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The Importance of Effective Communication: Some Food for Thought

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Nikola A Baumann, The Importance of Effective Communication: Some Food for Thought, The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine , Volume 1, Issue 4, 1 January 2017, Pages 460–461, https://doi.org/10.1373/jalm.2016.021865

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Having been active in the Society for Young Clinical Laboratorians (SYCL) 2 for several years, the opportunity to give something back as a speaker at the SYLC Workshop preceding the 2016 AACC Annual Meeting was an honor. The SYCL workshop centered around the theme of communication and leadership, and I was asked to provide insight into effective communication with staff and trainees—a rare chance to reflect on the soft skills that we all use every day. These are the skills that some believe can't be taught. This may be true, but time spent on thoughtful contemplation of what we do and how we do it is usually time well spent. Researching and reflecting on this topic has raised my awareness of the importance of communication, including communication challenges such as providing constructive feedback and listening. Below, I attempt to share my findings and my experience.

Mind the say-do gap.

Make the complex simple.

Find your own voice.

Be visible.

Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

Notice that these 5 habits have little to do with what one says but rather how one says it. Keeping your message simple and genuine will go a long way. In addition, more than half of communication is nonverbal including body language, gestures, and eye contact. It is important to be aware of what you are saying nonverbally. Even a brief moment of checking your email during someone's presentation conveys a nonverbal message. Styles of communication vary. An excellent article by Mark Murphy distills communication into 4 styles: analytical, intuitive, functional, and personal ( 2 ). Although no style is superior, effective communicators know how to recognize and match their communication style with their audience whether it be their boss, peers, direct reports, or trainees.

As leaders and educators, some of our most valuable and formative communication will be in the form of feedback. Statements such as “great job” and “well done” are easy to give and are certainly well received. However, the receiver may be left wondering what specifically they did that was great and wondering if there are areas that could be improved. When giving feedback, it is important to be positive (if it is genuine), be specific, be immediate (or at least timely), and be tough if needed, but not mean (or rob the recipients of their dignity) ( 3 ). In many cases, the person receiving the feedback recognizes what is going well and what is not, so start by asking for his or her perspective. Ask them how they feel they performed or if there are areas they want to improve upon. This step opens the door for constructive feedback without a defensive atmosphere. Formative feedback should be given in private and not in the hallway or in front of peers. And although it is often a delicate process, honest assessment of a person's progress can lead to substantial growth and improvement.

In my experience, the most underused and least perfected communication skill is listening. In professional settings, individuals with authority should listen more (i.e., talk less). I have a favorite quote: “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply” (Stephen Covey). To illustrate the truth of this statement, I asked the SYCL workshop attendees to pair up and do an exercise in listening. Each pair chose one person to be a speaker and one to be a listener. The speaker was asked to talk about any topic they wanted to for 2 minutes. The listener's job was to listen and not say a word. Just listen. As I watched this exercise unfold, I observed listeners who were struggling not to speak, desperately wanting to share their own story, offer their advice, and provide their feedback. On discussing the activity, attendees felt that “just listening” was difficult and far more challenging than speaking. This is more food-for-thought in our daily interactions.

Finally, it was indeed a rare (and somewhat terrifying) opportunity to stand in front of the next generation of leaders and be asked to provide them with a few personal golden nuggets of professional advice. Initially, it was overwhelming, but once I really thought about what I have found to be important in my professional interactions, the following came to light: ( a ) Say what you mean and mean what you say (even when it's easier to say what you think people want to hear). ( b ) In leadership and management relations, a “unified front” will make your job easier and your team more confident. Conversely, a “divided front” will do the opposite—create division in the work unit and drain positive energy from the team. ( c ) Don't tip-toe around the hard stuff, it won't go away. ( d ) Be real. And perhaps most importantly, ( e ) wrap it all up in a package of kindness.

Society for Young Clinical Laboratorians.

