CommunityData:Writing research briefs

See Research briefs for the full list of published briefs.

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Goal of a Brief

Overall, the goal of a research brief is to distill practical takeaways from an area of research. Kaylea's brief on Anonymity in online communities is a great example.

Research briefs are not just simplifications of a single paper. Often, researchers present information about a single research project, paper, or study. The project has been completed (usually by the author(s)) and in presenting the work, the authors tend to be very circumspect about the scope of their contribution. Rather than focus on a specific completed research project, the brief should synthesize from a specific area of research in which the study is just a single part.

In addition, the research briefs are distinct from the community dialogue events/talks. Rather than delivering a summary of a Community Dialogue talk, the brief should reflect broader knowledge of the research field. The briefs are an opportunity to not only share your work on a broader scale, but also learn how to communicate your expertise to public audiences and how it's different from a conference presentation or a job talk.

A good way of thinking about this is:

• Research articles, presentations, job talks = "here's how I and my work contribute to the community of experts."
• Community dialogues, 'outreach', public scholarship = "I'm a member of a community of experts and here's how I and others in my community think about this."

These briefs (and the dialogues as well) aim to reach beyond a single paper summary and move towards practical introductions to a problem / topic with research and evidence.

The PIs will assist with feedback and editing along the way and can help guide your paper in the right direction.

Workflow for Briefs

Once you start preparing for a Community Dialogue, you should also start piecing together the research and discussion focus into a written document. Below is a rough outline of what the process will look like:

• Work with Madison to select a date and guest speaker for your dialogue.
• Create a 'one pager' (that will most likely be more than one page in its first draft) and share with Madison.
• PIs will read through your draft, and provide comments, notes, and editing suggestions.
• Madison will update you once all the PIs have had a chance to look through the paper.
• Read through the comments and make the edits. This is also the time where you should focus on cutting down the paper to fit into the 'one pager' style.
• If you'd prefer to have a discussion, let Madison know and they can have you join the faculty / staff weekly meeting for verbal feedback.
• Once the one pager is set, Madison will format the document to fit the research brief style you see on our Zenodo page. They'll give you a heads up once it's ready to be shared.

The editing process may take some back and forth, but that is totally fine. The aim of these briefs is that you learn how to distill your expertise in your research field and then have a document that proves it.