Closing Remarks to Storytelling in Science Writing
This video provides some final thoughts for how to use the three techniques of ABT, loglines, and storyboarding for presentations, posters, grant and scholarship applications, and for elevator pitches.
This video is part of the University of Guelph’s Writing in the Sciences (WITS) website designed to provide science researchers and post-secondary students with practical guidance on how to use clarity and precision in scientific writing. This video was created by Chris Greyson-Gaito, and the WITS project was made possible by an NSERC Science Communication Skills Training Grant. To access the WITS website with its modules, resources, and interviews, visit https://writinginthesciences.uoguelph....
VIDEO Descriptive Transcript:
[Dramatic music]
[A rocket ship appears next to a planet with a ring system. The planet disappears and the rocket ship transforms into a star. The Writing in the Sciences logo and the title “Storytelling in Science Writing” appears. The narrator Chris, a white man wearing a blue t-shirt, appears below the logo and video title.]
Well, we have reached the end of the Storytelling in Science Writing module. We have learned that scientific articles are structured similar to a story, that using the And, But, Therefore structure can create an engaging narrative, that loglines can help identify the single focus of your scientific articles, and that storyboarding can help with structuring your writing. Before I go, I want to leave you with some closing thoughts. These techniques and storytelling in general are not just useful for writing scientific articles or theses. You can use storytelling in your posters, your presentations, any grant or scholarship applications, and in elevator pitches. For anyone who doesn’t know, elevator pitches are a short summary of your research that you might say to another colleague that you have just met. They are called elevator pitches because the idea is that you enter an elevator with an important researcher in your discipline. They ask you what research you do. You have the time it takes to get to the floor you are both going to (two minutes) to tell them about your research. The And, But, Therefore and logline techniques are perfect for an elevator pitch because they force you to summarize your research in an engaging way. With these final thoughts, I wish you all the best for using storytelling in your science writing.
[Facilitator, Animator, & Editor: Christopher J. Greyson-Gaito; Module Design Helpers: Dr. Sarah Gibbons, Dr. Jodie Salter, Lenore Latta M.Sc., Chelsea Larsson, Kaleigh Kerr; Accessibility Assistance: CCS Digital Accessibility Resource Centre; Music: Into the Dark by EdRecords; Synfig Studio; OBS Studio; kdenlive; University of Guelph; McLaughlin Library; Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare, CRSNG/NSERC, Canada.]