Author Contributions:   All authors confirmed they have contributed to the intellectual content of this paper and have met the following 4 requirements: (a) significant contributions to the conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (b) drafting or revising the article for intellectual content; (c) final approval of the published article; and (d) agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the article thus ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the article are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Authors' Disclosures or Potential Conflicts of Interest:   Upon manuscript submission, all authors completed the author disclosure form.   Employment or Leadership: None declared. Consultant or Advisory Role: None declared. Stock Ownership: None declared. Honoraria: N.A. Baumann, AACC. Research Funding: None declared. Expert Testimony: None declared. Patents: None declared.

Forbes /Leadership, Susan Tardanico. 5 habits of highly effective communicators [internet] . http://www.forbes.com/sites/susantardanico/2012/11/29/5-habits-of-highly-effective-communicators/#428f682225fc (Accessed July 2016).

Forbes /Leadership, Mark Murphy. Which of these 4 communication styles are you?   http://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2015/08/06/which-of-these-4-communication-styles-are-you/#6dd000f11ecb (Accessed July 2016).

Entrepreneur. www.entrepreneur.com (Accessed July 2016).

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Communication Studies: Effective Communication Leads to Effective Leadership

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• 1 University of Kansas.
• PMID: 32187871
• DOI: 10.1002/yd.20371

This chapter explores how communication studies focuses on human communication among people in groups, teams, and organizations. While persuasive communication has long been at the heart of leadership development, the discipline's contributions to effective leadership also range from advancing our understanding of organizational communicative systems to the development of skills for deliberative democracy and civic engagement.

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TAILORING SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR AUDIENCE AND RESEARCH NARRATIVE

For success in research careers, scientists must be able to communicate their research questions, findings, and significance to both expert and nonexpert audiences. Scientists commonly disseminate their research using specialized communication products such as research articles, grant proposals, poster presentations, and scientific talks. The style and content of these communication products differ from language usage of the general public and can be difficult for nonexperts to follow and access. For this reason, it is important to tailor scientific communications to the intended audience to ensure that the communication product achieves its goals, especially when communicating with nonexpert audiences. This article presents a framework to increase access to research and science literacy. The protocol addresses aspects of communication that scientists should consider when producing a scientific communication product: audience, purpose, format, and significance (research narrative). The factors are essential for understanding the communication scenario and goals, which provide guidance when tailoring research communications to different audiences.

I. INTRODUCTION:

The impact of scientific research relies on the communication of discoveries among members of the research community. Sharing research—allowing other researchers to critique and build upon it—is a fundamental part of the scientific research process. Over time, however, scientific communications have become so specialized that they are primarily accessible only to experts in a given field. Scientists working in other fields and nonexperts alike can find typical scientific communication products (research articles, grant applications, poster presentations, and research talks) difficult to understand. To reach nonexpert audiences, scientists must be able to communicate in a variety of settings, media, and for a variety of different audiences.

This article provides an overview of the different audiences that scientists are likely to encounter in their careers and considerations for communicating with each of them. A general strategy or protocol is presented to tailor scientific communications according to three key factors of any communication scenario: the audience, the purpose, and the format. In addition to these factors, the sequence and selection of information is equally important for communicating the significance of the research. Concepts from narrative storytelling are also presented to help scientists identify and communicate the significance of research to the intended audience.

Evolution of Contemporary Scientific Discourse

Scientific vocabulary is rich in technical terms and jargon that is not commonly used by the general population. As recently as the nineteenth century, scientists used language and communication formats that would have been recognizable to educated nonexperts from a wide variety of fields and professions. Since that time, however, communication practices within scientific research fields have become different from the common language usage of the general public in both content and style. Scientific documents, such as research articles, grant proposals, and poster presentations, follow a logic that, while familiar to other scientists, can be difficult for nonexpert audiences to follow, properly access, and utilize. As a result, a communication gap has formed between the scientific community and the general public. In some cases, such as climate research and vaccine safety, this communication gap contributes to increased skepticism about scientific research findings and even mistrust of scientists and the scientific process.

