What You ll Learn Today s takeaways to make you a better communicator Deliver Your Message in Today s World of Dynamic Communications Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie What I ll talk about: How to research and translate scientific, evidencebased information to messages that retain accuracy and are meaningful to your targeted audience. What you ll be able to do (i.e., your objective): List 3 strategies to help ensure the information you present in articles is evidence-based and accurately sourced. Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 2 My Path Journalism School Grad School/ Diete?cs Newspapers Health Copywriter Blog Sea@le Times Stone Soup Blog Topic Ideas Where to find them, and how to develop them Grad School/ Diete?cs Environmental Nutri?on Washington Post Food & Nutri?on Today s Die??an Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 3 1
Finding Inspiration Good ideas and where to find them Turning A Sentence Into An Article See, good ideas really are everywhere! Patients/clients Friends/family Journal articles Blogs/print/podcasts DPG EMLs Email digests Conferences Everyone eats, so everyone has an opinion (or thinks they re an expert) on nutrition. A passing reference to food or nutrition in even an otherwise unrelated article or book could spur a fabulous idea for an article. Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 5 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 6 Staying Organized What to do with all those great ideas Avoiding Accidental Plagiarism There are no new ideas, but you need to make them your own Tickler files Workflowy Evernote Paper notebook Don t let a good idea slip away into the ether! Record it somewhere! When you do a internet search to see what s been written, or what s being said, about a topic in by mainstream sources, look quickly, then look away! There are as many ways to write about a topic as there are writers. Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 7 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 8 2
Tailoring Topics Knowing your audience and your publication Publication/Audience Types Always, always, always write to your audience Two general categories: Lay (general consumer) audiences Average (newspaper, blogs, websites) Sophisticated (Environmental Nutrition) Professional audiences Trade publications (Today s Dietitian) Scientific journals Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 10 Deciding What to Pitch And, research once, write twice when possible Washington Post September 2016 Publication audience? Previous articles on topic? Lead time? Procedure for accepting pitches? Who retains copyright? Today s Dietitian January 2017 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 11 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 12 3
Seattle Times July 2016 Environmental Nutrition January 2017 Washington Post March 2017 Today s Dietitian October 2016 Coming Soon: Today s Dietitian May 2017 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 13 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 14 What Sources to Use? Teasing out the information you need Due Diligence Researching your topic using scientific, evidencebased information My most-used sources: PubMed (of course) Harvard Nutrition Source Oldways Mayo Clinic Linus Pauling Institute Industry sites (dairy, walnuts, lentils) Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 16 4
How Many Sources? Falling down the research rabbit hole Looking Outside the Research Using lay publications (magazine, blogs) responsibly Depends on topic and depth of research lit. Look for trends. Look for research holes. Don t rely on abstracts and press releases. Don t write single-study stories. Yes, you can use non-science sources, but Consider them inspiration, not information. Check information against more reliable sources. Beware inadvertent plagarism scan, don t study. Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 17 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 18 Staying Unbiased How to present all sides of an issue in a balanced way Follow the evidence. Comment about inflamma?on and full-fat dairy Public opinion on NF vs. FF dairy Revisi?ng of the saturated fat debate Don t be too attached to your topic s hypothesis. Be open to where your research takes you. Be aware of both conscious and unconscious biases. We all have them whether we know it or not. Don t accept an assignment if you can t be objective. Remember that some issues have big gray areas. Draw on your perspective as a clinician where Dairy Fat ar?cles A deep dive into the research Dairy Council symposium appropriate. Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 19 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 20 5
Staying Unbiased How to present all sides of an issue in a balanced way Today s Dietitian August 2016 Follow the evidence. Don t be too attached to your topic s hypothesis. Be open to where your research takes you. Be aware of both conscious and unconscious biases. We all have them whether we know it or not. Don t accept an assignment if you can t be objective. Remember that some issues have big gray areas. Draw on your perspective as a clinician where appropriate. One BIG gray area Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 21 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 22 Staying Unbiased How to present all sides of an issue in a balanced way Follow the evidence. Don t be too attached to your topic s hypothesis. Be open to where your research takes you. Be aware of both conscious and unconscious biases. We all have them whether we know it or not. Don t accept an assignment if you can t be objective. Remember that some issues have big gray areas. Draw on your perspective as a clinician where appropriate. Writing Process Developing as a writer and self-editor Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 23 6
Write, and Write Often Writing is a craft build your skills and have something to show Editing Your Work Explaining complex ideas in limited space Where to write? Your own blog Guest posts Institution newsletters Stone Soup blog Content factories Wrestling a lengthy first draft into submission: Nice to know vs. Need to know. Cull out repeats of similar information. Not every quote is precious! Is your topic too broad? Save versions of your drafts. Respect your word count. Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 25 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 26 Working With Editors Cultivating a good relationship helps get you asked back You ve submitted your article now what? A writer s job is to make their editor s life easier. Respect your editors, because they know their readership. When to push back on edits: An edit introduces a factual or contextual error. A suggested paraphrase takes a quote out of context. Post-Publication Following up and handling critics (or trolls) Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 27 7
Social Media Expand your visibility and boost your metrics Comments & Emails When and whether you should respond or even look You worked hard share word of your work! Always mention the publication. This boosts your personal reach and your digital metrics. I (almost) never read my comments. I don t always respond to emails. What are they asking for? Could anything you say change their mind? Don t give away for free what you would normally get paid for. Your expertise is valuable. Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 29 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 30 Comments & Emails When and whether you should respond or even look It s really sad that you re trying to kill your readers. You should have your license revoked. She doesn t know what she s talking about, no one should listen to anything she says. h@p://www.annfriedman.com/disapprovalmatrix/ Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 31 Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 32 8
Does This Influence Me? Should the fear of nasty comments influence what you write about? How thick is your skin? You can t please everyone. Many people are dogmatic about diet. We keep seeking the nutrition holy grail. Thank You! Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Nutrition By Carrie 33 A Few Bonus Resources www.nutritionbycarrie.com nutritionbycarrie@gmail.com @CarrieDennett The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What You Eat by Alan Levinovitz, PhD [the power of nutrition myths, and how dietary dogma often substitutes for religious dogma in today s modern age this will help you understand the vitriol that comes from some commenters] Will Write For Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Memoir, Recipes and More by Dianne Jacob [if you aspire to more food-type writing] On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King [More about novel writing, but the writing as a craft aspect is universal] 9