Writing and Disseminating Grey Literature

This first module will give you an overview of what constitutes grey literature and introduce the different types of public pieces you could produce from your research. We will then take you through how you could go about structuring and outlining your arguments before you craft a public piece, and what you need to keep in mind when you pitch your work to a publication.

This module will focus on writing opinion pieces or op-eds – one type of public writing we had introduced in Week 1. We will first explain what an op-ed is and how it is a useful way for researchers and practitioners to communicate their work to a larger audience. We will then, in detail, cover how you can structure an op-ed and pitch it successfully, and how it varies from a piece of grey literature you may be more used to writing.

This module delves into another popular form of public writing – data stories. Discover what data stories are and how to build compelling narratives, choose relevant information and adapt your writing to suit this style. This module ends with an overview on how to create infographics to present data from your research.

This module will guide you to use the visual medium of a photo narrative to tell stories. You will learn how to identify when it's suitable to opt for this style of public writing, how to plan a narrative using photographs and how to use a smartphone to click photos while you’re out on the field.