Communication Skills for Physicists

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Communication Skills for Physicists

• Andrew Robinson

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Course Introduction

• Parts of the job of a professional scientist
• Do science hypothesise, design experiments,
  measure, draw conclusions
• Disseminate the information

Communication skills
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How do we do physics?
Decide to do research on a particular topic
Persuade a funding agency to give you money
Do the research and interpret your results
Communicate your results and conclusions to other
audiences not just scientists
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In Industry
Requirement for scientific research
Persuade Board to release funds
Write reports explaining results to rest of
company
Do research, interpret results
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Communication in Physics

• Notice that doing the science is only one of
  the stages in this process
• The other important elements are
• Persuasion to give funding
• Persuasion that conclusions are correct
• Communication of results and conclusions

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Rhetoric
Positive
Negative

• Using language effectively to please or persuade

• High flown style excessive use of verbal
  ornamentation
• Loud and confused and empty talk "mere rhetoric"
  

Cognitive Science Laboratory, Princeton University
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Useful communication skills needed by physicists

• Verbal skills

• Present your results and persuade the audience
  you have the right interpretation

• Teach the subject by explaining to the audience
  at the correct level, keeping their attention

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More useful communication skills needed by
physicists

• Written

• Write up your results, and use your language to
  persuade the reader that you have reached the
  correct conclusions

• Write a persuasive argument for funding
  organizations which give you money to continue
  your research

(as you become a more senior scientist)
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Verbal Presentations

• These are very important
• Must be persuasive
• Logical reasoned arguments
• Clear explanations
• Speak clearly
• Use audience feedback if necessary
• Convey enthusiasm

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Know Your Audience

• Your talk has to be given at an appropriate level
  for the audience
• Peer group (experts/researchers in field)
• General scientific audience
• Adult Lay audience
• Undergraduate level School Level

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In this course

• Deliver a short talk on your research to the
  Physics Department in a departmental seminar
  (expert/high level science audience)
• Deliver an undergraduate level lecture to a first
  year university class

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Written Skills

• Analyse the use of language used in scientific
  literature
• Study ways of using language to help emphasize
  your arguments
• Practice using language in a number of exercises

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Writing papers

• It is very important that the scientist is able
  to communicate results and conclusions to his/her
  peer group
• A well written paper, with a good style, will be
  much more likely to be accepted for publication
• We will analyze published papers in Physics and
  practice writing some text

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Writing requests for funding

• This is one of the most important (and time
  consuming) tasks which a more senior level
  scientist does
• Practice writing funding requests to a funding
  agency
• Use language which is persuasive and easy to
  understand

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Visual display of your research

• Slideshow presentations
• Transparencies and other visual aids
• Poster presentations

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Poster Presentations

• A poster presentation at a conference is a
  combination of verbal and visual elements
• Good visual design can make your presentation
  easy for the reader to understand
• We will review guidelines for poster design
• You will make a poster and attend a poster session

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Web based presentation

• Physics based web pages
• Internet based demonstrations or animations

We will look at some physics based sites and
analyse which elements work well and which dont
work well
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Course Resources

• The websites
• The textbook

http//physics.usask.ca/andrew/phys898_commskills
/
And the PAWS website
Writing in the Sciences Exploring Conventions of
Scientific Discourse A.M. Penrose and S.B. Katz,
2nd edition, Longman 2003, ISBN 0321112040
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The Course Marks
Marks

• Assignments
• Prepare a seminar
• Prepare an undergraduate lecture
• Prepare a poster
• Written final exam

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10
10
10
30
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Course Schedule
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Course Schedule (2)
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Course Structure

• Two 80 minute classes per week
• Lecture (by me)
• Seminar style activities (by us all)

In the seminar part of the class , I will ask you
to bring your written assignments, distribute
them to other class members and discuss them You
should provide me with an electronic copy of your
assignment before the seminar class and bring
hard copies for the other members of the class
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Assignment 1

• Find three articles from three different journals
  which you use in your own research, make a hard
  copy and bring to the next lecture and seminar
• Prepare a short 5 minute reading from any book or
  article, any subject, English language only
  please.
• This is to practice your verbal skills at the
  first seminar session