[Editor’s note: This post was written by Bhavna Sharma, Associate, Communication and Policy Engagement, and Dr. Annapoorna Ravichander, Head Communication and Policy Engagement at the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP).]
Background
In most Think Tanks and research organisations, researchers generally focus on conducting research, analysing data and writing reports. Researchers create technical data which is rich and based on evidences, however, they face a setback when they need to address issues like consistency, readability, presentation, use of effective images to name a few.
In most organisations there are established processes and systems to aid researchers to write effectively. It is well-known that for a research organisation results need to be communicated effectively to various stakeholders and intended audience. These outputs could be reports, Policy Briefs, and Opinion article to name a few.
As a result, these outputs serve as a medium of communicating important information, which may provide suggested solutions for policy makers on matters of great importance.
Audience Perspective
Every researcher requires to understand the expectation of an audience. This involves the need for the document, background of the audience, what does the audience want to read etc. Most important, the researcher has to ensure that the audience should be able to read the output without faltering, reading it twice for a better understanding, stopping to recollect information-reading should be made smooth and easy. How does one tackle this?
To address the above, several organisations have introduced Standards & Guidelines, Templates, glossaries to help bring in consistency, address inaccuracies in grammar and readability issues and most important present information in simple and well-structured manner.
At the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) a well-thought of Standards & Guidelines has been published (the 2nd edition was issued this year), several templates have been put in place and we are in the process of creating a glossary.
Standards & Guidelines
There are many popular Standards and Guidelines (S&G) like the APA Manual, Oxford Manual of Style, Microsoft Manual of Style, Chicago Manual of Style to name a few.
At CSTEP we created a Standards and Guidelines to ensure that consistency in style and formatting within a document and across multiple documents is maintained. It also serves as a reference point for multiple authors creating a report.
For example, in case of report writing pertinent to a particular project, the S&G has a set of instructions which allows the author to design their reports and make them more readable and presentable. It concludes the key elements of a report to include the structure of a report, headings, sub-headings, font size, figures, tables, grammar, bibliography etc.
To ensure that it is used well, we conducted a brief workshop to convey the Importance of using “Standards & Guidelines as a Tool”.A Style Guide
Helps authors to focus on research and writing
Explains information in a clear and concise manner
Helps authors to reflect, review and write
Serves as a reference source for multiple authors
Saves a lot of time which goes into formatting, e.g. the way a citation should be presented
Streamlines the process of writing
Brings in consistency, e.g. format, heading style, bullets
Most importantly, ensures professionalism by enhancing the image of your organisation
Conclusion
An S&G provides a strategy for writing a variety of research outputs like reports, technical research papers, articles etc. for various disciplines and applications. These guidelines takes care that the information compiled after a quality research is worth reading. For a research organisation, good and effective communication through written subject can only improve the research quality and status of the organisation. Therefore an S&G is an important factor, which improves the readability and presentation of the work done by a research organisation.
[Editor’s note: For more blog posts on CSTEP’s experience dealing with think tanks’ decisions read Acknowledging a prominent think tank: the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) in India.]
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