How to Adapt Research into a Captivating & Accessible Blog Post
It’s vital as a content marketer to have an abundance of fresh ideas and to create copy about new and intriguing topics. Nevertheless, novel ideas and unexplored directions to take them in can sometimes be in short supply. If you find yourself in this situation, consider seeking out academic research articles. Research articles tend to be written in a dry and heavy way, but yet present innovative findings about all sorts of interesting subjects. Taking the information research articles produce and injecting personality and excitement will give you both original and progressive content for your clients. Read on to learn more about how you can craft research articles into engaging copy to keep you on the cutting edge.
Finding Academic Research Articles
Academic research articles are typically found in academic or scholarly journals dedicated to a particular field of study and are often peer-reviewed. It’s difficult to access many of these journals unless you’re enrolled in a university. Subscriptions to scholarly journals or purchasing research articles on their own can be very expensive. But there are a number of online databases that will enable you to access academic research articles easily and, most importantly, at no cost to you. We’ll explore a couple of these below:
A great place to start your search is the multidisciplinary database CORE, which boasts “the world’s largest collection of open access research papers” and has over 135,000,000 papers from around the world. Input a keyword into the search box and CORE will find various articles related to your interest. You are able to filter results by year, language, journal and more to help narrow your search further.
If you’re interested specifically in science-related subjects, a useful resource is PLOS - the Public Library of Science, which has a “mission to advance progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication” and has over 215,000 peer-reviewed articles for you to browse! From digital health to climate change, archaeology to cardiovascular medicine, you can find research articles relating to everything science. Begin by typing a keyword into the search box and PLOS will return numerous articles that you will be able to access for free. Alternatively, you can browse by subject area and find what you’re most interested in.
What to Look for in a Research Article
Firstly, to choose the best research article for you, read the abstract first. The abstract is simply a summary or overview of the research article itself and typically will detail the context or background, methods used, and the results of the study. By going through this process, you will be able to determine whether you’re going to be able to craft some great content out of it.
It’s crucial to review what methods were used for the study - this is how the researcher gathered their data and will significantly impact how they interpret the findings. Critically question who the respondents are, how big the sample was, and how they gathered the research. Carefully consider how each of these aspects affected the outcome of the research.
Additionally, you should analyze the discussion section. In this part, the researcher will link what the results of the study mean in the context of existing knowledge and examine how it will further the comprehension of the subject at hand. They will also deliberate what limitations or challenges the study faced – no matter how much care is taken, there is no research design that is absolutely perfect. It’s important that you detail not only the findings in your blog post, but also communicate the restrictions of the study in order for your audience to understand how it influenced the outcome and the realistic constraints on the application of the results.
Enjoy the Exploration
The most important thing is to enjoy searching and finding the latest research in topics you find captivating. Make a list of the subjects that interest you most and dive into the knowledge deep end. When you identify new research that captures your interest and imagination, you will be able to bring it to life through your own unique and exciting copy.