The communication gap exists not only between scientists and the public, but also among scientists from different research fields. Investments in scientific research expanded greatly after World War II, resulting in increased numbers of individual scientists, subdisciplines, and specialized discourses used within each field. Today, scientific communications (specifically peer-reviewed research articles) have become specialized to the point that a “form that was as readable as the average newspaper has, in some fields, become a jungle of jargon that even those familiar with the territory struggle to understand” ( Knight, 2003 , p. 376). Because research articles and talks are the primary way that scientists disseminate their research, and because scientific research is increasingly interdisciplinary, this can create a barrier between researchers working in different scientific fields.

Communication Skills for Success in Science

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommend that Ph.D.-level scientists should be able to “communicate, both orally and in written form, the significance and impact of a study or body of work to all STEM professionals, other sectors that may utilize the results, and the public at large” ( Leshner & Scherer, 2018 , p. 107). To accomplish this, scientists must be able to move fluently between different audiences (STEM professionals, other sectors, and the public) and communication forms (written and oral), while highlighting the significance and impact of their research. For example, Dr. Neville Sanjana demonstrates how a discussion of CRISPR can be modified to tailor both technical language and level of detail to five different audiences: a 7 year-old, a 14 year-old, a college student, a grad student, and a CRISPR expert ( WIRED, 2017 ). The protocol presented in this article is a step-by-step guide for tailoring research significance to these audiences and can be used to create any scientific communication product.

II. Three Key Factors in Science Communication: Audience, Purpose, and Format

There are three key factors to consider when approaching a scientific communication scenario: the audience, the purpose, and the format of the communication product ( Alley, 1996 ,p. 3–7). The interaction between these three factors guides the communication strategy by focusing on who will receive it, why you are communicating, and how you will communicate (see Figure 1 ). Whether you are working in a primarily oral, written, or visual format, it is helpful to analyze the communication scenario as the first step in creating the communication product. Ask yourself three questions:

Analyzing the interaction of audience, purpose, and format of a scientific communication is the first step in tailoring scientific presentations and communications to different audiences.

• Who will receive the communication and in what setting? — This question will help you to create a profile of your audience.
• What is the purpose of the communication and what do you want it to accomplish? — This question helps to establish the goal of your communication product.
• Will the communication product be oral, written, visual (or some combination) and what constraints does this format impose? — This question helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your format.

Carefully analyze these factors prior to composing and deliving your scientific communication product. Taking time to understand the communication scenario at the outset allows you to create a framework to guide each decision that must be made along the way. Use this protocol throughout the composition and revision process to ensure that you are tailoring your scientific communication correctly. Each factor is examined in more detail below and a checklist is provided at the end of the article.

Consider Audience

The audience is the most important factor to consider when tailoring scientific communications. The audience’s response to your communication is the metric determining whether the communication meets its goal. For example, if you aim to instruct a motivated group of high school students but they cannot follow the presentation you have prepared, then your communication product will not have achieved its goal. For this reason, it is important to keep the audience in mind while composing your communication and to view the communication product through their eyes and ears to the extent possible. This helps you focus on the reception of the communication and align it with your intentions.

Creating a profile of your audience will help to guide the choices you will make while creating the communication product. To do this, imagine the people you want to communicate with and answer the questions below.

• Who will receive this communication?
• How and where will they receive the communication?
• What do they know about the subject?
• Why are they motivated to receive the communication?

If you are unsure how to answer any of these questions, then you will need to do more research on your audience. This can include talking to individuals who represent your intended audience, reading or watching the media this audience frequently encounters, or talking to colleagues who are familiar with the audience. Speaking directly to members of the audience is the preferred method, because it allows you to get feedback on draft communications and tailor them to your target audience in real time.

