-
Speaking Plain Language: Not Talking Over Heads or Dumbing It Down
This past Christmas, I took a high-velocity wooden block to the shin, because nothing says “Merry Christmas” like extremely competitive yard games. My leg was still bruised and…
-
The Science of Stories (Using Stories for Science Communication)
I ask the question “So what’s the story?” enough at work that it might be my catch phrase. But there’s a reason for this. Stories are powerful. Notice…
-
Less is More (or Whinging about Academic Writing)
In middle school, I had a creative nonfiction writing assignment to write a story about an event from my life. It had to be at least a page.…
-
Understanding Passive vs. Active Voice (And Why BOTH Are Tools in Your Toolbox)
In college, I had a political science professor who had a total ban against passive voice. Any time you used passive voice, she docked a point from your…
-
Making Statistics Make Sense
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” – Unknown (but often misattributed to Mark Twain) Statistics often gets a bad rap for being difficult…