# Presentation: 842332

## How to Write a Successful JGLR Web Release

**Thursday, May 31, 2007    3:40 pm**
**School for Scientists**
**By Carol A. Stepien, Ph.D.**
***	******IAGLR Outreach Committee Co-Chair &***
***	******Journal of Great Lakes Research Associate Editor***
**Web Release Instructions:**
**http://www.iaglr.org/jglr/instruct_release.php**

## Why Bother to Write A Web Release?

**Transfer scientific research knowledge to the public **** **
**Entice the press & public to seek out JGLR authors **** **
**Avenue for media  & headlines**** **
**Web releases are posted on a press listserver & the IAGLR web site **

## First Step:  Catchy Title

**Short, Interesting, clever**** **
**Sums up your results in a single phrase**** **
**A good title often contains strong (action) words**** **
**Example: *****An Invading Phytoplankter in Lake Erie That Likes it Hot***

## Other Good Web Release Titles

***Are Low-head Dams Bad News for Darters?****** ***
**Recent Titles****Volume 33, Number 1 (3/23/07)**** **
***New Zealand Mud Snails Invade Lake Erie!****** ***
***Crayfish dine on Great Lakes trout and salmon (eggs)!****** ***
***Who’s moved into Lake Erie rivers?****** ***
***Lake trout swim deep in Lake Mistassini***

## Second Step: Writing the Release

**Write your release to be easily understood by a non-scientist - a neighbor or a friend**** **
**Write as if to read it out loud to them**
**Avoid jargon and strictly scientific terms**
**K.I.S. = Keep it Simple**

## Other Release Writing Points

**Determine why someone would want to read your release & write accordingly**** **
**Inverted "pyramid style" of writing: **
**	****put the most important part first**
**Follow the 5 W's: **
**	*****Who, Where, What, When, Why***** **
**Short words and sentences**** ****e.g.,***** "use" *****not *****"utilize."****** ***

## 4 Parts to the Body:

**1-2 sentences that explain the problem clearly & in an interesting way**** **
**1 sentence stating the most important results & findings of the work**
**A quote about the significance of the work. *****Why should people care?***** **
**	****Natural speaking style & present tense**
**1 sentence summarizing or explaining, if necessary**

## 1.  Explain the Problem: Examples 

***Cylindrospermopsis*****, a potentially-toxic, filamentous phytoplankton genus native to southeast-Asia and Africa, has been documented in Lake Erie for the first time.**** **
**When the Munroe Falls low-head dam was built on the Cuyahoga River in 1817, people didn’t know its effects on resident fish populations.**

## 2. A sentence that details the most important results & findings

**	****Studying the dynamics of phytoplankton (the microscopic plants that form the base of the food web) in Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie offshore sites in 2005, doctoral researcher Joe Conroy and a team of other Ohio State University scientists found *****Cylindrospermopsis***** in a community composed largely of cyanobacteria.**

## 3. A quote about the significance of the work: Why do we care?

- 	“**Finding *****Cylindrospermopsis *****in Lake Erie was surprising since it most often occurs in tropical locations,” Mr. Conroy said.  “We discovered that it was particularly abundant in Sandusky Bay because of the high temperatures, low light, and abundant nutrients found there.” **

## Another quote example

- 	“**We found evidence that the dam had reduced gene flow in the logperch darter, but had no apparent effect on the greenside darter”, says Amanda Haponski.  “This could be the result of the logperch being naturally more migratory than the sedentary greenside darter.”**

## 4.  Summary

**	**** ****In addition to *****Cylindrospermopsis,***** Sandusky Bay is rich in other cyanobacterial groups***** *****throughout the spring and summer and could be a potential source of harmful algal blooms found in Lake Erie late in the summer.  Mr. Conroy and Dr. David Culver are conducting further research on this “Algal Loading Hypothesis” with funding provided by the Ohio Lake Erie Protection Fund and the Ohio Sea Grant College Program.**

## Another Summary Example

**The Munroe Falls dam was removed in November 2005, making this a potentially valuable baseline study.  Follow-up data should be collected on genetic variation of darters throughout the Cuyahoga River, evaluating further potential barriers to gene flow.**

## Part 3:  Reference

**Original Publication Information ****Results of this study, "*****Cylindrospermopsis *****in Lake Erie: testing its association with other cyanobacterial genera and limnological parameters," are reported by Joe Conroy, Erin Quinlan, Doug Kane, and David Culver in an article in the *****Journal of Great Lakes Research*****, (Volume 33, No. xxx, pp. xxx-xxx) published by the International Association for Great Lakes Research, 2007.**

## Contacts

**	****For more information about the study, contact Joe Conroy, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Road, Columbus, Ohio, **_[conroy.27@osu.edu](file:///E:/My%20Documents/Research/Research%20Presentations/LEC/program%20files/qualcomm/eudora/attach/conroy.27@osu.edu)_**, (614) 292-5230. **

## Journal Source

- 	**For information about the Journal of Great Lakes Research, contact Marlene Evans, Editor, National Water Research Institute, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 3H5, Canada; **_[marlene.evans@ec.gc.ca](mailto:marlene.evans@ec.gc.ca)_**; (306) 975-5310**** **