Each audience has distinct interests and motivations for receiving scientific communications. These can be influenced by audience characteristics such as primary language, demographics, interest in science, etc. Understanding the level of scientific expertise of the audience is one of the most important characteristics to consider. Are they experts in your scientific field, experts in another scientific field, or nonexperts? Audiences may also be a combination of experts and nonexperts. Table 1 categorizes some common audiences of scientific communications according to levels of expertise: researchers, publishers, funders, conference organizers, students, policy-makers, journalists, and business people. Understanding their level of expertise in the field is a first step toward tailoring the communication for the intended audience or audiences.

Example Audiences Categorized by Level of Scientific Expertise

Tailoring scientific communications to expert or nonexpert audiences requires a variety of adjustments to content and style. Choosing the correct level of detail and method for presenting data are both important considerations. Expert audiences will expect the greatest level of detail and most comprehensive presentation of data in order to critique the research and understand its implications for the field. Nonexpert audiences may respond better to a simplified version of the research that focuses clearly on significance and impact but sacrifices some detail. At the level of vocabulary, it is important to choose words that are familiar to the audience. An audience of expert scientists will benefit from the use of technical terms and jargon, which function as short-hand within the field; these same words will alienate the general public and may be unfamiliar to scientist from other disciplines. Tailoring the content and language to the needs and interests of your audience ensures that you do not talk over the heads of lay people or talk down to experts; both will interfere with audience engagement and your communication aim.

Consider Purpose

The second factor to consider when tailoring your scientific communication is your purpose or goal for communicating with the audience. Scientists use communication products to achieve a variety of aims. They instruct individuals and groups that want to learn about their research. They inform peers, policy-makers, and journalists of their discoveries. They critique the research of peers and indicate new research that is needed to advance the field. They persuade grant reviewers and editors to fund and publish their work, respectively. They persuade patent agents and business people that their discoveries have commercial potential. They may persuade and recruit members of the general population to engage with their research or even enter scientific training and careers. To identify the purpose of your scientific communication product, answer the questions below.

• Why are you creating this scientific communication?
• What challenge or problem does this communication respond to?
• What do you want the scientific communication product to accomplish?

By responding to these questions, you articulate your own motivations for the scientific communication and the outcome you hope to achieve. In other words, you identify the need for the communication and your metrics for success.

Consider Format

The third factor to consider when tailoring scientific communications to different audiences is the format, medium, or genre of the communication product. Select a format that fits your communication needs while allowing the audience to engage optimally with the scientific content you want to present. Table 2 summarizes common scientific communication genres and formats. When selecting a format, consider the types of communications and media that your audience is likely to encounter in a normal day. Think about what your audience reads (academic journals and posters, newspapers, magazines, and social media), watches (television, videos, and films), and listens to (radio, music, and podcasts). Whether you are writing, speaking, creating a video, or engaging in another form of communication, the format imposes constraints on the communication scenario and informs the style and content.

Common Science Communication Genres and Formats

If you have flexibility in your format, answer these questions to help identify the best medium or genre for your communication product:

• What is the best format, medium, or genre to reach the intended audience?
• Which communication format am I best prepared to work in?

Written, oral, and visual formats each have inherent strengths and weaknesses. For example, a live talk can maximize interactions with the audience, allowing the speaker to establish rapport, check for comprehension, and respond to questions. The audience also has the opportunity to incorporate visual information such as the speaker’s body language and slides or other visual aids. A pre-recorded video presentation provides the benefits of the visual and oral formats, like the live talk, but would not facilitate audience interactions. The live talk relies on consistent attention from audience members to follow the flow of information; those who become distracted are likely to miss information and may have difficulty re-engaging with the presentation. Choose the best format for your audience and purpose, then keep strengths and weaknesses in mind while creating the communication product.

Once the format has been selected, answer these questions to identify how the format will affect the content and style:

• What constraints does the format impose?
• Is the format primarily written, oral, visual, or a combination of these?

