From data to paper: science communication to peers

General aim: To enable participants to communicate scientific results  clearly, rigorously and effectively, from data analysis and visualization to paper storytelling and poster presentation.

 

General description of material: Scientific communication is not only a final presentation step. It is part of scientific reasoning. A clear figure helps define the result. A clear storyline helps identify the contribution. A clear poster helps test whether the message is understandable to others. The course will address three connected levels of scientific communication: 1) building figures from data; 2) moving from figures to a paper narrative; 3) communicating a scientific story through a poster. Participants will learn principles of visual design, data representation, basic statistical and reporting awareness, narrative structure, poster design, oral communication and structured feedback.
Plan of the course: Across three half-day sessions, they will work on the main steps linking data, figures, paper structure and poster presentation. The course focuses on practical communication skills for scientists: building clear figures, identifying misleading representations, structuring a Results section, designing a scientific poster, and presenting research concisely. Participants will work directly on their own material and receive structured feedback from instructors and peers. By the end of the course, participants will have to put some of these skills into practice and make a scientific poster.
Teaching methods: The course is organized to have less than 20% of lecture time allocated for teacher's presentation, but instead completely relying on interactive methods such as inverted classroom, jigsaw, paper analysis, self and peer-assessment, group work, and role playing exercises.

 

Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, the student will be able to:
·        Build publication-quality figures from raw or processed data.
·        Apply basic visual design principles to scientific figures.
·        Identify clear, weak or misleading data representations.
·        Critically evaluate figures for statistical and reporting standards.
·        Apply basic open-science and data-management principles to figure preparation.

·        Structure a scientific "Results" section as a coherent narrative.
·        Move from raw data and figures toward a paper-ready storyline.
·        Identify the core contribution and conceptual gap of a scientific story.

·        Design scientific posters with clear visual hierarchy and concise messaging.
·        Present research results effectively in a short poster format.
·        Give and receive structured feedback on scientific communication outputs.
·        Revise a figure, storyline or poster based on peer and instructor feedback.

 

Transversal skills
·        Communicate effectively, being understood by scientific audiences from related fields.
·        Structure complex information clearly and concisely.
·        Give constructive feedback to peers.
·        Receive and integrate feedback into one's own work.
·        Assess one's own level of skill acquisition and identify learning goals.
·        Plan and carry out communication tasks using available time and resources.
·        Make rigorous and ethical choices in data representation.
·        Work productively in small groups.

 

Assessment methods
Assessment will be based on individual course output, consisting of one revised figure, storyline or poster concept. The evaluation criteria will be shared beforehand with the students.