Interested in public scholarship but not sure where to start? Try out The Conversation!

One way to try out public scholarship is to pitch a story to The Conversation. Many of our leading public scholars have published in this daily online news outlet, which publishes news analysis and commentary by university faculty and researchers for the general public. Writing for The Conversation can help you reach new audiences, expand the reach of your research and lead to additional public scholarship opportunities.

Register with The Conversation to become an author, attend a workshop on pitching to The Conversation, or schedule a meeting to learn more and discuss pitch ideas. 

Additional information about The Conversation:

  • Through their Creative Commons license, stories from The Conversation are republished in over 1,000 online outlets including the AP Wire, Yahoo! News, CNN and Business Insider; they are also republished in over 300 print newspapers around the U.S.

  • According to The Conversation, 70% of scholars report having further impact as a result of their publications in the form of radio, TV and print interview opportunities, an increase in scholarly citations, and more.

In addition to The Conversation’s standard story format, the website features several additional sections authors can pitch to:

Research Briefs: focus on new research and/or research that is about to be published. (Approx. length: 600 words)

Significant Figures: stories driven by a single interesting statistic or numeric figure that’s currently newsworthy. The significant figure should be the driving force of the story. (Approx. length: 500-600 words)

Significant Terms: articles that define something that is in the news or relevant to life in the U.S. in a brief, simple and engaging way. The top section defines the term and the next section explains why it matters. An optional third section may explore growth or other related numbers. (Approx. length: 400 words)

Uncommon Courses: brief, insightful articles about a unique course that tackles a subject in a new or interesting way.

Scientists At Work: first-person narratives about how research is done. They focus ls on a specific scientific finding and more on the process and experience of investigating a scientific question. Our goal is to share with readers the excitement, joy and passion the author feels around his or her work.

Examples of Conversation articles written by Washington University faculty:

Theresa Gildner

Parasitic infections hit the health of low-income Black communities where states have neglected sewage system (May 19, 2023)

Jonathan Losos

Cats first finagled their way into human hearts and homes thousands of years ago – here’s how (August 3, 2023)

Caitlyn Collins

Being the main breadwinner didn’t necessarily keep married mums in work during the pandemic (September 3, 2023)

Peter Kastor

Hunter Biden is the latest presidential child to stain a White House reputation − but others have shined it up (September 14, 2023)

Jeffrey Gillis-Davis

Chandrayaan-3’s measurements of sulfur open the doors for lunar science and exploration (September 22, 2023)

Adia Harvey Wingfield

What do a Black scientist, nonprofit executive and filmmaker have in common? They all face racism in the ‘gray areas’ of workplace culture (October 18, 2023)