Audiences expect communication products to adhere to common characteristics of the genre or format. Newspaper readers will look for headlines to orient themselves and select articles to engage with. Podcast listeners will identify the beginnings and endings of episodes in response to familiar theme music or other regular audio features. Scientists expect journal articles to present information in a particular sequence (abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and references). While the common features of the genre and readers’ expectations place constraints on the scientific communication product, they also help audiences quickly orient themselves to the format and more deeply engage with the scientific content. Understand the constraints of the format and work within them to create a communication product that responds to the needs of your audience while achieving your communication goals.

III. Significance: Telling the Story of Your Research

Significance refers to the difference that your research makes in the world. To have significance or impact, research must change the current state of the field by answering a question, solving a problem, or filling a gap in existing knowledge. When you communicate the significance of your research, you tell the story of the impact it can have on the world. A story, in its most basic and fundamental form, describes a scenario that changes in some important way over a period of time: “The story always involves temporal sequences … [and] at least one modification of a state of affairs” ( Prince, 2003 , p. 59). These defining aspects of time and transformation are what distinguish stories from other modes of communication and align well with the goals and process of scientific inquiry. Scientific research seeks to observe changes within experimental contexts in the interest of discovering new knowledge and solving problems. The change observed, as well as its implications and applications, point to the significance and impact of the research. Therefore, to identify the significance of your research, find the story.

Storytelling for Scientists

It is worth stating explicitly that scientific stories are not fiction. Rather, the story emerges from the interpretation of novel data produced through rigorous experimental design. Environmental scientist Dr. Joshua Schimel explains that “[t]o tell a good story in science, you must assess your data and evaluate the possible explanations—which are most consistent with existing knowledge and theory? The story grows organically from the data and is objective, dispassionate, and fully professional” ( Schimel, 2012 , p. 9). Science stories are driven by the question or research problem addressed. The story emerges from the relationship between the research question and the novel data.

The temporal characteristic is equally important. When it comes to communicating the story of your research, there are two different sequences at work. The sequence of experiments that you perform and observations that you make contribute to the lab notebook information sequence (see Figure 2 ). This sequence catalogs the details of the scientific discovery, however, this linear documentation of time, effort, and resources does not communicate the significance and story of the research in a compelling way. To highlight the research story, it is necessary to construct another sequence, the research story information sequence (see Figure 3 ), which highlights significance by connecting novel experimental data to the question or problem that motivates the research. A compelling research narrative necessarily skips over some details, like failed experiments, in order to concretely illustrate the connection between question and novel data.

A detailed lab notebook is essential for future research reproducibility; however, this sequence of information does not tell a very interesting story for either experts or nonexperts.

A research story selects and sequences information to highlight the significance of the research: how new knowledge emerges from the relationship between the question asked and novel data.

Significance and Audience

We have seen how tailoring science communications to a variety of audiences can affect the content and style of the communication product. Different audiences require appropriate language and level of detail. Likewise, scientific communication products should highlight the significance and impact of the research as seen through the lens of the intended audience. Like the content and style of any scientific communication, the message of research significance should be tailored to the interests and perspective of the audience. For example, the discovery of a new molecular structure or pathway may be significant within a narrow research field, but it will likely need to be placed within broader context and implications for human health or medicine to seem important to the general public.

IV. Checklist for Tailoring Scientific Communications to a Variety of Audiences

Use this checklist to tailor your scientific communications to different audiences. Steps 1–4 provide guidelines to prepare and organize your communication product. Step 5 is intended to aid with getting feedback on your communication product for revision.

• Why am I creating this scientific communication?
• What do I want the scientific communication product to accomplish?
• What is the significance of the research for this audience?
• What is the research story information sequence?
• Is the language and level of detail right for the audience?
• Does the format meet the communication goals?
• Does the communication product highlight the significance of the research?

