by podcasting