{"id":3025,"date":"2019-06-28T13:25:10","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T13:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/what-is-a-lay-summary\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:32:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:32:56","slug":"what-is-a-lay-summary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/what-is-a-lay-summary","title":{"rendered":"What is a lay summary?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cNot only is it important to ask questions and find the answers, as a scientist I felt obligated to communicate with the world what we were learning.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Stephen Hawking, Brief Answers to the Big Questions<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This quote by legendary physicist Stephen Hawking highlights one of the most critical aspects of the research lifecycle \u2013 communication. R<\/em>esearch communication<\/i> has assumed immense importance in the scholarly publishing industry today. Researchers are increasingly feeling the pressure to step outside the ivory tower of academia and make sure that their findings are communicated to and easily understood not just by their own peers, colleagues, or experts in the field but also by the non-academic community\/general public. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The idea behind this<\/span><\/a> is quite simple. Considering that a majority of research is funded by taxpayers, it is only appropriate that the taxpayers (the non-scientists or the laypersons) see the real-world impact and potential of this research. Further, in today\u2019s competitive research industry, it is very important for researchers to not only publish their work but also demonstrate its impact by sharing it widely, and lay summaries present a great opportunity to do both.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However researchers often find it difficult to write lay summaries or plain language summaries of their work. In this series of posts, I will discuss the basics of lay summaries as well as the advantages and opportunities they present. I will also share some simple tips to help you write great lay summaries of your research. Let\u2019s begin with the basics and understand what lay summaries are and what purpose they serve.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What is a lay summary?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

First, let me start with a question \u2013 Whom do you write for when you publish your findings? It is incorrect to assume that the only people interested in reading academic literature or research studies are researchers. Today, more and more people (non-researchers) are interested in learning about the developments ushered in through research and understanding how these developments affect them, e.g., in areas like climate change or therapies for patients with specific conditions. However, here, the limitation is that often research is technical in nature. It involves the use of complex concepts, theories, experiments, and data and so research papers or reports of research are typically highly technical in nature and jargon-heavy. While it may be relatively easy for people within the field to understand these concepts, non-academic readers may not be able to grasp these. This is the gap that lay summaries fill.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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What is a lay summary?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lay summary, as the name indicates, is meant for the lay person or a non-scientist who may be interested in the research itself but lacks the academic or technical background in the field and so needs to access the information in a more comprehensible format. It is a brief explanation of research written using non-technical terms and language to make it easy for non-scientific or non-academic audiences to grasp the meaning of the research. In essence, a lay summary is similar to the abstract of a research paper, i.e., it presents a snapshot of the research, but unlike the abstract, it is written in a manner that makes it easy for the lay person to understand it and get an idea of what the research is all about.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

When and why do you need to write a lay summary?<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You can write a plain language summary of your work both before conducting the research<\/i><\/b> as well as after writing and publishing it<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n