V. CONCLUSION:

Effective scientific communication requires careful analysis of the communication scenario and ability to highlight the research significance in narrative form. The protocol presented here is a starting point to develop a scientific communication practice for both expert and nonexpert audiences. These strategies may help increase access to scientific research among a wide range of populations—expert and nonexpert alike. By analyzing the audience, purpose, and format of your communications, you prepare to tailor scientific communications to the target audience and scenario. By highlighting the research narrative, you emphasize the potential impact that the research can make in the world. This framework provides a structure for self-analysis and revision for any scientific communication scenario, and accounts for variations in style, content, and narrative that are necessary to tailor scientific communications to any audience.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

I would like to thank all of my science communication students at Washington University in St. Louis; your questions and feedback motivated me to connect narrative theory concepts to science communication instruction. Portions of this work were supported by NIH grant #3T32GM008151-34S1.

LITERATURE CITED:

• Alley M. (1996). The craft of scientific writing (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Springer. [ Google Scholar ]
• Knight J. (2003). Scientific Literacy: Clear as Mud . Nature 423 , 376–378. 10.1038/423376a. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Leshner A, & Scherer L. (Eds.). (2018). Graduate STEM Education for the 21 st Century . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. 10.17226/25038. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Prince G. (2003). Dictionary of Narratology . Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. [ Google Scholar ]
• Schimel J. (2012). Writing Science: How to write papers that get cited and proposals that get funded . New York, NY: Oxford University Press. [ Google Scholar ]
• WIRED. (2017). Biologist explains one concept in 5 levels of difficulty-CRISPR . WIRED . Retrieved from https://youtu.be/sweN8d4_MUg

The Importance of Communication in Business Management

Radovic Markovic, M., & Salamzadeh, A. (2018). The Importance of Communication in Business Management, The 7th International Scientific Conference on Employment, Education and Entrepreneurship, Belgrade, Serbia.

18 Pages Posted: 12 May 2020

Mirjana Radovic Markovic

Institute of Economic Sciences Belgrade

Aidin Salamzadeh

University of Tehran - Faculty of Management

Date Written: 2018

Communication, as a management function is the process of creating, communicating and interpreting ideas, facts, opinions and feelings about work performance, organisational effectiveness and efficiency as well as goals attainment in organisation. A manager must be an effective communicator and no organization can succeed or progress, build up reputation without effective communication skills. Poor communication system may result in mismanagement and bad business results. Our aim was in this paper to show that the success of any business lies in effective communication and that the effective communication is essential for the survival and progress of a business concern. We also pointed out that communication skills need to be developed on an ongoing basis and especially in a turbulent business environment.

Keywords: Communication, manager, organization, business environment, communication system model

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Institute of Economic Sciences Belgrade ( email )

Zmaj Jovina 12, 11000 Beograd Belgrade, 11000 Republic of Serbia

Aidin Salamzadeh (Contact Author)

University of tehran - faculty of management ( email ).

Tehran Iran

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The Importance of Communication in Research

Researchers spend a significant amount of time and resources conducting research studies in the hope of generating new knowledge and insights. However, if they are unable to effectively communicate their findings to relevant audiences, their work could go unnoticed. Therefore, the importance of communication in research cannot be emphasised enough.

Table of Contents

Why is communicating research important in research?

There are several reasons why you must communicate the research you write. Let’s read why communicating research is important.

• It helps boost awareness of your work: Communicating research findings to wider audiences can help bridge the gap between academic research and public understanding and goes a long way in boosting researcher credibility. When the public is informed about your research, it increases the chances of them supporting the research financially and participating in studies or clinical trials.
• It helps you get the funding you need: Effective research communication can help you convince funding agencies that your research is worth investing in. A well-presented research proposal can help funders understand the significance of your research, the potential impact it could have, and the methods you plan to use to achieve your research goals.
• It helps peers and colleagues to make informed and ethical decisions: Scientific research plays a significant role in informing policy decisions, but if research findings are not communicated effectively, it can lead to misunderstandings, poor decision-making, and even harm. Therefore, communicating research findings in a clear, concise, and transparent manner is important so that your peers can understand your research and use it appropriately.
• It can potentially fuel discoveries that advance science: Effective research communication can help researchers to build networks, collaborate with others and get access to the latest research findings, which can lead to discoveries that further advance our understanding of science.

