TIPS FOR EXPLAINING SOMETHING COMPLEX

1) First, understand thoroughly what you’re about to describe. If you don’t, you can’t translate it for the non-scientist.

2) Organize your description logically, as you would your story. You need to parcel out the details one by one, building on what has been introduced before, so a reader isn’t overwhelmed with facts.

3) Keep focused. Don’t introduce unnecessary or superfluous details.

4) Avoid using unfamiliar technical terms. If it’s necessary for your description, use it, but define it when you introduce it.

5) Put quotation marks around an unfamiliar term or otherwise indicate to the reader that it’s not part of common parlance. This highlights the term as something important and assures the reader that the language in your article isn’t going to leave him/her behind. “A device called a….”

6) Use visual analogies when appropriate to help convey what something looks like or how it works. “Using a ‘tokamak,’ a donut-shaped reactor the size of a two-story building, physicists have essentially created a miniature sun on earth. Through a process called nuclear fusion, they …..”

7) For highly technical descriptions, when you risk losing readers, use verbs and nouns, when appropriate, that will hold a reader’s interest and help you convey information through your analogies. “Physicists cracked open protons and neutrons like subatomic eggs.”