Date of Award

Spring 4-24-2026

Document Type

Research Paper

Department

Whittier Scholars Program

First Advisor

Douglas Manuel II

Second Advisor

David Mbora

Abstract

Effective Science Communicators must speak to a variety of audiences, with varying quantities of prior interest and qualities of background knowledge. The purpose of this paper was to engage differing audiences in scientific learning. This was done through a hypothetical newsletter made up for four different segments exploring a variety of topics in biology. Each segment intends to speak to a different audience with a different level of interest and/or educational level. Simplifying or analogizing without sacrificing the statistical basis of this project was of paramount importance. In the two segments targeted towards younger audiences, the primary focus was on engaging the reader through a more narrative lens, allowing the science-communication to be passively fed alongside. The segments targeted towards older audiences leaned more heavily into the science-communication overtly, while allowing the narrativized elements to instead increase interest and legibility through analogy. The goal of this newsletter was to cultivate curiosity in the reader through prosaic language, peer-reviewed citations, and building questions to conclude each segment. Future editions of this newsletter would likely retain the same four main segments–Personal Projects, Managing Misinformation, Climate Context, and Kids Corner–with different topics discussed, or could instead focus on one specific segment, and discuss multiple topics.

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