Why is it difficult to communicate research effectively?

There are several reasons why people find it difficult to communicate research effectively. Some research studies, for example, may be complex and involve multiple variables or methods. It can be challenging to explain these complex concepts in a way that is easily understandable for non-experts. Additionally, many researchers struggle with translating their research findings into English as they do not speak the language. This makes it difficult for the larger scientific community and other interested audiences to understand the significance of their research.

Researchers must manage the challenge of tailoring their communication style to be able to attract and engage with a wide range of audiences, including policymakers, funders, and the general public. This is very important as ineffective research communication can lead to misinterpretation and misunderstandings of the research findings, which can have negative consequences. For example, if policy decisions are based on incomplete or inaccurate information, it could lead to unintended consequences.

Tips for communicating research to a broader audience

Striking a balance between an easy-to-read paper and a technically sound one is a challenging task. Here are some practical tips that researchers can employ in communicating research accurately and effectively without diluting it.

• Know your audience: Researchers should tailor their communication to the audience they are addressing, whether it be policymakers, other researchers, or the general public. If, for example, you are addressing the scientific community, you may want to lean more on the technical side. On the other hand, if you are writing for broader audiences you may want to use analogies from everyday life to explain your findings.
• Use simple language: While it is important for researchers to ensure that their manuscripts are accurate and technically sound, using jargon and technically complex language can limit readability. For example, instead of using the word ‘Hydrophilic’ you can use the term ‘ Hydrogen loving’ which is easier to understand. ‘De jure’ can be simplified to ‘ according to law’ . This makes it easier for a layman to understand your work.
• Focus on the important parts: As a researcher, it is easy to fall into the trap of explaining all the details of your experiment to readers. However, the reader does not need to know every technical detail. Communicating research should focus on how the results and inferences impact our understanding of things. While the methodology behind the study can be shared, getting into minute details will cause a loss of attention and consequently loss of readership.
• Make use of metaphors to relay your point: Sometimes, technical concepts are complex and explanations are not easy to convey. Here, using analogies or metaphors with something simpler can prove invaluable. For example, instead of explaining a pendulum and what it does, we can liken it to a swing used by a kid. This helps communicate research in an easy-to-understand way.  
• Add visual representation to make things engaging: Text accompanied with images and graphs are a great way to attract and hold reader attention. For example, if we are trying to highlight the share of different nations in the world economically, using a graph can help convey data quickly and accurately.
• Ensure transparency and accuracy in your writing: It is essential to be transparent and honest when communicating research findings. This means acknowledging limitations, caveats, and uncertainties, and being clear about what the research findings do and do not show.

Remember, while most researchers find writing to be a daunting task, communicating research is a skill that can be mastered like any other skill. All it requires is patience, practice, and perseverance.

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Need & Importance of Communication Skills

2019, Swatidhan Publication

Communication is a key factor which binds the society together. It is the need of communication that human beings formed society so that they can fulfill their desire to exchange thoughts and emotions with each other. Just as food is essential for us to live, communication is important for us to live in society. Communication is the only way through which we can share our ideas, feelings, thoughts, and emotions with others. Communication helps us build rapport with others. Communication is fundamental to all in order to make progress. The present paper looks at communication as a tool for progression and satisfaction as it is required to be used carefully in every aspect of life; be it personal or professional. Need and importance of communication skills in personal and professional life is discussed in the present paper to bring out the necessity of acquiring communication skills.

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SMART M O V E S J O U R N A L IJELLH

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